131127

The

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November 27 to December 3, 2013

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Aids: Things are better, but crisis is not over

Pages 6 & 9

Bishops put new focus on family

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

C Pope Francis holds up a box of what he called “spiritual medicine” after praying the Angelus from the window of his studio overlooking St Peter’s Square. The box contained a rosary, a Divine Mercy holy card and a medicinal-style instruction sheet. The pope said the rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet are “a spiritual aid for our soul and for spreading love, forgiveness and brotherhood to everyone”. See page 4 for report. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Look to the youth, veteran choir urged

BY MATHIBELA SEBOTHOMA

M

USIC by the parish choir “is the soul of the Church. Without choral music the church is dead,“ said Fr Ralph Ramoabi at the 45th anniversary of the Mamelodi St Peter Claver Church Choir in Pretoria.

The five original and surviving members of the choir, Johanna Zuma, Elizabeth Job, Nkele Martha Motlatla, Sam Khoza and Dr Malesela Motlatla were given an “award for unbroken record of loyalty” by the parish.

The internationally acclaimed choir was nicknamed “Izinyoni zomculo” (singing birds) by its fans.

The choir sang for Pope John Paul II in Swaziland in 1988. In 1996 they were invited to sing in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

A year later the choir performed in Canada and the United States.

According to Dr Motlatla, the spokesperson of the choir, “music is a ministry that serves the liturgical assembly”.

“Choristers must be passionate about what they do,” he said.

The choir has been failing to attract new

Four of the five surviving original members of Mamelodi’s St Peter Claver Church Choir with parish priest Fr Ralph Ramoabi. (From left) Sam Khoza, Johanna Zuma, Fr Ramoabi, Elizabeth Job and Dr Malesela Motlatla. Absent is Martha Motlatla. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma) and younger people. Fr Ramoabi challenged the choir members to invest in the youth.

“Please do not wait for them to come to you; go to them.”

ALLING the family the cradle of all civil, political and religious institutions, including the Church itself, the bishops of nine Southern African countries have pledged to boost the Catholic family ministry.

The 10th plenary assembly of the Inter-regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (Imbisa) noted that the family is in crisis, and that the complete nuclear family is no longer the norm.

The bishops’ session in Gaborone, Botswana was facilitated by Prof Ranga Zinyemba and Dr Alice Zinyemba.

There are increasing numbers of singleparent families, child-headed families—often due to HIV/Aids—families headed by grandparents, single women bringing up orphans, single women who were never married raising their children—or as professional, financially secure women do not even want to be married—and families are looked after by widows or divorcees.

The bishops’ focus on strengthening the family will include the involvement of the laity. In fact, the agenda set for the plenary was derived from the eight-month-long survey conducted with families in the region who were consulted on their views of the state of the family institution and the family apostolate in their various countries today and on what they believed should be done to improve the situation.

Despite differences in language and background, “the bishops were surprised that the lights and shadows in married and family life are very similar all over the region”, said Fr Oskar Wermter SJ, the Harare-based head of pastoral development for Imbisa.

It was agreed that each diocese of the countries represented—Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe—should have family desks staffed by teams of lay people, supported by priests.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference already has a Family Desk, coordinated by Toni Rowland, whose monthly column appears on page 7 in this week’s issue.

“Priests, sometimes shy to take the initiative in family matters, will be encouraged to team up with parents in boosting family life and offering an alternative to negative trends. Individual priests will even be sent for special studies,” Fr Wermter told The Southern Cross.

The bishops resolved to help strengthen

the family and the institution of Christian marriage which is “an act of faith, not a matter of convenience, or of men and women using each other for their selfish gratification.

The commitment of one man and one woman to each other for life and their mutual self-giving forges a deeper and more fulfilling relationship than cohabitation,” he said.

“The sacramental and spiritual side of the marital union can only be understood if Christ and his self-giving love is accepted.

This is an amazing message. How do we make it known, plant it in young people’s hearts?

It needs families that live that love and pray together,” said Fr Wermter.

A

rchbishop William Slattery of Pretoria, one of the 55 bishops represented at the Imbisa plenary, said the bishops were keen to work “against the deconstruction of marriage”. The thinking is in line with Pope Francis who will discuss the same issue at the special synod in Rome next year.

“The bishops also resolved to involve married people in the life of the Church,” the archbishop said. Accordingly, the bishops agreed to appeal to parishes to have young couples’ associations, Couples for Christ, Engaged and Marriage Encounter, Retrouvaille groups and similar movements. “We also want to encourage happy couples to be chief witnesses to Christ in parishes, instead of this job being just for the priests.”

In response to the findings and discussions, the bishops agreed on a three-year action plan, from 2014–16, through which they will strengthen the family desk and ministry in each of the Imbisa region dioceses.

This is intended to enable the regional Church to address social and spiritual issues relating to the family more comprehensively and more effectively, involve the laity more in helping the Church keep its pulse on the changing patterns of family and in addressing the emerging needs of this changing family, and engage governments and public authorities in the various countries of the region to advocate for the promulgation of profamily legislation, policies and practices, for the creation of jobs to alleviate poverty and for the provision of services and safety nets to address health and the increasing vulnerabilities of families.

“The bishops want to advocate for positive family legislation influences by African traditions,” Archbishop Slattery told The Southern Cross.

Furthermore, the bishops see a great need Continued on page 11

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The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

LOCAL

Fear of war rises in Mozambique

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

S

OUTHERN Africa’s bishops are following with “increased anxiety” events taking place in Mozambique as violent clashes between former civil war political foes, Renamo and Frelimo, have increased in frequency.

The Mozambican bishops spoke of their concern that the attacks could lead to conflict during the plenary of the bishops of Imbisa (Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa) in Gaborone

this month.

“Mozambique and its leaders are known as having been able to put an end to a long war with the strength of dialogue. The courage and perseverance to continue on the path of an authentic and consequent dialogue cannot fade away now,” Imbisa’s bishops said in a statement.

A delegation of bishops has over the past three years met with heads of state in Southern Africa to encourage dialogue in the construc-

tion of peaceful and democratic societies—especially in the run-up to elections in the troubled region.

Mozambique is now seeing action reminiscent of the civil war that devastated the country from 1975-92.

The long civil war ended following mediation by the Catholic Community of Sant’Egidio.

Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama is a fugitive after the government army overran his jungle camp last month, following sporadic ambushes and skirmishes by

Renamo guerrillas.

“Mozambique plays an important role in our region. Its progress and stability are crucial so that our countries can consolidate their development. We therefore appeal to our governments to unite their voice to the Mozambican people demanding an end to all violence and use of arms, to strengthen all efforts of dialogue, thereby helping to create conditions for that dialogue and avoid any military involvement.”

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria said a delegation would again travel to Mozambique to encourage dialogue and to ensure the country does not have war again.

The bishops of Imbisa said they were pleased with the steps taken in the pursuit of wellbeing and inclusion of all citizens in social and political life for the participative construction in peaceful and democratic societies, and would continue to encourage access to resources of the country to be open to all.

CWD honours co-founder Muriel Howell Papal awards for

BY SYDNEY DUVAL

teacher priests

S

OCIAL worker Muriel Howell, 84, was honoured for her pioneering work in co-founding the Catholic Welfare Bureau—later known as Catholic Welfare and Development (CWD)—in 1970.

Mrs Howell and her husband Bert, 90, were given a celebration tea party at Nazareth House, attended by Archbishop Stephen Brislin, Archbishop Emeritus Lawrence Henry, retired Auxiliary Bishop Reginald Cawcutt, Mgr Jock Baird and CWD director Malcolm Salida.

Archbishop Brislin handed Mrs Howell the CWD Founder Recognition Award, with a bouquet of flowers and a citation.

Archbishop Henry recalled with gratitude how Mrs Howell had responded to the needs of his then parish St Martin de Porres in Lavistown.

Mrs Howell can look back to February 2, 1970. On that day she and the late Elizabeth Meyer, a Schoenstatt religious at the time, both tutors in social work at the University of Cape Town, went into St Mary’s Cathedral to pray that the Catholic welfare service they planned to start would take root and grow. It was, in their words, “the cruellest time of apartheid when race laws were forc-

BY MATIBELA SEBOTHOMA

F Muriel Howell is honoured for her social work. (Photo: Sydney Duval) ing people from their homes to the Cape Flats and black people got pitiful pensions”.

They did not want a wishywashy organisation, according to Mrs Howell, but a service that would make a really beneficial impact on the lives of the poor and needy. They began with two rooms on the first floor of the chancery, allocated to them by Cardinal Owen McCann, with Mgr Tom Gill the first chairman and generous support from Fr Michael Hulgraine.

Lawyer Neil Groome succeeded Mgr Gill.

From its humble beginnings, with the help of lay and religious co-workers and volunteers, CWD developed into a pioneering service that was bold and imaginative in spirit in masterminding many “people’s initiatives and networking” around Cape Town that spread to other parts of South Africa and beyond to Europe and North America.

Already in the mid-1980s, it was the first organisation to call for and implement a compassionate, nonjudgmental and systematic response to the unfolding HIV/Aids pandemic.

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It will be an opportunity for interested people to learn more about what taking charge of the care of a child entails.

There will be discussion around the pros and cons and similarities

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OUR priests dedicated to preparing future priests and bishops have together been awarded papal medals for their service to the Church and to the pope during a special Mass celebrated at St John Vianney seminary in Pretoria.

Mgr Marc De Mûelenaere, Fathers Bonaventure Hinwood OFM, Hyacinth Ennis OFM and Johan Maneschg MCCJ received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in a special Mass attended by the administrative board of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

The award is recognition that the four individuals have contributed something worthwhile for the whole Church.

According to Archbishop Mario Roberto Cassari, apostolic nuncio in South Africa, these priests “did not look nor ask for such an honour, but others have asked it for them”.

Priests and bishops who went through the seminary system petitioned the Vatican for the seminary professors to be recognised and honoured. These requests reached the ears of the pope.

Archbishop Cassari said “a priest who serves the Church and the pope cannot go and look for such honours, titles or other types of prestigious awards”.

He emphasised that “a priest is a man of service to the community entrusted to him. Each one of us at the end of the day can and must always say as St Paul: I only did my duty”.

The apostolic nuncio said the four only did their duty and they

served the universal Church.

The nuncio said Pope Francis reminded Catholics many times that a priest is “only a servant like Jesus, and can never be a bureaucrat or a functionary or a social climber”.

In the light of the violent attack on Pretoria priest Fr Craigh Laubscher, the apostolic nuncio decried violent crime prevalent in South Africa. He said violent crimes “happen often in South Africa not only in the churches but in our towns and villages and sadly we note the absence of the civil authorities whose visible presence is important for the common good of the people”. He said the police are called to be servants of the community and that all Christians must pray for them.

Fr Hyacinth Ennis said the award was a blessing that honoured priests from four different countries and four different schools of theology.

Irish-born Fr Ennis taught moral theology to nine South African bishops. Fellow Franciscan Fr Bonaventure Hinwood is an Afrikaner who has taught dogma since 1964.

Fr Johan Maneschg, a German, taught scripture at the segregated seminaries for Africans in Hammanskraal and whites in Waterkloof.

Mgr De Mûelenaere, a diocesan priest from Pretoria who was born in Belgium and specialises in canon law, is glad that the award is a first in South Africa. Next year he will be teaching canon law for the 29th year.

Fr Molewe Machingoane, rector of the seminary, said he would pray that younger priests emulate the calibre of veteran priests.

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The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

LOCAL

3

Special Polish Pietà unveiled Call for aid for

BY PORTIA MTHEMBU

Philippine relief

A

NEW Pietà, created by sculptor Andrew Pityriski, has been unveiled at St Mary’s cathedral, Cape Town. The monumental piece was presented in commemoration of Poland’s Independence Day and the existence of the Polish community in Cape Town since 1949.

Titled “Our Lady of the Home Army”, the sculpture shows the Blessed Virgin holding on her knees a dying soldier, instead of the dead Jesus.

Dr Adam Wierzycki, chairman of the Polish Association, told The Southern Cross this was a reminder of the Warsaw uprising of August 1944, a heroic but tragic period in Polish history which saw a struggle by the Polish army to liberate the capital from Nazi occupation.

“Since the Second World War, a few generations of Polish people have moved to Cape Town, where they contributed significantly to the community,” Dr Wierzycki said.

“There were and still are many Polish professionals who live and work in the city,” he said.

“Our Pietà signifies patriotism and times of struggle and is reminiscent of the Black Madonna from Czestochowa.”

The sculpture, draped in the red and white Polish flag, was unveiled at the cathedral.

Archbishop Emeritus Lawrence Henry blessed the sculpture. Frs Noel Rucastle and Rohan Smuts from Cape Town and Fr Marian Kulig, a Polish priest, concelebrated Mass with the archbishop.

“The atmosphere was very special,” said Dr Wierzycki. “Mass was spectacular, the archbishop was very ceremonial, Fr Rohan sang unbelievably and Fr Noel’s sermon was fantastic.”

Opera singer Nomusa Mpofu sang the Ave Maria and Panis Angelicus unbelievably, he added.

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

I

N a response to one of the most powerful storms the planet has ever seen, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) has donated R500 000 to relief efforts in the devastating wake of Typhoon Haiyan which hit the Philippines in November. The bishops have called on all Catholics of goodwill to do the same.

“We have been shocked and horrified by the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan. As you know, thousands have lost their lives; many more thousands have been left homeless or have been evacuated,” said Archbishop Stephen Brislin, president of the SACBC, in a letter.

According to NASA, Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, produced winds of 313km/h and gusts reaching 378km/h were experienced. 13 million people were affected, including 4,9 million children, with 1,5 million under the age of five.

The death toll stood at 4 200 at the time of going to print.

“Thousands are missing and multitudes of people have no access to food, shelter or clean water,” said

Seen next to Archbishop Emeritus Lawrence Henry are Luda Jakutowicz and Dr Adam Wierzycki, chairman of the Polish Association in Cape Town, with the newly unveiled statue of the Pietà behind them.

Archbishop Brislin, who sent a letter of condolence to the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines as well as to the country’s president, Benigno Aquino.

“There has been an international response to the crisis but it is of such magnitude that there is still an urgent need to support the groups working on the ground who are giving relief to those affected by the storm,” Archbishop Brislin said.

The SACBC made the half million rand donation to Caritas, an international Catholic relief agency which has sent food and teams to people in desperate need.

The SACBC president has also called on parishes to hold a special collection and host prayer evenings for those affected by the typhoon.

“We would like the donations to reach Khanya House before December 13 so that they can be forwarded to Caritas Philippines—we feel it best to work through a Catholic organisation with a good reputation,” said Archbishop Brislin. n All donations should be deposited in the following account: Nedbank, account Project Caritas, account number 160 4750 693, branch 160 665, with the reference: Philippines.

Religious groups take action on road deaths

BY PORTIA MTHEMBU

T

HE Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works and the Western Cape Religious Leaders Forum (WCRLF) have collaborated in an effort to have one million people commit to road safety by March 2014.

“My Brother’s Keeper” was the biblical injunction incorporated in the Western Cape Government’s Safely Home road safety initiative held at the Zinatul mosque in District Six, Cape Town. It is a message that the religious plan to continue communicating across the province over the festive season.

Clerics from various religious organisations joined transport MEC Robin Carlisle and demonstrated their commitment to the “Safely Home” campaign by signing the road safety pledge.

The clerics, who are often called upon for spiritual guidance after fatal road accidents, not only dedicated themselves to reducing unnecessary carnage on the roads but also promised to pray for the safety of all road users and bless long-distance journeys.

WCRLF spokesman Imam Rashied A Omar said that in the past, religious leaders had not been active enough about matters con-

cerning road safety.

“After a car crash, officials need to deal with body and limb. But we as religious leaders need to deal with broken hearts,” he said. “Often it goes further than broken hearts; families are plunged into financial devastation because the sole breadwinner was killed in a car crash.

Victims are paralysed for life and many of these tragedies could have been avoided if traffic rules were followed. We cannot allow a situation where we say ‘I am not my brother’s keeper’.”

Fr Noel Rucastle, judicial vicar of Cape Town archdiocese and WCRLF vice-chairman, said that “we need

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to come together and be people of action”.

“Since the start of the year, 1 000 people have been killed on Western Cape roads, most of them children,” Yasir Ahmed of the Western Cape Department of Transport told the meeting. This, he said, “amounts to three fully loaded Boeings”.

When the Safely Home campaign was launched in 2009, road fatalities in the Western Cape were cut by 30%, Mr Ahmed said.

However, Mr Carlisle pointed out, the death rate is rising again.

“What is happening on our roads is evil and unnecessary,” he said.

The department aims to decrease

road deaths by 50% by the end of 2014.

“Reducing road deaths will not be achieved without effective behaviour change and partnerships between like-minded groups and people who share the same levels of commitment to road safety that we do and the WCRLF is such a group,” said Mr Carlisle.

First to sign the pledge was Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Anglican archbishop of Cape Town and patron of the WCRLF. “One death is one too many,” he said.

After all the dignitaries had signed the pledge, the religious offered up their prayers.

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The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

Holy Land closes Year of Faith

BY JUDITH SUDILOVSKY

U

SING Abraham from the Old Testament and Mary from the New Testament as role models, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem extolled the power of faith in a special Mass marking the conclusion of the Year of Faith.

“We must hold on to our faith and accept things from God even though they may be [problematic] in the eyes of other people,” he told local Catholics and international pilgrims gathered on Mount Precipice, overlooking the city of Nazareth in northern Israel.

Though Christians in the Middle

East have been a part of the great suffering of the region, they must remain strong, never losing faith, he said.

“The Year of Faith may be ending, but I hope our faith will not end,” he said.

In a papal message read by the papal nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, Pope Francis reminded people that their faith found its origins in the very land where they were now celebrating Mass.

“Before we can understand our own personal faith and need for Christ, we must go to the place and time where Jesus himself walked,

where he took on human form and where he experienced joys and suffering, the blessings and difficulties of human life and love,” Pope Francis said in his message. “And it was there that he gave to us the gift of his passion, death and resurrection and the assurance of eternal life.”

The pope expressed his appreciation to the Christians of the Holy Land for their “faithful stewardship” of the sacred sites and for their continuing witness to the “proclamation of the Gospel”.

Addressing the pilgrims, he said he hoped that experiencing the sacred sites would be “an occasion of Continued on page 11

Photos catch ‘spirit in the eyes’

BY CAROLINE HRONCICH

Catholic group to move into Anglican HQ

A

S far as English photographer Lee Jeffries knows, Pope Francis has never seen his pictures, yet he is sure they would be to his taste.

The pope is a “person of the people”, Mr Jeffries said, “and these images represent the humanity in all of us. The feeling of Rome, the atmosphere of the city, carries through into the exhibition. For [Pope Francis] to see that, from a personal point of view, it would be right up his street.”

Featured in the Museum of Rome in Trastevere until January 12, Mr Jeffries’ exhibition, titled “Homeless”, includes images of the poverty-stricken—people the amateur sports photographer met while wandering the streets of major cities in Europe and the United States.

While in London in 2008, he photographed a teenage girl sleeping on the street (pictured). She woke up and began to yell at him.

Attempting to placate his unwilling subject, the embarrassed Mr Jeffries ended up conversing with her for more than an hour. That encounter sparked his interest in taking “intimate and soulful photographs” of

Foreign workers from the Philippines pray during the International Day of Faith Mass on Mount Precipice in Nazareth, Israel. The Mass celebrated the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI in October 2012. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS)

These photos of a homeless girl sleeping on the street in London, a homeless woman with praying hands in Rome, and an unidentified homeless man are part of an exhibition by photographer Lee Jeffries at the Museum of Rome. The English photographer said he tries to capture a “spiritual emotion” in the faces of the homeless. (Photos courtesy of Lee Jeffries) others in her condition.

That same year, Mr Jeffries travelled to Rome to purchase a rosary for a friend’s mother suffering from cancer. This pilgrimage added a new religious dimension to his work.

“I looked at things and people differently,” he said. “The spirituality of Rome carries through every image that I produce.”

Showing the pictures in the city now thus feels like “coming home”, he said.

An element common to Mr Jeffries’ work is a certain intensity in the subjects’ eyes, which he says reflects their spirituality. He also uses

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light and shadow to convey what he calls a “metaphysical quality”.

“People say Lee Jeffries photographs homelessness; I’m not particularly a documentary photographer in that sense,” he said. “I’m photographing a person. I’m trying to capture a spiritual emotion that emanates from that person.”

Mr Jeffries says his motive is not to change the world, but he hopes his images have some social impact.

“My images are all about provoking a reaction, a spiritual reaction or a social reaction,” he said. “If an image is provoking a reaction, the image is working.”—CNS

A

CATHOLIC group with “an ecumenical vocation” will establish a community of prayer at the headquarters of the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury has invited four members of Chemin Neuf to live at Lambeth Palace, his London residence, beginning in January.

The group will include an Anglican married couple, a Lutheran studying to be a pastor and a Catholic. They will replace a community of Anglican nuns who, for the last 24 years, have lived at the palace.

A statement issued by Lambeth Palace said the community will share in the daily round of prayer that underpins the ministry of Archbishop Welby and will “further the ecumenical and international dimensions of his work”.

In the press statement, the archbishop said: “I am deeply moved

that in God’s grace, Chemin Neuf have agreed to this radical and exciting new step of coming to live as a community of prayer, hospitality and learning at Lambeth Palace,” he said. “We pray that this step of obedience will bear fruit among us and for the Church.”

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, welcomed the announcement.

“This is a clear and bold sign of the importance of prayer in the search for visible Christian unity.

Such unity is a gift we are most likely to receive on our knees in prayer.”

Chemin Neuf grew out of a prayer group in Lyon, France, in 1973 and now has some 2 000 members in 30 countries.

It describes itself as a “Roman Catholic community with an ecumenical vocation” made up of married couples, families and celibate individuals.—CNS

Pope prescribes medicine for the soul

BY CINDY WOODEN

P

OPE Francis admitted he wasn’t a pharmacist, but he didn’t hesitate being the spokesman for the heart-healthy benefits of 59 little pills strung together: the rosary.

“I want to recommend some medicine for all of you,” the pope said at the end of his Sunday Angelus address. “It’s a spiritual medicine.”

Holding up a white medicine box with an anatomical drawing of the human heart on it, Pope Francis told some 80 000 people gathered for the midday prayer that the boxes contained a rosary.

“Don’t forget to take it,” he said. “It’s good for your heart, for your soul, for your whole life.”

Praying the rosary and the Di-

vine Mercy chaplet will help people reap the fruits of the Year of Faith, he said, because they are “a spiritual aid for our soul and for spreading love, forgiveness and brotherhood to everyone”.

Volunteers, led by Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, director of papal charities, gave away about 20 000 boxes containing a rosary, a Divine Mercy holy card and a medical-style instruction sheet.

In addition to describing how to pray the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet, a devotion begun

by St Faustina Kowalska, the information sheet states categorically that no negative side effects have been reported.

The sheet recommends daily use of the beads for both adults

and children, but adds that it can be repeated as often as necessary. It also notes that receiving the sacraments increases the efficacy of the prescription and that further information and assistance can be received from any priest.

The Swiss Guards, their family members and the Albertine Sisters who work in their barracks spent weeks in October, the month of the rosary, preparing the boxes and inserting instructions in Italian, French, English or Polish. Archbishop Krajewski got the idea from Archbishop Slawoj Glodz of Gdansk, Poland; a seminarian in Gdansk had made similar boxes for youths attending a retreat.— CNS n See page 1 for photos

Cutback of priests in Roman curia

BY ANDREA GAGLIARDUCCI

A

T least 30 priests employed in Vatican departments may be removed from their posts and sent to dioceses in the coming months, according to three different Vatican sources.

The Congregation for Clergy has been first on the list, said a Vatican source familiar with the congregation.

Four priests employed in the congregation have been called to serve in their dioceses.

Among them is Mgr Luciano Alimandi, who had been for years private secretary to the department’s former head, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos.

According to the source, Mgr Alimandi and the other three were “all part of the Cardinal Mauro Piacenza’s inner circle”.

The cardinal was prefect of the Congregation for Clergy until September before he was appointed to lead the Vatican's Apostolic Pentientiary tribunal.

He was succeeded by Archbishop Beniamino Stella.

A second source maintained that “Pope Francis seemingly wants to have [fewer] employees in the Vatican departments”, and aims to send as many priests as he can to serve in dioceses.

Pope Francis' reform, the source assured, “would give more power to the local bish-

ops. In the past, when there was a difficult case to handle, an official of the [clergy] congregation was sent for an on-site visit to report on it. In the future, local bishops could be entrusted with these reports, thus taking over part of the work of the Vatican dicasteries.”

According to another source, “the changes would involve all the Vatican departments”.

The source underscored that “when appointed as member of the Council of Eight Cardinals, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello made several visits to Vatican congregations, asking each of them [for] a list of people the Congregation could do without”.—CNA

The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

INTERNATIONAL

Pope Francis’ embrace was ‘like paradise’

BY CAROL GLATZ

F

OR someone who has frequently been shunned and humiliated because of a disease that has severely disfigured his entire body, receiving the pope’s loving embrace was like being in paradise.

Vinicio Riva, who is afflicted with neurofibromatosis, said his brief encounter with Pope Francis on November 6 at a general audience in St Peter’s Square “seemed like forever”.

Images of the pope kissing and embracing the Italian man made headlines and went viral on the Internet, but his identity and background weren’t known until two Italian news outlets found and interviewed him.

“My heart was bursting,” he told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

When the pope hugged him tight, “I felt like I was in paradise”.

Mr Riva, 53, lives in a small village near Vicenza in northern Italy with his younger sister Morena Riva, who has the same genetic disorder, and their aunt, Caterina Lotto, who cares for them. The siblings’ late mother also suffered from the disease, which is typically hereditary.

Mr Riva told the Italian magazine Panorama that the thing that struck him most was that the pope didn’t hesitate at all.

“I’m not contagious, but [the pope] didn’t know that. But he did it, period. He caressed my whole face and while he was doing it, I felt only love,” he said.

“First, I kissed his hand, while he caressed my head and wounds with his other hand,” Mr Riva explained.

“Then he pulled me towards him, hugging me tight and kissing my face. My head was against his chest and his arms were wrapped around me. He held me so tightly, cuddling me, and he didn’t let go. I tried to speak, to say something, but I wasn’t able to: I was too choked up. It lasted just a little more than a minute, but, for me, it seemed like forever,” he told Panorama.

Pope Francis embraces Vinicio Riva, 53, during his general audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican on November 6. Mr Riva, who is afflicted with neurofibromatosis, has said receiving the pope’s embrace was like being in paradise. (Photo: Claudio Peri, EPA/CNS) “The pope’s hands are so soft.

Soft and beautiful. And his smile [is] bright and wide.”

Neurofibromatosis results in numerous, often painful benign tumours. Mr Riva said they constantly itch and he often wakes in the morning with his shirt soaked with blood from scratching.

“The first signs [of the disease] appeared after I was 15. They said I would be dead by 30. Instead, here I am.”

He frequently has been shunned by people who didn’t know him, he said.

The worst episode, he said, occurred one day as he sat in the front of a bus and a passenger told him to go and sit in the back, saying, “‘You horrify me and I don’t want to look at you.’ No one, not even the driver, came to my defence. In fact, many passengers agreed with the man.

That really hurt,” he said.

Ms Lotto, his aunt, told Panorama that when she and Mr Riva would be sitting in hospital waiting rooms when he was young,

she would hold him close and hug him tight whenever people cringed or moved away in fear.

She embraced him “to make them both [Mr Riva and the others] understand” there was nothing repulsive or scary about him, she said.

Mr Riva works as a volunteer in a retirement home, where his father lives. However, when they see each other, their father can’t bring himself to hug his son, said Morena Riva, the sister. Their father “is embarrassed by his disease. He only says, ‘Do you want a coffee?’”

But Mr Riva disagreed with his sister and said their father has his own way of showing his love.

He told Panorama that he has lots of friends and is loved by almost everyone in his village. He goes out with friends for pizza and to watch football matches.

He also flirts with the nurses, the magazine said, and, although he only earns a small allowance volunteering, he spends a good chunk of that money on them.—CNS

5

Catholicism series creator ‘invades’ web space

BY ANDREW NELSON

T

HE priest who created the hit ten-part Catholicism TV series has a dream—for another grand, sweeping documentary on the faith.

It’s the latest goal for Fr Robert Barron who more than a dozen years ago was asked to jump-start an evangelical endeavour to “invade that space” where the Church’s message was not often heard.

“If you want to reach people who are under 40, you have to use media.

Things like YouTube had just come into being and we jumped into that with two feet,” said Fr Barron. “If you want to find the unchurched Catholics and the secularists, you aren’t going to find them by staying in church and inviting them to programmes. You have to use this new means. We have to invade that space.”

The author of ten books and a weekly radio commentator, Fr Barron brings to YouTube and the web a Catholic perspective on mainstream cultural events, from blockbuster movies like World War Z to

same-sex marriage. He has posted more than 180 videos online and his viewers have topped a million.

Fr Barron in 2000 founded the non-profit Word on Fire that supports his efforts to draw people to the Catholic faith through new media.

“What I like about the new media is it gives you a chance to get way outside the walls of the church,” said the priest, who currently is rector of Mundelein Seminary in the Chicago archdiocese.

Fr Barron, 53, said he works to spread the faith in a non-threatening way because anything else, and people ignore the message. He has a “no finger-waving” rule and instead aims to speak to “deep religious truths”.

He likes Pope Francis’ image of the Church as a “field hospital”, treating people’s wounds first. It is always best to lead with the “merciful face” of the Lord, he said.

With podcasts, apps, websites, 28 000 likes on Facebook and some 37 000 Twitter followers, Fr Barron reaches out and relies on social media tools to tell the story of faith.—CNS

Pope: Care for, listen to grandparents

BY CINDY WOODEN

A

S fine wine grows stronger with age, so do grandparents and other elderly Catholics who “have the strength to leave us a noble inheritance”, Pope Francis said at his early morning Mass.

Pope Francis once again denounced a cultural tendency “to discard” the elderly “because they are a bother”. Instead, “the elderly are those who transmit history to us, who transmit doctrine, who transmit the faith and give it to us as an inheritance,” the pope said.

Pope Francis said that as a child, he heard a story of a family with a mother, father, many children and a grandfather, who would get food all over his face when he ate. The father bought a small table and set it off to the side so the grandfather would eat, make a mess and not dis-

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turb the rest of the family.

One day, the pope said, the father comes home and finds his son playing with a piece of wood.

“What are you making,” the father asks. “A table,” the son replies.

“Why?” the father asks. “It’s for you, Dad, when you’re old like grandpa,” he says.

“This story has done me such good throughout my life,” said the pope, who will celebrate his 77th birthday on December 17.

“Grandparents are a treasure,” he said. “Often old age isn’t pretty, right? There is sickness and all that, but the wisdom our grandparents have is something we must welcome as an inheritance.”

A society or community that does not value, respect and care for its elderly members “doesn’t have a future because it has no memory, it’s lost its memory”.

Invoking Eleazar— the 90-yearold martyr in the Second Book of Maccabees, who didn’t want to give a bad example to the young—as well as the senior Ss Simeon, Anna and Polycarp, the pope prayed “for the grace to care for, listen to and venerate our grandparents”.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

When Catholic marriages break down

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Guest editorial by Johan Viljoen

R

Aids crisis is not over

D

ECEMBER 1 is World Aids Day, an opportune moment to evaluate the past and assess the future.

Aids has been with us for more than 30 years. During that time it has killed millions worldwide—cutting short lives, destroying families and bringing about unimaginable suffering.

Sub-Saharan Africa has borne the brunt. Some countries have come close to seeing an entire generation of productive young adults wiped out, leaving behind the elderly and young children.

The territory served by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference—South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland—has been particularly hard hit.

South Africa is the country with the largest number of people living with Aids, around 5 million. Swaziland is the country with the largest percentage of HIV-positive people.

At the height of the pandemic, a thousand people daily were dying from Aids-related disease in South Africa alone.

Life expectancy had plunged to just 54 years.

The situation was exacerbated by the denial of the thenpresident and his minister of health.

According to some studies, government denial and inaction was directly responsible for the death of 300 000 people.

In all of this, the Catholic Church was in the vanguard of the struggle against Aids. The Church was the largest single provider of residential palliative care as well as home-based care to dying people.

The Church’s treatment programme initiated well over 45 000 people on antiretroviral treatment in Catholic-run facilities.

The Catholic Church’s programmes have provided comprehensive care and support to over 40 000 orphans, and continue to do so.

All of this happened out of public view—the left hand, after all, shouldn’t know what the right hand is doing—while the Church quietly endured criticism from secular activists for its refusal to advocate the use of

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.

condoms. These activists seem to think that this refusal is the sum total of the Church’s response to Aids.

The government’s rollout of antiretroviral treatment for all, and Prevention of Mother to Child Therapy (PMTCT) for pregnant women marked a turning point.

Treatment is now available in every health district in the country, and PMTCT in every antenatal facility. Very few babies are born HIV-positive.

Life expectancies are back in the mid-60s.

From being widely ridiculed during the Mbeki years, South Africa is now lauded internationally for rising to the challenge. As a result, there is a general perception that the crisis is over.

Unfortunately, it isn’t. South Africa remains the country with the largest number of HIV-positive people. The rate of new infections stubbornly refuses to decline.

More than two million children have been orphaned, and will remain with us for the foreseeable future.

People living with Aids still have enormous spiritual, psychological and social problems to deal with.

In response to the new reality, the Catholic Church’s response to Aids is changing, from being a provider of clinical care and services to the sick in an emergency situation to being a bearer of spiritual and pastoral care to people with Aids, and of ongoing care to orphans and children made more vulnerable by the context in which they live.

Some would see this pastoral care as the Church going about its “core business”.

Whatever the case may be, the Church’s changing and evolving response provides exciting new opportunities for every Catholic to express their faith through care and compassion to “the least of their brethren”, and to truly be “good news to the poor”. n Johan Viljoen represents the Aids Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

EGARDING marriage annulments, in July Pope Francis’ words to journalists were: “… has to be reviewed, because ecclestiastical tribunals are not sufficient for [resolving] this.” He has placed this matter for discussion at the Synod of Bishops, to be held in October 2014.

Recently, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, published a 4 000-word document (reported on in your October 30 issue), reiterating the Church’s stance on marriage and divorce.

Is this a veiled warning for the

Response lacked understanding

C

ARDINAL Napier should have let sleeping dogs lie. His column “Response to a critique” (November 13) is an attack on all those who do not accept all the teachings that the Vatican attempts to enforce on every believer.

From there it spreads out to the slanderous suggestion that Fr Christopher Clohessy’s critique of the bishops’ book God, Love, Life and Sex flows not from a love for the truth but from a desire for “political correctness” or “popularity”.

Cardinal Napier focuses on Fr Clohessy’s integrity, wondering what he does believe, and what he teaches as a priest. There is just below the surface of the cardinal’s astonishing tirade the suggestion that Fr Clohessy is riddled with doctrinal errors.

If he really wants to know what Fr Clohessy believes and teaches, all he has to do is to ask him.

The cardinal fails to show an understanding of the historicity of all the doctrines we believe in and therefore lumps together all serious questioning of official standpoints as being simply the same as rejecting Christ’s teaching, the way the intellectual leaders of Judaism did in Christ’s day.

Both groups are presented as ragbags of closed, rebellious minds.

The only logical position for the arguments Cardinal Napier makes in his article is to ban any doctrinal statements or lectures or research that does not limit itself to the exact repetition of the biblical text.

But, of course, that is insane and even the cardinal would reject it.

But then one has to take into account the historicity of doctrinal formulations and the full implications of that historicity. It means that, as with all growth, there is inevitably change. And it can be so radical that a phrase such as “outside the Church there is no salvation” can today mean exactly the opposite of what it says and used to mean—and yet there is a sense in

pontiff to toe the doctrinal line of the Church?

Just as Jesus did in his time, Pope Francis is bringing simplicity back into focus. And more important than simplicity, the pontiff is honing in on the very essence of Christianity which is outlined in the eight beautitudes.

The so-called “tribunal” is hypocritical and it is obvious Pope Francis is well aware of this fact. How many young couples get married for the “wrong” reason? Immature and uncertain many may well be, but I’m sure that 99% of those who walk down the aisle have only vi-

which it retains a valuable truth about the universality of salvation and the Church’s role in it.

Unfortunately the cardinal’s reactions force one to the conclusion that he ignores the implications that doctrines can develop and change down the ages. He seems to show no awareness about the full implications of the Second Vatican Council’s teaching that the infallibility protecting our faith flows upwards from the people, and not simply vice versa.

All the members of the Church are given the Spirit’s gift of wisdom, a gift which comes into focus particularly in periods of change and the need to seek new ways of understanding old truths.

The cardinal seems unaware of the central importance of consulting the faithful on matters of doctrine, the title of one of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s most influential books. He seems to have no insight into the crucial importance for doctrinal development of the difference between what is dogma, and therefore an irrevocable part of the Church’s faith, and what may be a very longstanding tradition which has not yet achieved that status.

If he did understand that, he would be much more open to the right, nay duty, of people to search for ways of practising their faith in circumstances very different from that of past ages.

Far worse, however, and a scandal to the reader, is that Cardinal Napier has trampled, like the bull in the proverbial china shop, on the good name of Fr Clohessy. His intemperate and prejudiced words will no doubt at the very least place a question in people’s minds as to the integrity and fidelity of a good priest entrusted with gifts of wisdom that the Church desperately needs. And all this because he had the honesty to tear into the bishops’ book for what he saw as its shaky foundations.

This is a disgraceful way for a Church leader to act.

Prof Brian Gaybba, Grahamstown

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Bullying tone

I

HAVE been very moved and excited by Pope Francis; I think he really models Jesus. So I was saddened to see that even our own cardinal disregards the Holy Father’s example.

His column of November 13 is so contradictory to what Pope Francis models. There is no humility, no sense that dialogue is possible, and its tone is aggressive and bullying.

I can understand why reform of the Church is such a mammoth task because attitudes like this will be hard to overcome. Maybe it is time that some bishops and cardinals have the courage and humility to acknowledge there is a new way of leading in the Church and step down, so new blood can offer new hope. Cardinal Napier, it seems, is fixated on sexuality and not good leadership. His embarrassing press this year, on radio and in newspapers, has always been about sex.

I do not know Fr Christopher Clohessy but read with interest what he wrote in his critique of the bishops’ book. I find the cardinal’s response unbecoming of a man of the cloth.

I went back to read Fr Clohessy’s critique and found that Cardinal Napier fails to answer a single question he poses.

Cardinal Napier says nothing about conscience. He confuses truth and agreement. Is the bishops’ book really like the Bible?

I pray for Pope Francis; may the Lord grant him strength in the face of many difficulties.

Lynette Paterson, Johannesburg 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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sions of long-lasting happiness, even though it may not eventuate.

For remarried Catholics to live together “as friends, as brother and sister”, whilst abstaining from sex, is not only an ideal a minority will achieve, but a naïve expectation as well. We know that celibacy is a cornerstone of the Church, but it is essentially designed for clergy who live single lives.

Archbishop Müller must hark back to Jesus’ words when the “sinful” woman was about to be stoned by the mob. And that is what our pontiff is highlighting: the need to heal as opposed to condemn.

Patrick Dacey, Johannesburg

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PERSPECTIVES

Family and faith moments

T

HE Year of Faith has drawn to its official close, and we family people are using the month of December for a final reflection on the theme for the year “Family Moments and Faith Moments”. Are family moments also faith moments, and vice versa?

During the year I have presented many reflections on the different aspects of marriage, parenting, youth, the elderly, gender, culture and heritage and so on. I wonder if there has been some growth in the understanding of the “Family Moments and Faith Moments” concept.

A Mass in a Johannesburg township parish I attended last month was undoubtedly a feast. It took two and a half hours, with 20 baptisms (many of babies of unmarried mothers), a positive attitude from the parish priest and much enthusiastic singing and movement by the youth choir and a good proportion of the congregation.

After Mass there were any number of activities happening, one of which was a retreat for about 30 people, mostly widowed and a few divorced. Of the three men who were there at the start, only one had the courage to stay.

A short presentation was followed by a group-sharing activity based on a “Stations of the Cross for Widowed People” that I had composed over the years, reflecting on my own experience of widowhood and relating it to the events in the Passion of Jesus and ending with the Resurrection.

It was a totally new experience for the group and a process that had to be explained as a meaningful exercise for the month of November, when not only those who have died but also those who remain need our support.

Another parish that conducted the same activity reported that all participants found it very moving and special to have atten-

A table is set for Christmas dinner. The stress of preparing for Christmas can have a spiritual dimension. (Photo: kakisky) tion paid to them, and to have an opportunity to reflect on their own lives.

So for me the baptisms and the widowed programmes are examples of faith moments that are also family moments.

On another occasion those writing matric received a special blessing: a family moment made into a faith moment.

O

n yet another occasion at a township Mass I asked the choir leader how many members sing at home with their families.

Some do, but I wonder whether in general people pray and sing as easily and enthusiastically in their little church of the home as they do in the parish church. So I suggested a family choir competition, perhaps using Christmas carols as a programme.

What politics is there for I N the New Testament Jesus acknowledges the need to be loyal to earthly rulers, but at the same time cautions against raising temporal authorities above God. In fact, his exhortation, “Give to God what belongs to God and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”, precisely calls for recognising God as supreme authority.

Vatican II’s pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes affirms that the human person is the foundation and purpose of political life. Hence, the role of politics is to organise and ensure unity among people.

Pope Pius XII, in his Christmas 1944 radio message, gives an interesting detail: “A people does not mean a shapeless multitude, an inert mass to be manipulated and exploited”, but a people that is able to form and express its own opinion on public matters.

The foundation of political authority therefore demands to direct all people towards the common good.

“Political authority must guarantee an ordered and upright community life without usurping the free activity of individuals and groups but disciplining and orienting this freedom by respecting and defending the independence of the individual and social subject, for the attainment of the common good,” the Catholic Church teaches in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (CSDC).

When the political authority leads the society to aspirations that are morally good, then people must obey it. And God is the ultimate source and end of such moral order since authority is not a power determined by criterion of a solely sociological or historical nature, the CSDC says.

Political authority must safeguard the fundamental human and moral values that flow from the very dignity of the human person. These values “no individual, no majority and no state can ever create, modify

or destroy”, Pope John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae.

Arbitrary fiddling with such basic human moral laws therefore risks undermining the entire society in its foundation.

So, political authority has the obligation to enact laws that conform to the dignity of the human person; and a law is truly human to the extent that it measures up to God’s will.

C

onsequently, when the political authority makes laws that go against human dignity, it defeats its own purpose of existing and renders itself illegitimate.

In such cases, people have the right to conscientious objection since, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “citizens are not obligated in conscience to follow the prescriptions of civil authorities if their precepts are contrary to the demands of the normal order, to the fundamental rights of persons or to the teachings of the Gospel”.

People are free to boycott laws that are contrary to the precepts of God, and do so not just as a moral duty but also as a right

South Africa’s parliament in Cape Town in 1906. The Church teaches that politicians are called to govern for the common good— when they don’t, the people have a right to disobey their authority.

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

Advent and Christmas are great opportunities for linking family and faith moments. Current MARFAM publications have suggested activities, such as making an advent wreath or shelter-seeking as a programme promoted through Schoenstatt.

But Christmas doesn’t have to be all spiritual. Holiday time and appreciating one another, the stresses of preparing for Christmas and deciding what to buy or not, what to eat, who to give what to—if done together in a spirit of commitment and unity, these are family moments that can be regarded as faith moments if we offer them to God. And when the sea is not so smooth, confession can be accompanied by a family reconciliation moment too.

The Special Synod on Pastoral Challenges of Families called by Pope Francis does highlight some of the family needs, but the questions in the questionnaire for the preparation of the synod are difficult to answer for the average Catholic and this also highlights how important it is for families to grow in knowledge and understanding of their family as a domestic church with particular tasks and needs.

So the faith and life and family life aspects are all important for our spiritual growth but also our general wellbeing and functioning. Will 2014, as the 20th anniversary of the International Year of the Family, make a difference in our lives?

One hopes that with continuing efforts it will result in improved functioning, strengthening, building resilience and an increasing sense of the importance and value of the family, the domestic church, the place where in a unique way the Word is made Flesh.

Evans K Chama M.Afr

Catholic Social Teachings

which civil law should recognise and protect.

This is why the Church values the democratic system that allows people participation in the affairs of their society, free expression and passing of information. This demands a truly independent media and not one that is a mere tool for government propaganda.

Politicians must refrain from attempts to manipulate civil society and citizens, especially by such means as making access to jobs, services or contracts conditional to party membership or ideological loyalty.

The people should, as the CSDC puts it, retain “the prerogatives to assert this sovereignty in evaluating the work of those charged with governing and also in replacing them when they do not fulfil their functions satisfactorily”.

Nevertheless, elected leaders need enough freedom to do their job.

Democracy should never be reduced to majority whims. Rather, there should be consensus on values such as the dignity of human person, and democracy should be at the service of those values.

“A democracy without values easily turns into open or thinly disguised totalitarianism. Democracy is fundamentally a system, and as such is a means not an end.

Its moral value is not automatic, but depends on conformity to the moral law to which, it, like every other form of human behaviour, must be subject,” the CSDC notes.

Therefore, the vocation of the political community is to lead human persons in society towards realising their aspirations that are truly human. However, its authority is not ultimate for it owes obedience and submission to God.

The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

7

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Who exactly wrote John’s gospel?

Recently our Bible group learnt of the theories about who was the real author of the Gospel of St John. It seems the modern view is that the Gospel was not written by John the Apostle, as I was taught, but by a team of his followers. Is this modern view now acceptable to the Church?

O Prins

T

HE Church’s teaching is that God is the author of the Bible while he simultaneously influenced certain human authors to put into writing only what he wanted them to write.

Vatican II’s document Dei Verbum says that everything that the inspired authors affirm, should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit and we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures (11).

While we may not deny that a particular author wrote freely under divine inspiration, which is a matter of doctrine, we may speculate about who the author in question was, which is not a matter of doctrine.

The Church has accepted the traditional author of John’s gospel to be John the Apostle.

Around the year 185 Irenaeus identified the author with John the Apostle, son of Zebedee, who lived in his old age in Ephesus, and this view was common at the time. In the 4th century Eusebius of Caesaria, a bishop and historian, expressed no doubt that John the Apostle was the writer.

The text of the gospel indicates that the author was one of the twelve apostles, an eyewitness of what he describes and “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Yet the words, “This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true” (Jn 21:24), point to a group, probably John’s disciples, who had a hand in the writing of the text. Also, there are two endings to the gospel (20:30-31 and 21:25), which suggests likewise.

This is not necessarily the prevailing modern view, though it is a common one.

Anomalies such as these, and many more areas of uncertainty and contention, have kept the experts engrossed for years, not only in this particular gospel but also in all the books of the Bible.

Using continuous and painstaking research methods, these experts study the texts objectively to penetrate the layers of fact and historical obscurity in order to uncover more and more information. Their findings are hypothetical, not certain.

The Church prefers to hold on to the traditional opinion that the author was John the Apostle.

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town,

8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

St Nicholas

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

Canonisation Ceremony | Papal Audience | St Peter’s | Sistine Chapel | Catacombs | Ancient Rome | Baroque Rome | Major Basilicas | Castel Gandolfo | Assisi | Porciuncola | Hermitage of the Carceri | Greccio (where St Francis invented the Nativity Scene) | Fonte Colombo | and much more.

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8

The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

COMMUNITY

Radio Veritas staged its first pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Jordan, with Fr Emil Blaser OP (back centre) leading the group. Apart from the great sites of the Holy Land, they also visited places in Jordan, including the long-lost city of Petra and Mount Nebo, from where Moses saw the Promised Land. The pilgrims are seen in Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the baptismal site declared as authentic by the Catholic Church in Jordan, which faces the baptismal site in the West Bank. Radio Veritas is co-headlining with The Southern Cross the Canonisation Pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi in April 2014, and is already planning another pilgrimage for 2015.

Brescia House in Johannesburg hosted 12 students from Instituto Nossa Senhora Da Piedade in Brazil as part of an Ursuline pupil exchange programme. The students participated in numerous school activities and extramural events. They are pictured at the annual inter-house athletic event.

St Martin de Porres parish in Lavistown, Cape Town, elected their parish pastoral council. Pictured with Fr John D’Souza (second right) and Deacon Arthur Arries (right) are (from left) Melanie Birch, Bernadette Ross, Celesté Cloete, (back) Grant Cloete and Ivor Okkers.

St Mary’s Primary in Gardens, Cape Town, recently held a “turning of the soil” ceremony to celebrate the building of a new Grade R classroom. (From Left) Abilene Arenz, Owethu Banjwa and Olona Makhosi.

Eileen Chapson of the Catholic Women’s League at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Durban North celebrated her 80th birthday. She is pictured (centre) with fellow league members.

PRAYER ON World AIDS DAY 1992 during a Mass in the University Clinic in Cologne on AIDS Day, a man suffering from Aids and spending his last days at the clinic (he died 16.2.1993) offered the following prayer:

Lord, you know that I wanted to enjoy life, I did not want to miss a thing, I wanted to experience EVERYTHING. I really do experience everything: what it means to be happy among cheerful people, and bitterly alone in my illness of which I know: in two, three weeks I shall not be here anymore.

But WHERE am I then?

You know it, God, I have found you late in my life, but I HAVE FOUND YOU, and about that I am very happy.

My days are easier in the knowledge that YOU ARE HERE. And it makes my suffering bearable, to hope that in my last moment I will be carried by You – over there, and that I am now already HELD by You …

I fight no more for my life HERE, I love more and more the LIFE IN YOU – And that life does NOT END in two or three weeks. I believe this.

I learned from YOU to see the others.

That is why I ask you for all who, like myself, are suffering from AIDS for all who are ill with a death-dealing illness for the women with cancer, on the station next to mine for all who care for the sick, look after them and visit them give them endurance and patience. for scientists, that they may find a cure for this illness for all who die, that in their darkness they find YOU and allow themselves to fall into YOUR HANDS.

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St Catherine’s school in Johannesburg celebrated its founders day to commemorate teachers, pupils, parents and friends. (From left) Dr Aelred, Srs Audrey, Felicity, Bede, Rosaria, Flora, Patricia and Bernadette.

Our Lady Star of the Sea in Amanzimtoti, archdiocese of Durban, celebrated the sacrament of confirmation. Confirmands are pictured with celebrant Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (centre) and parish priest Fr John Dalaist (back third from left).

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WORLD AIDS DAY

The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

9

The face of Aids today The public has diverted its concern from HIV/Aids to other causes, but the crisis remains acute, as Oblate Father RAYMOND MANGWALA explains.

W

HEN I recently reviewed the literature on HIV/Aids—about a dozen books—that I had read in the previous six months, I was amazed at the variety.

This literature covered different aspects of the HIV/Aids pandemic, written within a variety of contexts and perspectives. What it made clear is that Aids remains, even today, a complex reality with many faces.

Aids is not just a medical disease affecting homosexuals and drug addicts, as the old prejudice often still claims. Millions of ordinary people living ordinary, decent lives are today living with the virus that causes Aids. The burden of Aids is borne mainly by women and children, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Globally, Aids is a multi-faced pandemic with social, economic, religious and political implications which the world is still struggling to understand and mitigate.

Nature of the disease All the literature agrees that although Aids is caused by the HIV virus, the disease cannot be understood solely as a medical concern.

Other social, economic, religious and political factors contribute to the nature, extent and spread of the disease.

For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa where the effects of Aids are worst felt, poverty and the resultant poor nutrition are among the main reasons why the disease is so widespread and acts with such devastating effects.

Also, for poor people infected by the virus, access to antiretroviral therapies (ART) is often not possible. Consequently mortality rates among the poor remain unacceptably high. The poor continue to

Extent

sity of the virus is the simple reality, that these figures represent ordinary real human beings.

Sometimes one gets the impression that the human person has been lost in the statistics. When this happens people infected by HIV become mere objects in a tragic drama.

Thank God, most literature consistently combines the numbers with the human reality of Aids.

Aids is thus given a human face, that is, always pointing out that Aids is about people.

A second aspect which is generally hidden behind the numbers and statistics is the suffering caused by Aids.

Aids causes physical and psychological suffering which cannot be captured by numbers. The suffering of each person, those who are infected and affected, is different and deeply personal.

Others can imagine the nature and extent, and they show empathy, but the suffering remains deeply personal. Literature that ignores this fact lacks relevance in the field of HIV and Aids.

The suffering of people infected and affected by Aids should disturb every Christian and motivate us to action. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of human suffering and still call ourselves Christians.

The numbers of those infected worldwide are in the tens of millions.

The 2011 UNAIDS report estimated that more than 34 million people worldwide were infected by HIV. That is equivalent to the entire population of Canada—or the populations of Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Bulgaria combined.

South Africa remains the country with the highest number of people living with the virus. A positive indicator of recent statistics is the significant decrease in the number of people who die from Aids-related illnesses. This can be attributed to the broader availability of antiretroviral medication.

However, hidden behind such statistics are two sad realities: Aids affects real people and Aids causes suffering.

Hidden behind the impressive numbers and trends showing the rise and fall, the spread and inten-

Most literature seeks to understand the causes not so much of Aids, but rather why certain regions are more affected than others, and why certain groups are more at risk than others.

Most recent literature has come to acknowledge the wisdom of former South African President Thabo Mbeki’s argument that Aids cannot be blamed on one single virus.

Poverty and socio-economic conditions are factors that cannot be discounted in considering the cause of Aids. Other factors such as cultural practices, migration of peoples, war and conflict have also been shown to contribute to the spread of the disease.

The quality of political leadership is often discussed as a major contributing factor to the spread of Aids. Where the leadership has been strong, consistent and deci-

die soon after infection because of the already weakened immune system as a result of poor nutrition and the inability to access the necessary life-supporting drugs.

The burden of poverty and underdevelopment makes women and children most vulnerable to Aids.

A component of the picture of Aids which has emerged is the disproportionate manner in which Aids continues to affect more women than men.

Following from the fact that there are more women than men living with HIV, there are also more women caregivers than men working on the ground to provide care and support to those infected by HIV or suffering from Aids.

Most of these women work under the most difficult conditions, usually with few resources and no official recognition. Aids has a female face.

The dynamics of care for HIV infected children have changed the nature of the disease. Many children have also been orphaned due to Aids, with many older siblings have being forced to head households, often at the expense of their schooling.

Aids is indeed a complex disease.

Causes

A pharmacy technician displays antiretroviral drugs. Greater access to medication has helped slow down the effects of HIV in South Africa and some other countries, but the crisis remains great. (Photo: Nancy Phelan Wiechec) sive, the spread has been arrested or reduced; where leadership has been lacking, the situation has generally worsened.

To be sure, HIV causes Aids, but the causes of the current state of the disease are many, complex and interrelated.

Responses Several books advocate particular responses to Aids. All, however, recognise that an adequate response to the pandemic must take into account various elements of the disease and other contributing factors.

Aids is not only a struggle against a virus; it is a struggle against many factors affecting the global human family.

At least one book I read focused on Catholic responses to the disease over the 30 years of its existence. For all the great work the Catholic Church has done, for me, as a priest, it made for sad reading to find that the attitudes of some priests to the Aids ministry has been negative, and that many priests are cited as obstacles to effective pastoral responses to the pandemic.

Ministry to those infected with and affected by Aids is about social justice; it is central to our preaching of the Good News.

What the literature reveals is that responses to Aids are still varied. Stigma and discrimination continue. Silence and fear still

characterise some regions.

Generally, however, there have been massive improvements in responses to HIV and Aids. Christian communities, NGOs, governments and the international community are all playing a role in the fight against the disease.

A disturbing feature of the responses, however, is the growing fatigue among many.

Efforts to halt the spread of HIV seem to be slowing down. Resources and attention are beginning to be diverted to other areas.

Aids is no longer seen as a crisis.

For some, ARTs are the solution to the problem. The reality on the ground for those infected and affected is different.

More than 30 years after the first case of HIV was discovered, Aids continues to be a disease which kills millions of people worldwide. Today, we know more about the nature of the disease and how to stop its spread, but somehow we remain unable to stop it.

But we can stop the spread of Aids! We can do so by coming close to those infected and affected, by making ourselves vulnerable.

When we do so we can see the emerging picture of Aids and reach out to those living with Aids. The battle against Aids has not been won! n Fr Raymond M Mwangala OMI is the academic dean of St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara, KwaZulu-Natal.

10

The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

PERSONALITY

Serving The Southern Cross for 40 years From office filing to advertising administration to leading pilgrimages, Pamela Davids has filled many shoes at The Southern Cross.

CLAIRE MATHIESON learns more about the newspaper’s longeststanding employee.

I

F one had to choose only one adjective with which to describe Pamela Davids, one might settle for the word “dedicated”.

As a youngster, she was dedicated to her sport, achieving top accolades for her softball; she has been involved with the Schoenstatt movement throughout her life and an active parishioner at Corpus Christi parish in Wynberg, Cape Town, virtually since she was born.

But one of her most startling accomplishment is on the employment front: Pamela Davids has been a dedicated employee of The Southern Cross for 40 years.

She is second in the all-time rankings of long-serving Southern Cross staff members. Former managing editor Eugene Donnelly, who died in December 2011, served the newspaper for 42 years.

Ms Davids was encouraged by a friend from church to apply for a job at the newspaper, and although she was “quite nervous” at the time, the interview with director Jean Pothier went well.

She started working at The Southern Cross on December 3, 1973. Ms Davids had only just finished writing her exams and instead of taking a long holiday, she became involved in the first of the 2080 (and counting) editions of The Southern Cross that would be published during her time in the office.

When she started, Ms Davids’ first duty was to remind subscribers that their subscription renewals were due. Four decades later, and for the

past 18 years as the newspaper’s business manager, she can still be found on occasion contacting subscribers, while at the same time making sure the books balance, the staff are happy, and the newspaper is properly distributed.

Over the past 40 years, the sports fanatic has been exposed to many different roles within the newspaper industry, learning different skills along the way. Many of the parish staff, religious orders, priests and Catholic organisations that visit or phone The Southern Cross will often have their problems solved by Ms Davids who is able to run any of the six desks—including advertising and accounts—in the admin department.

Officially, Ms Davids is the business manager, a position she has held since 1995; unofficially she is the glue that holds the paper together.

One of the reasons Ms Davids has stayed at the company for such a long time has to do with the staff.

“Working at the newspaper means working with friendly, caring and encouraging people,” she said, adding that rules and regulations are not as strict as in the corporate world and that working in a Catholic environment has meant she has learnt more about the Catholic world and how it has changed over time.

“The biggest change is definitely the technology—it’s been quite mind-boggling! No more handwritten invoices and statements, no more typewriters, no more carbon paper for duplicate copies. It’s great that now we can send e-mails and get answers immediately,” Ms Davids said.

Technology in the newsroom has changed from printing off metal blocks to being able to send the entire paper through the Internet to be printed.

In the past, even the advertising had to be hand drawn onto a layout sheet and sent to the printer of the time: Galvin and Sales. “Now we even have The Southern Cross in dig-

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Pamela Davids in the 1970s playing softball, and this month outside The Southern Cross offices. On December 3 Ms Davids, this newspaper’s business manager, will mark 40 years of service to The Southern Cross. ital format—getting the newspaper directly to your computer, looking just as it does in the print version.”

While the newspaper has undergone many changes and the technology that drives it has seen dramatic modifications, the staff at The Southern Cross tend not to change too often. “They stay on for years—like me!”

The six admin staff members have an aggregate of 133 years of service to the newspaper.

Ms Davids attributes the staff’s loyalty to the “easy-going atmosphere” in the offices. Still, she added, there is plenty of responsibility and always a challenge to keep her on her toes. Each year presents new challenges.

W

ork at the Catholic newspaper has not always been easy.

Apart from the dreaded task of moving office—which she has done three times—because the company is very small and funds are tight, “there is not much of a chance of personal growth or development. I was just lucky.”

The tough economic climate has

also made Ms Davids’ job more stressful. From trying to keep newspaper sales up to ensuring subscribers pay their bills and advertisers are well looked after has, her work has become an even harder task than in previous years, she said.

“Many Catholic families are just not interested in reading a religious newspaper and some Catholic companies do not think to support their Catholic business allies; and that— on top of the general economic pressures—has made this independent company’s finances very tight.”

But there are also plenty of positives. Ms Davids recalls working in the same office as Cardinal Owen McCann during his second stint as Southern Cross editor (1986-91), and joining the first of the now soughtafter Southern Cross pilgrimages to the Holy Land in 2000.

Ms Davids recently returned from her second Southern Cross pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Rome and Assisi with Bishop Joe Sandri of Witbank.

She said the highlights including meeting more readers and seeing the pope in person. “It’s an awesome feeling being so close yet so far!”

For Ms Davids the pilgrimages are a rare opportunity to interact with the readers.

“It’s a nice change because we don’t get to interact with readers outside of business, and because of what the Holy Land, the land of the Gospel, represents in our work and our lives”.

Having seen The Southern Cross grow over the past four decades, Ms Davids is not fussed about spectacular stories, drama or outlandish tales of times gone by.

She does not care for status, and was in fact reluctant to appear on this page, saying that her achievement was “no big deal”.

Instead, when Ms Davids speaks about the highlights of her career, she speaks about the people with whom she has worked and interacted, those with whom she has had the time to get to know and form relationships, share friendship, faith and see hard work make a difference.

Ms Davids’ career has been concerned not only with the black and white of the work day but with the people—both staff and readers— who have helped make the newspaper what it is today.

For the past 40 years, she has been dedicated to the paper and its people—and Ms Davids is set to continue doing so as she has no plans to leave anytime soon!

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The Southern Cross, November 27 to December 3, 2013

Imbisa focus on family Continued from page 1 to see families in Africa become more economically self-sufficient.

The archbishop said many of South Africa’s dioceses were seeing great amounts of poverty due to the large number of people migrating. “We need to try and enable families to be economically sufficient both here and at home,” said Archbishop Slattery.

The bishops want to help damaged families find a place in the Christian community. The year 2014 will be the UN Year of the

Family and “the Church will speak strongly on behalf of families whose role as fundamental building block of society is disregarded by many,” the bishops said in a statement.

The plenary also saw the bishops discuss the work of Imbisa delegations to countries holding elections. “This involvement should encourage the bishops of the region to speak with one voice on matters of justice, good governance and the common good in economic development.

Imbisa should have a watchdog function when there is trouble beyond our borders,” said Fr Wermter.

The assembly saw the re-election of Bishop Frank Nubuasah of Francistown, Botswana, as the president of Imbisa, and Bishop Lucio Andrice Mandula of Xai-Xai, Mozambique, as vice-president.

Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare, Zimbabwe, was elected secretary-general, succeeding Bishop Angel Floro of Gokwe, Zimbabwe.

Pope: Go to the Holy Land Continued from page 4 encountering Jesus Christ and deepening your love for him and his Church”.

“Though the Year of Faith is drawing to a close, I pray your desire to know Jesus may grow and your love for him deepen,” Pope Francis said.

Kenyan Matthew Njogu, 64, said seeing Christians from all over the world convinced him that the Church is universal.

Bus shuttles from Nazareth brought worshippers up Mount Precipice to the outdoor Mass, held at the amphitheatre where Pope Benedict celebrated Mass during his 2009 pilgrimage.

Some buses carrying Arab Catholics were detained at checkpoints, said Wadie Abunassar, chairman of media relations for the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land.

Sana Hannah, 45, of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, said buses from her city were detained for close to two hours because there were several unattended minors with no identification papers travelling with the group. The children eventually were sent back to Nablus with one of the nuns in the group, she said.

“We are happy [to be here], but tired,” she said. “We have always wanted to be in Nazareth. All of

Word of the Week

HALLELUJAH: Hebrew “praise Yahweh”. Ancient liturgical form of jubilation found especially in the Psalms. —Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr John Hardon SJ.

Southern CrossWord solutions

SOLUTIONS TO 578. ACROSS: 3 Obsequies, 8 Call, 9 Falsehood, 10 Litres, 11 Alone, 14 Ideas, 15 Date, 16 Tabor, 18 Even, 20 Overt, 21 Raven, 24 Pardon, 25 Baptismal, 26 Loan, 27 Addressed. DOWN: 1 Acclaimed, 2 Flatterer, 4 Bias, 5 Easel, 6 Unhand, 7 Eros, 9 Feast, 11 Alban, 12 Eavesdrop, 13 Pertinent, 17 Royal, 19 Natter, 22 Eases, 23 Bard, 24 Pane.

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[these troubles] and we are still [in this land]. It is the land of Jesus.

Our faith is Jesus.”

Shaden Sakran, an 18-year-old Catholic from the nearby village of Reineh, said she came to the Mass with her Scout group to pray for her family and friends and to feel part of a larger community.

Claude Ibrahim, 41, a Maronite Catholic originally from South Lebanon and now living in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, said he enjoyed seeing so many Christians coming together to celebrate a Catholic ceremony.

“It is nice to feel you are not alone,” he said.—CNS

Liturgical Calendar Year C Weekdays Cycle Year 1

Sunday, December 1, World Aids Day, 1st Sunday of Advent Isaiah 2: 1-5, Psalms 122:1-9, Romans 13: 11-14, Matthew 24: 37-44 Monday December 2 Isaiah 4: 2-6, Psalms 122:1-4, 8-9, Matthew 8: 5-11 Tuesday December 3, St Francis Xavier Isaiah 11: 1-10, Psalms 72:1-2,7-8,12-13,17, Luke 10: 21-24 Wednessday December 4 Isaiah 25: 6-10, Psalms 23:1-6, Matthew 15: 29-37 Thursday December 5 Isaiah 26: 1-6, Psalms 118:1, 8-9,19-21, 25-27, Matthew 7: 21, 24-27 Friday December 6 Isaiah 29: 17-24, Psalms 27:1, 4, 13-14, Matthew 9: 27-31 Saturday December 7 Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23-26, Psalms 147:1-6, Matthew 9: 35-10:6-8 Sunday December 8, 2nd Sunday of Advent Isaiah 11: 1-10, Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Romans 15: 4-9, Matthew 3: 1-12

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Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,25 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

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PRAYERS

IN LOVING memory of Lesley Sophia Pereira/Davids (19612011), on the second anniversary of your passing. Fondly remembered by your husband, sons and daughter we pray your intercession and grace. Rest in peace.

LEbONA— Aaron David. In loving memory of my husband “AD”, our father and grandfather who passed away November 24, 2003. You will always be lovingly remembered and greatly missed by your wife Evelyn (55 years altogether), children, sons and daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Thank you for the gift of your love. Always in our thoughts and prayers.

Eternally rest in peace.

MAHER—In loving memory of our parents Herbert and Cecily Maher who died 6/12/2002 and 11/12/2006 respectively.

In our thoughts daily.

With love Joan, James and Sharon.

SACCO—Louise Francoise Marie-Andrée, eldest daughther of Rosheen Sacco and late Leon Sacco, called to her eternal home November 21, 2011. Sister to Marc, Marie-Reine, Marguerite and Luke.

You are never absent from our hearts Louise.

God’s gift of memory is one we cherish. Rest in peace beloved Louise.

PERSONAL

AbORTION WARNING: The pill can abort (chemical abortion) Catholics must be told, for their eternal welfare and the survival of their unborn infants. See www.epm.org/static/up loads/downloads/bcpill.p df NOTHING is politically right if it is morally wrong. Abortion is evil.

Value life!

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

Paolo THANKS be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits thou hast won for me, For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, May I know thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, And follow thee more nearly, For ever and ever.

THANKS

GRATEFuL thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Mother Mary and Ss Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Martin de Porres for prayers answered. RCP HEARTFELT thanks Sacred Heart and St Jude for prayers answered.

Alix.

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GOD bLESS AFRICA Guard our people, guide our leaders and give us peace.

Luke 11:1-13

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FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

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2nd Sunday of Advent: December 8 Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72: 1-2, 78, 12-13, 17, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:112

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S we continue our journey through Advent, the readings encourage us to look hopefully into the future, but also to respond to God’s promise in appropriate ways.

The first reading, written just after Jerusalem has had a narrow escape from the Assyrian invasion, promises that God will raise up a descendant of David.

This character is going to inaugurate a new age in which “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid, the calf and the beast of prey shall be together, with a little boy to herd them”, and “children play with snakes” (mothers should look away at this point, and Health and Safety inspectors block up their ears—but it is a charming picture).

There is, though, a necessary part for humans to play (though it is, as always, God’s gift), which this reading describes as “the spirit of the Lord, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord” which will be granted to the child whose birth is predicted.

And this offspring is to be a model for our

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Respond to God during Advent Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

behaviour (which means that you who read these words have to start behaving in this way if you are to celebrate properly the feast for which we are waiting): “He shall judge the poor with justice, and give the right verdict for the poor of the land.” We are to look for a ruling class that has rejected corruption.

The psalm for next Sunday, on the face of it a song for the king’s coronation, in fact continues the lesson from the first reading on how we are to behave.

It starts as you might expect, with a prayer for the king, but then goes into a concealed lecture about how this monarch is to behave: “that he may judge your people with justice, and your oppressed with right judgment”.

There is a prayer (of course) for this new king to “rule from sea to sea”, but he has to behave, like all rulers, in certain ways: “Let him govern the poor when they cry out, and the oppressed who have no one to help.” He cares about the poor and the needy, and saves the lives of the poor.

Only then, when the ruler has got the message about the way he is to exercise his power, do we hear the prayer that the young king was no doubt waiting for: “May his name last forever; may the tribes of the earth bless his name.” But the ruling class has to behave in the way that God demands, or it will all go horribly wrong.

In the second reading, Paul is coming near to the end of his difficult letter to the Romans, and is now giving them some advice on how to behave.

As so often, he asks them “to think the same with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, that with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ”.

This is for both Jews and non-Jews; that is

Finding God with a word that is unfathomably true F

AITH is not something you achieve. If you try to nail it down, it gets up and walks away with the nail.

Faith works this way: Some days you walk on water, other days you sink like a stone. You live with a deep secret, the poet Rumi says, that sometimes you know, and then not, and then know again. Sometimes you feel the real presence, and sometimes you feel the real absence. Why? Because, like love, faith is a journey, with constant ups and downs, with alternating periods of fervour and dryness, with consolation giving way to desolation, and with graced moments where God feels tangibly present eclipsed by dark nights where God feels absent.

It’s a strange state: sometimes you feel riveted to God, steel-like; other times you feel yourself in a free-fall from everything secure, and then, just when things are at their lowest, you feel God’s presence again.

Why does faith have this confusing dynamic? It’s not that God is cruel, is playing games with us, wants to test our fidelity, or wants us to have to do something difficult to earn salvation.

No, the ups and downs of faith have to do with the rhythms of ordinary life, especially the rhythm of love.

Love, like faith, too has its periods of fervour and of dark nights. All of us know that inside any long-term commitment (marriage, family, friendship, or church) there will be certain days and whole sea-

Classic Conrad

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

sons when our heads and our hearts aren’t in that commitment, even as we’re still in it.

Our heads and hearts fade in and fade out, but we experience love as ultimately not dependent upon the head or even the heart. Something deeper holds us, and it holds us beyond the thoughts of our heads or the feelings of our heart at a given moment.

In any sustained commitment in love, our heads and hearts will fade in and out.

Sometimes there’s fervour, sometimes there’s flatness.

Faith works the same. Sometimes we sense and feel God’s presence with our heads and our hearts, and sometimes both leave us flat and dry.

But faith is something deeper than imagining or feeling God’s presence. But how do we come to that? What should we do in those moments when it feels as if God is absent?

The great mystic St John of the Cross offers this advice. If you want to find God’s presence again in those moments when

God feels absent, listen to a word filled with reality and unfathomable truth.

What might he mean by that? How does one listen to a word filled with reality and unfathomable truth? How does one even find such a word?

To be honest, I’m not exactly sure what he means, even as his words explode with possible meanings inside my mind. The phrase might be easier to untangle if he was telling us to look for an experience that’s deep and filled with reality; for example, giving birth to a child, being awed by exceptional beauty, or having your heart broken by loss or death.

These kinds of experience are real, unfathomably true, and jolt us into a deeper awareness; so, if God is to be found, shouldn’t God be found there?

But John isn’t directing us towards an in-depth experience; he’s asking us to look for a word that’s carries reality and depth.

Does that mean that when we are unsteady and in doubt we should hunt for texts (in Scripture, theology, spirituality, or in secular literature and poetry) that speak to us in a way that re-grounds us in some primal sense that God exists and loves us, and that because of this, we should live in love and hope?

I suspect that this is exactly what he means. God is one, true, good and beautiful, and so the right word about oneness, truth, goodness or beauty should have the power to steady our shifting minds and hearts. The right word can make the Word become flesh again.

But what words have the power to do that for us? We’re all different and so not everyone will find truth and depth in the same way. Each one of us must therefore do our own, deeply personal, search here.

For myself, the words of various authors have carried this kind of truth for me at different times in my life.

St Thérèse of Lisieux’s The Story of a Soul has steadied me in some moments of doubt; John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath can still refocus my vision when it gets cloudy; various passages from Karl Rahner, John Shea, Raymond Brown, and Henri Nouwen can help steady my ship when I feel it rocking; and some words of Dag Hammarskjöld can make me want to live so as to mirror more the greatness of life.

But each of us needs to search in our own way for words which, for us, are so filled with reality and unfathomably true as to evoke a felt-presence of God.

to say, in this country, all races are to glorify God, because Christ became our servant.

The gospel speaks of the appearance on the scene of John the Baptist, with his exhortation to “repent—for the Kingdom of the Heavens has drawn near”.

That must be our response as Christmas rushes inevitably upon us. But ours may be the lonely voice referred to in the citation of Isaiah, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”.

If you feel that your voice in praise of God is a lonely one, that does not mean that you have made a mistake. We may, however, experience a chill of discomfort as we hear him berating those supremely religious figures, the “Pharisees and Sadducees” as “offspring of snakes”; and he points to “the one coming after me…whose winnowing-fork is in his hands”.

Even if you are not quite sure what a winnowing-fork might be, it is clearly not very comfortable, and we may have to rethink our attitudes as we go deeper into Advent.

Southern Crossword #578

ACROSS 3. Funeral rites that begin with short old boys (9) 8. Vocation (4) 9. Not genuine cover for the untruth (9) 10. Quantities of Mass wine (6) 11. By yourself (5) 14. They’re all in your mind (5) 15. Kind of palm for a certain day (4) 16. Mount to which Deborah sent Barak (Jg4) (5) 18. Smooth like your temper when calm? (4) 20. Seen openly in the trove (5) 21. First bird to fly from the Ark (Gn8) (5) 24. It is begged for (6) 25. The first of your vows (9) 26. The parish in debt may need it (4) 27. Made a speech from the envelope? (9)

DOWN 1. Medical bill that’s brief and celebrated (9) 2. He gives you insincere compliments (9) 4. One-sided prejudice (4) 5. Presumably, Da Vinci’s support (5) 6. Release from your grasp (6) 7. Sore god (4) 9. Liturgical day for eating (5) 11. English martyr saint (5) 12. Sea proved it will hear secretly (9) 13. Relevant (9) 17. Once in... David’s city (carol) (5) 19. Have a casual chat (6) 22. Makes less severe (5) 23. Drab poet (4) 24. Sheet in the stained glass window (4) Solutions on page 11

The final sentence in last week’s Fr Rolheiser column should read: “And, as the 19th-century philospher Søren Kierkegaard suggests, we shouldn’t just admire what Jesus did here, we should imitate him.”

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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wo dishonest helpers discuss what they do with the Mass collection money.

The first says: “I just take the banknotes; the change belongs to the Lord.”

The other responds: “I do that differently. I take the whole collection, throw it up in the air and say: “Lord, take what you need, and whatever falls to the ground is mine.’ ” Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.