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February 26 to March 4, 2014

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God always Golden skater offers us a takes her faith second chance to the ice Page 9

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Get ready for Lent and elections

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Abuse case: We need courage, says archbishop

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

C

ATHOLICS in Pretoria have been called to have courage in trying times after a Catholic priest was released on bail after appearing on charges of sexual assault.

Members of the various Catholic churches in Pretoria have been left shaken by the arrest—related to inappropriate conduct with a 16-year-old boy—with many people leaving the Church and their adoration hours at a time “when we need to pray, pray, pray”, said Fr Chris Townsend of Queenswood parish.

Meanwhile, the local Church has reaffirmed its support to the victims of abuse and to adhering to civil laws. “Any injury to a child is of great significance. The essential priority of the Church is the protection of children,” Archbishop Slattery told The Southern Cross.

The initial complaint was laid with the archdiocese in January and the priest was immediately placed on administrative leave. The family was advised to report the case to the police as required by law. “We set up our own investigation and thought there was something worth pursuing. We insisted the police get involved so that all parties are protected,” said Archbishop Slattery.

The Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) will launch its own investigation for internal purposes after criminal proceedings have concluded.

The Church takes these cases very seriously and will fully cooperate with civil authorities, said Archbishop Slattery, adding that the Church will also ensure the protection of all directly or indirectly involved.

“We have psychologists, lawyers and media involved. But we will also distance ourselves from the inquiry so as to ensure we do not interfere with the investigation. We want the truth to come out.”

Archbishop Slattery said the Church has offered help to all those who might require it.

“This is a great hurt to the Church, to priests and to the community. The priest was regarded as an excellent priest; someone who had helped so many. There are many people who are hurt.”

Under South African law, the 44-year-old priest will be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Under the Church’s guidelines, the priest will have no contact with his congrega-

With

The

tion and will be on leave until the matter is finalised.

The PCC is made up of civil lawyers, psychologists, priests and religious groupings, and has been used as a model in the Vatican.

Once a civil case begins, the Church investigation ceases and resumes once the civil case has concluded.

All cases of sexual abuse of minors are reported, but if the abuse involves someone older than 18, the committee can only advise the victim to report the case.

The PCC has strict measures in place to deal with allegations of abuse but, according to its mandate, “cannot be satisfied with merely reacting to allegations of sexual abuse of the young,” according to Fr Townsend, spokesman for the PCC. “Rather it wants to be proactive in preventing abuse.”

Archbishop Slattery said the Church provides care for thousands of abused children in the archdiocese.

“Police and social workers run to us for help. We believe children are still safe in Catholic churches, but this has been a wakeup call for us all,” he said “We have protocols in place which have been hailed as models for governments. We believe these protocols are of the utmost importance and we will do everything to ensure the truth comes out,” the archbishop said. “But we also want to remind Catholics that [cases of abuse by Church personnel] are not common.”

He noted that the Church in Pretoria provides protection and care for hundreds of children “who have no one else”. Public attention to the great work the Church is doing with children is diverted by cases of alleged abuse.

“This incident comes with great sadness,” Archbishop Slattery said.

He said incidents of abuse can damage the victim’s relationships with family, friends and God, and have a similar effect on those in the community.

“We are very sorry [for cases where] this has happened. It is truly a terrible thing,” he said.

He appealed to the faithful to “be careful about gossip, exaggeration and innuendo”.

Fr Craigh Laubscher is expected to appear in court again in April.

For more information on the Catholic Church’s protocol on reported abuse by Church personnel visit www.sacbc.org.za/ protection

A woman wears a cross of ashes after attending an Ash Wednesday service. The penitential season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which this year is on March 5. (Photo: Cynthia Karam, Reuters/CNS)

Lenten App-eal on your phone STAFF REPORTER

F

IFTY years ago, Vatican II’s document on Social Communications urged the Church to use “new avenues of communicating” to spread “teachings of every sort”.

The Jesuit Institute has risen to the challenge of using modern technology to spread God’s word.

The institute recently published Fr Anthony Egan’s book A Spiritual Revolution, which combines the theme of Lent with this year’s 20th anniversary of democracy in South Africa and the preparation for the May 7 election (see page 9). His reflections are now likely to reach an even wider audience.

“We know that many people—especially younger people—do not buy or read books. Yet they also need to be challenged to connect their faith with wider social and political issues. That is why we invested in creating our Lenten app,” explained Raymond Perrier, director of the Jesuit Institute.

“This app is unique in the world. There are surprisingly few apps to help people pray every day during Lent—and certainly not one that ties in so clearly with the specific experience of 2014,” Mr Perrier said.

The app, which will be available free, offers users a reflection for each of the 47 days from Ash

Wednesday to Easter Sunday: a quotation from the Lenten readings, from other Scriptures or a political leader; a meditation on the theme; and a prayer.

It can be downloaded immediately for use on iPhone, Android, Blackberry or Nokia devices. Search for “Lent South Africa” in appstores such as iTunes, Google Play, Blackberry World, and so on.

The app was created by young people of talent, all aged between 21 and 23.

The technological brain behind the app is Thapelo Letsoela, the Jesuit Institute’s IT manager. The designers, who have created a special icon for each day, are two students at Vega School of Brand Leadership, Simphiwe Khumalo and Thato Tlhapane.

“Working on this really opened my eyes to the link between religion and politics,” said Mr Tlhapane. Mr Khumalo added: “I can imagine fellow students using this to pray in the taxi, or while listening to music—or even while in a lecture!” n The app will be officially launched on March 2 at 18:00 at the Academic Mass at the Jesuit university chaplaincy in Johannesburg.

Fr Martin Badenhorst OP will preach. If you have difficulty downloading, or for more information, email lent@jesuitinstitute.org.za

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2

The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

LOCAL

Call to vote ethically

BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

T

HE country’s bishops have called on all South Africans of voting age to discern the call of the Holy Spirit and make “every effort to vote as responsible citizens; and thoughtfully and prayerfully to participate in the responsible governing of our country”.

The call was made in a pastoral statement issued by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference with Justice & Peace.

“Vote for political parties whose policies truly serve all our people especially the poor and vulnerable.

We must reject any sign of greed, ethnicity, corruption and self-enrichment,” the bishops said.

The bishops said Catholics should be guided by what “our Christian faith teaches us” specifically to vote for parties which promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of each human being; offer support for marriage

and family; uphold social responsibility and respect for the common good; believe in the just sharing of resources and wealth; and have compassionate solidarity with the poor and marginalised.

Meanwhile, the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) has released a charter of election ethics.

The movement’s Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa said the MRM would promote ethical values. “Underlying every vote should be guiding principles,” the former mayor of Tshwane told The Southern Cross.

“We need to prepare our voters; education is key and the Church plays a very important role in between elections. We need to make people aware of these principles on an ongoing basis.”

Fr Mkhatshwa said voting has implications, as has not voting.

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“Voting ethically is a sign of human dignity, a dignity which for generations had been denied the majority of people in South Africa. Voting is an act of kindness to our neighbour inasmuch as it is an action that promotes the common good,” Fr Mkhatshwa said.

The MRM has embarked on an educational campaign across the country with the objective of educating voters on their rights and reminding all role players, including political leaders, to act ethically.

The charter has been signed by the country’s metropolitan bishops.

“Let us pray and work earnestly at this moment for a peaceful, free and fair general election,” said the bishops in their pastoral letter.

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Members of Emdeni’s new Kolping family celebrate with Fr Emil Blaser OP (second from left) and Fr Bernard Sompane SCJ (third from left).

New Kolping family born in Johannesburg STAFF REPORTER

I

N the presence of a packed Sunday congregation at the parish of Emdeni, history was made when for the first time in 62 years a new Kolping family was officially inaugurated in Gauteng.

Led by dynamic parish priest Fr Bernard Sompane SCJ and the chairman of the Johannesburg Kolping family, Eckehart Seidler, some 21 new members were declared an official family and part of the over 400 000strong Kolping membership in more than 60 countries around the world.

The official flag from the Kolping headquarters in Germany was solemnly blessed and handed to the Kolping family of Gauteng, and a letter of welcome from the international chaplain was read.

All the members were unemployed and somewhat rudderless a mere three or four years ago, until they joined what is known as the WOP course (Work Opportunity Programme) led by Beatrix van Rooyen—known as Aunty B—and her team.

They are all now suitably employed, having found their particular gifts and orientation in life. The WOP programmes take place several times a year.

Kolping aims to build a “familylike and lifelong, democratic and Catholic education and action-oriented community for the individual in a society that is to be constantly renewed”, according to its constitution.

Their objective is to enable members to present themselves as Christians in the world, and thus in their work and occupations, in their marriages and families, in the Church, society and state to offer help in improving the lives of the members and non-members, to promote the common good based on Catholic Social Teaching and to participate in the constant renewal of the Church and society.

The founder of the Kolping Society, Bl Adolf Kolping, was born in Germany 200 years ago. He faced a situation where family life was at stake and workers needed support.

He felt deeply that the Church and her teachings could help give hope and direction to people. He was way ahead of Vatican II, and his ministry dovetails with the teaching of Vatican II and the social teaching of the Church.

After the Mass the newly born family met and elected their new executive committee. They are: Thoriso Malesa (chair), Dineo Moseki (secretary), Keitumetse Kungoane (treasurer), and two review committee members, Cebesile Tshabangu and Shirley Legodi. Their praeses, or chaplain, is Fr Sompane. Fr Emil Blaser OP, the Johannesburg praeses, presided at the Mass. n For more information about Kolping and the WOP programmes phone Beatrix van Rooyen on 011 792 4210 or 082 497 3030, or visit www.kolping4you.wix.com/kolping-joburg or www.kolpingsa.co.za

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LOCAL

The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

Transgendered former priest dies

BY PORTIA MTHEMBu

A

Seen at the blessing of the foundation stone for the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban are (from left) DHC coordinator Paddy Kearney, Presbyterian minister Rev Tony Gamley, AV Mahomed of the Juma Musjid mosque, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Religions for Peace SA’s Paddy Mesking, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi Ela Gandhi, and Rabbi Hillel Avidan. (Photo: Saydoon Sayed)

CLC calls to a jubilee E Cape pilgrimage STAFF REPORTER

T

HE Christian Life Community (CLC) has been celebrating the 450th anniversary of its foundation since March 25.

The CLC South Africa is concluding the celebrations with a pilgrimage in the Eastern Cape over the weekend of March 21 to 24.

The Christian Life Community is a lay apostolic movement that owes its origins, growth and development to the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and works in close collaboration with Jesuits, as both share the same Ignatian spirituality as their foundation.

CLC originated in the Marian sodalities founded by Jean Leunis, a young man who walked from his home in Belgium to Rome in the early 1560s to link up with Ignatius of Loyola of whose activities he had heard.

In Rome in 1563 he established groups of lay people and introduced Ignatius’ way of life to them, including the sharing of reflections on God’s actions in our daily lives.

These were the Marian Sodalities and out of these over years the current Christian Life Community evolved.

In many countries in Europe, South America and Asia, there are CLC groups who can trace an unbroken line from those sodalities to their current groups.

CLC South Africa does not have that long a history but its origins stem from the same roots.

During the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773 and the restoration in 1814, the lay sodalities survived and kept Ignatian spirituality alive in many countries so that the restored Society of Jesus found them alive and active when they returned.

The Jesuits are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the restoration

this year, so there is a double reason for celebration.

CLC South Africa can trace its origins to only long after the restoration.

In 1875 the new bishop of the Eastern Cape vicariate, Bishop James Ricards, secured the services of some members of the English Province of the Society of Jesus to come to Grahamstown, where they took responsibility for St Aidan’s school and launched the Zambezi mission into Africa.

Within a couple of years, two priests of the Society of Jesus came from the Cape and set up a base in Graaff Reinet and a mission station in Keilands.

In the 1970s, through the work of Jesuits, the Marian Sodalities and then the adult CLC were established in Gauteng, Grahamstown and Cape Town.

In South Africa today, most people associate the Society of Jesus with its chaplaincies of universities, the Jesuit Institute, the Jesuit Refugee Service and the foundation year of the national seminary, but few will know of its roots in the Eastern Cape.

On the weekend of March 21 to March 24, past and current members of CLC and past pupils of St Aidan’s are invited to reconnect and celebrate this wonderful history by joining in the pilgrimage of thanksgiving and praise.

The pilgrimage will visit Grahamstown, Dunbrody, Graaff Reinet, Keilands, East London and Port Elizabeth.

Interested people can join the celebration in any one of the centres if they are unable to do the whole pilgrimage. n To register for the pilgrimage or get further details please contact Maryeen Maynard on Maryeen.maynard@ eskom.co.za or Maryeen.maynard@ gmail.com or on 083 651 3993.

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TRANSGENDERED former Catholic priest and political activist who struggled to find acceptance within the Catholic Church, has died at the age of 60.

Born and raised in Cape Town, Sally Gross was from infancy classified as a Jewish boy and grew up as Selwyn Gross who later converted to Catholicism and became a Dominican priest.

In hindsight, according to medical protocols adopted in the mid-1950s, Ms Gross would have been classified as female at birth.

Today, as a matter of routine, such “ambiguities” are “corrected” by surgical intervention.

Ms Gross later said that she knew from a young age that her gender was ambiguous, and she felt isolated in her Jewish community as a result.

The young Selwyn found solace in the Catholic faith.

“She was impressed by the spirit of openness in the Catholic Church following the Second Vatican Council, and the willingness of some clergy to challenge apartheid,” The Natal Witness wrote in an obituary, adding that, “Jesus and Catholic Christianity provided Sally with a way of coping with her sense of something being awry in the area of gender.”

Ms Gross left South Africa and joined the Dominicans in Eng-

Sally Gross during her time as Dominican Fr Selwyn Gross. land, not informing anyone about being transgendered, said Dominican Father Albert Nolan, who had known Ms Gross since his priesthood studies.

Upon returning to South Africa, she studied theology and as Fr Gross became a lecturer at St Joseph’s Theological Institute in Cedara, Pietermaritzburg.

“She was a brilliant philosopher, the best in Cedara,” Fr Emil Blaser OP told The Southern Cross.

However, Sally was unsatisfied with her state of being.

“She always mentioned that she had an identity crisis and felt confused, but never told anyone that she was transgendered” said

3

Fr Nolan. “She said she had always felt like a woman.”

Consequently, she requested some time away from the Dominicans in a quest to find out what to do about her situation.

She went back to England and decided to visit a specialist.

Test results revealed what Sally had always felt. At age 40 she was reclassified as female.

Doctors offered solutions to have her sex changed, Fr Nolan said, but “Sally refused any operations. She was happy the way she was.”

Ms Gross knew that she could no longer remain a priest, but found the manner in which the Vatican laicised her unfair and prejudicial.

Ms Gross continued with her lay ministry work but increasingly felt ostracised in the Church, said Fr Nolan.

It was also suggested that she stop participating in any Catholic organisations.

“At this point Sally had lost all faith in the Church and decided to leave,” said Fr Blaser. “In the end she had nowhere to go.The Church, her family and society had rejected her, and she was left destitute.”

Ms Gross found a new calling as a gender activist, establishing The Intersex Society of South Africa.

“She was relatively happy,” Fr Nolan told The Southern Cross.

4

The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Pope gets new Argentine passport and ID card

P

Pope Francis’ new Argentinian passport and identification card. “The pope wanted to continue having normal Argentine documents,” according to the Vatican spokesman. “This doesn’t mean that he isn’t also the head of state of Vatican City and the pontiff.” (Photo: Interior Ministry of Argentina)

OPE Francis is the sovereign of Vatican City and has a Holy See passport. But even dressed in papal white, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is an Argentine citizen with a brand new passport and national identity card.

“The pope wanted to continue having normal Argentine documents,” said Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ. “This doesn’t mean that he isn’t also the head of state of Vatican City and the pontiff.”

Pope Francis also has a Vatican City passport.

The pope’s Argentine passport was about to expire, so he asked the Argentine embassy in Rome for help in renewing it.

Officials went to the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where the pope

lives, on February 14, and brought all of their equipment with them.

They took a new, passport-style photograph showing him in his white cassock and zucchetto. The officials also took his fingerprints, as required by law, and promised to have the new documents in his hands in about a week.

“As the head of state,” Fr Lombardi said, “the pope has Vatican citizenship and has all the rights of the head of state. If he wants to also have Argentine documents, what’s wrong with that?”

Argentina’s interior minister Florencio Randazzo said the pope “specifically asked not to enjoy any privileges so his new identification card and passport have been processed through the usual administrative channels”.—CNA

Japan bishops: Church not kind enough C

ATHOLICS in Japan, less than 1% of the country’s population, are challenged to try to live the faith in a non-religious society, the nation’s bishops said.

In their published response to the Vatican survey for the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family in October, the bishops said the Church “often falls short” by “presenting a high threshold for entry and lacking hospitality and practical kindness”.

The bishops said most Japanese Catholics had not heard of Church teachings on the family and “are either indifferent to or unaware of the teaching of the Church” on responsible parenthood.

Civic education teaches that sex and procreation are separate, the bishops said, and “women desire more options than just motherhood”.

“Most Catholics in Japan have not heard of Humanae Vitae,” the bishops said, referring to the 1968 papal encyclical on married love and procreation. “If they have, they probably do not make it an important part of their lives. Social and cultural values as well as financial considerations are more important.”

The bishops noted that “here is a big gap between the Vatican and reality,” noting that “condom use is recommended in sex education classes in schools”.

“For the most part, the Church in Japan is not obsessed with sexual matters,” the bishops said.

In response to a question on couples who live together before marriage, the Japanese bishops said: “The pastoral practice of the Church must begin from the premise that cohabitation and civil marriage outside the Church have become the norm.

“In developing a pastoral orientation, it is perhaps important to recall that the only time in the gospels that Jesus clearly encounters someone in a situation of cohabitation outside of marriage (the Samaritan woman at the well) he does not focus on it. Instead, he respectfully deals with the woman and turns her into a missionary,” they said.

Because Japan’s civil code allows divorce and Christians are a small minority, it is often difficult for a Catholic member of a divorce to get cooperation from a non-Christian for an annulment, said the bishops,

who called a simplified procedure for annulment “not only needed” but “essential”.

They also said many people are calling for simplified procedures to make dealing with divorced and remarried people more pastoral.

“Of course, Rome takes as its starting point the marriage of two Catholics and, therefore, these procedures make sense,” the bishops said.

“However, these procedures and principles are not applicable in the case of a marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic. Simplification of the legal proceedings will be the salvation of those who are suffering,” the bishops said.

M

ost Japanese Christians end up marrying non-Christians, which affects how many of them receive the sacrament of marriage, attend Mass or baptise their children.

In the context of marriages of mixed religions, the bishops said, “we must ask what a Christian household and family mean”.

“Generally speaking, the transmission of faith to the next generation is difficult,” the bishops said. “Japanese society does not support expressions of faith commitment, and some young people increasingly perceive the Church as a club of the elderly.”

Though children may grow up in a Christian household, they said, “the values they acquire are those of society. Made to

People carry the remains of a statue of Mary that survived the Nagasaki atomic bomb. The Church in Japan makes up less than 1% of the population, presenting the bishops there with particular pastoral challenges.

(Photo: Kyodo/Reuters/CNS) dance to the tune of a society that emphasises study for the sake of fitting in economically, and desiring to not become social outcasts, young people have no leeway to nurture a vocation. This is the greatest crisis for faith that arises in homes.”

Several times throughout the document, the bishops mentioned the challenges of ministering to migrants. Although only about 440 000 Japanese are Catholics, almost a million Catholics live in Japan.

The bishops said priestly formation needed to include learning a second language to provide pastoral care to these migrants.

Sr Megan Rice, 84, who is in jail for taking part in an anti-nuclear protest.

(Photo: Transform Now Plowshares)

Nun, 84, jailed for protesting

BY DENNIS SADOWSKI

A

US nun and two Catholic peace activists were sentenced to prison for several years for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear weapons facility and defacing its walls in July 2012.

Holy Child Jesus Sister Megan Rice, 84, of Washington was sentenced to 35 months in prison on each of two counts—one count of depredation of property and one count of sabotage. Michael Walli, 65, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 58, were sentenced to 62 months in prison each on the same counts.

The defendants were part of the group “Transform Now Plowshares”.

All of the sentences were to be served concurrently and the three were to be credited for the nine months they have been held in prison since their conviction last May. Judge Amul R Thapar said he respected the trio’s commitment to peacemaking but that he settled on the sentences, in part, to act as a deterrent to future actions by the defendants or by others at the country’s nuclear weapons facilities.

After hearing her sentence, Sr Rice raised her palms and just smiled.—CNS

Mourning for slain Salesians

S

ALESIANS in Venezuela marked a national day of mourning after a priest and a brother were murdered in a robbery in the city of Valencia.

Fr Jesus Plaza Salessi, 80, and Br Luis Sanchez Morantes, 84, were stabbed to death by suspects ages 13 and 15.

Another priest was injured in the attack and hospitalised but was recovering, the Salesian statement said.

The Salesians said that the suspects “profaned the Blessed Sacrament and stole sacred vessels and other items”.—CNS

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INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

5

Olympic golden girl takes Catholic faith to the ice

BY ADDIE MENA

O Blesseds John Paul II and John XXIII are seen on a 1-euro stamp sheet released this month. The popes will be canonised April 27. The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas are co-headlining a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi to witness the canonisation and attend a papal audience, among other attractions. Led by Fr Emil Blaser OP, the pilgrimage is fully booked.

(Photo courtesy of the Vatican stamp and coin office)

Pope: Stop your gossip

BY CINDY WOODEN

B

EING truthful about what is in one’s heart isn’t always easy, but it is an essential step to living a good and holy life, Pope Francis told members of a parish on the western outskirts of Rome.

“I think it would do us good today to think about not whether our souls are clean or soiled, but to ask, ‘What is in my heart? What do I hold inside that I know and no one else does?’” the pope said during an evening Mass at the parish of St Thomas the Apostle.

“Facing the truth about ourselves is not easy,” he said at the Mass, after having met parish youngsters preparing for first Communion and confirmation, the parents of babies recently baptised, and members of a group for families with children who have disabilities. The pope also heard confessions before the Mass.

Pope Francis talked about Jesus’ warning that speaking ill of someone is like killing them in one’s heart and lusting after someone is like committing adultery in one’s heart.

“What is in our hearts?” the pope asked parishioners. Is there love or hatred? Is there forgiveness

or a desire for revenge?

“We must ask ourselves what is inside because what is inside will come out and does harm if it is evil and if it is good, it comes out and does good,” he said.

While it is natural to try to hide one’s weaknesses from others, the pope said, “it’s very good to tell ourselves the truth and to feel shame when we find ourselves in a situation that is not pleasing to God”.

As he did during an Angelus address at the Vatican, the pope also spoke forcefully about the sin of gossip and speaking ill of others.

“Whoever insults his brother, kills him in his heart; whoever hates his brother, kills him in his heart; whoever gossips against his brother, kills him in his heart.”

At the Angelus, the pope said that gossiping is like eating a sweet—it begins as something pleasurable, “but in the end it fills our hearts with bitterness, and poisons us, too.”

“I’ll tell you the truth,” he told the crowd in St Peter’s Square, “I am convinced that if each one of us would make a resolution to avoid gossip, in the end we’ll become saints!”—CNS

Science shows that foetuses can feel pain

BY ELISE HARRIS

A

NEW chapter published by Dr Carlo Bellieni in a prestigious German encyclopedia explores the topic of foetal pain, stating that it is a proven fact that the unborn are able to feel pain, even as early as 20 weeks.

“Foetuses can feel pain. Now we should define it better, but it is a scientific matter of fact,” Dr Bellieni explained in an interview.

“We still do not know the exact moment...when the sensation of pain is possible, but evidence allows us to say that it is possible 20-22 weeks [after] conception.”

Dr Bellieni is an Italian neonatologist and a bioethicist, and is also a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. He serves as secretary of the Bioethics Committee of the Italian Paediatrics Society, as well as on the directive board of the “Scienza e Vita” Association.

An author of various research papers on the study of pain in children and babies, Dr Bellieni has now published a chapter in the second edition of the German Encyclopaedia of Pain, exploring the issue of foetal pain.

“It is one of the most authoritative textbooks in this field, collecting essays of almost all the most outstanding researchers in this field,” the doctor noted, explaining that the publication of a chapter on the topic of foetal pain “is the acknowledgement of this issue by the

scientific community”.

In his abstract for the chapter, published in The Journal of MaternalFoetal and Neonatal Medicine, Dr Bellieni states that “most endocrinological, behavioural and electrophysiological studies of foetal pain are performed in the third trimester, and they seem to agree that the foetus in the 3rd trimester can experience pain”.

However, the doctor also highlights that “the presence of foetal pain in the second trimester is less evident,” and although “most studies disclose the possibility of foetal pain in the third trimester of gestation…we cannot exclude its increasing presence since the beginning of the second half of the gestation”.

Expressing his hope that this chapter will help to foster “a better treatment of the unborn, starting from its treatment during foetal surgery”, Dr Bellieni emphasised that “many foetuses undergo surgery to treat several diseases when they are still in the womb, and they deserve to feel no pain during these procedures.”

Referring to the effect that the scientific evidence presented in the chapter will have on the ongoing debate of abortion, the doctor noted that “time will answer this question;” however “the evidence that foetuses can feel pain in the second half of pregnancy can induce interesting reflections in many”.—CNA

LYMPIC champion and international figure skating superstar Kim Yuna impressed Catholics worldwide when she made the sign of the cross before competing in the finals for the ladies’ skating title in Sochi, Russia, this month.

In her home country of South Korea, Ms Kim is regarded as one of the most famous celebrities, particularly after winning the 2010 Olympics in ladies’ freestyle with a record-breaking score.

Arguably one of the best in the history of modern figure skating, Ms Kim holds world record scores in the ladies’ skating short programme, free skate and combined score, and has broken world record scores 11 times.

However, in addition to using her celebrity in documentaries and ad campaigns for cosmetics, clothing, and electronics, Ms Kim’s fame has served as an opportunity for the skating star to share her Catholic faith.

Ms Kim converted to the Catholic faith alongside her mother in 2008 after they came in contact with local nuns and Catholic organisations through her personal physician—also a Catholic—who was treating her for knee injuries.

Figure skating champion Kim Yuna is a devout Catholic who wears a Miraculous Medal on her costumes and a Rosary ring on her finger, and prays on the ice before competing.

At her baptism, Ms Kim took the name Stella, after Mary, Star of the Sea, and told a diocesan paper that during the baptismal rite she “felt an enormous consolation in my heart” and promised God to continue to “pray always”, especially before competitions.

Since then, Ms Kim has shown her faith to the international world, crossing herself as she steps onto the ice during performances and competitions.

In 2010, she also joined with

the Korean bishops in a national campaign to explain the rosary to the Korean public—and to explain the meaning of the rosary ring she herself wears to fans who mistook it for an engagement ring.

She also wears a Miraculous Medal on her skating outfit. She received the medal from a nun during the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships (she won the short programme that year with a world record score).

Ms Kim has also been active in using her position as an opportunity for charitable works, volunteering and donating funds to Catholic hospitals, universities and other charitable organisations, and working alongside the Catholic bishops in Korea as a spokeswoman for Catholic charities in Seoul.

Additionally, in 2012, Ms Kim donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Salesians of Don Bosco to help support the missionary brothers in South Sudan and to establish Catholic schools throughout the country, meeting with Salesian brothers in Seoul to personally deliver the gift.

She told the Korean press that while visiting Africa in 2011 she “felt the need to help out children there”, and wanted “to offer what little support I can” to those in Africa.—CNA

6

The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Lenten joy and pain

F

OR Catholics, and some other Christians, it is part of life’s cultural tradition to make the sacrifice of giving up some luxury or vice for Lent— sweets, alcohol, cursing, Facebook.

Even among those who otherwise do not follow Christian practices there are many who participate in the Lenten sacrifice.

It is indeed salutary to make such sacrifices, especially if this is tied to almsgiving and provided it incorporates the dimension of penance.

The Lenten sacrifice—which can also involve taking on a virtuous practice—can have a purifying effect, cleansing us in anticipation of Our Lord’s resurrection at Easter. We should therefore be joyful in undertaking this annual ritual of exercising selfcontrol and doing penance, even if—especially if—it is laborious or painful.

We must not be ostentatious in our Lenten sacrifice, as Jesus teaches in Matthew 6:16-18, of which we are reminded every Ash Wednesday.

“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites,” Jesus said, using the contemporary term for actors. To put on a show, “they neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting… They have received their reward.”

Jesus’ advice to us is to bear our sacrifice joyfully but discretely.

“But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

Our fast and penance is not to be a public spectacle, nor a test of endurance, nor a cultural custom.

It is our way of communicating directly with God. But Pope Francis wants more from us than to give up chocolate.

In his Lenten message the pope calls on the faithful to make a difference in the lives of people who are experiencing material, spiritual and moral destitution by taking “practical steps to alleviate it”.

Material poverty must be addressed by more than just token alms. It requires our engagement in places of need, and it requires a reconfiguration of society by confronting the violations of human dignity in areas of food, water, work, development, education and healthcare.

“Our consciences thus need to

be converted to justice, equality, simplicity and sharing,” the pope says.

Pope Francis identifies as elements in moral poverty vices such as alcohol, drugs, gambling and pornography. No doubt he would also include sexual immorality in that category.

It is the spiritual poverty, “not living as children of God and brothers and sisters of Christ”, which Pope Francis addresses particularly in his message. He calls the absence of God in one’s life the “only one real kind of poverty”.

The “real antidote to spiritual destitution” is the Gospel, Pope Francis says. All Christians are therefore called to “to proclaim the liberating news that forgiveness for sins committed is possible, that God is greater than our sinfulness, that he freely loves us at all times and that we were made for communion and eternal life”.

The pope’s directive to us this Lent is to discern whether we are already evangelising and whether we are doing so in imitation of Christ. Of course we are called to do so every day, not only in Lent.

One area of destitution the pope does not address in his message is the debris of inter-personal relationships which have broken down.

People can bring great joy to others, but they can also inflict emotional wounds. All of us have experienced and caused hurt, through actions, omissions and words.

Our faith instructs us to love, and it does not offer us the option of making exemptions, even if we naturally keep failing at meeting the command.

This Lent, our programme of sacrifice and penance might include healing relationships with those from whom we have become estranged: within marriages and families, among friends and colleagues. If we run a vendetta against somebody, we must drop it.

Making the first move might require offering forgiveness that is difficult to grant or exercising humility against one’s nature.

Indeed, this might be what Pope Francis means when he says that real Lenten sacrifice requires a “dimension of penance and pain”.

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.

Taking the sane middle view

I

VERY much admire the way you maintain the middle of the road with your editorials and your willingness to publish letters from the public that reflect both left and right views; it’s of great credit to you, Mr Simmermacher, as editor of The Southern Cross.

I have noticed that recently there has been quite a lot of criticism of Cardinal Wilfrid Napier; however, I think he is doing wonderful work by bringing the Catholic Church into the modern world.

The cardinal’s column, “The state of the Zuma nation: SA’s sad

story of dashed hopes” (February 5) is brilliant and I so admire his courage for what he writes.

I have been very fortunate in that I have travelled a lot and worked in four countries. At the age of 82 I still consider beautiful South Africa to be one of the most wonderful countries in the world. But somehow we have to overcome this dreadful racialism because both black and white are affected by it, to the detriment of both, and it does not seem to be getting better.

What I admire about Cardinal Napier is that he is bringing the Church up to date, because we

Blaming Mandela Damietta lives

S

OME correspondents to your letters page seem to blame Nelson Mandela for millions of abortions in South Africa, as the president who signed the Termination of Pregnancy Act. Well, this set me thinking. If anyone googles “pubmed” and searches “determination spontaneous abortion”, one finds that estimates of miscarriages or spontaneous abortions range from 30% to 10 % of conceptions. Now with a world population of 7 billion the birth rate must be about 100 million per annum. Hence the number of spontaneous abortions must be at least 10 million annually for which God himself is responsible.

Based on the 6th Sunday readings one knows that the ways of God are beyond the imagination of man, so I would conclude that he has some pretty wonderful way of dealing with foetal souls. Hence, dare I ask whether God will be so terribly upset with Mandela for adding a bit to his own problems?

Bernard Cole, Krugersdorp

Name of Pfanner

B

EING a countryman of Franz (not Francis) Pfanner, let me take exception to a mistake of your writer in The Southern Cross (January 29).

The home country of Franz Pfanner is Vorarlberg and not Voralberg, as people with a heavy tongue might call it.

There in Langen, rather high up, you’ll find an old peasant house, the birthplace of Franz Pfanner, where they show you a vistors’ book, with names both humble and distinguished.

I grew up in Wangen in Germany, which always had close relations with Vorarlberg. My memory just tells me that at school we had a classmate by the name of Franz Pfanner.

Fr Leopold Scherer, Queenstown

M

ANY thanks to JH Goossens of Dundee for your observation about St Francis and Damietta (February 12).

My letter (“God bless Africa” of January 8) was not written from the historical view, where Francis’ peace effort was a failure.

In explanation, I quote from the account by Damietta Peace Initiative (DPI) communications officer Callum D Scott (Worldwide, June 2009): “In 1219, during the fifth Crusade, Francis pleaded with the Crusader commanders to end their siege at Damietta (Damyâs, Africa), to no avail, so he risked his life to build a personal relationship, for the sake of peace, by seeking an audience with the Islamic leader Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil.

“In Francis’ humility and the sultan’s wisdom, enemies because of their religious convictions, both sacrificed parts of themselves for something greater. In this moment, both Christianity and Islam were placed second for the sake of common belief in God and the wellbeing of humanity.”

Eight hundred years later, in 2004, the Capuchin Franciscans, guided by Fr Donal Francis O’Mahony, began the establishment of the DPI, using the example of St Francis.

The DPI teaches the essential precepts of non-violence, tolerance, conciliation and respect, within interfaith communities in Africa.

So Damietta can still be regarded as an African link to the St Francis 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

should never forget that our Lord is not in some distant place and living in the past; he is with all of us and if we kept that in mind this would be a far happier world. We should also not forget that it was people who were locked in the veneration of their religious past who crucified our Lord.

Another very good reason for bringing our faith into the modern world is the horrendous problem we now have with thousands being addicted to drugs. I would say drug addiction presents as serious a problem as HIV/Aids, if not worse, but for some reason it is not treated as such, so I do hope that Cardinal Napier will take the lead on this one.

Roy Glover, Tzaneen prayer used in the leaflets “Pray for Africa”.

Africa reminds one of Jeremiah’s visions (1:13): “I see a pot boiling in the north, and it is about to tip over this way.”

The prayer expresses the love for others which is so sorely needed, so let us pray with faith and hope in God’s promises (2 Chron 7:14, Luke II: 1-13, Matt 7: 7-12). Let us pray, work, and plead for God to bless all the countries of Africa.

For prayer leaflets, SMS name and address to 083 544 8449. Thank you to all who have asked for them—they have been posted.

Athaly Jenkinson, East London

Whites need help

I

FIND it in poor taste that Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (February 5) should pass such heinous comments about whites (“somehow we have become a nation of two people, one black and poor, the other white and rich”).

What market survey does theCatholic Church use to punch at the very existence of whites? Who does he socialise with? Where does he evangelise so that he could draw such a conclusion?

I am sick of the Catholic Church taking money from whites and using that funding to better the lives of black people in South Africa.

If I had benefited from all those years of funding I would not be living in a shelter for poor people, I would have become this “rich white” that the cardinal refers to.

The constant indoctrination about whites is putting whites at the risk of an attack from black people and it should be stopped.

Perhaps the lawyer for the Church could give me a call. I would like to explain further, with what little education the Church deigned it necessary I should have.

J Jansen van Rensburg, Cape Town

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PERSPECTIVES

How I didn’t become a Jesuit

I

AM a long way away from home and cannot get hold of a copy of the Bible, and so I am unable to continue my reflection on the psalms this month.

Nevertheless my reflections on the psalms have led me to reflect on my own spiritual journey, and to recall the place where that journey began. The question is where shall I begin?

The question I have just asked myself is almost rhetorical, for I have never doubted when my journey as a Christian really began. The date, time and place are imprinted so vividly in my mind that I don’t even have to think to recall them.

Though I was only eleven years old or thereabouts in terms of my natural birth, this particular event, this birth, is something I can remember, almost even when I am fast asleep!

It was about five o’clock pm on December 24, 1958, by the church bell, just outside the then Old church at St Michael’s mission, Mhondoro, Zimbabwe, that Fr George Muschalek SJ pronounced: “Emmanuel, I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!” Yes, that was the day of my birth— my spiritual birth. That same Christmas night I received Holy Communion for the first time.

No wonder then that the following day, as we walked back home some 30km away, I and others from my school felt elated, for we had been born in the spirit! I felt I was a changed person, and I committed myself to the Lord. That, to me, was my real birth, and I have regarded it as such—because I experienced the birth and saw myself being born!

The next three years were spent at St Michael’s mission where I did the last three years of primary school as a boarder. This was a time of spiritual growth, for I experienced the beauty of a silent retreat; I became a Mass server trained by that inspiring head server, Peter Chokora.

It was such an exciting and uplifting experience to serve at the altar. How I loved the Mass vestments, how tantalising it was to use incense and to ring the bell at Consecration, and how holy it felt to be saying the Confiteo (“I confess”) and other prayers in Latin!

And there was this African priest (who later left the priesthood) who used to get books on the saints for us school children to read. I was inspired by the lives of such saints as Maria Goretti, Aloysius, Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Peter Claver, the Uganda Martyrs and others.

S

aint Michael’s mission was run by the Jesuit Fathers. There were some Jesuit brothers, and I remember especially the one whom we called “Brother Sausage”, whose real name was Tham. Brother Sausage was a lively ball of energy and amusement.

There were Dominican sisters, most of whom were German, and members of the Little Children of the Blessed Lady, a congregation of indigenous African sisters founded by the late Archbishop Aston Chichester SJ, who headed the diocese of Salisbury, now Harare, from 1931-56.

St Michael’s mission in Mhondoro. (Photo: Fr John Gillick SJ/ Zimbabwe Jesuit Archives)

Emmanuel Ngara

Christian Leadership

Considering that the mission was run by the Jesuits and the school children were steeped in what one may call Jesuit spirituality, and considering that the majority of the saints mentioned above were Jesuits, it is not surprising that I found myself believing that God was calling me to be a priest—and that for me to be a priest meant to become a Jesuit priest. I became very pious, so pious that I would get up early, even in the cold of winter, to go to church before the bell rang for the morning Mass.

Winter nights were really cold at St Michael’s. What made them even colder was that we school boys slept on a cement floor, and not on beds. I had an African mat made of reeds. That and a thin blanket separated me from the icy cold cement.

In church there were no benches for school children. We knelt on the bare floor and my knees still bear marks of that hard floor to this day. I became rheumatic in my last year at St Michael’s, but what did it matter? Did I not want to become a Jesuit and a saint?

I told a visiting Jesuit priest about what I considered to be my calling. If I remember well, the priest had conducted a retreat for us. The message was conveyed to Father Superior in Harare. I was subsequently made to understand that I could not proceed to the seminary after primary school.

Jesuit priests were highly educated people.

I needed to complete high school and possibly go to university before I could go to a Jesuit novitiate.

Needless to say, despite going on to obtain the required academic qualification to be considered for the novitiate, I haven’t joined the Jesuits yet—or, as I often say, I am a failed Jesuit, but I am a Jesuit at heart.

The seeds of this Jesuit spirit were sown at St Michael’s mission, Mhondoro.

A lesson from visiting a Muslim home Sarah-Leah Pimentel

S

EVERAL days ago, I drove into the Bo Kaap neighbourhood of Cape Town to pick up a foreign exchange student at her host family’s house.

Arriving at the house, the host father invited me into the lounge to wait for her. As I looked around and saw the outward signs of the faith that clearly had a prominent place in that home, I realised that for the first time in my life I was sitting in a Muslim home.

This simple act of entering the home of a person who practises a different faith seems such a natural thing in South Africa, when in so many other parts of the world such an encounter would be considered taboo.

It made me realise how fortunate we are to live in a country where so many different religions inhabit the same spaces and communities, and often work together to strive for a more just and equal society.

I contrasted this to some of my experiences in other parts of the world, where interactions with people of different religions drew very different reactions.

On a work trip to England a few months ago, I met up with a priest friend of mine.

As we were chatting about my life and my friends in South Africa, he was genuinely horrified to discover that one of my closest friends is a (female) Anglican priest. In Germany, some of my Catholic friends refer to the Lutherans as “those evangelicals” who are still seen as betrayers of the faith. Imagine my surprise when I encountered a liturgy that almost mirrored ours when my godson was baptised by his Lutheran grandfather!

I think of the many afternoon conversations with a Muslim colleague, which often would begin with a question: “I

The Mustard Seeds

“Conversations with a Muslim colleague showed that the core values and life lessons of our two faiths were very often the same.” heard that in your religion…” This would inevitably lead to explanations, more questions and a realisation that the core values and life lessons of our two faiths were very often the same. It was just our expression of that faith that differed. We’d leave for the day, both enriched and refreshed by what we’d learnt and shared.

So often we hide behind our religion, using it as a shield for our fears.

I

n his book Begin With the Heart, Fr Daniel O’Leary quotes the well-known British theologian Bishop Lesslie Newbigin: “If the only faith we know is our own, then we don’t even know that!”

Fr O’Leary goes on to explain that “our fragmented understanding of the Divine is enriched and enlightened by the sharing of our insights and stories in trust and love”.

Too often we fear that taking a genuine interest in the way people of other faiths

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experience their journey towards God will in some way rob us of our Catholicity. That same fear often has us sticking doggedly to the Catechism while simultaneously denying others the chance to speak about their faith.

I’m not saying that we should not be living and professing our Catholic faith.

On the contrary, we should be proud of our rich Catholic heritage and we should seek to deepen our understanding of the Church’s teachings and to share this with others. But we must do so always with compassion and respect.

This is what Pope Francis describes as a “culture of encounter”. He explains this idea by saying that “to dialogue means to believe that the ‘other’ has something worthwhile to say. [...] Engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and traditions, but the claim that they alone are valid or absolute” (January 24, 2014).

When we create the space to engage in these courageous conversations, we find not only that we can share stories of faith, irrespective of creed, but that these moments also become opportunities to be enriched by other views of God, much like the different faces of a diamond.

In fact, without these shared stories, then our own faith becomes impoverished, stunted by a lack of stimulation and imagination.

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The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

7

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Why Mandela can’t be canonised When Nelson Mandela died, the media proclaimed the diplomatic skills and heart of this great man. The impression given to me and to “all the world” is that he is a saint. This may well be, and his legacy will be embraced by his party, the ANC. Knowing that Mandela was a Protestant, is it still possible that he will be raised to sainthood by the Catholic Church?

T M Mcinzibe ISTORICALLY, the Church has formally canonised only Christians who are members of the Catholic Church.

This practice was reaffirmed in the document Sanctorum Mater (Mother of the Saints) issued by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 2007.

In Article 4.1 it states: “The cause of beatification and canonisation regards a Catholic who in life, in death and after death has enjoyed a reputation of holiness by living all the Christian virtues in a heroic manner; or enjoys a reputation of martyrdom because, having followed Christ more closely, he has sacrificed his life in the act of martyrdom”.

This indicates that Nelson Mandela, despite his virtues, would not be eligible as a candidate for Catholic sainthood because he did not profess the Catholic faith.

He was undoubtedly a man of immense stature, displaying many of the Christian virtues in his patience, commitment to justice, forgiveness and reconciliation. He will always be esteemed as a good and just man, probably even more so than many well-known saints.

But saints are not made because of their respectability. All that is required is their patent and admirable holiness of life for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Political and moral integrity on its own would not qualify anyone for sainthood in the Church.

Normally, an investigation into someone’s potential for being canonised may begin only five years after their death. This is to allow for an exacting and thorough investigation into the person’s commitment to Christ and the Church as manifested in their speech, writings, prayer life and their acknowledged virtues.

At length, as the process towards canonisation moves on, a miracle, effected through the intercession of the candidate, has to be established without doubt, and a second such miracle is necessary for canonisation, which means that the Church accepts that the person is now with Christ, may be venerated by the faithful, and is given to us as a model of heroic virtues.

As you say, “all the world” recognises Mr Mandela as a truly great man, including the Church and its members. Much as she may honour and admire him, the Church has no way of counting him among her saints.

H

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.

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COMMUNITY

Jessica Whelan of Holy Rosary High School came 10th in the annual Midmar Mile against stiff competition from Pre-Primary pupils at St Catherine’s School in Johannesburg made cards for Valentine’s day. international swimmers.

The confirmation class of Newlands and Claremont parishes in Cape Town are pictured with parish priest Fr Christopher Clohessy (front left) and catechists Leisyl Fortuin and Samantha d’Oliveria.

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Brescia House High School pupils were published in the Writeunite Project, which is an initiative supported by the Nelson Mandela Children’s “For Kids, By Kids” campaign. It aims to unite the children of the world through books. 64 pupils from Brescia House in Johannesburg contributed to the first book titled My Perfect World. Profits raised from book sales, as well as copies of the books themselves, are donated to underprivileged children across the globe.

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Long-serving catechist Margie Oosthuisen of St Patrick’s parish in East London relocated to Cape Town. She and husband Leon are pictured with parish priest Fr John Pullokkaran CMI (centre).

Lifeline opened a satellite centre at Christ the King parish in Queenswood, Pretoria. Many of the parishioners completed the intensive Lifeline course and will be involved with the centre. Parish priest, Fr Chris Townsend, is pictured cutting the ribbon at the opening.

Bishop Giuseppe Sandri (front centre) is pictured with the permanent deacons of the diocese of Witbank and their wives during their annual retreat at Maria Trost Diocesan Pastoral Centre in Mashishing, Lydenburg.

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The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

LENT

9

Reflecting on Lent and 20 years of democracy The following is an extract from the introduction to A Revolution of Spirit, a book of Lenten reflections by Fr ANTHONY EGAN SJ, followed by a reflection and a prayer from the book.

A

S Christians preparing for Easter, the Lenten season offers us a time to reflect on our own faith—our strengths and weaknesses, our commitment to Christ and the kingdom of God, and how we might translate God’s vision into our daily lives from within our imperfect (sometimes downright sinful) society.

But, as South African Catholics, Lent 2014 offers us a further reason to reflect.

We will be celebrating 20 years of democracy and preparing for new elections. I have therefore tried to produce meditations for Lent that reflect in faith on where we’ve come from, what our challenges are as a nation, and where we might go.

According to one definition, theology is a critical reflection on social practice from the point of view of faith. What these meditations try to do is critically examine society from the perspective of faith—basic trust in God. In fact, it is more than that: it is an attempt to analyse and understand the spirit of our democracy.

The book is designed primarily to be read daily from Ash Wednesday on March 5 to Easter Sunday on April 20. Each meditation can be read on its own. But careful examination will reveal a pattern, rooted in reflection on the past, as an attempt to understand the present, with a view to a possible future.

Certain themes recur: the interconnection between God working in biblical “history” and in the history of South Africa; our moral responsibility to make democracy in South Africa work; the memory of the 1994 transition to democracy and the anticipation of the 2014 election; and the need for a critical reading of where we’ve come from in order that we might keep our future accountable, for ourselves and generations still to come.

What is more, only 16 days after Easter Sunday, we will be given the chance to put our faith into action. Our fifth—and many would say pivotal—democratic election takes place on May 7, and we will exercise the right that we have “as believers and citizens” (to coin a phrase from Vatican II). I would encourage readers who find the reflections helpful to return to them in the final days before the election.

You could take the ones that have most inspired or most challenged you, and use them in the run-up to the critical day on which you will cast your vote.

Or you could use the material in small Christian communities, sodalities or Bible-sharing groups to start a discussion about how

we as Christians are called to participate in politics in our country.

S

ome might complain that we are trying to mix religion and politics. I take comfort in the words of our late great Archbishop Denis Hurley who was similarly accused when facing trial for standing up to the apartheid government.

“To keep religion out of politics,” he said, “is to try to keep the example, the wisdom, the influence, the virtue, the holiness and the freedom of Jesus out of political life.”

If we needed reminding of our important role as South African Catholics we can seek inspiration from Pope Francis’ recent document The Joy of Evangelisation. In it he says: “Responsible citizenship is a virtue and participation in political life a moral obligation.” n A Revolution of Spirit is available for R60 from Paulines in Johannesburg and Durban and from the Catholic Bookshop in Cape Town. Or it can be ordered from sales@jesuitinstitute.org.za or by calling 011 482 4237.

To receive for free an edited version of the reflections every day electronically, send your name, parish location and e-mail address to lent@jesuitinstitute.org.za. To receive a shorter SMS reflection every day during Lent, send the word JOY to 31222 (R4 per week).

A smartphone app will also be available to download.

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Ash Wednesday, which falls on March 5 this year, calls the faithful to reflect on their sinfulness and turn towards the Lord in repentance. It is a day of fasting and abstinence.

Reflection for Sunday 9th March: 1st Sunday in Lent

‘A

T that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry...” (Mt 4:1-2) Today’s Gospel is both consoling and disturbing. It is consoling because Jesus does not give in to temptation. It is disturbing because all the temptations presented in it are temptations to do good.

And, to cap it all, they are temptations presented to someone who is vulnerable (hungry) and therefore potentially not able to make a wise discernment.

Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread, to test whether God will save him, and to worship the devil in return for power and riches. We might sum up the three temptations of Jesus as the 3 Cs: charity, charisma and compromise.

In the first, he is offered the possibility of winning a following by showing great charity: feeding the starving (a temptation to anyone who, like him, is hungry).

This is the temptation of the idealist or the philanthropist.

In the second, he is tempted to win friends by showing off his power: how easy it would be to abandon the normal, often slow and tedious, practices of winning over friends and enemies alike and in doing so to gain control of a situation.

This is the risk faced by any religious or political leader: to hide behind charisma and use it to dazzle followers into obedience.

The third, and perhaps the most dangerous, is to acknowledge that one is constrained by the world in which one lives and to tailor one’s message to what is possible.

This is the temptation of the professional politician.

For someone weakened by hunger in whatever form—be it for food, for material goods, for love or for power—all three are great temptations unless guided by a greater sense of vision, which we might see as the action of the Holy Spirit.

But Jesus is a Spiritfilled person. He sees through the temptations to do good, and proceeds on his path that will lead through success and failure, adulation and conflict, to the Cross and Resurrection, his ultimate vindication.

As we look upon South Africa, and upon those who led us and lead us, we need to examine how their policies shape up. We need the wisdom to discern between quick-fixes and policies that will bear long-term fruit.

Has charity created dependence on the largesse of leadership, or has it empowered entrepreneurship? Has charisma left us in awe of leaders or has it untapped our own inner strength? Has compromise been a tool for realism and reconciliation, or a weapon used to preserve an unjust status quo?

A prayer: “Lord, create in us a discerning eye that we may see through the false consolations that illusions bring, and may we see instead those things that bear good and lasting fruit. AMEN.”

10

The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

LENT

God gives us the best second chances

A traffic accident spurred Fr KEVIN REYNOLDS to reflect on life and the second chances God gives us. Here’s what the priest realised last Lent.

O

N a lovely, sunny Thursday morning, significantly just two weeks before the start of Lent last year, I met with a serious motor car accident.

At the time, I was driving in the inner lane of a main road in the leafy suburb of Brooklyn in Pretoria.

Once the car travelling a little faster alongside me had cleared a side street intersection, I collided with an SUV that hadn’t allowed me to also pass through the intersection but had turned directly across the path of my car.

This incident happened in a flash, so suddenly that I didn’t have a moment to take any avoiding action. I was aware only of a huge vehicle before me and of my car hitting it with the sound of crunching metal and my steering wheel air bag exploding while my seat belt held me firmly in my seat.

I was able immediately to release my seat belt, open the door and step out of my irreparably damaged car. When I approached the driver of the offending vehicle, a diplomat from one of the many embassies in Pretoria, I found him uninjured, sitting at his steering wheel, completely stunned by what he had done.

Thank God, my only injury was internal chest bruising from the force of the air bag and seat belt, but my strongly-built car was written off by my insurance company.

After the dust had settled—physically and emotionally—I came to realise how God had saved me from

being killed or badly injured. In praising him for this I became aware of how God had given me a second chance on my life.

Memories of the accident never seemed to stop spinning in my mind. Reflecting on it, too, was never far from me.

I was especially conscious of this as I entered the season of Lent, a time for reflecting on how God never ceases to give us second chances. Of course, from a liturgical point of view Lent also prepares us to celebrate in its final week God’s greatest second chance to us through the saving life, passion, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.

One attitude of the Western Catholic Church, which appears to be based on an illusion, is that we live in a perfect world. This is expressed particularly in the Church’s application of its moral teaching.

Instead of understanding moral imperatives as ideals to be aimed at, the Church seems to expect that they be fulfilled literally.

Our failing attempts at living to the highest standards confirms that ideals are never fully attained. Indeed, the basic commandment of love is so challenging that we never fulfil it perfectly. This does not mean, though, that we are excused from aiming for the stars.

On the other hand, the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox traditions encourage people to try and attain ideals, while acknowledging in a more realistic way that they will reach them only partially.

Perhaps the best example of the Western Catholic Church’s moral approach is evidenced by its handling of members who remarry after a failed marriage. The Church automatically excludes such people from receiving the sacraments.

The most profound reality of

Our loving God gives us second chances to live, and live better, as Fr Kevin Reynolds reflected after being involved in a car accident.

Christianity is that our heavenly Father loves us so richly that he sends his Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us.

This means that God himself gives us a second chance. He is prepared to cancel the debt of our sinfulness and to empower us to achieve the full purpose of our creation: to live with him in the present world and in his eternal kingdom of heaven.

O

nce we understand how Christ achieves our salvation, we can grasp why enjoying many second chances in our human lives is an integral dimension of Christian living.

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salvation was achieved by Christ only on the last day of his earthly life when he suffered tremendously and eventually died on Calvary hill.

However, God our Father raised him from the dead a couple of days later only because he recognised in him the one person who had finally got right the “human equation”.

Christ was the One who chose to love perfectly in every situation and circumstance of his entire human life.

We often say, incorrectly, “to err is human”. In fact, to be human means that we enjoy a God-given capacity to choose to love. This is what we understand by our being

created in the divine image. We are “like God” because we can choose to love.

The more we love, then, the more truly human we become. That is exactly what Christ did throughout his earthly life—to such a perfect degree that a couple of days after his death he was raised to the fullness of life in a glorified human body.

The Gospels record beautifully how Christ grew in his humanity, especially in his interaction with people.

We should note that most of Christ’s teaching centred on how people should live with one another. In this, he emphasised the need for mutual love, compassion, caring, forgiveness and giving one another many second chances. Certainly, by his own lived example, Christ illustrates that his heavenly Father’s design for people is to live in a truly human way.

We may well ask why the Western Catholic Church appears to miss this profound reality by too often seeming to lord it over people and not giving them second chances. I guess this shortcoming is part of Christ’s risk in entrusting the care of his Church to fallible people who are challenged to become more human themselves.

The time after my car accident gave me a keener perspective of my gratitude to God, not only for sparing my life but also for enabling me to appreciate more deeply the meaning of life itself.

May the season of Lent give us a richer appreciation of our life’s meaning in the light of what we celebrate in the holiest week of the year: God’s best second chance for us all. n Fr Kevin Reynolds is a priest of the archdiocese of Pretoria.

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CLASSIFIEDS Fr Harry Wilkinson

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: February 26: Bishop Barry Wood of Durban on the 8th anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

February 28: Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban on the 33rd anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

Community Calendar

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

CAPE TOWN: Mary Help of Christians, Landsdowne: single, divorced and grandparents caring for kids ‘Give yourself the green light’ workshop, 8 March, 10:00am-2:00pm, R25pp. Presenter: Ellie Lawrence. Contact Jean 021 462 2417.

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

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants meet the last Saturday of the month except in December, starting with Mass at 9:30 am at the Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town.

Mass is followed by a vigil and procession to Marie Stopes abortion clinic in

Retirement Home, Rivonia, Johannesburg Tel:011 803 1451 www.lourdeshouse.org

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

NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the blessed sacrament at St Peter’s parish. Every Tuesday from 8:00am to 4:45pm followed by Rosary Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 5:30pm.

PORT ELIZABETH: The Lions of St Croix are having a Bingo Bash fundraiser in aid of Nazareth House on March 7, 7:00 pm, Diaz Club, 3rd Avenue Newton Park.

Contact Karlien Smit 082 851 1046

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11

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.

F

ATHER Harry Maurice Wilkinson who died on February 13, was born on November 26, 1930.

He attended school at the Christian Brothers’ College in Boksburg, where he matriculated in 1948. He then worked in a number of short-term jobs and was later employed by the Rand Daily Mail until he answered his calling to a vocation in the priesthood.

He trained at St John Vianney Seminary; a period that Fr Wilkinson thoroughly enjoyed and where he made life-long friends. Former Southern Cross editors Mgr Donald de Beer and Michael Shackleton were among his classmates at the seminary.

He was ordained a priest on June 11, 1961, the first priest to be ordained in the then new Christ the King cathedral. His first appointment was as secretary to the Apostolic Delegate in Pretoria for four years.

During this period he visited Rome with a delegation when the Second Vatican Council was in full swing. As the story goes, Fr Wilkinson, having left his cassock in Pretoria, was offered the use of the archbishop’s overcoat and consequently found himself allocated a seat in the sanctuary, only metres from Pope Paul VI and facing invited world leaders of all religions.

Fr Wilkinson was appointed as curate of Christ the King cathedral in Johannesburg and thereafter admin-

The Southern Cross, February 26 to March 4, 2014

IN MEMORIAM

istrator, a position he held for 13 years.

The majority of his years in the priesthood were spent at Immaculate Conception parish in Rosebank, Johannesburg, where he served as parish priest from 1983 until he retired in April 2013.

Fr Wilkinson led many pilgrimages to the Holy land and was an accredited tour guide.

After battling with cancer for a number of years, Fr Wilkinson died peacefully on February 13, surrounded by all those he knew and dearly loved.

Fr Wilkinson’s Requiem Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 591. ACROSS: 1 Hymnal, 4 Cottas, 9 Catholic faith, 10 Emended, 11 Rhino, 12 Coast, 14 Preys, 18 Octet, 19 Accrues, 21 Paschal candle, 22 Spells, 23 Stay up. DOWN: 1 Hockey, 2 Matter of taste, 3 Aloud, 5 Offerer, 6 Trinity Sunday, 7 School, 8 Birds, 13 Satchel, 15 Corpus, 16 Sally, 17 Asleep, 20 Craft.

Liturgical Calendar Year A Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday, March 2, 8th Sunday Isaiah 49:14-15, Psalm 62:2-3, 6-9, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Matthew 6:24-34 Monday, March 3, St Katharine Drexel 1 Peter 1:3-9, Psalm 111:1-2, 5-6, 9-10, Mark 10:17-27 Tuesday, March 4 1 Peter 1:10-16, Psalm 98:1-4, Mark 10:28-31 Wednesday, March 5, Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12-18, Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17, 2 Corinthians 5:20, 6:2, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Thursday, March 6 Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Psalm 1:1-4, 6, Luke 9:22-25 Friday, March 7, Ss Perpetua and Felicity Isaiah 58:1-9, Psalm 51:3, 6:1819, Matthew 9:14-15 Saturday, March 8 Isaiah 58:9-14, Psalm 86:1-6, Luke 5:27-32 Sunday, March 9, First Sunday of Lent Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7, Psalm 51:3-6, 12-13, 17, Romans 5:12-19 or 5:12, 17-19, Matthew 4:1-11

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PRAYERS

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 ST GEMMA GALGANI, how compassionate your love for those in distress, how great your zeal to help them.

Help me, also, in my present necessity and obtain for me the favour I humbly implore if it be profitable for my soul.

The numerous miracles and the wonderful favors attributed to your intercession instill in me the confidence that you can help me. Pray to Jesus, your spouse, for me .Show him the stigmata that his love has given

you. Remind him of the blood that flowed from these same wounds, the excruciating pain you have suffered, the tears you have shed for the salvation of souls. Place all this as your precious treasure in a chalice of love and Jesus will hear you. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be.

Dear friends pray this powerful prayer and publish or make it known to all when your prayers are answered.

Priscilla.

OH MARY conceived without sin, Pray for us who have recourse to Thee. Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Thank you for Prayers Answered. Karen GRATEFUL thanks to St Padre Pio, St Michael Archangel, St Jude, St Joseph, Sacred Heart of Jesus for Prayers Answered. Karen REMEMBER the Hour of Great Mercy at 3pm everyday. Immerse yourself in God’s Mercy even if it’s for a few seconds/minutes. Pray the Devine Mercy Prayer and say as often as you can during the day “I Consecrate Myself and My Whole Family to the Mercy of God, Amen.”

Karen

ST MICHAEL the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection

ON TAPE

A group of readers is preparing audio tapes of excerpts from The Southern Cross for interested people who are blind, sight-impaired, unable to hold a newspaper or illiterate.

Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this service, available for an annual subscription fee of only R50, may contact Mr Len Pothier, 8 The Spinney Retirement Village, Main Rd, Hout Bay, 7806 or phone 021-790 1317.

The Post Office will deliver and return tapes without charge. Should you know of any interested blind or otherwise reading-impaired person, please inform them of this service.

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against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

HAVE MERCY on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:1-12.

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.

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The Southern Cross is published independently by the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd. Address: PO Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000. Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850 www.scross.co.za Editor: Günther Simmermacher (editor@scross.co.za), Business Manager: Pamela Davids (admin@scross.co.za), Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton, News Editor: Claire Mathieson (c.mathieson@scross.co.za), Editorial: Claire Allen (c.allen@scross.co.za), Mary Leveson (m.leveson@scross.co.za) Advertising: Elizabeth Hutton (advertising@scross.co.za), Subscriptions: Avril Hanslo (subscriptions@scross.co.za), Dispatch: Joan King (dispatch@scross.co.za), Accounts: Desirée Chanquin (accounts@scross.co.za).

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1ST SUNDAY OF LENT: March 9 Readings: Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7, Psalm 51: 3-6, 12-14, 17, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11

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Focus on God’s goodness this Lent

N

EXT Sunday we shall be once more embarking upon our long journey to Easter, with the familiar readings of the temptation of our first parents, and the temptation of Jesus (which had a slightly different result, you may recall).

In between we are offered the fifty-first psalm that we shall hear again and again during Lent, song of a repentant sinner, and Paul’s meditation in the Letter to the Romans on what God has done in response to our sinfulness.

We shall not get the readings right, however, nor shall we get Lent right, unless we recognise that the primary issue is not our sinfulness (which is undeniable) but God’s unremitting love—which we too often ignore.

So in the first reading for next Sunday, which is the story of the serpent encouraging Mrs Adam not to take God’s instructions too seriously, the main point is God’s generosity.

It is God who creates those first forebears of ours “and the first human became a living being”. Not only that, but God was attentive enough to their needs to “plant a garden in Eden in the east”, with its various kinds of tree, and to give them benevolent instructions about which trees to eat from, and which to avoid.

But we human beings always think we

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

know better, and so when readers hear that “the snake said to the woman”, they know that there is going to be trouble; and so it proves—a tissue of lies from him about God being afraid of competition. We always feel that we can “manage this God-business”, and that is what they did, those first humans, with the catastrophic result that they discovered, not the mighty secrets of the universe, but the banal fact “that they were naked” and therefore could not face God. It is not that God could not face us. The psalm for next Sunday, which is attributed to David after his misbehaviour with Bathsheba, and recognises God’s “abundant mercy” and “steadfast love” quite as much as the singer’s own transgression, though that is of course very much before his eyes.

The focus is entirely on God, though, not on “what a heel I am”, and that is the way we

are invited to be during Lent. It is only God who can “create a pure heart for me and establish a new spirit within me”, and who can be asked, “Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” It is only God who can be asked, “Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall declare your praise.” Our focus, this Lent, must be on God’s single-minded love rather than our own waywardness.

In the second reading for next Sunday, Paul is trying to work out what God has done for us, beset as we are by those two great hostile forces which he personifies as “Sin” and “Death”.

Paul’s basic doctrine is that God’s “unconditional love”, what we describe in boringly familiar terms as “grace” (a term that is so overused that it fails to convey the astonishing depths of God’s generosity), easily overcomes all the obstacles that threaten us, even those which we have created for ourselves by thinking that we know better than God. Try counting the number of words that Paul uses here for “free gift”, including those that come from a root meaning “overflowing”, and you will get the gist of it. What matters is not our trivial sinfulness but God’s abundant generosity.

It is that attitude of generosity that gov-

Why Jesus became angry N

O ONE, be that an individual or an institution, controls access to God. Jesus makes this abundantly clear.

We see this, for example, in the story of Jesus cleansing the temple by overturning the money tables. This incident is often used to justify anger and violence in God’s name.

Invariably, when someone affirms that God is non-violent, he or she is met with the reaction: “What about Jesus driving the money-changers out of the temple?”

“What about Jesus losing his temper and displaying anger?”

Whatever the legitimacy of those questions, the story of Jesus cleansing the temple has a deeper intent. This is particularly clear in John’s gospel where this incident is set within a context wherein Jesus is replacing a series of former religious customs with a new Christian way of doing things.

For example, immediately prior to this incident of cleansing the temple—which in John is set earlier than it is in the synoptic gospels—Jesus, at the wedding feast of Cana, replaces a former religious custom (upon entering a Jewish house you purified yourself with a number of ritual ablutions before you could sit at the table) with the new Christian way of purifying yourself for a seat at the heavenly table (for Christians, the wine of Christian community, the wine of the Eucharist, now cleanses you so that you can sit at the table).

The cleansing of the temple needs to be

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Final Reflection

understood in this context: Jesus is replacing a former religious practice with the Christian way of doing things.

To state it metaphorically: Jesus is replacing a former religious coinage, or currency, with a new religious coinage. Here are both the metaphor and the lesson.

We’re all familiar with the incident.

Jesus comes into the temple area where the money changers have set up their tables, overturns their tables, and drives out the money changers with the words: “Take all of this out of here and stop using my Father’s house as a market.”

But this has to be carefully understood.

The text appears brutally clear, but beneath its surface it is subtly symbolic—even if rather brutal in its meaning. How do we begin to unpack its meaning?

I

t’s important to recognise that those money changers performed a needed function. People came to Jerusalem from many different countries to worship at the temple. But they carried the coins of their own countries and, upon arriving at the temple, had to exchange their own cur-

rency for Jewish currency so as to be able to buy the animals (doves, sheep, cattle) they needed of offer sacrifice.

The money changers fulfilled that function, like banking kiosks do today when you step off an aeroplane in a foreign country and need to exchange some of your coinage for the coinage of that country.

Now, of course, some of these money changers were less than honest, but that wasn’t the real reason why Jesus reacted so strongly. Nor was he unduly scandalised because commerce was happening in a holy place.

When Jesus says, “take all of this out of here and stop using my Father’s house as a market”, he is teaching something beyond honesty and beyond using the Father’s house as a market.

More deeply, Jesus means: “You don’t need to exchange your own currency for any other currency when it comes to worshipping God. You can worship God in your own currency, with your own coinage. Nobody, no individual, no temple, no church, no institution, ultimately sits between you and God and can say: ‘You need to go through us!’”

That’s a strong teaching that doesn’t sit well with many of us. It immediately posits the question: “What about the Church?

Isn’t it necessary for salvation?” That question is even more poignant today in an age wherein many sincere people already take for granted that they have no need of the Church when they say: “I’m spiritual, but not religious.”

Granted, there’s a danger in affirming and emphasising this teaching of Jesus, but, and this is the point, this teaching was not directed towards those in Jesus’ time who said: “I am spiritual, but not religious.” Rather it was addressed to religious individuals and at a religious institution that believed that the way to God had to go through a very particular channel, over which they had control.

Jesus tries to cleanse us of any attitude or practice that would enshrine that belief.

This does not deny either the legitimacy or necessity of the Church nor of those who do ministry in its name. God does work through the Church and its ministers. But this does deny all legitimacy to the claim that the Church and those who minister in its name control access to God. No one controls access to God, and if God ever loses his temper, it’s because sometimes we believe we do.

erns Jesus in the gospel for next Sunday, in his willingness to be “led up into the desert” to be tempted by the devil. Not only that, but he “fasted for forty days and forty nights”, on which Matthew comments, with laconic humour “afterwards he was hungry”.

Into that setting comes the invitation (“if you [really] are the son of God”) to do a conjuring trick with stones, turning them into bread. Jesus’ answer is exclusively in terms of what God wants: “It is written: a human being shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God’s mouth.”

The second invitation is to catch attention by throwing himself off the topmost point of the temple, but again (even though the devil is able to quote scripture) Jesus is able to come back with a reference to what God might be asking: “You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.”

Finally comes the invitation to put a creature where God alone should be: “Fall down and worship me”, cajoles the devil.

Once again Jesus reminds his adversary where the attention must always be: “The Lord your God shall you worship; and him alone are you to adore.”

Focus on God, not on ourselves, is the invitation to us, this Lent.

Southern Crossword #591

ACROSS 1. Sacred song book (6) 4. Cast to change into surplices (6) 9. It’s professed in the Creed (8,5) 10. Corrected and revised (7) 11. Thick-skinned creature (5) 12. Vehicle’s powerless movement by the sea (5) 14. Sounds like what devout predator does (5) 18. Choir of eight (5) 19. Accuser receives regular payments (7) 21. The light of Easter morning (7,6) 22. Incantations (6) 23. Don’t retire at the vigil (4,2)

DOWN 1. Sticks on the sports field (6) 2. Question of flavour we prefer (6,2,5) 3. Permitted, we hear, with volume up (5) 5. Name you might call a priest (7) 6. It’s next after Pentecost (7,6) 7. Education inculcator (6) 8. St Francis’ flighty congregation (5) 13. Shoulder bag for 7 down (7) 15. Body on the crucifix (6) 16. The girl who might set forth (5) 17. Jesus found his disciples like this (Mt 26) (6) 20. Little boat made by hand? (5)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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ELEBRATING the wedding Mass for a young couple, the old priest was taking his time.

After a three-hour Mass, sitting on the hard church bench, the bride’s father asked the priest: “Father, why does it take you so long to tie their knot?”

“Well,” the wise priest replied, “so that it takes them a lifetime to untie it.”

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