The Southern Cross - 120523

www.scross.co.za

May 23 to May 29, 2012

Pentecost: ‘Set the Holy Spirit free’

Pages 7 & 10

Fr Rolheiser’s recipe for New Evangelisation

Page 12

R5,50 (incl VAT RSA)

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4776

Why the cross is like our national flag

Page 7

Modern slavery: SA still waiting for legislation

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

L The children of Heunaar parish in a remote rural part of Kimberley diocese celebrated Mother’s Day with the theme “We Have Decided To Follow Jesus! No Turning Back! No Turning Back”.

They asked South African mothers to help them understand their rights, especially the rights to life, health, education, equality and information. They also asked their priest and fathers to teach them how to pray properly, just like Jesus taught his disciples (Lk 11:1-5), and appealed to the government to provide them with good tarred roads. (Photo from Fr Reginald Tarimo AJ)

Pope: 12th century mystic a saint

BY CINDY WOODEN

A

LTHOUGH she was never canonised, the 12th-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen is to be added to the Catholic Church’s formal list of saints, and Catholics worldwide may celebrate her feast day with a Mass and special readings by order of Pope Benedict.

The Vatican announced that the pope formalised the Church’s recognition of the German Benedictine mystic (1098-1179), “inscribing her in the catalogue of saints”.

The pope’s order regarding St Hildegard recognises her widespread fame of holiness and that Catholics have venerated her for centuries.

In a 2010 series of audience talks about women’s contributions to the Church, Pope Benedict dedicated two talks to St Hildegard. He said she is a worthy role model for Catholics today because of “her love for Christ and his Church, which was suffering in her time, too, and was wounded also then by the sins of priests and laypeople”.

In St Hildegard’s time, there were calls for radical reform of the Church to fight the problem of abuses made by the clergy, the pope had said. However, she “reproached demands to subvert the very nature of the Church” and reminded people that “a true renewal of the ecclesial community is not achieved so much with a change in the structures as much as with a sincere spirit of penitence”.

In addition, the pope noted, modern Catholics can learn from her “love for creation, her medicine, her poetry and music that is being recreated today”.

Pope Benedict also signed 17 decrees furthering the sainthood causes of dozens of individuals. Among the decrees were two recognising miracles, paving the way for the beatifications of Capuchin Brother

St Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century German Benedictine mystic, is depicted in a window at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. (Photo: Crosiers/CNS) Thomas of Olera, Italy, who died in Austria in 1631, and of Italian Salesian Sister Maria Troncatti, a missionary who died in a plane crash in Ecuador in 1969 at the age of 86.

Other decrees recognised the martyrdom of Odoardo Focherini, an Italian who died in a Nazi prison camp in 1944 after being arrested while helping Jews escape capture by the Nazis; 14 Franciscan friars killed in Prague in 1611; and 22 Spaniards killed during the Spanish civil war in the 1930s.—CNS

Special Catholic Education issue: June 6

In the issue of June 6 The Southern Cross will publish its annual 16-page CATHOLIC EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT. It will look at issues such as whether Catholic schools are still Catholic, where to send one’s children, what makes a good teacher, anti-bullying strategies, the role of sports in education and much more. Parishes that wish to order extra copies for that week please call Avril Hanslo at 021 465-5007 or subscriptions@scross.co.za

EGISLATION on human trafficking in South Africa has still not been passed, with cases still prosecuted under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, which experts say is inadequate in combatting what is often described as modern slavery.

“The bill is still sitting with the committee who are stalling. There is a fear that the legislation in its current form will provide huge benefit for victims, which could be open to abuse,” said Fr Peter-John Pearson of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), a body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

“Catholic social teaching gives preferential option to the poor. The CPLO will continue to urge the bill be passed. We need to help protect the vulnerable,” Fr Pearson said.

Victims’ families should always contact the Church or law enforcement if they sense trouble, he said.

It's estimated that more than 2,4 million men, women and children are ensnared by traffickers worldwide.

The issue is of grave concern to the Vatican, who hosted a conference with international law enforcement agencies this month to discuss means of assisting and identifying victims of human trafficking and the organised crime units that are running trafficking operations.

The conference heard that in organised crime, human trafficking is second only to the illegal arms trade in terms of money turnover.

“Vulnerable people are being targeted,” said Fr Pearson, who represented the Southern African Church at the conference.

He said the Church is interested in the underlying causes of issue—poverty being one of the main culprits.

“The Church has an important role to play as Catholic social teaching highlights certain values which would be a response to the issue,” Fr Pearson said.

A young British woman spoke to the conference, which was organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and hosted by the pontifical councils for Justice and Peace and for Pontifical North American College seminarian Nick Nelson shapes to shoot as his team competes against the Pontifical Gregorian University during the final of the Clericus Cup football tournament in Rome. The Pontifical North American College won the game 3-0, winning the six-yearold tournament for the first time.

(Photo: Paul Haring, CNS)

Migrants and Travellers, about her experience of being trafficked into Italy and forced into prostitution.

“The Catholic Church has a huge role to play with 1,1 billion Catholics across the world. With their networks they can make [society] hostile to traffickers and be safe havens for victims,” she said.

Fr Pearson emphasised that people are being trafficked not only for sexual exploitation. “There is an increase in labour exploitation, where workers are employed under false pretences and do not get what they were promised.”

The Vatican meeting brought together ambassadors, bishops and representatives from religious orders, Caritas organisations and law enforcement agencies involved in fighting human trafficking.

Fr Pearson said there is definite action that the local Church can take: “We need to see an increase in advocacy, an increase in pastoral response and an increase in education.”

He said people need to know what to look for and who they can turn to when they think there might be a case of human trafficking. The role of the Church is not just to help victims reintegrate back into society, but the Church can also help prevent and identify organised crime.

The conference heard that the key to prevention is education, in which the Church can play a role.

Systems have already been put in place internationally. Scotland Yard has a new system of direct reporting where nongovernmental organisations and faith-based groups can notify police directly about suspected exploitation.

Fr Pearson also referred to the great work women religious in Europe are doing to help victims and identify traffickers.

According to a 2010 report issued by the National Prosecuting Authority, titled “Tsireledzani: Understanding the Dimensions of Human Trafficking in Southern Africa”, South Africa is an importer, exporter and place of transit in human trafficking. However, the largest proportion of trafficking is domestic, from rural areas to cities, for labour and sexual exploitation.

2

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

LOCAL

Catholic health care must work with govt

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

S

OME 73 people representing 33 organisations from six provinces met at Catholic Health Care Association of Southern Africa’s (Cathca) national conference to discuss the organisation’s future which “lies in partnering with government”.

At a time when there was no properly structured health care system in Southern Africa, the Catholic Church played a valuable and essential part in the provision of health care through its hospitals and clinics, said Loek Goemans, Cathca’s administrator.

But, “gradually, as governments established formal health systems, facility-based care became homeand-community-based care, with many dioceses and parishes running such programmes,” Ms Goemans said.

The administration said that because the Department of Health is once more getting involved in community health, “some serious self-assessment is needed by such organisations”.

She said health care organisations need to review their “congruence with community needs, duplication of efforts, availability

Members of Cathca met at the national conference during which the health care organisations committed themselves to working closely with government. of human resources and sources of future funding”.

She said the challenges currently facing Catholic health care in the region include the smaller pool of religious health professionals, with a resultant significant rise in running costs; the ongoing need to train lay staff in the Catholic

ethos; shrinking funds; and pressure from government to carry out abortions and to provide emergency contraception and artificial birth control.

“Religious congregations with Sisters running primary health clinics have to ask themselves about the sustainability of their

efforts in the long term, set against the desire to assist communities in caring for their sick, elderly and orphaned and the community’s own needs,” said Ms Goemans.

“Fresh attention has to be given to prevention of illness and disease, in conjunction with care and treatment, if Southern African countries are not to buckle under the heavy burdens of disease, such as HIV and Aids, tuberculosis, diabetes and heart disease.”

But despite the need to review health care, Ms Goemans said, there is also “a growing need for the Christ-driven service provided

by Catholic health care organisations to poor communities, while countries lack an adequate, compassionate and efficient health system”.

She said Cathca will focus its future efforts on providing its members with training in community health care, particularly in maternal and child health care and in organisational skills.

Ms Goemans said Cathca will also work towards developing good working relationships with government at national and provincial levels, and “to expand the scope of its HIV/Aids and tuberculosis work in line with the

South African government’s HIV/Aids and TB prevention, care and support programme”.

Ms Goemans said there was great value in the role that faithbased health facilities play in African health systems, especially in remote rural areas where they are often the only health provider.

In many instances the activities of the faith-based sector stretch beyond the mere provision of individual patient care to include public health community activities for the people for which they have taken responsibility.

She said the Catholic health care network is now a much more diverse and widespread network than it ever was in the past with 181 member organisations, representing a wide network of small faith-based health organisations across three nations.

“Cathca has been involved in both the re-drafting of state community health initiatives and the new Community Health Worker qualification, working with other major health NGOs to ensure that the voices of community-based organisations are heard and their many years of experience acknowledged.” She said working with government needs to continue.

Leading African theologian to tour SA STAFF REPORTER

A

HIGHLY reputed theologian from East Africa will give a lecture tour in South Africa this winter.

Fr Laurenti Magesa will be delivering the three-day Winter Living Theology series during July and August in Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg.

Fr Magesa’s topics will be on “The African Church and Contemporary African Reality”.

“These topics relate directly to Fr Magesa’s area of special interest as a theologian,” said Jesuit Father Peter Knox of the Jesuit Institute SA in Johannesburg.

“During his illustrious career, Fr

Magesa has published books on African moral traditions, enculturation, African religions, on evangelising in Africa, on interreligious dialogue in Africa, on democracy and reconciliation and women in Africa. He will speak on many of these topics and more during the Winter Living Theology programme,” Fr Knox said.

Fr Magesa was born in Tanzania, and was ordained priest in his home diocese of Musoma in 1974.

He has been a visiting lecturer at Maryknoll School of Theology in New York and in Xavier College in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as in Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

He has also worked in parishes in Tanzania, the United States and Canada.

At the moment he is professor of theology at the Hekima Jesuit School of Theology in Nairobi, Kenya.

“Fr Magesa is one of a rare breed who keeps an active involvement in pastoral work while being highly productive and respected in academic circles. This lends a practical edge to his theology which is always aimed at enhancing the dignity and identity of people as children of God in Africa,” Fr Knox said.

“Looking at crucial contemporary issues in Africa, Fr Magesa’s theology is aimed at liberating people from the ties that bind them. For example, his doctoral thesis at the University of St Paul in Ottawa, Canada, was a theologi-

cal assessment of Ujamaa Socialism in Tanzania. We will be able to hear how similar ideas can be applied in South Africa,” Fr Knox said.

The annual Winter Living Theology was originally established for the ongoing formation of priests and religious around the country, but it has become increasingly popular with laypeople who want to broaden their theological understanding.

The Winter Living Theology has the support of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. n For more information on the Winter Living Theology 2012, contact the Jesuit Institute on 011 482 4614 or admin@jesuitinstitute.org.za

Fr Laurenti Magesa from Tanzania will be delivering the three-day Winter Living Theology series in South Africa during July and August.

NEW FOR 2012

Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School Durban North Primary School Teaching Post: January 2013 Afrikaans – First Additional Language Grades 4 – 7

Applications are invited from experienced educators who possess appropriate qualifications, are registered with SACE and fit the following profile: Senior school trained educator (preferably a BEd Graduate/ BA Graduate & a PGCE) with recent experience teaching Afrikaans, Grades 4 – 7.

Extensive knowledge of the Intermediate school curricula.

Recent experience in an Independent school will be an advantage.

An appreciation of the School’s traditions and Catholic ethos.

Sound interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate effectively with learners, staff and parents.

Duties will include: Attendance at related workshops and parent interviews.

A full and active role in the co-curricular life of the school incl. extra-curricular activities, etc.

Failure to meet the advertised minimum requirements for the post will result in applicants automatically disqualifying themselves from consideration.

Applicants are required to fill in a covering information form which is available from Mrs Bennison, or it can be posted to you on request (Tel. 031-563-5390). You can email fatimacs@fatima.co.za for an electronic version of this form.

Detailed CV to be submitted with the information form to: The Principal, Our Lady of Fatima D.C. School, 155 Kenneth Kaunda Road (Northway),Durban North, 4051.

CLOSING DATE: Friday, 20 July 2012

CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE KING PILGRIMAGE TO MEDJUGORJE 28 AUGUST TO 7 SEPTEMBER Led by Rev Fr Shaun von Lillienfeld Cost from R14 250

Tel: (031) 266 7702 Fax: (031) 266 8982 Email: judyeichhorst@telkomsa.net

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

“It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins” (II Macc XII,46) Holy Mass will be celebrated on the first Sunday of each month in the All Souls’ chapel, Maitland, Cape Town at 2:30pm for all souls in purgatory and for all those buried in the Woltemade cemetery.

For further information, please contact St Jude Society, Box 22230, Fish Hoek, 7975 Telephone (021) 552-3850

Individual of Christian faith required to manage the development and promotion of Mount Carmel Centre, a formation centre for children, youth and adults in Aliwal North, Eastern Cape.

• • •

• • • • •

We are looking for an enthusiastic, self motivated person with: At least 2 years relevant experience Tertiary level of education Excellent oral and written communication skills Accounting, book-keeping experience Fundraising skills Excellent computer skills Full, clean driving license Fluent in English - knowledge of Xhosa would be an advantage

Accommodation available according to profile of individual selected.

Monthly salary range between R12000 and R15000.

Please post typed cover letter and CV to Mount Carmel Centre, Manager Application, PO Box 27, Aliwal North 9750 or apply online: www.catholic-aliwal.org/contact-us/vacancies/ Closing date for receipt of applications 10th June 2012

ON 576 AM JO’BURG & BEYOND

also on DStv audio channel 170 & streamed on www.radioveritas.co.za

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

3

How do you spell ‘bee’? Funding fails Jo’burg home

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

S

OUTH Africa’s first national Spelling Bee will launch this year, a concept which emerges from a realisation that something needs to be done to get South Africans excited about the education of their children from primary school level.

Ntsako Mkhabela, director of Miyela, the non-profit organisation behind the initiative, said the Spelling Bee is both educational and constructive for the country’s children. She said it is hoped the initiative will “pull South Africa together around the education of our children”.

Spelling Bees are popular spelling competitions around the world from Nigeria to the United States where children are challenged to study and refine their capacity to spell.

“We chose education as one of the primary areas where young people could start to realise their power and make a meaningful difference. It has become popular for South Africans to complain about the ‘crisis in education.’ We wanted young people to stop complaining in their solitary corners and instead come together and get their hands dirty to make a change,” the Miyela director said.

The NPO has been made up of a team of volunteers who were mostly unemployed graduates.

“These graduates felt that they were not being useful and they wanted to use their skills and energy to affect their communities positively,” said Ms Mkhabela.

The volunteers started working with high school learners as tutors.

“The aim is to give our students a full education, which not only focuses on the curriculum, but also encourages pupils to be reflective and active members of their communities. We proudly saw our first group of matrics graduate last year,” she said.

But it was during this time that Miyela noticed matric students lacking basic foundational language and numeracy skills. “As is the belief of Miyela, we saw it as our duty to do something to improve the situation,” said Ms Mkhabela.

The Spelling Bee was conceived to correct this situation. “This is an initiative aimed at engaging South Africa’s businesses, children, families, communities and churches.”

Ms Mkhabela said while learning happens in the classroom, the

L

Miyela, a non-profit organisation, will host South Africa’s first Spelling Bee. The concept emerged from a realisation that something needs to be done to get South Africans excited about the education of their children from primary school level. reality is that parents and the larger community have an equal responsibility to teach and take a role in the education of children.

“We want communities and churches to get involved in putting value to words and reading.”

The South African Spelling Bee is an English spelling competition for children between ages 9-14 or in Grades 4-8 in private, public and home schools.

“Every child is welcome to take the challenge to be the best speller for 2012,” said Ms Mkhabela. The competition takes place in stages from the district to the provincial level and will begin in Gauteng.

“At the heart of the Bee is the aim to pull communities together for the education of our children.

This will need every single one of us to help our children, encourage them and always be ready to offer the loudest cheer in their corner,” the Miyela director said.

The deadline for entrance to the Spelling Bee is May 31. Miyela aims to get more than 400 families in Gauteng to enter a child. Ms Mkhabela said the overall aim of the initiative is to improve literacy “one word at a time, one child at a time”. n For more information visit www.saspellingbee.com or call 082 5880 190

Tangney

Special Interest Tours CHRIST THE REDEEMER PILGRIMAGE Spiritual Director: Fr Michael Connell SDB

NOAH OLD AGE HOMES

We can use your old clothing, bric-a-brac, furniture and books for our shop which is opening soon.

Help us to create an avenue to generate much needed funds for our work with the elderly.

Contact Ian Veary on 021 447 6334 www.noah.org.za

29 October – 9 November 2012 COST: R 16 875.00* Holy Land: Galilee. Jerusalem.

Bethlehem.

Magdala: New discovery. Masada.

Dead Sea Jordan: Mt Nebo.

Authentic Baptismal site.

Istanbul: Hagia Sophia. Hippodrome.

Grand Bazaar.

Dinner: Fish restaurant on the Bosphorus.

Tel: (021) 683 0300 Fax: 086 691 9308 Email: karis@tangneytours.co.za

ITTLE Eden, the home for intellectually disabled children in Johannesburg has made an urgent appeal to donors following a shortfall in government subsidies.

Staff at the Edenvale-based home said government non-payment of funds is “putting our children’s future in jeopardy. It’s going to take support from every one of our friends and supporters to avert this crisis”.

The home’s chief executive officer, Lucy Slaviero, said the financial predicament was the result of outstanding subsidies over the period of three months to “which our children are entitled from the Gauteng Department of Health”.

While part of the outstanding R3,4 million was paid in early April, the outstanding amount may be resolved only in June, the home’s CEO said.

Hanneli Esterhuysen, the home’s publicist, said the relief was only short-lived as the home has been informed by the department that they cannot guarantee monthly subsidies anymore. In addition to the government shortfall, anticipated funding from the

National Lottery has also not yet materialised.

“We don’t know when, or if, Little Eden might be paid in the future to meet the children’s need for food, nursing care and special therapy,” said Ms Slaviero.

The partial payment received is not enough to cover running costs until the end of June. The home currently cares for 300 children and adults in the community.

“Little Eden owes its existence to the generosity of friends and supporters, and that’s why I’m appealing once again for your support in these extraordinary circumstances,” Ms Slaviero said.

Ms Esterhuysen said there were many organisations in a similar situation. “Other non-profits providing vital services to those with physical and mental disabilities have also been affected. What will happen to those in need of special care? These people are the most vulnerable amongst us and most of them cannot even voice their own needs,” she said.

“After 45 years of established love and care for our children, I implore your urgent assistance— financial or otherwise—as well as prayers, at this time,” said Ms Slaviero.

A boy from Little Eden in Johannesburg shows off his painted face at the home’s annual fete. The home has made an urgent appeal to donors following a shortfall in government subsidies. n For more information on how to donate visit: www.littleeden.org.za or call 011 609 7246

Marriage Encounters heads to Limpopo STAFF REPORTER

T

HE Gauteng Marriage Encounter team spread their wings to Limpopo and presented a Marriage Encounter weekend at Mater Dei Pastoral Centre.

“Eleven married couples were encountered and experienced the joy that results from placing their marital relationship at the centre of their lives, focusing on God’s desire for our marriage which is to experience the unity of our sacra-

mental covenant by living intimately and responsibly,” said Rose De Sousa of Marriage Encounter.

Giving feedback, one participating couple wrote: “You don’t have any idea the joy you brought to us. We have discovered that sometimes we were taking each other for granted and we are so grateful to God that he made it possible for us to be part of the weekend encounter team.

“We always thought our marriage was perfect and that we were

on the right track, but the weekend was an eye-opener on some of the issues we thought did not matter in our lives.

“We feel like newlyweds it is so amazing.”

Gauteng Marriage Encounter is planning two more weekends this year, June 29 to July 1 and November 2-4. n For more information or to book contact Rose and Tony De Sousa at bookingsme@gmail.com or call 072 539 8298

Supported by the SA Catholic Bishops’ Conference

4

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

Be Christians, pope tells towns in Tuscany

C

ELEBRATING the 1 000th anniversary of a Tuscan town founded to be a model of Gospel peace and justice, Pope Benedict said Christians today must find ways to infuse their cities and nations with Gospel values while welcoming and respecting people with other beliefs.

In his evening visit to Sansepolcro, named after the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, the pope urged the townspeople to use the anniversary to emulate Ss Arcanus and Aegidius, who established the town after returning from Jerusalem.

The challenge facing the people of Sansepolcro now is to take the city’s founding ideals as a Christ-

ian town and harmonise them with acceptance of others and “the incorporation of different cultures and sensibilities” as the population becomes more diverse, the pope told the townspeople huddled under umbrellas in a town square.

The pope had arrived in Sansepolcro in the midst of a rain storm that forced him to cancel a visit to La Verna, site of a Franciscan shrine marking the place where St Francis of Assisi received the stigmata.

Pope Benedict had started the day in Arezzo, celebrating Mass in a park with an estimated 30 000 people, including Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Tuscany was the birthplace and

heart of the Italian Renaissance, a humanist movement that led to a flourishing of art, music and literature. Tuscans today, the pope said, have to ask themselves “what vision of the human person they are able to propose to new generations.”

The Gospel calls Christians “to live God’s love toward everyone” with solidarity, care for the weakest members of society and respect for the dignity of each person, he said.

Pope Benedict said giving witness to God’s love by caring for the weakest must include defending human life from conception to natural death and protecting the family.”—CNS

HOT POT PAINT AND HARDWARE

J.M.J

(PTY) LTD 46, 12th Street, Springs, 1559 Tel: (011) 362 3071, (011) 362 4682/3, (011) 812 1655/6/7

BRANCHES: Springs

(011) 362 3071

Vereeniging

(016) 427 5525

Alberton

(011) 907 8676

Benoni

(011) 422 2331

Heidelberg

(016) 349 5886

Boksburg

(011) 892 5186

Randburg

(011) 678 2436

Lephalale (Ellisras) Mike or Annette (014) 763 3147

STOCKISTS OF: Paint, Hardware, Geysers, Rollup garage doors, Sink tops, Bosch Power Tools.

ALL AT THE VERY BEST PRICES! Looking to open franchises in ALL areas.

If interested please contact Nero or Gerald on 083 4606650

FRANCISCAN NARDINI SISTERS I shall always strive for the one goal: For JESUS CHRIST to be my centre.

Pope Benedict visits the cathedral of St Donato in Arezzo, Italy, during his visit to two towns in Tuscany. (Photo: Maria Grazia Picciarella/CNS)

S. Sudan peace plan must work

BY BRONWEN DACHS

C

ATHOLIC and Anglican bishops in South Sudan have urged all parties to immediately implement the resolutions of a peace accord signed this month.

“The people and government of South Sudan desperately want peace,” said 14 bishops representing the Catholic and Episcopal churches of South Sudan following a meeting in Yei, South Sudan. They said the resolutions in the accord, signed by leaders of the six communities of Jonglei state, deal “comprehensively with many of the key issues”, set deadlines and promise sanctions if they are not met.

“We welcome the prohibition of inflammatory and hostile propaganda and insistence on the governments’ obligation to protect their citizens,” they said.

Late-April aerial bombardments, ground-force skirmishes and especially the increasingly hostile rhetoric of the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan had

religious leaders worried about the possibility of all-out war.

The key problems are conflicting claims over oil revenues and the lack of a firm, internationally recognised border between Sudan and South Sudan, which became independent last July.

The bishops said they do not believe that “lasting peace will come unless all parties act in good faith. Trust must be built, and this involves honesty, however painful that may be”.

In January, after a disagreement over the cost of transporting oil from landlocked South Sudan through Sudan, South Sudan shut down its oil production. Both nations have suffered economically from that decision.

The bishops acknowledged that the shutdown was popular with the people of South Sudan, but expressed concern “that stakeholders, both domestic and international, were not adequately consulted, and that the economic impact of the shut-

down was not fully appreciated.”

They called on the government of South Sudan “to ensure that basic services and good governance are delivered” despite economic problems.

There has been much building of roads and other infrastructure in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, since independence, said John Ashworth, an adviser to the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, which includes the Catholic Church, and member of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute in Pretoria.

“Although development is slower in rural areas, there has been slow but steady progress,” he said. But current problems due to the oil shutdown and the Sudanese government’s “military adventurism are slowing things down now”.

Apart from Mr Ashworth, the Southern African Church was represented at the meeting by Fr Victor Phalana, vicar-general of Pretoria, and Ashley GreenThompson and —CNS

‘Kissing pope’ ad row settled out of court

BY CAROL GLATZ

T

HE Vatican and the Italian fashion house Benetton reached an out-of-court settlement after the Vatican took legal action against an ad campaign that depicted Pope Benedict kissing a Muslim leader.

The settlement included the fashion company making an unspecified donation to a Catholic charity and a promise to stop the image from being used by third parties, including being displayed on the Internet, a Vatican statement said.

The campaign, titled “Unhate”, was unveiled on November 16 and featured doctored images of supposedly antagonistic world leaders in kissing scenes.

One of the images was of Pope Benedict embracing Sheik

Ahmad el-Tayeb, president of alAzhar University in Cairo, who had announced the suspension of dialogue with the Vatican in 2011. A large poster of the image had been hung not far from the Vatican, at the bridge of Castel Sant’Angelo.

The Vatican condemned the “completely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in the context of a publicity campaign for commercial ends”.

Shortly afterward, the company withdrew the image from circulation and the website of the Unhate Foundation.

The Vatican then took legal action against the Benetton Group to block the doctored image’s continued circulation, including in the mass media, in Italy and in other countries.

“The Holy See didn’t want to ask for financial compensation,

but instead wished to obtain moral compensation by [Benetton] recognising the harm caused and to assert its determination to protect, even though legal means, the image of the pope,” said Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ. Benetton agreed to the Vatican’s request that the fashion house make a “limited but effective” donation to the Catholic Church’s charitable work.

Benetton also issued an apology, reiterating its dismay for having “upset the feelings of His Holiness Benedict XVI and the faithful.”

Other images in the campaign portray US President Barack Obama kissing Chinese leader Hu Jintao and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embracing Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority.—CNS

Catholic orchestra moves Jewish audience

T

Blessed Paul Joseph Nardini

P/Bag X9309 Vryheid 3100

For more information, contact the Vocation Team at PO Box 194 Wasbank 2920

PO Box 12 Nkandla 3855

Tel: 034 981 6158 Fax: 034 983 2012

034 651 1444 034 651 1096

035 833 0033 035 833 0317

E-mail franasi@bundunet.co.za

E-mail: nardini@trustnet.co.za

E-mail: nardinis@mweb.co.za

HE orchestra and choir of a Catholic ecclesial group played a groundbreaking symphony concert as a way of fostering dialogue with Jews.

The Orchestra and Choir of the Neocatechumenal Way performed A Symphonic Homage Prayer to the Victims of the Shoa, the Jewish Holocaust in New York’s Avery Fisher Hall.

The audience of about 3 000 included more than 30 rabbis, 12 bishops and several survivors of the Holocaust and their families.

The symphony interlaces the Word of God with music, through the reading of the prophet Ezekiel, the Gospel of

Luke and the background of the symphony The Suffering of the Innocent, reported the Romebased Catholic news agency Zenit.

The symphony was composed by Kiko Argüello, initiator of the Neocatechumenal Way. The musical composition was born in face of “the reality of the scandal of so many innocents who today bear the sins of others”, Mr Argüello told Zenit.

The “symphonic-catechetic celebration” is aimed to build bridges with the Jewish people.

It has already been performed in places such as Madrid, Paris, Galilee, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

One of the most intense moments of the New York evening was the performance of the prayer of the “Shema Israel”, as the audience, many of whom were in tears, accompanied the singing, Zenit reported.

The celebration ended with a performance from a prestigious Jewish choir and a prayer in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

The Neocatechumenal Way is represented in 105 countries. It has been active in South Africa since 1986, and is currently present in the archdioceses of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, and the dioceses of Witbank and Oudtshoorn.

INTERNATIONAL

‘Well-formed faith makes defending it easier’

BY CAROL GLATZ

A

RECENT call for the resignation of top officials at the Pontifical Academy for Life stems from some members’ concern that inviting speakers who oppose Church teaching in their scientific practice confuses the faithful and compromises the academy’s commitment to the truth.

Any kind of “neutral scientific description” of practices opposed to Church teaching have “absolutely no place in our academy,” wrote Joseph Seifert, an academy member and founding rector of the International Academy of Philosophy in Liechtenstein.

However, a Vatican cardinal who has been leading a global initiative engaging Catholics, atheists and agnostics in dialogue said when Catholics are wellformed in their faith they have nothing to fear from listening to opposing views.

It’s a shaky or fundamentalist grasp of faith that sparks suspicion or fear of the other, said Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. The cardinal spearheads and coordinates the “Courtyard of the Gentiles” project, which seeks to promote discussions between Christians and nonbelievers on themes as diverse as art, spirituality and bioethics.

“Oftentimes this fear [of dialogue] stems from the fact that the person doesn’t feel capable of defending or justifying his own reasons, hence he doesn’t want to listen to the other.”

Cardinal Ravasi (Photo: CNS) An obstinate fundamentalist attitude, open hostility or blatant indifference are recipes for failure no matter how famous or accomplished the expert, he said.

T

he disagreement at the life academy comes from the reaction of a few members to a workshop held in February on the causes, prevention and treatment of infertility.

Mr Seifert wrote a sharply critical six-page open letter to the life academy’s president, Bishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, and distributed to media outlets, saying the academy’s directory board should resign.

He said there was too much emphasis at the infertility workshop on “a neutral scientific discussion” of infertility treatments rather than scientific presentations that were “primarily from an ethical and magisterial viewpoint”.

Fr Scott Borgman, an academy official, told Catholic News Service that the academy was created for scientific research to further “the promotion and defence of human life from conception to natural death”.

Firmly rooted in “the stability of knowing what the magisterium teaches”, the academy also wants to be aware of advances in scientific research even if they do not conform to Church teaching, he said.

Mgr Michel Schooyans, an academy member and retired professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, said that dialogue with people who don’t agree with Church teaching at Vatican-sponsored events confuses the faithful about what the Church believes.

Asked whether he believed such a situation could damage the Church or would confuse Catholics, Cardinal Ravasi said: “No, that’s not true.”

However, Catholics need to be well-formed first, he said, hence the importance of the Year of Faith to strengthen people’s understanding of what their faith teaches.

“When you are well-formed, you can listen to other people’s reasons,” he said, so solid, serious catechesis goes hand-in-hand with respectful dialogue.

A solid Catholic identity— whether as a layperson, a religious or as a Catholic institution—provides the needed foundation for confronting differing opinions and also for critiquing views, since listening doesn’t always mean agreeing, he said.— CNS

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

READ SA’S CATHOLIC WEEKLY – ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! Read The Southern Cross on-line or on your iPad, exactly as it appears in print, on the day it appears – Anywhere in the world.

Only R291,50 a year!

Or receive the print edition in the post every week in SA for only R416 a year

www.scross.co.za/subscribe

Or e-mail Avril at subscriptions@scross.co.za

SPECIAL GIFT FOR DIGITAL SUBSCRIBERS: FREE EBOOK (PDF or ePub) of Any Given Sunday, Owen Williams’ anthology of Southern Cross columns

Pre-school to Grade 12

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL FOR BOYS AND GIRLS YOUR CHILD CAN:

* be educated in an English-medium Christian school * receive affordable private education * mix with boys and girls in small classes * never need to change schools * enjoy school life in an atmosphere of love, care and mutual respect

SSPX might split on road back to Rome

BY FRANCIS X ROCCA

T

HE leader of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics, spoke in unusually hopeful terms about a possible reconciliation with Rome, but acknowledged significant internal resistance to such a move, which he said might lead to the group splitting apart.

Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general of the SSPX, spoke to Catholic News Service at the society’s headquarters in Switzerland about the latest events in more than two years of efforts at reconciliation with the Vatican.

The society effectively broke with Rome in 1988, when its founder, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ordained four bishops without the permission of Pope John Paul II in a protest against modernising changes that followed the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65.

In April the society responded to a “doctrinal preamble” stipulating the group’s assent to certain Church teachings, presumably including elements of the teaching of Vatican II, as

Bishop Fellay at the SSPX headquarters in Menzingen, Switzerland. (Photo: Paul Haring, CNS) a prerequisite for reconciliation.

The society is hardly united behind its leader’s position, however. In April, according to a letter, the society’s other three bishops warned Bishop Fellay that the Vatican’s apparent offer to establish the group as a personal prelature—a status currently held only by Opus Dei— constituted a “trap”, and urged him to say no.

“There are some discrepancies in the society,” Bishop Fellay said. “I cannot exclude that there might be a split.”

But the bishop defended his generally favourable stance towards the Vatican’s offer

against the objections of his peers.

“I think that the move of the Holy Father—because it really comes from him—is genuine.

There doesn’t seem to be any trap. So we have to look into it very closely and if possible move ahead.”

He cautioned, however, that the two sides still have not arrived at an agreement, and that unspecified guarantees from the Vatican are still pending. He said the guarantees are related to the society’s traditional liturgical practices and teachings, among other areas.

“The thing is not yet done,” the bishop said. “We need some reasonable understanding that the proposed structure and conditions are workable. We are not going to do suicide there, that’s very clear.”

Bishop Fellay insisted the impetus for a resolution comes from Pope Benedict XVI. “Personally, I would have wished to wait for some more time to see things clearer,” he said, “but once again it really appears that the Holy Father wants it to happen now”.—CNS

World’s oldest bishop dies at 106

T

HE world’s oldest Catholic bishop, Vietnamese Bishop Antoine Nguyen Van Thien, died on May 13 in France two months after his 106th birthday.

The former bishop of Vinh Long, Vietnam, celebrated the 80th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood in February. He was ordained a bishop in 1961 and he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in 1962-65.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said that after seven years as bishop of Vinh Long, in 1968 at the age of 62, he was allowed to resign after “a serious illness”.

He lived in Nice, France, since 1985.

The website catholic-hierarchy.org lists the next oldest bishop as Francis Hong Yong-ho of Pyongyang, North Korea. The Vatican yearbook still lists him as the diocese’s bishop, but says he has “disappeared”. He had

been arrested by the communists in 1949. If he is alive, he would be 105.

Retired Bishop Gery Leuliet of Amiens, France, is next at 102.

The oldest South African bishop, at 90, is Archbishop Heinrich (Henry) Karlen CMM, bishop of Mthatha from 196874, then archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe from 1974-97.

The next oldest is Bishop Daniel Verstraete OMI, retired of Klerksdorp, who will turn 88 on July 31.

5

Corner: Cussonia Ave & Pretoria Street, Pretoria Tel 012 804 1801 Fax 012 804 8781 Email admissions@cbcpretoria.co.za

6

LEADER PAGE

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Accepting truth personally Reframing the message ARIO Compagnoni (“A non- hisbelieve. knowledge but still they did not M believer’s opinion”, April 18) scribe to the Church’s teachReligion seemed to them to be a N March Cardinal Christoph refers: Editor: Günther Simmermacher

I

Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, was asked to arbitrate in a dispute in an Austrian parish which had elected to its pastoral council a man living in a registered same-sex union.

Cardinal Schönborn, a protégé of Pope Benedict, endorsed the man’s election. In a later homily he restated the Church’s teachings on homosexuality, but noted that many Catholics “don’t live according to [God’s] master plan”, either because of inadequate formation or because they “honestly believed that they were simply unable to follow God’s master plan”.

The Church’s teaching of sexuality, he said, must be communicated through an approach that is “neither rigorist nor lax, but in which the law is completed by love”.

Throughout the world, the Catholic hierarchy has energetically communicated its teachings and opposition to the legalisation of same-sex marriages. In doing so, it has emphasised the uniqueness of marriage as being the exclusive and lifelong union of one man and one woman that is open to procreation.

Compromising this definition, accordingly, would undermine not only the sanctity of marriage, but also pose a social threat against it.

This message, it seems, is not being embraced by the faithful, according to poll results in the United States, where the question of gay marriage currently is a hot topic.

A poll conducted in March by the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service found that 59% of Catholics support same-sex marriage, higher than the overall figure of 52%, with 36% of Catholics opposed. It is apparent that the Church is failing to persuade the faithful of its case.

As western society becomes increasingly tolerant towards homosexuality, so the numbers of openly homosexual men and women increase.

Many Catholics are faced with the choice of rejecting or embracing their gay children or friends.

Those who embrace them may well feel conflicted by the Church’s message, or by its sometimes forceful tone.

Some Catholics, presumably many of the 59%, may be turned off by what they perceive to be the belligerence of bishops who label those who do not sub-

ings—and who as non-Catholics are not required to—as enemies of the family. Especially those Catholics who have gay family members might feel that such rhetoric is also making a severe judgment of people whom they love.

When 59% of Catholics state their opposition to their own Church’s position, then the Church clearly is not being heard or understood. Self-evidently, the message must be communicated more effectively to be persuasive.

The faithful would benefit from a message which would address questions such as these: • How can we explain to our homosexual brothers and sisters and their families that the Church’s opposition to gay marriage (which is backed by the Catechism, 2357), and the way it is sometimes expressed, does not compromise the Catechism’s teaching that homosexuals must be treated “with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” and not be discriminated against (2358)?

• How exactly is the institution of marriage threatened by the emergence of same-sex marriage, and how will that affect heterosexual marriage?

• What is the Church’s advice to same-sex couples—especially non-Catholics who are not bound by the Church’s teachings—who would like to commit to one another while enjoying the same legal benefits as heterosexual couples?

These are complex questions that require comprehensive and sensitive answers, not slogans or soundbites.

It may be that the 59% of US Catholics who do not believe the Church’s case against samesex marriage require catechesis on the subject. Their great number, higher than the general population, may well indicate a teaching failure by the Church.

Commenting on Cardinal Schönborn’s pastoral decision in Austria, Professor Rocco Buttiglione, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, wrote in the Italian daily Il Foglio that the Church’s doctrine on same-sex attraction must not “be accompanied by an attitude of human closure or hostility towards homosexuals”.

This, he wrote, “is the lesson that we have these days from Vienna”.

It is a lesson worth learning.

There are three main obstacles to belief which operate within the will: not wanting truth; not activating truth we already have so that more will come to us; resisting truth because it threatens the wrong habits we have come to love as portions of ourselves.

Our Divine Lord, who is truth itself, could not convince the Pharisees and certain sinners to believe that he was the Son of God. They were intellectually confounded by

Our faith journey

M

ANY thanks to Mario Compagnoni for his honesty and humility in sharing his crisis of faith, even in the very existence of God, with his fellow Catholics.

How many of us attend Mass, week after week, with the same problems regarding our “belief system”, but through pride and apathy do not share with others what is merely a routine act, imposed on us since childhood, perhaps, and bearing no fruit? The Lord prefers that we be either cold or hot in our faith, rather than lukewarm. So our correspondent is in good company.

St Paul is clear that God’s eternal power and divine nature can be clearly seen and understood from creation around us (Romans 1:20).

We can also take great consolation in our Lord’s words to Thomas the doubler: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe”.

Often do we have a need to cry out: “Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief!”

St Peter was clear, on the day of Pentecost, that “our sons and daughters will prophesy, young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams… The Lord will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below” (Acts 2:17-19)—all intended to strengthen us in our faith journey.

The Shroud of Turin, which has long been venerated as the burial cloth of our Lord, has the miraculous imprint of a Semitic man bearing the clear marks of crucifixion describing Our Lord’s passion in the New Testament.

Recent scientific tests have shown traces of myrrh, aloes and other botanical features which indicate that the origin of the shroud can be traced to the area around Jerusalem in Palestine, at the time of Christ.

The Virgin Mary, true to her role as our spiritual Mother (see John 19:26-27), has appeared countless times down the Christian centuries

KRUGER PARK VIVA SAFARIS (Member of SATSA)

SCHEDULED DAILY SAFARIS TO KRUGER PARK Fly-in and overland tours. See www.vivasafaris.com

Reservations:

to strengthen our faith and to remind us to “do whatever he tells us” (John 2:5).

One of the most striking incidents occurred at Guadalupe in Mexico when Mary appeared to Juan Diego in December 1531. In subsequent years eight million pagans were converted to Christianity through this miracle.

There are many other apparitions on record where Our Lady has come down from heaven to strengthen her children in faith.

What more powerful testimonies can we have from the Mother of our creator and redeemer God, proving to us that God is no “invention” and that faith is a gift he offers us so that we may one day enjoy the fullness of life in his presence.

John Lee, Johannesburg

Grace of faith

S

IGNOR Mario, how is it possible to think that we created God? We don’t need to be super-intelligent to see the beauty of nature and the perfect creation of our own bodies.

If you think that man has created God, then has man made it possible to create the beautiful nature that surrounds us? And why then, when we get earthquakes and all other natural disasters, no human being is able to stop it from happening? We are only able to know these things before disaster strikes, but that is all.

I am an old person and probably you will think of me as an old-fashioned believer, and you are most probably right. I am a believer in Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy.

The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

God. To believe is a grace from God. He loves each and every one of us unconditionally; he even loves those who don’t believe in him. He gives us the grace even when it is our last second in life to say “God, forgive me”.

You mentioned in your letter that you went to Church. It doesn’t matter if you attended to show slight criticism, the fact remains that you went to church.

Maybe you don’t believe, maybe you could try and open your heart to know God, even if it is only for curiosity. Try to speak to him, explain all your doubts, your anger, your resentments and all your emotions. He is a good listener and who knows what could happen?

I hope from the bottom of my heart, that you will see his light and receive the grace of faith.

Loretta Apostoli, Cape Town

Support religious

I

AM angry, disgusted and sad at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s reprimand of women religious in the United States.

I have to believe that this latest action is a form of scape-goating.

The Church faces a massive crisis in the ordained priestly ministry worldwide, and instead of focusing on this issue the Vatican simply points fingers elsewhere.

It seems to me that not only the religious women of the United States but also those in the whole world have shown eminently to be “those who through their word (and deeds) come to faith in me” an integral part of Jesus’ compassionate prayer.

According to The Tablet there are 57 000 women religious in the US. According to CARA the number of priests in the US in 2011 was less than 39 500. What does that say to you and to me? Suffice to say that these facts make it primarily about fear of loss of control.

Rosemary Gravenor, Durban

Tony Wyllie & Co. Catholic Funeral Home

Personal and Dignified 24-hour service 469 Voortrekker Rd, Maitland Tel: 021 593 8820 48 Main Rd, Muizenberg Tel: 021 788 3728 Member of the NFDA

Viva Safaris is engaged with 4 projects aimed at the upliftment of the Acornhoek community, including the COMBONI MISSIONARIES’ OUTSTATION

www.volunteersafaris.co.za

thing to be discussed and debated as if it were impersonal. Though God can be discovered by study, instruction, and reading, these alone will not bring one to God. There must also be a willingness to accept truth personally.

Within each of us there lives the ego and the I. An example of the ego is reading The Southern Cross during the Easter homily. The I is our unique personality made in the image and likeness of God. If we

attempt to live the ego and the I simultaneously we suffer inner dissatisfaction.

Our Lord told us that if we wish to save our life we must lose it. He was stating the psychological truth that if we lose our ego we shall find the I. As the ego dies, the I is born, and as the I surrenders itself freely to God revealed in Jesus Christ, life finds a new centre in him. Thus the I becomes secondary and we say in the Our Father “Thy will be done”.

The ego never loves God for it is its own God. Mario, I implore you to allow the ego to become secondary and open yourself to God. He will listen.

Dominic Sam, Port Elizabeth

Father Xico with partially completed church building

082 450 9930 Trevor 082 444 7654 Piero 082 506 9641 Anthony

PERSPECTIVES

Why Christians are a ‘chosen nation’

T

HERE are three things that normally distinguish a nation from other nations: its Constitution, its national anthem and its flag.

The Constitution is the law that determines how the citizens are governed and what their rights and obligations are. The national anthem is the song that is sung at every important occasion to signify the citizens’ loyalty and patriotism, while the national flag is the symbol that is raised high to signify the identity of the particular nation and to distinguish it from the identity symbol of any other nation.

In today’s world, Christians do not realise that they are a true nation with a set of symbols that distinguish them from any other nation. Because we live in a world dominated by secular values, we can easily forget that we are a real nation with national symbols.

Our Constitution as Christians is the Bible; our national anthem is the Creed that we say or sing every Sunday at Mass; and our flag is the Cross.

Just as you can identify, say, a South African government building or embassy anywhere in South Africa or in the world by the presence of the South African flag, so also can you tell the presence of a Christian community by the presence of the Cross on a building.

The idea of the Christian community as a nation is not just fanciful way of describing the People of God. It is a key aspect of the apostle Peter’s idea of what a Christian community should be.

Peter was writing to Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor when, in his First Letter, he described them and all Christians as a nation. What was important for Peter was not just that Christians had an identity, but that they were a nation with intrinsic characteristics that distinguished them from other nations.

First and foremost, they were to be holy. They had been called by the Holy One of Israel, and like him, they had to

be holy: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

Second, they had to love one another, and they had to love one another because they had been born again in the Spirit, “not of perishable seed, but of imperishable”. And without a doubt one of the distinguishing characteristics of the early Christians is that they loved one another so visibly that the rest of the world could not help commenting: “See how these Christians love one another!”

T

he early Christians reflected God’s love because they had tasted the goodness of God , and, like new-born babes, they craved for pure spiritual milk , and according to Peter, had to rid them-

The cross is our national flag; the Creed is our national anthem; and the Bible our Constitution. (Photo: Nancy Wiechec, CNS)

Let’s set the Holy Spirit free

T

HERE are times when we face the dangers of compromising our faith: by trying to make ourselves more acceptable, by speaking less about the things that make people uncomfortable.

So here I am talking of a Pentecostal approach to our faith, using the charisms of the Spirit, and in particular tongues and prophecy: what is called the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

While the fruits of the Spirit are accepted, the gifts of God’s Spirit are rejected, preventing the gifts of the Spirit from being utilised in our churches.

We suppress our Pentecostal approach and try and control it, when we should let God take control and do whatever he wants.

We make the mistake of putting a filtering system in place to protect people against things that are not from God, but also risk taking away the impact we feel when God speaks his word spontaneously through an anointed prophet.

It is just as wrong to limit the Holy Spirit’s freedom to speak as it is to accept everything without any testing and dis-

cernment. No one has the right to suppress the Spirit of God from working in and through his anointed. It would be like telling God what to do, and directing the steps he should take.

We are called to be charismatic and prophetic, and if the gifts of the Holy Spirit are lost, so will God’s supernatural power to work in and through our Church.

We are all given different gifts to work together as one, for God’s vision

Young women pray during a Catholic Charismatic Renewal event.

RELAUNCH Prior to the special Hope&Joy sms SERIES, readers of The Southern Cross might have subscribed to the REDEMPTORIST sms SERVICE

To opt out, sms STOP CATHOLIC to 31222. customer care +27 21 702 3333

selves of all malice and deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander (1 Peter 2:1-3).

Because the food they craved was spiritual, they as a community were more than a nation that is identifiable merely in terms of its physical structures and its symbols and sacred documents. They were, instead, being built into a “spiritual house” whose foundation was the capstone, Jesus Christ.

And what was their purpose? Their purpose was “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God”, and to conduct themselves in such a way that even those who accused them of doing wrong “may see your good deeds and glorify God”.

We are all used to the idea of the Israelites as the Chosen People. With the coming of Christ, a new nation was born, one whose nationality cuts across all normal national, ethnic and racial boundaries.

Peter was moved to wax lyrical in his commendation of the Christian community as the new Chosen Nation: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

From this we can see that it is a privilege to be a Christian. We are an especially chosen race; but being a chosen race comes with a big responsibility— the obligation to bring others to share the privilege of being children of God. Religious and laity alike, all those baptised in the name of Jesus form part of a consecrated nation, a holy priesthood called to give glory to God and to lead others to his wonderful light.

But are we all aware of our true identity and obligations?

Catherine de Valence

Point of Reflection

and plan for our Church to come to life.

Without this acceptance and connection with one another, we can prevent God’s will from being done.

We need to make sure that the charisms of the Holy Spirit are not stopped from being used, because we are unwilling to step out in faith and take risks. It’s our responsibility to preserve the prophetic Spirit of the Charismatic Renewal.

When we are called to be a prophetic people we must remain faithful to that call, and the Church must accept and support that call. The supernatural power evident when our words and actions are prophetic brings people faceto-face with God’s truth and confirms his plans and purpose for our Church.

This is why our charism is so much needed in our Church today.

When we do our part, we can safely leave everything else in God’s hands. We are many parts, but part of one body.

This is the essence of our Church.

576 AM in Jo’burg & beyond also on DStv audio channel 170

also streamed on radioveritas.ndstream.net 021 531 0550 086 628 4499

7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

Christian Leadership

now on

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY To reactivate or initiate the subscription to the Redemptorists’ THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, sms the word CATHOLIC to 31222 to receive an inspirational DAILY message for only R7 per week.

Emmanuel Ngara

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

Our Bread of life General Intention: That believers may recognise in the Eucharist the living presence of the Risen One who accompanies them in daily life.

HE intention immediately puts us in mind of the phrase “food for the journey”, padkos in the local idiom. Those who follow Jesus on the Way must find nourishment, and it is the one who calls himself the Bread of Life who provides that food in his very person.

This Bread for the journey of our Christian life is prefigured in the account of the Exodus. First we have the unleavened bread which is baked in preparation for the dramatic moment of making the break from slavery. Next there is the manna which sustained them on the trek through the wilderness.

This experience of God-given sustenance in the history of Israel speaks to us of freedom. The Lord sums up the message in the gospels when he reminds us that humankind does not live solely on the physical food of bread, but on every word issuing from the mouth of God. That word is found in the Eucharist and it comes in two forms: the biblical word which we hear in liturgical proclamation and which is broken for us by the preacher so that we might appreciate and digest it better; and the Incarnate Word himself, who has come among us as one of us, who has suffered, died and is risen, and who continues to give himself in the sacrament.

It is with such food, the divine presence in the living biblical word and the risen Word really present in person that we can set out daily with confidence on the next leg of life’s journey, no matter how daunting it may be.

T

Converting Europe Missionary Intention: That Christians in Europe may rediscover their true identity and participate with greater enthusiasm in the proclamation of the Gospel.

T’S interesting that we have another missionary intention about Europe. It indicates how anxious Pope Benedict is about the re-evangelising of Catholicism’s historic heartland.

The statistics are not good; even in traditionally Catholic Portugal a recent bishops’ conference poll showed a 7% decline in Catholic affiliation.

The missionary intention also echoes the controversy about the Constitution of the European Union and whether this self-avowedly secular organisation (which ironically includes some member countries with national churches) should make reference to the continent’s Christian origins.

The tussle was about reading history. Should modern Europe be seen as a secular society rooted in the French Revolution or more as a religious culture flowing from the Christendom of the Middle Ages with its Christian intellectual and spiritual traditions? And if so, should the Jewish and Muslim contributions also be mentioned?

More recent European history is also significant, particularly for Catholics. Some of the prime movers of the European Union were post-war Catholic politicians like Robert Schumann, whose hope of building a lasting European peace sprang partly from their Christian convictions including Catholic social teaching.

In the end a compromise was reached in which the European Constitution referred to the “religious and humanist inheritance” of the European continent.

This did not particularly impress the pope apparently, who asked German chancellor Angela Merkel, daughter of a Lutheran pastor, to intervene in the matter. She was unsuccessful in getting a specific reference to Christianity.

The intention implies that in order to live out a religious faith, we need to inculturate it. This can be difficult if the surrounding culture is the kind of secularism that would like to squeeze faith out of the public square.

We therefore pray for our fellow believers in the EC that they may find imaginative ways of being an effective leaven in the dough of contemporary secular European culture.

I

ATTORNEYS

l

NOTARIES l CONVEYANCERS For personal and professional attention

Please allow us to help you with · Conveyancing and all Property Transactions · Estate and Financial Planning · Wills, Trusts and Deceased Estates · Property Management and Letting · Debt Counselling

Call Shari or Sean on 011 361 6050

www.ohagan.co.za

8

COMMUNITY

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

Old Pretoria Monastery parishioner Mary Bishop celebrated her 90th birthday at Nazareth House in Pretoria. Mrs Bishop has been a Southern Cross subscriber for more than 40 years. She is pictured with Margaret de Wet, Chantal Aucamp and baby Marjolijn who represent the first-borns of the four generations of her family. (Submitted by Clare Bower)

A graduation ceremony was held for six post-graduate students of St Joseph’s Theological Institute who received their degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Since 1996 St Joseph’s has had a post-graduate agreement with the University of Natal, now UKZN. Gathered to celebrate their achievements are: (from left) Sue Rakoczy IHM, Joseph Mukuna SCJ (MTh), Sally Inman-Bamber (MTh), Paul Decock OMI, Sylvester David OMI (PhD and president of St Joseph’s), Catherine Siyali HC (BTh Honours), Ambroise Bayiha Bayiha SAC (MTh) and Stuart Bate OMI (Grand Chancellor of St Joseph’s). Not pictured: Joseph Sephamola OMI (MTh).

IN FOCU S

Bosmont parish in Johannesburg organised a successful international food festival at its annual May Day fundraising event. The parishioners and their families and friends enjoyed meals from Italy, Germany, China, India and South Africa that were prepared by stall holders from the parish. (Submitted by Sheldon Morgan)

Bishop Giuseppe Sandri of Witbank celebrated the feast of Divine Mercy at St Peter’s parish in Nelspruit. The special Divine Mercy service began with a procession through the church grounds, into the church and was followed by Mass. New “Apostles of Divine Mercy” were inaugurated. Katja Kowalec, a parishioner of St Peter’s, and members of the Divine Mercy apostolate have visited several parishes and communities over the past year to introduce the message of devotion. This year the work will continue so that as many communities as possible will be able to receive this valuable message. Contact Sharon Cronjé at shafred@telkomsa.net or 082 389 8202 for more information.

Children who took their first Communion at St Augustine's parish in Virginia, Kroonstad diocese, are photographed with parish priest Fr Kris Aneke, MSP. (Submitted by Kris Louis)

Send photographs, with sender’s name and address on the back, and a SASE to: The Southern Cross, Community Pics, Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000 or email them to: pics@scross.co.za Edited by Lara Moses

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Holy Childhood of Jesus

11-25 May 2013

Are you called to join us to love God, in praising Him in Prayer and serving Him, as we care for people in need, especially children?

Write, phone or visit us

Holy Childhood Sisters P.Bag 553 Eshowe, 3815

Mbongolwane Convent P.Bag 506 Eshowe, 3815

Sr. Teressa Zungu Sr. Bongiwe Xulu Phone: 035 -4744242 Phone: 035-4766262 Cell: 082-0932002 Cell: 076-3064446 E-mail: awerresh@netactive.co.za

Join The Southern Cross and the Archbishop of Pretoria on a special pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Meet with local Christians – the Living Stones – before travelling to Rome to see the Pope and to Assisi to see original relics of St Francis and St Clare.

HOLY LAND: Jerusalem (with Via Dolorosa). Bethlehem.

Nazareth. Cana (with an opportunity to renew marriage vows).

Mount of Beatitudes. Capernaum. Boatride on The Sea of Galilee.

Mount Tabor. Jordan River. Ein Kerem. Dead Sea, and much more. Guided by a professor from Bethlehem’s University!

ITALY: Rome with PAPAL AUDIENCE, the four major basilicas (incl. Mass in St Peter’s), catacombs, ancient sites. Assisi and the beautiful Rieti Valley, where St Francis lived and invented the Christmas crib.

CAIRO: Pyramids. Sphinx. Nile Dinner cruise.

Price: R 29 300 (incl. airport taxes, subject to currency fluctuations) FOR FULL ITINERARY OR TO BOOK:

GAIL at 076 352 3809 or Fax 021 465 3850 or e-mail pilgrimage@scross.co.za www.scross.co.za/pilgrimage-2013 or www.fowlertours.co.za

HOPE&JOY

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

Overcoming the scandal of division T

HROUGHOUT the ages, Christians have been more divided than united. Power struggles, differences on points of theology and sometimes pure expediency have led to the formation of new denominations and micro churches.

To many outside the Church, and within, the followers of Christ have acquired a negative image of in-fighting and disarray.

Successive popes have referred to the “scandal of Christian division” and the Catholic Church is working with other churches to bring about a greater level of unity. Pope John Paul II reminded the Catholic faithful to work for unity in his 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint (“That They May Be One”) in which he wrote: “At the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church committed herself irrevocably to following the path of the ecumenical venture.”

But what happens on the ground when you work towards unity, when you work towards coming closer, instead of moving further apart? Christian unity—if not structural, then by cooperating with a shared faith and common purpose—brings people closer to God and his kingdom. And that is, after all, the point of being a Christian.

There is also an element of collaboration between Christians helping the people of God in this life.

“There is so much pain and suffering and inequality in our society and in our world—we really don’t have the time or the luxury to do it ourselves in our own peculiar way.”

This notion is shared by many who believe that it is far easier to find similarities between our Christian denominations than differences.

Potential relationships between churches, in that view, can bring about positive change in our world.

Rev Suzanne Peterson is the public policy and advocacy officer for the Anglican archdiocese of Cape Town. She believes that our witness as people of faith is often seen as stronger and even more authentic when we can work together.

“We have our differences and we need to acknowledge them, but we can also be agents of encouragement and change when we can work together,” she says.

BLIND READERS OF A group of readers is preparing audio tapes of excerpts from The Southern Cross, including editorials, selected articles, and regular features, as well current affairs in the Church. Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this service, available for an annual subscription fee of only R50, is invited to Mr

Len Pothier, ‘High Timbers’, 13 Bisschop Road, Hout Bay 7806 or phone 021-790 1317 The Post Office will deliver and return tapes without charge. Should you know of any interested blind person, please inform them of this service.

Claire Mathieson

A Church of Hope and Joy

Dominee Francois Neethling of the Dutch Reformed Church in Durban believes there are huge benefits to Christians working together on many different levels. “We can be more effective in our work,” he says.

“Shared resources, shared energy and ideas—all these broaden our spectrum and help us to reach a greater understanding of life and therefore we can do more. We can learn from one another”, says the dominee, who is also an executive committee member of the Diakonia Council of Churches, an ecumenical movement in KwaZulu-Natal founded by the late Archbishop Denis Hurley. “By working together as a group, we can multiply our effectiveness.”

Dominee Neethling says his experience in working with other Christians has “honestly enriched my life”. He says when Christians come together, instead of focusing on differences, similarities are easily identified and “we lead on our shared values of love, forgiveness and charity”.

Once we have discovered our similarities, he says, Christians find it easy to respect their differences.

“The moment you start to interact with others, you gain respect for them.”

Rev Peterson agrees: “I believe that more unites us as human beings, seeing ourselves created in the image of God, than divides us.”

She believes that we are called to work for “the common good—not only as articulated in Catholic social teaching, but also in response to the command of Jesus to love one another as Jesus showed love for the world and humanity”.

Fr Stanley Botha of Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Brooklyn/Milnerton, Cape Town, says we actually have no choice in whether we want to work with each other—

“it is the Lord’s command” that we do so (Jn 17:21). And, the priest says, it’s easy to work with each other and the benefits are vast: the Church serves its community, but the community is better served when Christians serve it together.

Fr Botha has been involved in ecumenical efforts in Milnerton for 20 years. For the past 15 years of these, Fr Botha and other religious leaders in his community have come together for a week of unity in which they live together and attend services at each other’s churches. “We bond easily, we love one another,” he says.

“Respect is grown out of time spent together. You can’t love what you don’t know—you have to develop a taste for it,” the priest says. “We find we are so close to one another.”

Fr Botha says the Church could be torn apart by in-fighting and worrying about conservative or progressive movements. “The Church needs to pull together—just as all Christians need to pull together.”

He believes looking inward can be destructive to those already in the Church and those who might one day join. Instead, looking to our neighbours helps us to be a community. “We need be a Church for the community, not a cultic church.”

Rev Peterson considers herself lucky because her work includes many ecumenical and inter-faith areas where the focus is mainly on making life better, especially for those who suffer most in our society —addressing issues of sanitation, education, anti-corruption, housing, and encouraging people to be more involved themselves. “We are all called to do our part. I have learned so much and met such amazing people who are deeply committed to ecumenical and interfaith work and witness—I’m really fortunate and blessed in that regard,” the Anglican cleric said.

R

ev Ian Booth of United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA), chairman of Diakonia, believes denominational differences are becoming increasingly less important for the modern generation. “They are deciding whether or

9

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury embraces Pope Benedict after an evening prayer service at Westminster Abbey in London (Photo: Filippo Monteforte, CNS/Reuters) not to be Christian or Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu, rather than whether to be Congregationalist or Methodist or Catholic”.

“The important thing is the degree of Christian service that is offered and the degree of justice that is evident in that service—for more than which denomination is offering it,” he says.

Rev Booth, who is also the CEO of Durban’s YMCA, says that working with other Christians means gaining different perspectives on what we’re doing. “The more we work together the more easily we find similarities”, he says. “In fact some close friendships grow between people from different denominations as they discover how much they do have in common.”

He adds that working together also portrays an image of Christian unity to the broader community. “It helps to break down suspicion and prejudice among different denominations as we learn to trust one another, and realise that our similarities are greater than our differences, and we can achieve far more together than we each can individually.”

Many lay people adopt a similar philosophy. Hlawulani Mkhabela, a member of Bryanston’s Methodist church in Johannesburg, says: “Since we believe in the same thing, it just makes sense to come together. When we put together our beliefs and thoughts, we find the same themes underlie our practices.

The concept of the power of love itself implies coming together.”

Dominee Neethling similarly believes that there is a negative per-

ception of Christians among a growing population, and conflict between Christians discourages people from turning to Christ. “Strong in-fighting undermines our effectiveness in doing what we were meant to do: evangelise,” he says.

“How can you spread love if you don’t love one another? We cannot afford to fight about nonsense.”

Fr Botha says if we spend too much time on ourselves and put ecumenical activities on hold, divisions will be found in the Church and Catholics will move away from the Church. “There are so many benefits to being outward looking,” he says.

“When we work together, the possibilities are endless,” says Ms Mkhabela, who is involved in a non-profit organisation that helps to contribute to the education of children in communities through their churches and schools. “When you start operating with something more than material things in mind, you operate with love. We need more of it in general.”

Dominee Neethling says the impact his relatively small church has been able to make in the community was made possible through their ecumenical work.

This is amplified when there is some structural unity. “The impact we make as the Diakonia Council of Churches is significant,” the dominee says.

He adds that his involvement has contributed to personal growth.

“The moment you get active in faith, you grow in faith. Differences are not a concern,” he says. We are Christians—we are the same.

“You cannot be a church if you are only interested in yourself.”

10

PENTECOST

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

Turn sorrows to hopes and joys On the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit replaced the apostles’ griefs and anxieties with hope and joy. RAYMOND PERRIER, director of the Jesuit Institute and convenor of the Hope&Joy network, reflects on the message of Pentecost and the first year of Hope&Joy in Southern Africa.

B

Y now, I would like to believe, most readers are familiar with the phrase ‘hopes and joys’.

For just over a year, the Church in Southern Africa has been preparing for the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council under the banner of Hope&Joy. And because of the network of dozens of Catholic organisations that stand behind it, you are likely to have seen the name Hope&Joy and its associated logo in many different places: here in The Southern Cross, in Trefoil, in diocesan papers, in the Catholic Link, at Catholic bookshops, in Catholic schools, at talks and lectures, at catechist training days, in parishes, on Radio Veritas’ website, at small community meetings and at big public Masses.

The phrase Hope&Joy comes from Gaudium et Spes, the Latin title for Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World.

I never tire of reciting the full

opening sentence of that key document: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age—especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted —these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”

So, with all this harping on about “hope and joy”, what about the “griefs and anxieties”?

They are certainly not forgotten.

The opening line of the document reminds us that as Christians—followers of Christ—we must associate ourselves with the griefs and anxieties that we see around us, including those we would rather not see because they afflict only the poor.

As a Catholic community we are, by and large, quite good at this work (even if it is often done by a few individuals).

Think, for example, of the work of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, or of the sodalities, or of the Catholic men’s and women’s associations. Think of long-established religious congregations that for decades have served the marginalised; or Catholic NGOs like Cathca or the Jesuit Refugee Service, or new lay movements like Focolare or the Community of Sant’Egidio and their commitment to serving the poor.

In this country the Church is to be found alongside the griefs and anxieties of the Aids hospice, the poor rural school, the troubled inner-city or township parish, the soup kitchen for migrants, and the home for abused women. This is not some nice add-on extra for really good Christians. It is the core of

what it is to be Christian and on which we shall be judged.

But, lest we forget that after Christ’s death came his Resurrection, our story does not end with griefs and anxieties. Our faith transforms each one of us so that we can transform the world—we engage with the griefs and anxieties of this world because we believe that we can bring hope and joy.

At Pentecost we see this transformation boldly represented. The apostles have hidden themselves in the Upper Room, afraid of the world, afraid of the authorities, afraid of each other. They are wallowing in their griefs and anxieties.

And then the Holy Spirit literally “blows them away”. When we see them again, out in the square preaching, they have been transformed by hope and joy. What is more, they want to share that hope and joy with everyone they meet.

Of course that is not easy. The people with whom we want to share our faith are not like us: they might be a different colour, or speak a different language, or live a different lifestyle, or dress in different clothes. It would be tempting just to stick to the people who are exactly like us. But the apostles don’t limit themselves—they reach out and in their boldness are even able to speak new languages so that all can understand their message.

O

ne of the innovations of Hope&Joy has been to present the teachings of Vatican II and recent popes in short phrases delivered as a daily SMS. Since we began this more than half a million SMS texts have been sent around the

Hope&Joy convenor Raymond Perrier with Pauline Sister Cristiana D’Aniso in Johannesburg. country, and thousands of people have signed up.

This was not just an innovation for South Africa: it was an innovation for the world. It has been followed by delivering messages as tweets, as e-mail reflections and even producing a set of Stations of the Cross as a smartphone app.

Some people have criticised this: it is dumbing down, it is pandering to the modern world, it is reducing everything to sound bites. Well, religious writers, from the author of Genesis (“Let there be light”) to St John (“The Word was made flesh”) to Pope Paul VI (“If you want peace work for justice”) have been pretty expert at soundbites over the years.

The implication of the criticism is that by making our faith accessible to ordinary people in their ordinary lives we are diminishing it.

One person wrote to complain that instead of enabling people to pray the Stations on their phones, we should be telling them to go to devotions in their local church on a Friday.

Many of the innovations of Hope&Joy are modern-day examples of allowing the Holy Spirit to work through different media as the Holy Spirit worked through different languages at Pentecost.

Of course, things are not exactly

MONK?

the same as they move from one form to another. Just as the English text is a translation from the Latin, so the SMSs are a translation from formal English. But this is no less true than the fact that the “original” Latin words in the Mass are themselves a translation from the Greek of the New Testament or the Aramaic that Jesus spoke.

Change involves risk. But if we do not take risks, we will not be a “Church in the modern world”— simply a Historic Re-enactment Society.

Change can be frightening: we are always tempted to stay in our Upper Rooms and not allow the Holy Spirit to fire us up with courage to face the world. I am sure that Bl John XXIII had that Upper Room in mind when he said that the Council would be a chance to open the windows of the Church.

But how much hope and joy can we bring to South Africa if we are not prepared to change? If our parishes remain one in name but divided in practice with the lame excuse that we speak different languages? If the rich parishes in our dioceses hide themselves away behind collection boxes and the poor parishes hide themselves away behind the hurts of the past?

If our bishops look back over their shoulders with fear instead of looking forwards with courage to what lies ahead? If our priests are more comfortable behind an altar or in a confessional, rather than out in the malls or in the schoolrooms?

If we as lay people keep praying fervently that the Holy Spirit will come, while all the time hoping that nothing too much will be demanded of us?

The Holy Spirit has been turning griefs and anxieties into hope and joys for almost 2 000 years. But just as the Holy Spirit needed co-workers in Jerusalem in AD 33, co-workers are needed now in South Africa in 2012 to bring Christ’s message of hope and joy to our country. n To receive messages of hope and joy SMS the word JOY to 31222 (R3,50 per week for 7 messages), or follow on Twitter (@hopejoy50), or send your email address, name and parish to info@hopeandjoy.org.za for a free weekly reflection.

YES! If you are seeking God …And you desire to live a life of prayer and personal transformation …And you are able to live the common life…

Perhaps you have the vocation to do so as a Benedictine Monk

For more information contact:

The Abbot Inkamana Abbey P/Bag X9333 Vryheid 3100

OR

The Prior Benedictine Abbey Subiaco PO Box 2189 Pietersburg 0700

ACCOMODATION

Durban Christian Residence

Ph: 031 2015121/2 Fax: 031 2016814 e-mail: dcr@telkomsa.net

311 Musgrave Road Berea, Durban 4001

The residence is a Christian establishment offering safe and secure accommodation to both Christian men and women between the ages of 17 and 35 years.

Women’s section consists of single rooms with communal ablutions.

Men are housed in a separate building.

The residence is situated in the elite area of Durban on the bus route near Musgrave shopping centre, near a number of churches.

Facilities include communal swimming pool, TV lounge and dining room.

For more information contact: The Vocations Directors:

Fatima Convent P O Box 7 GLEN COWIE, 1061 Cell: 076 923 8319 Tel: 013 298 1006

or

P.O Box 17204 WITBANK, 1035 Tel: 013 656 3708 Cell: 082 838 5428 lekgala.m@gmail.com

Rental from R2870 per month (Dinner, bed and breakfast). Rooms available.

For more information contact the Manager, Rev Deacon Allister Glenn http:durbanchristianresidence.co.za/newsite/

The Southern Cross, May 23 to May 29, 2012

Fr Joe Smith OMI

O

BLATE Father Joseph Laurence Smith, who spent most of his priestly ministry in Johannesburg, died on March 21 at Lady Selbourne nursing home in Pretoria. He was 93.

Fr Joe, as he was widely known, came from his native Ire-

land on the SS Carnavon Castle in 1947.

Having arrived in South Africa on September 4 that year, he celebrated his first public Mass a month and a day later in Pretoria’s Sacred Heart cathedral.

Most of his pastoral ministry was concentrated in and around the areas of Johannesburg that

under the Group Areas Act were reserved for Indians, particularly St Thomas parish in Lenasia and also the parishes of Bosmont and Protea.

Fr Smith, who lived his retirement years in Victory Park, was the oldest Oblate of Mary Immaculate in South Africa.

Sr Bride O’Driscoll OP

D

OMINICAN Sister Bride O’Driscoll died on April 16 at Marian House, Boksburg, at the age of 82.

Sr Bride was born Eileen O’Driscoll in County Cork, Ireland, on December 3, 1929. She joined the Newcastle Dominican Sisters in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, England and made her religious profession in 1947 after which she was assigned to the South African Region of the Dominican Congregation.

Sr Bride grew to love South Africa and identified fully with it.

She taught at St Rose’s School La Rochelle; St Pius’ Convent Pietersburg and St Dominic’s Convent Boksburg.

She was a dedicated and excellent teacher who believed in the saying: “A good teacher is like a candle; it consumes itself to light the way for others”.

Her Requiem Mass was celebrated on April 20 in Marian House Chapel.

MICASA TOURS

Your Personal Religious Tours Operator Have you ever had the calling to arrange a Spiritual Tour for you and your friends or parish?

Contact us now! We can make it happen!

Tel: 012 342 0179 / Fax: 086 676 9715 Email: info@micasatours.co.za Website: www.micasatours.co.za

St Joseph’s Theological Institute, Cedara

Post-Graduate Study in Theology Honours MTh (coursework and research) PhD

• • • • • • • • • •

Areas of Study Gender Studies Healing Inculturation Mariology Missiology Moral Theology Pastoral Theology Scripture Spirituality Systematic Theology

Application deadline for the Honours and MTh degrees: 31 August 2012 For more information contact: Sue Rakoczy IHM Coordinator of Post-Graduate Programmes St Joseph’s Theological Institute Private Bag 6004 Hilton 3245 srakoczy@sjti.ac.za

CLASSIFIEDS

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,15 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

DEATH

LINDSELL—Patricia.

Dearly beloved wife of John, mother of Barbara, Michael, Richard, MaryRose and Deborah, grandmother of Jen, Laura and Brendan Stott, Robyn, Kimberley and Caitlin Lindsell and Nicola and Candice Shepstone. Died on May 5, 2012 after a short illness. Deeply mourned and never forgotten. May she rest in peace.

IN MEMORIAM

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Year 2

Sunday, May 27, Pentecost Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34, Galatians 5:16-25, John 15:26-27, 16:12-15, Acts 2:1-11 Monday, May 28, feria 1 Peter 1:3-9, Psalm 111:1-2, 5-6, 9-10, Mark 10:1727 Tuesday, May 29, feria 1 Peter 1:10-16, Psalm 98:1-4, Mark 10:28-31 Wednesday, May 30, feria 1 Peter 1:18-25, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, Mark 10:32-45 Thursday, May 31, Visitation of Our Lady Zephaniah 3:14-18 or Romans 12:9-16, Isaiah 12:26, Luke 1:39-56 Friday, June 1, St Justin Martyr 1 Peter 4: 7-13, Psalm 96: 10-13, Mark 11: 11-25 Saturday, June 2, feria Jude 17, 20-25, Psalm 63: 2-6, Mark 11: 27-33 Sunday, June 3, Trinity Sunday Deuteronomy 4: 32-34, 39-40, Psalm 33: 4-6,9, 1820, 22, Romans 8: 14-17, Matthew 28: 16-20

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO #498. ACROSS: 4 Command, 8 Ritual, 9 Bled dry, 10 Semite, 11 Guided, 12 Ave Maria, 18 Hierarch, 20 Giotto, 21 Harper, 22 Station, 23 Goblet, 24 Welcome. DOWN: 1 Tristan, 2 Stamped, 3 Mantra, 5 Obligate, 6 Madrid, 7 Nerved, 13 Rehoboam, 14 Cripple, 15 Charity, 16 Little, 17 Static, 19 Reason.

Community Calendar

To place your event, call Lara Moses at 021 465 5007 or e-mail l.moses@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

DURBAN: St Anthony’s, Durban Central: Tuesday 09:00 Mass with novena to St Anthony. First Friday 17:30 Mass. Mercy novena prayers. Tel: 031 309 3496.

JOHANNESBURG: Rosary at Marie Stopes clinic, Peter Place, Sandton. First Saturday of every month, 10:30-12:00. Also

Gandhi Square, Main Rd, third Saturday of every month, 10:30-12:00. Tel: Joan 011 782 4331 NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the blessed sacrement at St Peter’s parish. Every Tuesday from 8am to 4 :45pm followed by Rosary/ Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 5 :30pm.

MAHER—Michael John.

Died 17/5/1992. In loving memory of our brother who died 20 years ago. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. Joan, James and Sharon.

PERSONAL

ABORTION is murder Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow!

ABORTION WARNING: ‘The Pill’ can abort, swiftly and undetected. It clinically makes the womb inhospitable to, and reject those early ‘accidental’ conceptions (new lives) which sometimes occur while using it. (Medical facts stated in its pamphlet) CAN YOU be silent on abortion and walk with God? Matthew 7:21 See www.180movie.com CRUCIFIXES FOR AFRICA: Made in four complete sizes. Phone/Fax: 046 604 0401 for details and brochure.

MERONO CHEMICALS: For your all your cleaning products. Quality products, affordable prices. Quality guaranteed.-Tel 011 648 2055/ 084 055 5346.

SERVICES

24HR EMERGENCY Electrical - Repair, Maintenance, COC & Contracting. Free Quotes 073 968 5706 (Happy), 073 069 1354 (Mark Anthony)

HOUSE FOR SALE

ATTENTION DEVELOPERS/INVESTORS: Immediate “Voetstoots” sale of house and land, measuring 853m2 on Ocean View Drive, Cape Town.

Panoramic seaview. Ph 021 465 9048

PRAYERS

Word of the Week Eschatology: The study of the end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the end of the world. A major branch of study within Christian theology.

Application: Christian eschatology is the study of the destiny of mankind as it is revealed in the Bible, which is the primary source for all Christian eschatology studies.

11

HOLY ST JUDE, apostle and martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor of all who invoke you, special patron in time of need. To you I have recourse from the depth of my heart and humbly beg you to come to my assistance. Help me now in my urgent need and grant my petitions. In return I promise to make your name known and publish this prayer. Amen. Goretti.

O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity.

O Star of the Sea, help me and show me where you are, Mother of God. Queen of heaven and earth I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. There is none who can withstand your power, O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Holy Mary, I place this cause in your hands. “Say this prayer for 3 consecutive days and then publish.

Margo.

ACCOMMODATION

CAPE TOWN: Cape Peninsula Beautiful homes to buy or rent. Maggi-Mae 082 892 4502, AIDA Cape Lifestyle Homes, 021 782 9263 maggimae@aida capelifestyle.co.za NEWLANDS: Cape Town: Just off Dean Street, very convenient for SACS and UCT. One studio apartment @ R4 000pm and one bedroom apartment @ R4 500pm. Secure on-site parking included. Tel. Williams 021 782 3364.

TOWNHOUSE TO SHARE: Seeking Golden Girl. “Our family are looking to source a companion and house mate for our elderly but independent mother living in a spacious fully furnished 3-bedroom townhouse in North Riding, Johannesburg. The ideal candidate will be clean living (65 to 80), preferably Christian, and benefit from living in a 200sqm home instead of a retirement village or similar. The rental of R4 800pm would include use of the spacious second bedroom and bathroom, open plan lounge, dining room, kitchen and small garden. Rates, taxes and electricity, plus DStv included. Should you meet these requirements and be interested in exploring the opportunity, please e-mail a short motivation to kevin@lead4life.co.za or call Kevin on 083 414 3232.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

LONDON: Protea House: Single per night R300, twin R480. Self-catering, busses and underground nearby.

Phone Peter 0044 208 7484834.

BALLITO: Up-market penthouse on beach, self-catering. 084 790 6562.

FISH HOEK: Self-catering accommodation, sleeps 4.

Secure parking. Tel: 021 785 1247.

GORDON’S BAY: Beautiful en-suite rooms available at reasonable rates. Magnificent views, breakfast on request. Tel: 082 774 7140. bzhive@telkomsa.net KNYSNA: Self-catering accommodation for 2 in Old Belvidere with wonderful Lagoon views. 044 387 1052.

KZN SOUTH COAST: Honeywood: Luxury chalets & The Cellar boutique restaurant. 7 x 4-sleeper luxury chalets. Quiet urban forest retreat opposite Sea Park Catholic Church. Ideal for retreats & holidays www.honeywoodsa.co.za

honeywood@honey woodsa.co.za Tel 039 695 1036 Fax 086 585 0746.

MARIANELLA: Guest House, Simon’s Town: “Come experience the peace and beauty of God with us.” Fully equipped with amazing sea views.

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Tel: Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675 or mjsalida@ mweb.co.za PENNINGTON: Accommodation still available for July school holidays. A two bedroom, two bathroom, sixsleeper maisonette. Contact Barney on 082 266 3614 or 039 975 3842.

SEDGEFIELD: Beautiful self-catering garden flat sleeps four, two bedrooms, open-plan lounge, kitchen, fully equipped. 5min walk to lagoon. Contact 082 900 6282.

STRAND: Beachfront flat to let. Stunning views, fully equipped. Garage, one bedroom, sleeps 3-4. R450 p/night for 2 people-low season. Phone Brenda 082 822 0607 STELLENBOSCH: Five simple private suites (2 beds, fridge, micro-wave).

Countryside vineyard/forest/mountain walks; beach 20 minute drive. Affordable.

Christian Brothers Tel 021 880 0242, cbcstel@gmail .com

RETREATS

PLETTENBERG BAY: Sat Chit Anand Interfaith Spiritual Retreat Centre.

Make space in your life for Spirit. Enjoy a peaceful holiday with optional meditation, mass, theology classes, yoga. Interfaith chapel, library, and healing centre. Self-catering cottages. Priests stay free.

See www.satchitanand.co.za for more info, Phone 044 533 0453 or email satchi tanand@global.co.za

PO Box 2372, CAPE TOWN, 8000 Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

www.scross.co.za

Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za)

Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton Editorial staff: Claire Mathieson

(c.mathieson@scross.co.za)

Claire Allen

(c.allen@scross.co.za)

Lara Moses

(l.moses@scross.co.za)

Thandi Bosman

(t.bosman@scross.co.za)

Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za)

Advertising: Elizabeth Hutton (advertising@scross.co.za)

Subscriptions: Avril Hanslo

(subscriptions@scross.co.za)

Dispatch: Joan King

(dispatch@scross.co.za)

Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za)

Published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd, Cape Town

Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa. Printed

by Paarl Coldset (Pty) Ltd, 10 Freedom Way, Milnerton.

Published by the proprietors, The Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office, 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

Pregnant?

Help is as near as your telephone

Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000 • 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001

079 742 8861 031 2015471 www.birthright.co.za

Tel: (021) 465 5007 • Fax: (021) 465 3850

Editorial: editor@scross.co.za

•

Advertising: advertising@scross.co.za

Website: www.scross.co.za Trinity Sunday: June 3 Readings: Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40, Psalm 33:4-6, 9, 18-20, 22, Romans 8:1417, Matthew 28:16-20

N

EXT Sunday is the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, a day when some priests long for a bishop’s letter, so that they do not have to explore with their congregations the mystery of the nature of God. One can understand their anxiety about the mathematics of Threeness and Oneness, but perhaps we might take as our starting-point the readings for next Sunday, which offer a glimpse of the richness of the Christian experience of God as the only way in which we can come to some kind of intimacy with the Maker of the Universe.

Our Jewish forebears knew this very well indeed, as we see from next Sunday’s first reading , from Deuteronomy, which gives the People of God a last set of instructions (most of which they promptly ignore) as they hover on the brink of finally entering the Promised Land.

The most important point is the uniqueness of their experience of God: never has it been heard of that “a people heard the voice of God speaking from the fire, as you people did—and survived!”

And, it goes on, it is unheard of that “a god took a people to himself from the midst of another nation, in testings, and signs and wonders and in war and by a

•

Business manager: admin@scross.co.za

•

Subscriptions: subscriptions@scross.co.za

Digital edition: www.digital.scross.co.za

•

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thescross

Co-heirs with Christ Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

mighty hand”: this is a God with whom Israel is happily intimate, and whom they have experienced at the high and low moments of their existence “in accordance with everything that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes”.

There is nowhere, “in heaven above and on earth below”, where the Lord is not God; and, in response to this unfailing closeness of God, what Israel has to do is respond by “keeping the decrees and commandments which I command you today”.

That is the secret of living in the land which God has given us. Our job, this week, is to be astonished at the privileged intimacy with God that we have been given.

The psalm for next Sunday (as always) is well aware of this intimacy that God grants us. “The Lord’s work is straight, and all his works are done in integrity” would

have signalled a profound contrast with the gods of the nations that surrounded Israel, who tended to be seen as malevolent and unpredictable.

For the psalmist, God is “lover of justice and judgement; the Lord’s love fills the earth”. This, clearly, is not a God to be afraid of; but there is also a healthy respect implicit in the fact that this God is the creator of everything that is: “By the Lord’s word the heavens were made, and by the spirit of his mouth all their hosts, for he spoke, and it was; he commanded and they took up their position.”

God is however personally committed to his people: “To rescue their souls from death, and to give them life at a time of starvation.” Then we hear of the people’s longing for God, and two striking metaphors for his personal interest in them: “He is our help and our shield.” The intimacy is beautifully expressed in the final line: “may the Lord’s love be upon us” I n t h e se c o n d r e ad i n g , P a u l i s approaching the climax of that part of the Letter to the Romans where he is giving the Roman Christians the grounds for their confidence in what God has done for them; and it fits this notion of intimacy

Donations and volunteers and prayers always welcome

with the triune God: “Those who are led

by God’s Spirit are those who are children of God,” as he quotes Jesus’ well-known prayer “Abba Father” to emphasise what a different thing it is, to be able to address as Father the one who made all the galaxies: “It was not a spirit of slavery that you received.”

And we are not on our own here: “The Spirit himself gives corroborative testimony with our spirit that we are children of God, and therefore heirs: we are God’s heirs, and co-heirs with Christ, even if we suffer together, in order to be glorified together [with him].” This is a remarkable intimacy on offer in our lives.

The g ospel for next Sunday is the end of Matthew’s gospel, and it is chosen presumably because it contains that great prayer from Matthew: “In the name of the Father...,” which makes it suitable for Trinity Sunday; but notice the intimacy of it all.

In the first place, Jesus comes to the broken church (only eleven of them), ignores their uncertainty (“they doubted”), and gives them a mission (“go and make disciples”), which they cannot perform unaided.

The essential condition is the abiding presence of Jesus, God-with-us, who promises that “I am with you all the days”.

This is a precious and astonishing intimacy that we must celebrate next Sunday.

Recipe for New Evangelisation Southern Crossword #499 R

ECENTLY a new expression has made its way into our theological and ecclesial vocabulary. There’s a lot of talk today about the “New Evangelisation”.

Indeed the pope has called for a Synod of Bishops to meet this year for a month in Rome to try to articulate a vision and strategy for such an endeavour.

What is meant by new evangelisation?

In simple terms: Millions of people, particularly in the Western world, are Christian in name, come from Christian backgrounds, are familiar with Christianity, believe that they know and understand Christianity, but no longer practice that faith in a meaningful way.

They’ve heard of Christ and the Gospel, even though they may be overrating themselves in their belief that they know and understand what these mean. No matter.

Whatever their shortcomings in understanding a faith they no longer practise, they believe that they’ve already been evangelised and that their non-practice is an examined decision.

Their attitude towards Christianity, in essence, is: I know what it is. I’ve tried it.

And it’s not for me!

And so it no longer makes sense to speak of trying to evangelise such persons in the same way as we intend that term when we are speaking of taking the Gospel to someone for the first time. It’s more accurate precisely to speak of a new evangelisation, of an attempt to take the Gospel to individuals and to a culture that have already largely been shaped by it, are in a sense over-familiar with it, but haven’t

Classic Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

really in fact examined it.

The new evangelisation tries to take the Gospel to persons who are already Christian but are no longer practising as Christians.

How to do that? How do we make the Gospel fresh for those for whom it has become stale? How do we, as GK Chesterton put it, help people to look at the familiar until it looks unfamiliar again? How do we try to Christianise someone who is already Christian?

There are no simple answers. It’s not as if we haven’t already been trying to do that for more than a generation. Anxious parents have been trying to do this with their children. Anxious pastors have been trying to do that with their parishioners. Anxious bishops have been trying to do that with their dioceses. Anxious spiritual writers, including this one, have been trying to do that with their readership. And an anxious Church as a whole has been trying to do that with the world. What more might we be doing?

My own view is that we are in for a long, uphill struggle, one that demands faith in the power and truth of what we believe in and a long, difficult patience.

Fishermen boast of big catches; altar servers about long Masses.

Christ, the faith, and the Church will survive. They always do. The stone always eventually rolls away from the tomb and Christ always eventually re-emerges, but we too must do our parts. What are those parts?

The vision we need as we try to reach out to evangelise the already evangelised will, I believe, need to include these principles: 1. We need to clearly name this task, recognise its urgency, and centre ourselves in Jesus’ final mandate: Go out to the whole world and make disciples.

2. We need work at trying to re-inflame the romantic imagination of our faith. We have been better recently at fanning the flames of our theological imagination, but we’ve struggled mightily to get people to fall in love with the faith.

3. We need to emphasise both catechesis and theology. We need to focus both on those who are trying to learn the essentials of their faith and those who are trying to make intellectual sense of their faith.

4. We need a multiplicity of approaches.

No one approach reaches everyone. People go where they are fed.

5. We need to appeal to the idealism of people, particularly that of the young. We need to win people over by linking the Gospel to all that’s best inside them, to let the beauty of the Gospel speak to the beauty inside of people.

6. We need to evangelise beyond any ideology of the right or the left. We need to move beyond the categories of liberal and conservative to the categories of love, beauty, and truth.

7. We need to remain widely “Catholic” in our approach. We are not trying to get people to join some small, lean, purist, sectarian group, but to enter a house with many rooms.

8. We need to preach both the freedom of the Gospel and its call for an adult maturity. We need to resist preaching a Gospel that threatens or belittles, even as we preach a Gospel that asks for free and mature obedience.

9. We need today, in an age of instability and too-frequent betrayal, to give a special witness to fidelity.

10. We need, today more than ever, to bear down on the essentials of respect, charity, and graciousness. Cause never justifies disrespect.

We need to work at winning over hearts, not hardening them.

ACROSS

DOWN

4.You are my friends if you do 1. He goes with Isolde in Wagwhat I ... (Jn 15) (7) nerian opera (7) 8. Prescribed order of the sacra- 2. Marked like a franked envement (6) lope (7) 9. Drained of your wealth, gorily 3. A word for meditation (6) (4,3) 5. Compel to get a boil (8) 10. Meets, I see, a Jew or Arab 6. City of World Youth Day (6) (6) 7. Braced for Rev Den (6) 11. Shown the way (6) 13. King Solomon’s successor 12. Song to Mary (3,5) (1 Kg 11) (8) 18. Her chair for one of the cler- 14. One whom Jesus made walk gy (8) again (7) 20. Florentine artist. Go to it (6) 15. It begins at home (7) 21. Musical angel? (6) 16. Smallest toe or finger (6) 22. Does each one have a plat- 17. Electricity lacking moveform in the church? (7) ment (6) 23. Chalice (6) 19. Power of your mind (6) 24. Gladly received on your doorstep (7) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

S

OON after Pope Benedict was elected, he received an ancient sealed envelope that had not been opened for centuries. Apparently this letter would be despatched to a newly-elected pope by the high priest of Jerusalem.

The pope decided it was high time the envelope was opened.

After the Holy Father opened the envelope, he pulled out its content, a folded piece of papyrus. He unfolded it and what he found was…the bill for the Last Supper.

Submitted by AV Raynal

Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.