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The

S outher n C ross www.scross.co.za

November 20 to November 26, 2013

Pope Francis: Balancing doctrine and pastoral care

Page 5

How praying produces power

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R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 4849

Flashback to John F Kennedy’s Catholic funeral

Page 10

Cancer survivor a ‘hero of hope’

By PoRTiA MTHeMBu

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A family lights an Advent wreath. Advent, which begins this year on December 1, is a season of joyful expectation before Christmas. (Photo: Tom McCarthy Jr, Catholic Review)

More Fatima statues offered to parishes; goal is a hundred STAFF RePoRTeR

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RETIRED Portuguese businessman who has donated several dozen handmade statues of Our Lady of Fatima to Southern African parishes aims to bring the number to 100.

Currently, 20 more statues are on their way from Portugal to South Africa for distribution to parishes, bringing the total so far donated to 74.

The aim of the donation is to promote devotion to Our Lady of Fatima and encourage communal prayer, especially of the Rosary, in parishes.

The delicate statues, which are available in sizes of 75cm and 55cm in height, are suitable only for indoor use, and cannot be used in outdoor sites such as grottos. The donor asks that the statues be positioned in a prominent place in the main sanctuary.

Parishes must commit to recite the Holy Rosary, as a community and in prayer groups, on the night of the 12th to the 13th of each month, if possible with Benediction, singing, candles, white flowers, and petitions.

Prayers should be offered for the hungry, sick and unemployed, and end to crime, abortion, rape, drug abuse, domestic violence and gangsterism, and for lapsed Catholics to return to the Church.

Awarded statues will be sent to the local diocesan chancery where they can be collected.

Parishes must apply through their priest, providing the full parish name, address, email and phone number, and the page number on which the parish is listed in the Catholic Directory 2011/12, as well as the address and phone numbers of the local diocesan office, and the name of a contact person there.

Parishes are also asked to indicate whether they have a prayer group, and its size, or whether they are planning to form one.

If possible, parishes are asked to provide a photo of the place in which they intend to place the statue, should they be awarded one.

Applications, which should indicate the preferred size, may be sent to jjvcamara @gmail.com

FTER battling with cancer for seven months, a Durban Catholic has beaten the illness and was honoured as the CANSA Global Hero for Hope.

The international award was bestowed on Nicholas Joseph of St Anne’s parish in Sydenham, Durban, for his courageous strength and determination during his battle with cancer.

Throughout his illness, Mr Joseph remained true to his faith and found the courage to help those in need, serving as an inspiration to people directly and indirectly affected by cancer.

Diagnosed with stage-three colon cancer in October 2009, Mr Joseph started chemotherapy treatment three weeks later.

The once strong Mr Joseph, who is well known for his involvement in the Durban music scene for over 50 years, became “weak and frail”, weighing just over 40kg.

“He found it very hard to adjust to the numerous chemotherapy treatments and was met with questions and stares from those he met,” his son, Anthony Joseph, told The Southern Cross.

“We, as the family, couldn’t understand how such a religious and God-fearing man would have go through such a challenge,” he said Despite the difficulties, Mr Joseph found strength through prayer and from the scores of people who offered up their prayers.

While undergoing chemotherapy, Mr Joseph started entertaining people at a Christmas party held at his parish. Though he had just come out of hospital, Mr Joseph said, “I gave the entertainment my all, and the audience was very happy.”

However, finding that the church benches of his old parish had become too hard for comfort, Nicholas started attending Mass at Nazareth House, a care facility for the aged and sick.

“I continued the work of God, offering my services at Nazareth House and at TAFTA,” referring to the Association for the Aged. “The more I reached out to other people, the more I thought about their circumstances and the less I thought about my own.”

After being encouraged to return to Holy Family College, Durban, where he had served as a board member, Mr Joseph organised a fundraising event raising R50 000 for the school.

“I lived by Dalai Lama’s quote, ‘The prime purpose in this life is to help others.

And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them’. It inspired me to continue helping people,” Mr Joseph said.

He is now the chairman of CANSA’s Durban regional council and vice-chair of the KwaZulu-Natal divisional council.

Durban Catholic Nicholas Joseph, who was presented with the “Global Hero of Hope” award for his courageous fight against cancer.

He said it is an honour to be internationally acknowledged.

Those recognised are cancer survivors or caregivers who through sharing their cancer journeys encourage others to tell their own stories and support CANSA in its mission.

“Nicholas is a must-have at any of our events as he’s loved by everyone. He’s musical, very well- spoken and a pleasure to have around,” Anria du Toit, Relay for Life coordinator of CANSA, told The Southern Cross.

“As an ambassador for CANSA, he inspires cancer survivors and the rest of us,” Ms du Toit said.

“I want to inspire cancer patients to reach out and realise that there are people with far worse problems than their own,” said Mr Joseph. Support groups help one to realise that there is nothing to be ashamed about and they give upliftment to both patients and their loved ones, he added.

“Through my father I have learnt the importance of daily church work,” Anthony Joseph said. “By making a difference in our parishes, we can make a difference in our communities, countries and eventually the world.”

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2

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

LOCAL

YMC is on for 2014

By PoRTiA MTHeMBu

F An instructional video on youTube shows participants how to do the Salesian Life Choices ‘Happy Dance’. Supporters can buy tickets for R20 to join in.

Its make or break for Salesian Life Choices

By STAFF RePoRTeR

I

N a spirit of hope and enthusiasm, Salesian Life Choices is launching the “You Decide” campaign, created to unite South Africans in a movement of happiness to save the organisation that has been changing lives for the past eight years in Cape Town’s poorer communities.

As its name suggests, Salesian Life Choices focuses on empowering young people, so that they are better equipped to make choices that will lead to a more secure future.

“We believe that human beings have the potential to find their own solutions to their problems,” said managing director Sofia Neves. “But to do this, they need household stability, access to education and health services, and training in leadership skills. If these four pillars are in place, young individuals will be able to thrive.”

Operating from premises at Our Lady Help of Christians Lansdowne parish, Salesian Life Choices runs four different programmes in 15 communities on the Cape Flats.

“We make a direct impact on the lives of 30 000 people every year,” said Ms Neves. “Indirectly, we prob-

ably reach 100 000 people annually, if you consider that the people we work with take what they have learned back to their families.”

The United States government has been the organisation’s major sponsor, but it is pulling out of South Africa.

For more than a year, Life Choices has worked hard to fundraise locally without sufficient success and it is facing the prospect of having to close its doors to those in need as it lacks the necessary funding.

In October, the team met to discuss the crisis. “We needed to apply our own teachings to this situation,” said Ms Neves. “On a daily basis, we promote hope and a sense of optimism. We keep telling people not to give up; to trust that their situation will improve and that life will provide what is better for them. Based on this philosophy, we created the You Decide campaign, to raise awareness and attract supporters.”

If enough people commit to donate R100 per month for a year, the organisation can continue its work while finalising new long-term funding agreements.

Alternatively, supporters can buy a R20 ticket to register for the Happy

Dance, learn the moves and join in on November 29 at 10:30am. Participants can dance wherever they are; at school, in their workplace, at home or even on the street. They can also come and dance with Life Choices at Green Point Park at the Oval.

“We concluded our meeting by saying that even if we have to close down, we will die trying.” We will be collecting money, dancing and spreading joy on the streets right up to the last minute,” said Ms Neves.

“We are calling on Catholics to do what they do best: to help those in need. We are putting our fate in their hands.”

On December 1 there will be a free concert at the V&A Waterfront starting at 11:00, at which the decision will be announced. Either Salesian Life Choices closes its doors and celebrates the wonderful eight years it has had, or it keeps doing what it does best, with the support of the Catholic community. n Tickets for the dance event can be bought at Computicket or through the Life Choices website: www.lifechoices.co.za. Follow the campaign through Facebook: Life Choices –You Decide or Twitter: LC_YouDecide.

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OLLOWING the success of the previous conferences held consecutively in Durban and Cape Town, organisers of the now annual Youth Ministry Conference have already begun with preparations for next year’s conference which promises to inspire, support and encourage all attendees.

The conference draws young leaders from all corners of the country and greater Africa to come together and train to become effective messengers of Christ’s love to other young people. Among those involved in the conference is Life Teen, the worldwide Catholic movement of the Holy Spirit.

Realising the growth in the number of young people in the Church who felt the existence of Christ in their lives and actively followed in his footsteps, planners of the YMC saw a need to establish an event where these individuals would unite in one sphere and share the same vision.

“We felt like God was calling us to start a gathering where youth leaders could come together to share their faith, their stories and their experiences,” said Steven Edwards, geography and religious educator at St Benedict’s College, Johannesburg and member of the YMC planning team.

“The Life Teen group have always had a desire to help youth leaders in South Africa and have continuously played a supportive role in the conference, teaching youth leaders how to guide other youngsters closer to Christ,” Mr Edwards told The Southern Cross.

The conference calls on individuals who have a desire to learn more about their faith and who want to know how they can share their faith with other young people. “We invite them to attend because they will come away encouraged and hopeful about the

The youth Ministry Conference will take place in February 2014 young Church and, with a new love for Christ and how they can lead young people to know him.”

Speaking about next year’s conference, Mr Edwards said: “Session topics for the conference will be different and will take leaders deeper—providing more insight, practical skills and help to how they can teach and form their young people.”

“Experienced youth leaders will provide them with the essential skills and insight on how to be more effective in sharing their faith with teenagers,” Mr Edwards said.

“They will form new bonds with youth leaders from other parts of the country who are involved in the same work and will receive inspiration that Christ is working with and within them to lead youngsters to him,” he said.

It is hoped that those attending next year’s conference will leave with a new optimism about the life of the young Church of South Africa.

Attendees will also get time for personal prayer, the sacraments, reflection and an opportunity to grow closer to Christ.

The Youth Ministry Conference is scheduled to take place on February 21-23, 2014 and will be hosted at Schoenstatt in Constantia, Cape Town, where there will be on-site accommodation for those wishing to stay over. nRegistration opens online on www.sacyltc.co.za until early February. Accommodation at Schoenstatt needs to be booked by early November through the online registration process.

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The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

LOCAL

3

Salesian of many roles honoured

By SyDNey DuVAL

S

Dominican promoters of Justice and Peace met at Koinonia conference centre in Johannesburg to discuss intensifying their ministry.

Dominicans pool resources for peace

By NeiL MiTCHeLL

D

OMINICANS must pool their resources with those of other institutions that are working to lift “the veil of trauma” which covers Africa and incapacitates its people from developing themselves.

This call was made by Fr Emmanuel Ntakarutimana, Dominican promoter of Justice and Peace for Rwanda-Burundi.

The promoters of Justice and Peace of all the branches of the Dominican family—friars, sisters and lay Dominicans—from all the African provinces of the order met at the Koinonia Conference Centre in Johannesburg to deliberate on how Dominicans could become a stronger force for justice and peace in Africa.

Also present at the meeting were Sr Celestina Veloso Freitas, the international coordinator of Justice and Peace for Dominican Sisters International, and Fr Carlos Rodriguez Linera, general promoter for Justice and Peace, who are both based at the order’s general curia at Santa Sabina in Rome.

The promoters told of the work with issues such as poverty, corruption, drug and alcohol abuse, the moral deficit behind so many economic crises, high levels of violence in certain regions of Africa, sexual abuse, the quick-fixes offered to traumatised people by the mushrooming evangelical churches, negative ethnic exclusivism, environmental destruction and unemployment.

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uch of the meeting was devoted to developing strategies to deal with these problems. It was not a question of starting from scratch, participants agreed, but of affirming and building on the great deal of work that is already being done.

This work must be deepened and intensified by equipping activists with an effective methodology to fight injustice, developing

a spirituality of Justice and Peace, and by using Dominican institutions for theological reflection on human dignity, economic justice, and peace, and for teaching skills such as social analysis and the ability to identify and document issues affecting people on the ground.

Fr Linera observed that religious life sometimes lacks personal commitment to living the Gospel, leaving aside a real encounter with people in their life situations of poverty and suffering. He called for Dominican institutions to preach a “theology of reality”.

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articipants went on an excursion which exposed them to some South African realities. They visited Johannesburg’s cathedral of Christ the King which has become a welcoming home for many African expatriate communities seeking “greener pastures” in South Africa, as well as the Apartheid Museum, parts of Soweto, and a Catholic Justice and Peace project in Orange Farm, outside Johannesburg, which has a day-care centre for children and a waste-recycling plant.

The project leaders explained how they have tackled issues such as lend tenure rights and the denial of the community’s access to water after the installation of prepaid water meters. Participants commented that the excursion was an experiential confirmation of their discussions, and that through it they were able to see the resilience, clarity of vision and commitment of South Africa’s people in overcoming oppression.

In a closing word to the meeting, Sr Celestina and Fr Linera expressed their confidence that the Holy Spirit guide the Promoters as they search and struggle together to bring justice and peace to Africa.

“Don’t be afraid to go slowly; only be afraid of stopping,” they said.

ALESIAN canon lawyer Fr Eddie O’Neill, rector of the Salesian community at Lansdowne, Cape Town, has been honoured for his 25 years of distinguished service to the Archdiocese of Cape Town in a diversity of ministry and work.

As vicar for property, Fr O’Neill has been involved in 97 separate property sales and purchases and in some 16 new churches, in addition to normal renovations and additions.

He has also lectured in canon law at St Augustine’s College where he obtained his PhD. Archbishop Stephen Brislin hosted a chancery celebration tea and presentation that was also a time for sharing evocative memories of work, events and colleagues living and dead.

Manchester-born Fr O’Neill was acknowledged for his expertise in property and property matters.

“Your help to us and to the priests is tremendous. We are grateful for that and for all the work that you have done, and for your doctoral thesis on the properties of the archdiocese.of Cape Town. We need a copy of that for the archives. This is an opportunity to express our gratitude for all the roles you have played over these 25 years,” Archbishop

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Salesian canon lawyer Fr eddie o’Neil. (Photo: Sydney Duval) Brislin said.

Archbishop Brislin presented Fr O’Neill with a card and a gift, saying: “The picture on the card is of a harbour and a couple of ships and a person fishing. We don't want you to get the wrong impression. We are not saying that you should be put out to go fishing.

You've still got many years left in you. We still need you.

“We tried to get something as old as your 25 years at the chancery. Unfortunately this is only a 15-year-old bottle of

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brandy. We hope that it warms the cockles of your heart. You’ve kept us on our toes. We thank you very much for that. It’s a pleasure to work with Fr O’Neill.”

A man of cheerful wit and humour, a deep affection for his Salesian confreres and their pastoral outreach, efficient organiser and astute in safeguarding the interests of the local church, Fr O’Neill has served under three administrations, those of Archbishop Stephen Naidoo CSsR, Lawrence Henry and Brislin. He also served as an MC for Cardinal Owen McCann.

Fr O’Neill recalled that at one stage five Salesians were serving as episcopal vicars in Cape Town— for religious, education, youth, liturgy and property.

He recalled a fulfilling journey over 25 years, having received his first set of faculties as priest from Cardinal McCann in 1975. He went on to serve as a member of the diocesan consultors and presbyteral and finance councils, positions he still holds.

He thanked chancery staff for their presence, kindness and friendship, adding: “I look forward to continuing my work for the archdiocese and to being involved in oversight of the new churches for this Year of Faith.”

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4

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

Bishops: DRC rebel group silenced; but no peace yet T

he Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo rejoices at the end of a year-long military campaign in North Kivu by the defeated rebels of the M23 movement, but has made it clear that much remains to be done to consolidate that peace.

In a tour around areas held only days before by the rebels, Bishop Theophile Kaboyi Ruboneka of Goma called on citizens to work hard to consolidate a peace that was “acquired at the price of blood”, referring especially to the last offensive, which ended on November 5.

“We are thankful to God that this nightmare has ended,” Bishop Kaboyi told the UN-run Radio Okapi. “Now, as we are condemned to live together, we must be reconciled.”

Congolese Catholic officials have made it clear that, despite an end to hostilities in North Kivu, their country has not seen the end of its trials.

Bishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Bokungu-Ikela, president of the bishops’ justice and

peace commission, announced that the Church would join an international ecumenical campaign for peace in the Great Lakes region.

The campaign will launch on December 1.

In that announcement, Bishop Ambongo spoke of the military ceasefire.

“The cessation of hostilities is an essential step forward for the consolidation of peace,” he said, but “we know that peace cannot be obtained by the barrel of a gun, and diplomatic pressure is not enough.”

For this reason, “international implication and support for building peace must be maintained”, as well as a “process of healing and pacification of wounded hearts in order to pursue a real culture of peace that promotes human rights and the duties of each member of the community”.

The year-long campaign announced by Bishop Ambongo is being organised by the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Central Africa, along with Anglican colleges of bishops of the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi.

With support from Catholic Relief Services and CAFOD, the US and British bishops’ international relief agencies, the campaign aims to mobilise communities in the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi to work toward a culture of peace with justice, and to reach out to other faith groups that share the same commitment to peace.

Church leaders are not only cautious about the fragile nature of peace in the eastern DRC. The quality of democracy and rule of law also concern them.

Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa has warned that President Joseph Kabila’s recent announcement that a national census should be held before the 2016 general elections is a thinly disguised attempt to postpone elections so Mr Kabila can remain in power for an illegal third term.

Cardinal Monsengwo also expressed his scepticism about the value of a national dialogue launched to address the issues of the legitimacy of Mr Kabila’s presidency after contested general elections in 2011.—CNS

Football fan Pope Francis receives a signed jersey from Argentine international Carlos Tevez of italian league champions Juventus Turin, during a private meeting at the Vatican. The two Argentinians talked traditional foods from their country: mate, a tea drink, and asados, traditional barbeques.

Tevez, a former player of Manchester united, Manchester City and West Ham united who came with his family, thanked the pope “for helping people understand what the Church is about, and what its role is”. (Photo: L’osservatore Romano via Reuters)

Composer cardinal dies at 96

By CiNDy WooDeN

I

TALIAN Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci (pictured right in 2010), who had devoted most of his priestly life to music and served as director of the Sistine Chapel Choir for more than 40 years, died on November 11 at the age of 96.

Cardinal Bartolucci had retired from the Sistine Chapel post in 1997, but he continued composing music, including

“Benedictus”, a piece written and performed in 2011 for Pope Benedict XVI, who had named him to the College of Cardinals in 2010.

Already a student of music and an assistant choir di-

rector, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1939. In 1952, he became the assistant director of the Sistine Chapel Choir.

Appointed director of the choir by Pope Pius XII in 1956, he reorganised its musical programme, formed the Sistine Chapel boys’ choir, took the group on the road to give concerts around the world, and continued composing works for both choir and orchestra.—CNS

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A

RCHBISHOP Fouad Twal, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, condemned the Israeli government’s demolition of a home on Churchowned property and said the Church would take legal action to “bring back justice and rebuild this home”.

At a news conference at the ruins of the residence, which had housed a Palestinian family of 14 people, Patriarch Twal said looking at the “painful and upsetting scene raises discontent and anger”.

“There is no justification for

the demolition, but when the municipality and the Israeli government enact demolitions and displace people from their homes, these practices increase hatred and endanger the future of peace,” the patriarch said, noting that the Church had the official paperwork and deed.

The Church had owned the property since before the 1967 Israeli-Arab war that put parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank in dispute.

“You will hear our voice before all governments worldwide, and we will take legal

action in appropriate courts to rectify this injustice, to bring back justice and rebuild this home,” he said. “We have willpower and a spirit of belonging to this land of our ancestors, this sacred land which is home of our past, present and future.”

In early November, bulldozers from the Jerusalem municipality, accompanied by Israeli security forces, razed the home, taking residents by surprise. Israeli officials said the residence had been built without the proper permits.—CNS

May, and five other men were arrested by Italy’s finance police.

Fr Salvatore is accused of arranging for impersonators posing as members of the finance police to detain and question two Camillian fathers in order to prevent them from participating in the general chapter and voting against his re-election.

The real finance police alleged that Fr Salvatore was working

with an Italian financier—who has been investigated repeatedly but never convicted of shady financial dealings—to protect contracts at a Camillian hospital near Naples.

“We are living this moment in prayer, confident that full light can be thrown upon this event,” said Fr Paolo Guarise, the order’s vicar-general, in a statement— CNS

Superior arrested for kidnapping confreres

By CiNDy WooDeN

I

TALIAN police have arrested the superior general of the Camillian Fathers and Brothers on suspicion of kidnapping after he allegedly tried to prevent two Camillian Fathers opposed to his election from attending the order’s general chapter.

Fr Renato Salvatore, who was re-elected at a chapter meeting in

CANONISATION PILGRIMAGE Join The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas on a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi to witness the canonisation of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII in the Vatican

Led by Fr Emil Blaser OP • April 25 to May 4

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For itinerary or to book phone Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

5

How Pope Francis balances pastoral care with doctrine P

By ANDReA GAGLiARDuCCi

OPE Francis’ priority is the pastoral care of the people entrusted to him, and his words are intentionally suited to this purpose—but this does not mean he will concede on doctrine, a noted Vatican observer has explained.

In two articles published in the Italian newsweekly L’Espresso, Sandro Magister sketched out Pope Francis’ informal style of communication.

Mr Magister said that Pope Francis has inaugurated a “twofold communicative register”: on the one hand, what he says off the cuff, in interviews and in spontaneous preaching is meant for the people of God; on the other hand, the official pronouncements of the pope himself, or of someone with his complete trust, are intended to point out what the doctrine is.

Two example of this two-fold register can be provided.

The first is the contrast between the pope’s words on marriage, and those of Archbishop Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In October Archbishop Müller

published an article in L’Osservatore Romano as an “official answer” to those who have supposed that under Pope Francis the Church would be open to admitting to Holy Communion those who have been divorced and re-married.

Archbishop Müller wrote that while Catholics in irregular marital unions after divorce cannot receive Communion, this makes it “all the more imperative” to show them “pastoral concern”.

This clarified confusion about Pope Francis’ words at an in-flight press conference on the way back from World Youth Day in Brazil in July.

Pope Francis stated that “those who are divorced can receive Communion, there is no problem, but when they are in a second union, they can’t”, but added that “we need to look at this within the larger context of the entire pastoral care of marriage”.

According to Mr Magister, Pope Francis’ preaching “is primarily addressed to the common people, to the weak in faith, to the sinners, to the far away; not as a whole, but as if the pope would like to speak oneon-one with each of them”.

Mr Magister added that “just as in the Gospel Jesus is very demanding in the commandments but turns to individual sinners with mercy, so Pope Francis also wants to be”.

He stressed that “on disputed questions—on birth, on death, on procreation—he is of undisputed doctrinal orthodoxy”.

This interview granted to Jesuit periodicals, published in September, is the second example of Pope Francis’ new “communicative register”.

According to Mr Magister, the interview “appears more and more as the ‘overture’ to a concert for many voices”, and it is also “eliciting responses that are adding questions on top of questions”.

This, Mr Magister said, is typical of any open conversation. “And since this is the modality used by Pope Francis to announce the programme of his pontificate, it is natural that the reactions as well should not limit themselves to listening, to acceptance, to criticism or rejection, but should also engage directly with him in an ongoing dialogue”.—CNA

Survivors of the super typhoon Haiyan cook their meals inside a Catholic church converted into an evacuation centre after the typhoon battered Tacloban, Philippines. Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in history, killed about 3 000 and left at least 600 000 homeless. The typhoon destroyed urban infrastructure as well as large areas of agricultural land and crops. it also hit Vietnam and mainland China. The Filipino bishops’ conference declared a nationwide novena of prayer from November 11-19 for the victims of the typhoon, as well as of the earthquake that struck the central Philippines last month. (Photo: Romeo Ranoco, Reuters/CNS)

Top Holy Land scholar dies at 78

By MiCHAeL KeLLy

D

OMINICAN Father Jerome Murphy-O’Connor (pictured), acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost scholars of the New Testament, particularly the writings of St Paul, died on November 11 in Jerusalem—a city where he had spent more than 45 years of his life. He was 78.

Born in Cork, Ireland, in 1935, he entered the Irish province of the Dominican order in September 1953 and was ordained a priest in 1960.

Born James, he chose “Jerome” as his name in religious life—an apt choice since St Jerome is the patron of students of the Bible.

Fr Murphy-O’Connor received his doctorate from the University of Fribourg, Switzer-

land in 1962, and a year later began doing research on the Dead Sea Scrolls at the German universities of Heidelberg and Tübingen.

From there, he went to the Dominican-run École Biblique, the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, which was to become his religious, scholarly and personal home for the rest of his life. He was appointed professor of the New Testament there in 1972.

He wrote a highly acclaimed guide to the Holy Land, which was published in 1980 and translated into numerous languages; and he was as comfortable lead-

ing pilgrims around the Holy Land as he was in the lecture hall.

Fr Murphy-O’Connor also enjoyed entertaining guests at the École Biblique, in the heart of East Jerusalem, or at the nearby American Colony Hotel.

His love for the Holy Land and its people—Jews, Muslims and Christians—was evident as he came alive exploring biblical episodes as if he had been an eyewitness.

The Bible and the characters were real living people for Fr Murphy-O’Connor, and he spoke of them as one might speak of old friends. He always had a special affection for the hard-pressed minority Christian communities in the Middle East.

Fr Murphy-O’Connor was buried in the Holy Land on November 13.

A first: St Peter’s bones to be displayed

By CiNDy WooDeN

F

OR the first time, the bones traditionally believed to be the relics of St Peter the Apostle will be on public display for veneration.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, said the veneration of the relics at the Vatican is a fitting way to conclude the Year of Faith on November 24.

The archbishop said millions of pilgrims marked the Year of Faith by making a pilgrimage to St Peter’s tomb and renewing their profession of faith there.

“The culminating sign” of the year, he said, “will be the exposition for the first time of the relics traditionally recognised as those of the apostle who gave his life for the Lord here.”

The bones were discovered during excavations of the necrop-

olis under St Peter’s Basilica in the 1940s near a monument erected in the fourth century to honour St Peter.

No pope has ever declared the bones to be authentic. However, after scientific tests were conducted on the bones in the 1950s and ’60s, Pope Paul VI said in 1968 that the “relics” of St Peter had been “identified in a way which we can hold to be convincing”.—CNS

Pope slams ‘goddess of kickbacks’

By CARoL GLATz

D

ESPITE the perks and high living they may bring, bribery, corruption and dishonest work are serious sins that rob people and their children of their dignity, Pope Francis said at an early morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives.

“Devotees of the goddess of kickbacks” bring home “dirty bread” for their children to eat, the pope said. “And this is a serious sin!” he added.

“Their children, perhaps educated in expensive colleges, perhaps raised in well-educated circles, have received filth as a meal from their father”, rendering them “starved of dignity”.

Worldly habits, taking short cuts and choosing the easiest way to make money are part of “the habit of bribery”; a way of living that is “intensely sinful,” he said.

The pope asked that people pray “for the many children and young people who receive dirty bread from their parents: They too are hungry, starved of dignity.”

In another homily, he said God loves and forgives sinners but abhors and condemns “putrid” hypocrites who lead others to sin—and included in this benefactors of the Church who make their money dishonestly.

“The corrupt man is stuck in a state of self-importance, he doesn’t know what humility is”.

One who sins and repents, the pope said, “asks forgiveness, recognises his weakness, feels like a child of God, humbles himself and asks Jesus for salvation.

“But what is scandalous about the other?” the pope asked.

“That he doesn’t repent. He continues to sin but pretends to be Christian, [he leads] a double life.”

On the one hand he gives to the Church, “but with the other hand, he robs, from the state, from the poor. He is an unjust man. This is a double life”.

“And this merits—Jesus says so, not I—that they put a millstone around his neck and throw him into the sea,” the pope said.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Hearing the laity

T

HE idea that Pope Francis and the Vatican advocated canvassing the views of the faithful on issues such as same-sex marriage and divorce excited the public to such lengths that the Vatican saw a need to put a damper on expectations.

The media highlighted in particular the decision of the bishops of England and Wales to post on the Internet for public comment a questionnaire that was sent to bishops conferences in preparation for the extraordinary session of the synod of bishops on “The pastoral challenges concerning the family in the context of evangelisation”, to be held from October 4-19, 2014.

Among the 39 questions in the preparatory document, the Vatican asks: “What questions do divorced and remarried people pose to the Church concerning the Sacraments of the Eucharist and of Reconciliation? Among those persons who find themselves in these situations, how many ask for these sacraments?”

Who is better primed to answer such questions than the laity, using a forum of communication that is open to all?

The innovation, however, was not warmly received by the synod’s relator, Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo, who appeared dismissive about the consultative methods of his brother bishops in Britain, as we reported last week.

To the reports which had welcomed a greater openness by the Vatican to the feelings of the faithful on family matters, Cardinal Erdo added caution: “Certainly the doctrine of the magisterium must be the basis of the common reasoning of the synod. It is not a question of public opinion.”

C

learly, the Church’s doctrines cannot be changed just because they do not accord with public opinion. But this cannot mean that the guardians of these doctrines should present themselves to be deaf to views of the laity—even less so when the Church has explicitly solicited lay input on teachings that relate directly to the experience of most lay people.

Cardinal Erdo’s comments might have been intended to diminish expectations of doctrinal change, but they also served to slap down a perception that the Church actually cares about the laity, a notion that represented a welcome departure from a sense that the hierarchy tends to ignore the views and needs of the faithful.

But the hierarchy does seem to care. The bishops of England and Wales are not alone in wishing to know the mind of all the laity.

Members of the US hierarchy, which met this month in Baltimore, proposed that the idea of posting the questionnaire on the Internet was worth emulating.

Likewise, Southern African bishops have followed the Vatican’s lead by encouraging parish priests to canvas the views of the faithful so that the experience of the laity may inform the local hierarchy’s response to the synod.

Indeed, the African family experience requires an amplified voice at the synod to impress upon the Church that it needs to formulate responses that transcend the traditional Western model of being family—one that seems to be inexorably changing itself.

U

nlike previous synods, next year’s speaks most directly to the daily concerns of the People of God, many of whom are looking for practical answers to their experiences and difficulties.

Most Catholic families are living with realities of divorce, family planning, homosexuality, cohabitation and so on, and look to the Church for guidance and understanding, especially when reference to doctrine offers no workable solution to complex situations. Experience has shown that when the Church fails to offer such guidance, the people tend to overrule its teachings.

Led by the Holy Spirit, the synod will need to discuss these difficulties and conflicts forthrightly.

Cardinal Erdo is correct in saying that the vox populi cannot in itself provide the reason for changing doctrines, even if the faithful have rejected these teachings. This assertion, however, must be accompanied by an acknowledgment that every law requires a practical treatment, and every canon requires a pastoral application.

The synod will be a wasted opportunity if it simply reiterates doctrines, and many Catholics will become increasingly disaffected from the Church if the synod fails to consider pastoral solutions.

Instead, the synod must candidly discuss how the Church can square its doctrines with the lived experience of the faithful— or, to put it in Francescan language, how to reconcile justice with mercy.

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.

Sa Church sometimes slow to help

W

HEN natural disasters or shack fires have struck in the past, I often felt it is a pity that Muslim organisations like the Gift of the Givers, non-denominational ones like the Red Cross, and commercial ones like supermarkets or radio stations have responded faster than we Catholics do with appeals for help for those afflicted.

Can the South African Catholic Church put together something for those suffering in the aftermath of

With open ears

T

HE recent reported announcement by the Vatican to conduct a parish-level survey about Church teachings on contraception, samesex unions and divorce must be welcomed.

It would seem that the Vatican is much more interested in a real sensus fidelium. Subsequent reports suggested that the Vatican was not asking for a “parish-poll” but the Preparatory Document for the Synod, to be held in 2014, does call for particular Churches (note: not bishops’ conferences) to give their views on the matters raised in the questionnaire.

This process should be embraced not only by those entrusted as pastors but by the common priesthood as well. This is a moment of grace.

We should be careful not to fall into the trap, as we so often do, of labelling it “liberal” or “progressive”. The aim is not necessarily to change Church teaching rather than the method employed in formulating doctrine, that is, to listen to the lived faith experience of the faithful.

It would seem that the model of “Roma locuta, causa finita” has been replaced with a yearning of wanting to know and listen to what the sense of faith among the faithful is, especially emphasising their participation in both ora and credo.

One hopes that all our bishops have taken a lesson from the Bishop of Rome of listening first, especially now, given this opportunity in preparation for the synod.

Wesley Seale, Cape Town

Saddened by breakaway

I

AM saddened by the front page news, “Priests break away to rebel church” (November 6).

I ordained one of those four priests, a brilliant student for the priesthood who the seminary spoke of as a likely future member of its staff.

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What do nuns do in the Convents? Many keep wondering as to what these women do behind convent walls. Sr Amara Madlala FSF, former Directress General of the Daughters of St Francis of Assisi and her music group, have released two CDs since last year November and the second one now in September 2013.

They are giving us a glimpse of what is happening behind the walls of the convents. In their search for God they reflect intensely on the scriptures and in these albums contain mantras and lyrics which are a result of their reflecting on the Scripture.

It is said: They don’t light a candle and put it under a bushel, but instead they put it on a lampstand so that the light may shine for all the people. Sr. Amara, the composer of these mantras and lyrics, is doing exactly that, and wishes to share her light with the whole of humanity. Her first work has already blessed many people, and that has encouraged her to go on to produce the second one.

Copies are available at the FSF generalate 039 6846 251/073 768 0400; also at Coolock house, Port Shepstone and at Mariannhill Repository at R 80.00 only.

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Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines? A special collection at Masses—anything?

I would rather support a Catholic appeal, hoping that all the money gets where it is intended, than an organisation about which I know less.

At the time of writing this letter, no one I e-mailed was aware of any local Catholic response.

I know Pope Francis was sending aid, as was Caritas and other Catholic aid organisations, as well

I sincerely regret that he has joined the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ (ECCC) about which I hear for the first time through your article.

Likewise, I sincerely hope and pray that no member of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa will be led astray by the ECCC’s intended operations; not for lack of ecumenical spirit, but because there was really no need to increase the number of splinter “churches” littering our country.

Let readers of The Southern Cross make their own Lord’s prayer to his Father, “ I ask you to protect them from the evil one...that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you...so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:15-21).

Bishop Hubert Bucher, Emeritus of Bethlehem

an alternative

Y

OUR report “Priests break away to rebel church” (November 6) refers.

Independent Catholic Church communities are not a new phenomenon in the history of the Church. As one travels the world, one comes across a number of such.

It is only in South Africa and the whole continent of Africa that such independent Catholic communities are beginning to become a reality. It is becoming a sign of theological maturity in the understanding of the faith and how Catholicism may be expressed.

It is very sad that such an alternative to the Catholic tradition is not presented as an alternative to your adherents, some of whom would opt for independent catholic parish communities with their own priest and with little or no interference from your bishop and his administration team. This would allow for the principle of seeking and living Unity in Essentials, and Diversity in Non-Essentials.

I am of the firm view that, given the post-liberation paradigm of 1994, the Catholic Church in South Africa has to embrace this kind of thinking. This would mean, among

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as civic authorities of a host of countries. We South Africans are late.

Naturally we should also be praying for the victims and their families, but, as a Filipino friend shared on Facebook, our pope does encourage “concrete help” as well.

I do realise that we have our own poor right next-door to us that we should already be helping—but in disasters of this magnitude, both the poor and those who may have helped them have been devastated.

Let’s not only be inward-looking.

Magda Kus, Cape Town other things, getting its theological house in order, by liberating its adherents from the fear engulfing them, preach less of “sin” and the fear of God and treat everyone as an individuation of God. I am living testimony to this reality and am happy and gay that I can live out this freedom in the tradition of the wider church as a Catholic priest. This is exactly what aggiornamento (dawning of a new day) by Pope John XXIII means— reading the signs of times.

Fr Fano Ngcobo, Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ, Cape Town

The SSPX wins

Y

OUR report (October 23) on the funeral of SS officer Erich Priebke, who was ordered to massacre 335 Italian civilians, omits to tell us that this atrocity was in retaliation for the killing of 33 German soldiers by Italian civilians.

The Italians knew that there would be retaliation. The lives of those Germans were of consequence too.

My father-in-law, a Catholic and a German soldier, was killed in that war.

The Vatican refused a burial service for Priebke and the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) offered a Requiem Mass for the soul of Priebke, who was baptised in 1947.

In this matter, the SSPX wins and the Vatican loses. The “anti-Semitism” card was played against the SSPX as usual. These cries of “Antisemitism! Anti-semitism!” are reminiscent of other cries made so long ago: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Franko Sokolic, Cape Town 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.

Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

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PERSPECTIVES

Is the Church ready to hear the truth?

P Raymond Perrier ERMIT me to take Jesus’ immortal words, “Ask and you shall receive”, and place them in a different context: the questions that are asked and the answers received in market research.

I worked in this field for many years and we had two important rules: don’t ask a question if you are not ready to hear the answer; and, don’t ask for an answer if you are not willing or able to change anything.

Thus, a bank should not ask its customers what they think of the call centre if they then shelve the results because they are too embarrassing; the hotel should not ask guests about the position of the building since presumably they can’t shift it.

I started thinking about this when I came across a news item about the preparation of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family that the Holy Father has called for October next year. As is usual, Rome has sent out a list of questions to local bishops so that they can draw together the experience of the Church from around the world.

Presumably Pope Francis does not want people to write in and just say what they think Rome wants to hear.

Imagine if a report arrived from some country which said that Catholics completely understood and supported Church teaching on co-habitation, abortion, homosexuality and divorce; that most children lived in happy families with a mother and a father who are married to each other; that the only forms of contraception that Catholics used were natural methods; and that, if there were some rare exception to this model family, priests treated such people with great pastoral sensitivity while at all times adhering to the sacramental laws of exclusion?

How would the Vatican react? Presumably with some scepticism.

Instead I presume that most bishops will put a lot of effort into thinking about the questions and replying to them candidly.

The Southern African bishops have even passed the questions on to their priests so as to canvas opinion more widely. If this is done well, a report will be sent that clearly and frankly reflects the reality of family life in this country.

The bishops of England and Wales have

gone a step further. They have posted the survey on line (www.surveymonkey.com/s/ FamilySynod2014) and asked priests and people to reply.

If the questions sound a bit strange it is because they have not attempted to translate them from Vatican-speak into ordinary language. Nevertheless, it does not take long to realise that the bishops really are asking about the attitudes that ordinary Catholics have towards all of the usual highly sensitive topics. It will be fascinating to know what they will do with the results.

A

few years ago, when the Church in Britain was campaigning against gay marriage, a market research company decided to see if the bishops’ strong views were shared by ordinary Catholics. The results did not help the bishops’ cause.

When I worked for the Catholic development agency CAFOD, I used MORI, one of the most respected polling companies in the world, to conduct a survey about Catholics in Britain. Nobody other than the bishops were shocked to learn that, compared to their fellow citizens, Catholics read the same intemperate newspapers; were just as likely to be divorced; and on average had the same (small) number of children.

Actually, the biggest shock was how few Catholics identified as Irish—only 4%— when at least 50% of the bishops would

A Catholic family at dinner. Next year the Synod of Bishop will discuss the family—but will they know the realities of family life?

(Photo: Mike Crupi/CNS)

Love the work you do ‘C

HOOSE a job you love to do, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

These famous words, spoken by Confucius, were also my dad’s favourite words as he was trying to motivate us as children through the many debates we had about work.

My dad’s belief was that our work was supposed to make us feel good, respectable and dignified. We should enjoy what we are doing and not feel like slaves.

What is work? My dad worked for 36 years as a salesman at the Cape Town fresh produce market. He left our home after 5am, dressed and clean-shaven, in order to start work at six o’clock every single morning. A simple, hardworking man who loved and enjoyed what he was doing, and did it with so much dignity. This was not work for him, it was a way of life.

When my dad retired, he opened up his own business, a little house-shop selling essential items to the local people in the neighbourhood. I spent many afternoons visiting with him, in his shop, and seeing how he interacted with the customers, ranging from little boys and girls coming to buy a few cents worth of sweets, to elderly men and women coming for bread, milk or cigarettes.

He greeted them in a friendly manner, asked how their families were, treated them

with respect and dignity. He loved sales.

This explains why a man who had worked as a salesman for 36 years would choose to go into sales again in his retirement. This was a job he loved to do.

He enjoyed this work, not just because he was making money in his shop, but because of the interaction with other people, the worth he experienced from being of service to them and from his customers’ satisfaction with the service conveniently offered to them. In this we can see that work is more than just making a living. Work is an expression of our dignity.

Work is also a service to mankind.

Through our work we co-create with God. We contribute to creating community through our service to each other—community serving humanity.

Work is also an opportunity for us to improve our skills. The more you are at it, the better you become.

Take your own job, for example. Are you more skilled now than you were, say, two years ago? There is an inherent individual benefit to us in the work that we do in that it grows and develops us as well.

So, on the one hand our work puts food on the table, but, on the other hand, our work should give us pleasure: “Also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.” (Ecclesiates 3:13)

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Pray with the Pope

Faith and Society

have known all the words to “Danny Boy”.

The usual response to this subject is that market research has no place in the life of the Church since the Church already knows the truth and is not swayed by public opinion. The cardinal in charge of the synod has said as much already. But even skipping the historic inaccuracies of such a view of Church doctrine, research still has a role to play in the communication of teaching, if not in its formulation.

Next year’s Synod of Bishops is interested in the evangelisation of the family, and the questions seem to appreciate that to do that more effectively the Church needs a sense of the reality of the families they are talking about and to, and an honest view of how effective previous attempts at communicating Church teaching have been.

That is a definite step forwards in terms of self-awareness and honesty, probably thanks to Pope Francis’ long pastoral experience among ordinary people.

In any case, not all areas of Church life are about truth. More often it is about how we do things and whether they achieve their goal—the sermon is not good just because the priest is validly ordained; the music is not appropriate because the pope likes it; the Church organisation is not spending money well just because it is a Church organisation; the new project is not going to be successful just because Sister or Father have lit a candle.

There are many areas of Church life where some consumer surveys could help us to be more impactful and less wasteful.

Pope Francis’ Vatican is once again challenging us: Church people and Church organisations should not be so arrogant as to think that we can learn nothing from those on the receiving end of our teaching and preaching.

What would happen if we asked? And how we would we then act on the results?

Judith Turner

Faith and Life

The Church recognises that “work is the activity of the human person as a dynamic being”, one made in the image of God and enjoying all the dignity of that image.

Jesus was a worker, a carpenter. By doing that job, he elevated work far above the animalistic fight for survival that those in power often try to present labour as for working people.

Human beings are made in the image and likeness of Almighty God. As such, we each have a transcendent dignity that extends beyond this life and into eternity. The things we do here, including the work of our heads, hands and hearts, is an expression of that innate, God-given dignity.

As we come to the end of our working year, let us remember that our ability to work is a gift from God. Let us experience and enjoy the dignity that comes through our work. We owe it to ourselves to take pleasure and experience joy through the work that we do and that we do it always for the greater glory of God. Even if you don’t have your dream job, love what you are doing. Remember the words of Confucius: “Choose a job you love to do, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

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7

Save the children General Intention: That children who are victims of abandonment or violence may find the love and protection they need.

O

NE can only say “Amen” to such an intention. “Our Nation’s Shame”, read a recent front-page headline in the Sunday Times.

Under the banner were the photographs of children recently murdered in South Africa.

The statistics intensify the sense of shame— 45,9% of children are murdered in public places, 34% in their own homes, 35,5% are killed by an acquaintance, 55,9% are strangled. It’s hard to read on. It’s a terrible litany of betrayal and unimaginable suffering.

The natural instinct of homo sapiens is to nurture and protect children, even if only out of a long-term self-interest in the future of our society. How then, can this basic protective instinct be suppressed, destroyed and supplanted by its absolute opposite—baby abuse and infanticide?

One policeman who had to deal with a recent baby murder remarked in disgust that we are a sick society. There are many theories about this social sickness that affects our country so terribly—the breakdown of family life, a materialistic, throwaway society, the loss of a true sense of manhood among males, the use of drugs, the legacy of apartheid, poverty and so on.

It’s awful to think this, but it sometimes seems that the only way in which poor South Africans can achieve a half satisfactory level of security for themselves and their children is by making it into the middle class, and that those who don’t are condemned, with their children, to an appallingly insecure existence eked out in the harsh shacklands ringing our cities.

This should not be so. It should be possible for working class people to live in the dignity and security which befits men and women made in God’s likeness.

We pray for the children and we pray for ourselves that we may be moved to humanise our world for them.

Prepare for Christ Missionary Intention: That Christians, enlightened by the Word incarnate, may prepare humanity for the Saviour’s coming.

I

T’S ironical that we are reminded that Advent and Christmas will soon be upon us by the proactive preparations of the big stores, some of which already started their Christmas drive to boost the consumer end of the economy in October.

This irony is, of course, an annual cause for Christian heart searching often expressed in the cliché, “Put Christ back into Christmas”.

My hope is that this year efforts to prepare the world for the coming of the Word incarnate at Christmas time will be given a boost by the “Francis factor”. The pope has a way of going to the heart of the Gospel in simple words and powerful symbolic actions. The responses to him among those outside the Church are consistently positive, judging by the comments on websites carrying news of him. Readers will often make remarks like, “I’m not a Catholic or even a believer, but this man seems to me to walk the Christian talk”. A bishop recently told me that his Dutch Reformed doctor said that he felt that Francis “is our pope too”!

During Advent let us pray for and with the Holy Father that all Christian believers may manifest in their persons the presence of the Word incarnate who comes to save all people of good will.

8

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

COMMUNITY

Children at St Benedict’s cathedral in eshowe, Kwazulu-Natal, received first Holy Communion. The group are pictured with parish priest Fr David Mthiyane (centre back).

Giovanni Poverello of St Anthony’s parish in Sedgefield, diocese of oudtshoorn, received a blessing from parish priest Fr Cosmas onwukwe SAC on his 95th Birthday.

Mr Poverello is St Anthony’s oldest parishioner.

Mrs G Kunene received a certificate of gratitude for her tireless contributions to St Margaret and immaculate Conception parishes in Diepkloof, Soweto. Mrs Kunene is pictured with Fr zweli Mlotshwa oMi.

A Marian pilgrimage group led by Fr Nkululeko Meyiwa oMi, assistant rector of Ngome Marian Shrine is pictured with group leaders Victor and Jacinta David. The pilgrims celebrated the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Medjugorje.

St Patrick’s parish in east London celebrated the baptism of Kelvin Shoyinka, son of Patrick and Justine Shoyinka. Kelvin is pictured with parish priest Fr John Pullokkaran CMi and his parents.

international Peace Day was celebrated by learners at Learn To Live special school of skills, one of the projects at Salesian institute, in Cape Town.

Confirmation candidates from St Bernard’s in Newlands and St ignatius in Claremont, Cape Town are pictured with (front right) Deacon John McMahon (right), Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town and parish priest Fr Christopher Clohessy.

Confirmation candidates from St Joseph’s parish in Goodwood, Cape Town, are pictured with Archbishop Stephen Brislin and parish priest Fr Mari Joseph oCD.

MICASA TOURS

Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of St Paul to Greece and Turkey led by Mgr Barnard McAleer 9-22 June 2014 Pilgrimage to Israel led by Fr Jerome Nyathi 29 June-9 July 2014 Pilgrimage to the Shrines of Europe visiting israel, Greece, Medjugorje, italy, Lourdes, Fatima and Santiago de Compostela led by Father Collin Bowes 6-30 September 2014 Pilgrimage of Thanksgiving to Italy & Medjugorje led by Fr Maselwane 7-20 Sep 2014 Pilgrimage to Medjugorje led by Fr Donovan Wheatley 21 Sep-9 oct 2014 Pilgrimage to Fatima, Santiago de Compostela and Lourdes, Paris & Nevers 28 Sep-11 oct 2014 Pilgrimage to Fatima, Santiago Compostela and Lourdes led by Fr emil Blazer 10-23 october 2014 Contact: Tel: 012 342 0179/072637 0508 (Michelle) E-Mail: info@micasatours.co.za

Gwennie Jozaffe of Sacred Heart parish in Kabega, Port elizabeth, celebrated her 100th birthday with a special Mass concelebrated by apostolic administrator Mgr Brendan Deenihan and Mgr John Clarke of St Vincent’s in Algoa Park. Mrs Jozaffe received a papal award during the Mass and is the second recipient in her family after her parents received the award in 1969.

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

FAITH

9

How praying produces power Prayer is not only a time to ask God for help or blessings, but an opportnity to be in full communion with God, as KeLViN BANDA explains.

I

N his letter to the Hebrews, St Paul tells us that faith is the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). And in his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God” (10:17).

For one to hear the word of God, one needs a listening heart and mind. Elijah, for example heard God in the “still, small voice” of the wind (1 Kings 19:12).

For us to be able to hear and listen to this voice of God, we need to be rooted and absorbed in prayer.

Prayer is a deep personal encounter with God. Most of the time we may not be ready yet to abandon our ordinary everyday activities so as to enter into that inner contact with God. We need some kind of rhyme, discipline and practice to take us to that point of experience with God. Thomas Merton said that prayers such as the Hail Mary or the Our Father are a great way to lead us to deeper prayer. They are the means by which we can dispose the mind towards calmness, ready to be in prayerful conversation with God. In many ways all of us pray. An atheist friend told me that he also prays. Why is it that so many of us engage in prayer? What is at the root of this need to pray?

My mother said that prayer can take many forms of expression: reading Scripture, singing, dancing, making pilgrimages, fasting, being in silence... All these can be considered types of prayers.

But what is at the core of people’s hearts that make them seek to pray?

In all these different types of prayer, the common centre is a search for meaning via the transcendent, which fundamentally involves a search for meaning beyond the mere

A Catholic at prayer. in his article, Kelvin Banda compares prayer to electricity, with two currents coming together to create power. material world.

St John of Damascus said that “prayer is the raising of the mind and the heart to God.” Prayer, I believe, must be like a vibration of two powers coming to meet at a focal point. Prayer can be compared to electricity, which results in the meeting of two currents: the human longing for God that meets the divine longing for us.

When these currents come together to produce power, we have prayer.

Prayer is the passionate desire to reach and to be in communion with God. It is that special time to be with God: to enter into the heart and spirit of God’s love.

Prayer is a time to release oneself from the worldly pleasures, anxieties and all temporal activities, just be with God. It is a natural, mystic way of knowing and cherishing God, and of abiding ourselves with the living flame of love for all humanity.

Prayer needs to bring us to that

interior castle—the place of protection—which St Teresa of Avila talked about: “Christ dwelling in our souls and grounded in the protection and power of God.”

P

rayer should not only be a way of getting out of trouble, sickness or misery, nor only about asking God to bless us in our endeavours. We need to raise ourselves and just be in God’s presence, feel God’s precious love for us.

Prayer is a time to transcend from the physical world to the spiritual realm, letting us dwell in God, and he in us.

Prayer is perseverance as Jesus tells us: “Ask, and it will Retirement Home, be given to you; seek, and you will fine; knock, and it will be Rivonia, opened to you” (Mt 7:7).

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when whatever we need is known to him? Good question, isn’t?

God, as a good parent, will not respond to us in a human way or the way we want him to respond to us.

God delights in our requests and is always open to listen to them.

As Christians, we believe that God knows everything and sees everything. In fact, as St Augustine

said, “God invites us to ask and ask again so that our hearts might expand so as to receive the gift for God wants to give.”

What we need to know, realise and understand is that it is initially God who changes us to pray, and by his invitation to pray persistently. St Thomas Aquinas said that “our prayer doesn’t move God; as God is the Unmoved Mover”.

God is always prompting us to pray for the right things. In fact, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought” (Rom 8:26). God cares about us more than we actually care about ourselves.

This is why when we pray, God will give us only what accords with his will.

Christ tells us not to be like pagans who pray to their false gods by using empty phrases, because our God is mighty and he is not moved by many words and empty phrases.

He already knows what we need.

Whenever we pray, we pray as children talking to our Father. God welcomes our prayers and we need not worry about being heard since we are accepted into the family of God through Christ Jesus.

God is always prepared to act on our behalf, and before we pray, God may have already put into motion the very things we ask for.

God loves us, wants to hear from us and desires to bless us through the relationship of prayer with him.

Prayer, therefore, is essentially communion with God and with his will. In this way, we recognise God as God.

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10

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

HISTORY

Flashback to JFK’s Catholic funeral Fifty years ago this week, US President John F Kennedy was assassinated. MARK ZIMMERMANN recalls his funeral in Washington’s Catholic cathedral

O

N November 25, 1963, a television audience of millions of people around the world prayerfully bid farewell to President John F Kennedy, as his flagdraped coffin was placed before the sanctuary of the cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle in Washington, during the funeral Mass for the slain president.

Today, 50 years later, people come to the cathedral from across the country and around the world, with many wanting to stand at that very spot, where an inlaid marble plaque is inscribed with the words: “Here rested the remains of President Kennedy at the Requiem Mass, November 25, 1963, before their removal to Arlington, where they lie in expectation of a heavenly resurrection”.

On a recent weekday, Mgr Ronald Jameson, the cathedral’s rector, stood beside that plaque.

“Many people who come here, come because of that,” he said, noting that many talk about “the sense of hope that his presidency brought the nation”.

“They see the plaque, and it brings back memories,” the priest told the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Washington archdiocese.

In an article in the November 29, 1963, issue of the archdiocesan paper, reporter Valerie MacNees, who attended the president’s funeral, recounted the emotions of that day in spare language: “The heart of the entire world shared the grief of the American people in the loss of their president. An emperor, a king, a queen, princes, princesses, presidents and premiers of foreign governments joined the American people Monday in paying their last respects to President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

“The great and the lowly of the world met on a common level in mourning the 46-year-old president who was slain by an assassin’s bullet last Friday in Dallas.”

Mr Kennedy was killed three days earlier, on November 22.

Thousands of people crowded the streets leading to the cathedral, including Richard Schmidt, now the archivist and historian for St Matthew’s, who was then work-

A woman bows in front of the altar as she stands on a floor marker where the casket of President John F Kennedy rested during his funeral Mass at the cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle in Washington. it reads: “Here rested the remains of President Kennedy at the Requiem Mass, November 25, 1963, before their removal to Arlington where they lie in expectation of a heavenly resurrection.” (Photo: Bob Roller/CNS)

ing as an administrative assistant for the Food and Drug Administration.

He watched as the president’s flag-draped casket was moved on a caisson drawn by six grey horses, with the Kennedy family members and US and world leaders walking behind in a solemn procession along Connecticut Avenue to the cathedral.

“The crowds were unbelievable.

People just poured out to witness this,” said Mr Schmidt.

He remembers the silence of the crowd, interrupted only by the sound of the drums and brass instruments solemnly played by military band members as the procession moved towards St Matthew’s.

C

ardinal Richard Cushing of Boston, a friend of the Kennedy family, was the main celebrant at the Requiem Mass. He had officiated at the wedding of John and Jacqueline Kennedy. Also in the sanctuary were then-Washington Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle and Washington Auxiliary Bishop Philip Hannan, who had been attending the Second Vatican Council in Rome and rushed back to Washington after learning of the president’s death.

In a 1966 oral history interview for the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Cardinal Cushing said he was in his residence when he had heard the tragic news about the president’s death. “I was bewildered and shocked.”

The cardinal said: “The words of Christ on the cross of Calvary came repeatedly to my mind: ‘Oh heavenly Father, why has thou abandoned me?’ Everyone then was asking ‘Why, why, why?’... My thought was that here is the most difficult ‘why’, and I have no answer for it.”

In his 2010 memoir, The Archbishop Wore Combat Boots, retired New Orleans Archbishop Hannan noted that he had heard the terrible news at his hotel lobby in Rome, after he had helped conduct a daily press briefing during Vatican II. He said he then went to his room, closed the door, and “I wept silently and alone”.

As a Washington auxiliary, then-Bishop Hannan was a close friend of the Kennedys, and was asked by the first lady to deliver the eulogy.

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The casket of President John F Kennedy (pictured right) is carried out of St Matthew the Apostle cathedral in Washington following his November 25, 1963, funeral Mass. (Photo: David S Schwartz, courtesy John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum) The eulogy also included favourite Scriptural passages that Mr Kennedy liked to quote, which the family provided to Bishop Hannan.

T

he responsibility for planning the funeral Mass had been given to Sargent Shriver, the husband of President Kennedy’s sister Eunice and founding director of the Peace Corps established by the president.

In his 2012 biography of his father, A Good Man, Mark Shriver wrote that his father, who died in January 2011, then took on the responsibility of organising the funeral Mass and related arrangements with the same resoluteness, purpose and faith that marked his life of service to his country and his Church.

Later reflecting on the funeral Mass in his oral history interview, Cardinal Cushing said: “It was a very, very simple funeral, following as close as possible the services in memory of the martyred Lincoln. No fanfare, everyone bowed in sorrow, tears flowed in abundance.

“On the way out, I was preceding the casket, and I went over to Jacqueline and shook hands with

her. I kissed little Caroline and shook hands with her. John John was getting a little restless, so he was down in the rear of the church. Outside at the end of Mass, John John saluted the flag, the most touching thing I ever saw.”

Outside of St Matthew’s cathedral, that little boy’s salute to his father’s flag-draped casket, immortalised in a photograph by Stan Stearns of United Press International, remains perhaps the most poignant image from that day.

In his memoir, Archbishop Hannan recalled what happened next: “Released from restraint, the crowds erupted in an earthquake of pent-up emotion: groans, yelps, uncontrollable sobbing.”

Mgr Jameson, the cathedral rector, reflected on its place in history as the Catholic cathedral in the nation’s capital.

There crowds gathered in joy at the end of World War II in 1945, to attend Mass with Bl John Paul II in 1979, in sorrow after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States—and 50 years ago for the funeral Mass for the nation’s first Catholic president.

“This indeed is holy ground,” the priest said.—CNS

The Southern Cross, November 20 to November 26, 2013

Fr Tshepo Joseph Motaung

F

ATHER Tshepo Joseph Motaung died at the age of 34 in a car crash on October 18.

He was born on November 14, 1978 in the Fouriesburg district— the only child of Mr Motapanyana and Mrs Malefu Motaung.

Fr Motaung started his schooling at Mautse Primary School (then Mantsala School).

He matriculated in 1998 at Dikwena Secondary School and embarked on his journey for priesthood at Mater Cleri in Bethlehem in 1999.

He attended St Augustine’s sem-

inary in Lesotho from 2000-2006, where he obtained his qualification in theology.

Fr Motaung was ordained as a

Liturgical Calendar Year C Weekdays Cycle Year 1

Sunday, November 24, Christ the King 2 Samuel 5:1-3, Psalm 122:1-5, Colossians 1:1220, Luke 23:35-43 Monday, November 25 Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20, Daniel 3:52-56, Luke 21:1-4 Tuesday, November 26, St Leonard of Port Maurice Daniel 2:31-45, Daniel 3:57-61, Luke 21:5-11 Wednesday, November 27 Daniel 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28, Daniel 3:62-67, Luke 21:12-19 Thursday, November 28 Sirach 50:22-24, Psalm 138:1-5, 1 Corinthians 1:39, Luke 17:11-19 Friday, November 29, All Saints of the Seraphic Order Sirach 44:1, 10-15, Psalm 24:1-6, Mark 10:17-21 Saturday, November 30, St Andrew the Apostle Romans 10:9-18, Psalm 19:811, Matthew 4:18-22 Sunday, December 1, World Aids Day, 1st Sunday of AdSt Andrew vent Isaiah 2: 1-5, Psalms 122:1-9, Romans 13: 11-14, Matthew 24: 37-44

Word of the Week

SOTERIOLOGY: The theory of salvation. Soteriology discusses how Christ's death secures salvation. It helps us to understand the concepts of redemption, grace, justification, sanctification and atonement.

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deacon on August 10, 2007, and worked at the parish in Harrismith, diocese of Bethlehem.

He was ordained to the priesthood on April 12, 2008.

Fr Motaung first worked as a priest in the Harrismith parish, from 2008-11. He then worked at St Martin de Porres parish in Puthaditjhaba.

Fr Motaung started working at St Joseph the Worker parish in Makeneng on July 1, 2013 where he died in a car accident on October 18. He is survived by his mother.

Community Calendar

To place your event, call Claire Allen at 021 465 5007 or e-mail c.allen@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

CAPE TOWN: Mimosa Shrine, Bellville (Place of pilgrimage for the year of Faith) Tel: 076 323 8043. December 8: Feast of the immaculate Conception (Patronal feast of the Chapel) Braai: noon2:00pm, 3:00pm Rosary and Holy Mass.

Padre Pio: Holy Hour 15:30 every 3rd Sunday of the month at Holy Redeemer parish in Bergvliet.

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants meet the last Saturday of the month except in December, starting with Mass at 9:30 am at the Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Mass is followed by a vigil and procession to Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree

Street. For information contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel Manuel on 083 544 3375.

MPUMALANGA COUPLES FOR CHRIST South Africa invites all youth to the National youth Conference December 6, 7 & 8 at ebenezer Farm, Delmas Road, Delmas, 2210, For more queries and submission of your registration forms, please contact Dillon Naicker on 072 822 5139 / dillonnaicker@yahoo.com or Vincent Saplot at 073 873 3362/ vincentsaplot @gmail.com or contact the Pretoria Mission office on 012 326 5311- or CFC National Mission Centre at 031 207 1843

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Luke 11:1-13

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DEATH

SHANNON—Assumpta.

Holy Cross Sister, Sr Assumpta, aged 84, passed away at Holy Cross Home, Pretoria, on November 10, 2013. Lovingly remembered by the Holy Cross Sisters, the Shannon family circle, her friends and former students. May she rest in peace.

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PRAYERS

IN MEMORIAM

HEUVEL Ninah LeighAnne—22/09/1985– 17/11/2006—our only daughter and sister to Craig and Ryan, passed on to be with her Heavenly Father on Friday, 17 November, 2006. As dawn brings a new day, and twilight shadows fill the night—we think of you. you will always be remembered by Mom Doreen, Dad Bev, brothers Craig and Ryan and daughters-in-law Verna, Nicki and grandson zack SHARKEY—Brian left us on November 25, 2010.

He is so greatly missed and is always in my heart, your loving wife Val.

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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. CH. THE UNFAILING love of the LoRD never ends!

By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. i say to myself, 'The LoRD is my inheritance; therefore, i will hope in him!' The LoRD is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LoRD. For the Lord does not abandon anyone forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion according to the greatness of his unfailing love. Lamentations 3:2226; 31-32 ST JOSEPH, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the Throne of God, i place in you all my interests and desires. o St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, our Lord; so that, having engaged here below your

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

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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

Heavenly power, i may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers. o St. Joseph, i never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms. i dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him to return the Kiss when i draw my dying breath. St Joseph, Patron of departing souls, pray for us. Amen.

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: 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), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, News Editor: Claire Mathieson (c.mathieson@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@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).

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1st Sunday of Advent: December 1 Readings: Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122: 1-9, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:37-44

N

EXT Sunday we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent; so a new liturgical year begins, and we start to look forward to what is to come (which is what Advent means, of course).

The first reading is addressed to the population of Judah and Jerusalem at a time when it looked as though they and their beloved religion might be on the point of being destroyed.

To those people (and have you ever felt like them?) the prophet Isaiah offers a message that the mountain on which the Temple is built is going to be made higher than other mountains; now anyone who visits Jerusalem knows perfectly well that the Temple Mount is by no means the highest of the hills thereabouts, so this is a very striking idea.

But Isaiah turns out to be correct, in his vision of the “nations”, the non-Jews, that is to say, flooding towards it, and saying: “Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,” not for the superficial interest of a tourist, but “that he may teach us his ways”.

Jerusalem has never ceased to be a place to which people have come flooding to find God. For they will recognise that Zion has

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Prepare to welcome Advent Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

much to teach them, and justice will emerge. There will even be (though the moment has not, we have sadly to admit, arrived yet) an end to war, as the poet suggests in that lovely image: “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks” (make farming not war, as you might say).

And the reading ends with encouragement to us, as believers, to take God seriously: “House of Jacob, come: let us walk in the light of the Lord.” If we can do that, then the world will be a better place, and people will see why it is important to listen to God’s voice.

The psalm for next Sunday likewise focuses on Jerusalem. It is one of the “songs of ascent” that Israelites would sing as they

went up on pilgrimage to the Holy City. Notice how it starts: “I rejoiced,” but quickly turns to “we”.

“Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem.” That is what happens when people listen to God: individuals discover that they are, after all, part of a group.

So we listen to the psalmist praying for “the peace of Jerusalem”, as we can continue to do today, since peace seems as remote as ever in those parts.

So far, then, Advent is an invitation to listen to what God may be saying to us, and then, in response, to do whatever we can to bring about peace, which is always God’s aim.

In the second reading, Paul has just resolved a dispute among the Christians in Rome about whether they should pay taxes, and summed it all up with the instruction that the only thing that matters is love.

From there he encourages them to be serious as they look ahead to God’s Advent; they must “know what time it is”. For Paul, it is time to “wake up from sleep”, because “the day has drawn near”.

Why we make scapegoats S

OME of us may know about the work of the renowned anthropologist René Girard and the dissemination of his insights through the work of his student, Gil Bailie. With gratitude to them, I pass along one of their insights, an invaluable look at how we try to handle resentment in our lives.

When astronauts journey into space, their capsules are equipped with a machine that gets rid of the carbon dioxide they produce as they breathe. If that machine breaks down, they’re in trouble, as was shown in the movie Apollo 13.

Travelling inside a space capsule is possible only if there’s a machine constantly getting rid of the carbon dioxide being produced.

That’s also true for our human journey.

All groups constantly produce the suffocating gas of resentment and jealousy. Resentment is present inside of virtually every human community and family because, as Girard puts it, we’re “mimetic”, which means, among other things, that we always want what others have.

This inevitably creates tension, resentment, jealousy, and conflict. It’s no accident that two of the Ten Commandments have to do with jealousy.

What’s the machine inside human life that tries to rid us of the carbon dioxide of jealousy and resentment? Anthropologists tell us that we try to rid ourselves of tension by scapegoating. How does scapegoating work and how does it get rid of tension?

Consider this example: Imagine going out for lunch with a number of your colleagues or co-workers. There will be, as is

Conrad

“And I assure you it reads the Fifth Gospel in Greek, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin simultaneously!”

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

always the case, some personality conflicts and tensions among us.

But we can have a harmonious and even fun-filled lunch together. How? By talking about certain people who aren’t there, whom we all dislike, whom we all consider eccentric or difficult, and whom we all judge to be a negative or eccentric presence.

And so we talk about them: how terrible the boss is, how difficult a particular colleague is, how eccentric one of our coworkers is. In doing that, in highlighting how different or negative to us someone else is, we make our own tensions with each other disappear for that moment.

T

hat’s the essence of scapegoating. We create community with each other by projecting our tension onto someone else.

By exiling that person from our community we create community with each other; but our unity is then based upon what we are against rather than upon what we are for.

All groups, until they reach a certain level of maturity, do this. And we do the same thing to cope with tension in our private lives.

It works this way: We get up some

morning and, for myriad reasons, feel out of sorts, weighed down by a mixture of free-floating frustration, anxiety, and anger.

So what do we do? We find someone to blame.

Invariably we will soon pick someone (in our family, at our place of work, or a politician, or a religious figure) on whom to place that tension. Someone whom we consider difficult, or ignorant, or politically wrong, or morally corrupt, or religiously bad will soon bear the weight of our tension and resentment.

Moreover, not only will we project our tension onto someone, we will invariably “sacralise” the indignation we feel, that is, we will project our tension and anger onto that other not just because he or she is different from ourselves or because we consider him or her difficult, ignorant, or lazy, but especially because we feel ourselves as morally superior to him or her: we’re right and he’s wrong; we’re good and she’s bad.

Thus our resentment towards that person is a holy resentment, necessary for the cause of God, and truth, and goodness.

Such are all crucifixions, hangings and excommunications.

That’s the normal human machine to rid ourselves of resentment inside our communities and inside ourselves. Jesus was crucified precisely because a community did this to him, and did it to him for holy reasons.

But the ultimate victim of scapegoating, Jesus, invites us to something higher, and he models that for us in the way he died.

Jesus took away tension by transforming it rather than by transmitting it.

What Jesus does for us is comparable to what a water-purifier does. A water-purifier takes in water containing dirt, toxins and poisons. It holds the impurities inside of itself and gives back only pure water. Jesus, as the Lamb of God, took away our sins and purified us in his blood not by some divine magic but, precisely, by absorbing and transforming our sin.

Like a water-purifier, he took in hatred, held it, transformed it, and gave back love; he took in jealousy, held it, transformed it, and gave back affirmation; he took in resentment, held it, transformed it, and gave back compassion; and ultimately, he took in murder, held it, transformed it, and gave back forgiveness. That’s the Christian design for taking tension and resentment out of our lives.

And, as the 19th-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard suggests, we shouldn’t just admire what Jesus did here, we should imitate it.

That means that their behaviour has to be appropriate for the time of year: “Put away the works of darkness,” which he lists as “revelling…heavy drinking bouts…sex and immoral behaviour…quarrelling and jealousy”. To describe what they are to do instead, he uses a metaphor from acting: “You are to put on the Lord Jesus,” as an actor puts on a costume, and actually becomes the person whose part they are playing. And that means we are not to spend our time thinking about how to satisfy our cravings.

In the gospel, the context is the “endtime”, and we are warned that no one knows when that will be (“only the Father”).

It follows then, that we have to pay attention to what God is saying, unlike Noah’s contemporaries, who just carried on with what they were doing; it also follows that there is a real urgency about being “ready, because the Son of Man is coming at a moment when you don’t expect”.

Let us pay careful attention to the leading of God at this time.

Southern Crossword #577

aCrOSS 4. Parish fundraisers from Asia? (7) 8. If you are so minded, you can be intolerant (6) 9. A version of God’s name (7) 10. Within the team that’s not out (6) 11. Recesses in church within inches (6) 12. Witty chatter with evil in a long time (8) 18. Lunar ray (8) 20. Concerning the ancient Jews (6) 21. Oriental smoker’s watery pipe (6) 22. Name of the conqueror (7) 23. More eager one who expresses grief (6) 24. Demonstrators in the rain (7)

DOWN 1. Where infant souls could be found (2,5) 2. Medieval expedition to the Holy Land (7) 3. Splendid handshake for the redundant (6) 5. He’s one of those without ignition (Dn3) (8) 6. Immediately (2,4) 7. Wanderer (6) 13. This critic could be sitting pretty (8) 14. Look at the monarch who’s hunting (7) 15. Roman jar (7) 16. Esau married her (Gn26) (6) 17. Unsown field lies thus (6) 19. Loops for the hangman (6)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

A

PRIEST was riding his bicycle while holding his hands folded in prayer when a traffic cop stopped him.

“Father,” the officer said, “it is dangerous to cycle without your hands on the steering bar. I must fine you R250.”

The priest tried to explain: “But, officer, it’s not dangerous for me, because Jesus is travelling with me.”

What?” the officer exclaimed. “Two on a bike?

That’s another R250 fine.”

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