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December 26, 2012 to January 1, 2013
Where we find Mary in the Old Testament
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No 4806
Time to rebuild Africa, our continent
Jaffa: Where a dream changed the world
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SA Church: Pray for Sudanese refugees BY CLAIRE MATHIESON
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Mary and the infant Jesus are depicted in the painting “The Holy Mother & Child” by Stephen B Whatley, an expressionist artist based in London. January 1 marks the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. (Stephen B Whatley/CNS)
Pope: In social media age, values education is crucial BY CINDY WOODEN
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ITH young people increasingly absorbed in online social networks and anxious for ways to make a living amid the global economic crisis, parents and governments have an ever greater obligation to educate the young in proper values, Pope Benedict has said. “Examining the many challenges of our day, education occupies a prominent place,” Pope Benedict told new ambassadors to the Holy See. The pope said the countries’ people and cultures are filled with human values that are important to the future of their societies, but which risk being totally ignored in an age marked by global communications and the new culture they are forming. Changing lifestyles and changing ways of obtaining information and gaining knowledge have created “unprecedented human, cultural, social and spiritual ruptures,” he said. “Social networks, another novelty, tend to take the place of natural social spaces and communications, often becoming the sole source of information
and knowledge.” True education, to which each child in the world has a right, is not simply a matter of transferring information and technical knowledge; education worthy of the name helps form a human person capable of thinking, judging right from wrong and acting on it, the pope said. Without human formation, young people, “worried about their future, are tempted by what takes the least effort, the minimum necessary, and by easy success, sometimes using improperly the possibilities offered by modern technology”, he said. “It is necessary to educate in truth and about truth,” he said. “Nowadays proclaiming truth has become suspect, wanting to live in truth seems outdated and promoting truth seems to be a futile effort, yet the future of humanity is at stake.” For the good of individuals and the future of their countries, Pope Benedict said, parents and other educators must recover an awareness of how important it is to teach the young the value of hard work, perseverance in difficulty and taking responsibility for their actions.—CNS
HRISTIANS and others in Sudan are facing persecution from a regime that is reacting to the secession of its southern region, South African Catholic leaders have said. “With the secession of Southern Sudan [in 2011], Sudan has been hurt, shamed and humiliated to the point they are hitting back—and people from South Sudan living in Sudan are the main targets. South Sudanese living in Sudan have gone from being citizens to foreigners, to refugees, to virtual prisoners.” The grim picture was painted by Fr Seán O'Leary of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute (DHPI) following a visit to Sudan with Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, second vice-president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC). The archbishop called the trip a “solidarity visit”. Soon after the internationally-brokered partition, “South Sudanese living in Sudan began to feel threatened and wanted to move back south. The move has had a huge impact on the Church as 50% of the Catholics in Sudan have moved in the past 18 months,” Archbishop Brislin said. It would have been a much higher number, he added, but many are attacked by militia and prevented from returning to South Sudan. “There are now thousands of displaced people. These people sold their houses, gave up their jobs and wanted to return south, but have been prevented. They have nothing left,” Archbishop Brislin said. The majority of South Sudanese are African and Christian, mainly Catholic, while Sudan is predominantly Arabic and Muslim. The many refugees are being accommodated in camps without running water or toilets. The archbishop spoke of one of the smaller camps which accommodates 3 500 displaced people. “There are five camps being looked after by one parish. The people depend on the goodness of their neighbours, who are predominantly Muslim. There is great compassion, but there is also a great threat to the health of these people.” Recalling his visit to the camp, Archbishop Brislin said the people spoke of living with a hopelessness of ever getting home to the south, fearing that if they try to go, they will be killed on the road.
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he archbishop said even if the South Sudanese were able to get to South Sudan, currently they would not be allowed to return to Sudan. “There is still only one bishops’ conference between the two countries, but the bishops are unable to meet because of access restrictions. Most of the bishops in Sudan are actually South Sudanese, but they cannot leave Sudan even if only for a visit as they won’t be able to return,” Archbishop Brislin told The Southern Cross. Fr O’Leary noted: “Many South Sudanese in Sudan are living is appalling conditions in transit camps, waiting to go home. However, the roads are no longer safe and they are afraid to go.” The DHPI is lobbying at all levels for a voluntary repatriation policy which would assure the security of South Sudanese. “All it would take is a bit of goodwill from
Refugees arrive at a camp in South Sudan. Many other South Sudanese are stuck in camps in Sudan with little hope of getting home. (Photo: Margaret Aguirre, International Medical Corps) the Khartoum government to arrange transport and protection. The South Sudanese want to go home and the Khartoum government wants them to go, so it ought to be easy to arrange that.” Archbishop Brislin also feels a compromise could be made. “There’s a lot of tension in the two countries. Most of the oil is in the South and all the refineries are in Sudan. It could be a win-win situation, but the politicians are spiting themselves and their people.” He added that there were huge amounts of frustration in Sudan. Asked about a potential uprising, he said that “really anything could happen”. However, Fr O’Leary said Khartoum accuses the Catholic Church in Sudan of campaigning for and encouraging the South Sudanese in Sudan to vote for independence. “Sudan is hurt, shamed and humiliated by the secession and like a wounded animal is hitting back but in a more covert than overt fashion. They declare Sudan to be a Muslim country with one language, one culture and one religion, with room for nothing else. Some argue that Sudan is on an Arabisation campaign and if you are not an Arab you are not welcome,” he said.
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he DHPI estimates that about 60% of South Sudanese who lived in Sudan have left since the independence referendum in January 2011. “The number of those now living in appalling conditions in transition camps attest that many more want to go south, if it is safe to do so,” Fr O’Leary said. He predicted that the South Sudanese clergy will eventually be squeezed out of Sudan. All South Sudanese civil servants in Sudan lost their jobs after independence. The government is also taking over Church properties as the people from the South leave. Fr O’Leary said the DHPI intends to lobby the African Union to intervene on behalf of the South Sudanese in Sudan and “will also ask The Elders to intervene” through former Irish president Mary Robinson, a member of the group which also includes the likes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former UN secretary-general Koffi Annan, ex-US President Jimmy Carter and Graça Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela. Fr O’Leary said Catholics in South Africa should “promote awareness around the plight of the South Sudanese in Sudan and support their wish to return home”. Archbishop Brislin said as South Africans Continued on page 3