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Why we should welcome our suffering

Page 7

Soccer legends for pope’s peace match

Page 4

Archbishop slams ‘disproportionate’ bombing of Gaza

BY STUART GRAHAM & JUDITH SUDILOVSKY

V

IOLENCE “can never be the solution to problems in the Holy Land, whether it is from Israelis or Palestinians”, according to Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town.

The archbishop pointed out, however, that Israel’s reaction to rocket attacks from Gaza has been completely “disproportionate”.

“While there is violence on both sides, the reaction of Israel is disproportionate,” Archbishop Brislin told The Southern Cross.

Palestinian officials said several hundreds of people had been killed in Israeli air strikes, about half of them civilians, including women and children. Several thousands have been left homeless by strikes on densely populated areas, including hospitals.

Israel says it gives residents of targeted buildings warning phone calls to vacate their homes. However, they have only seconds to evacuate before the missiles come, said Dr Issa Tarazi, executive director of the Near East Council of Churches Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees in Gaza.

Israel reported its first fatality from rockets fired from Gaza on July 15, when a man was killed on the border to blockaded territory.

Archbishop Brislin, who visited Gaza as part of a Church delegation to the region earlier this year and returned to the Holy Land on pilgrimage in May, said: “We should never forget that the population of Gaza live in an open air prison because they are blockaded from every side.”

The blockade prevents delivery of essential foodstuffs and medication. Inhabitants of the territory, which Israel vacated in 2005, cannot leave without a permit.

“The people in Gaza are truly traumatised,” said Archbishop Brislin.

Members of the tiny Christian community in the Gaza Strip have been keeping tabs on each other and lending a helping hand to keep each other safe during Israeli airstrikes throughout the region, but nowhere in the territory is really safe, said Fr Jorge Hernandez of the territory’s only Catholic parish.

The Gaza Strip is a small area and the Israeli attacks are wide-ranging, said the Argentinian priest, so there is no safe zone.

The bombings are not the only thing worrying the small, 1 300-strong Christian community in Gaza, Fr Hernandez said.

Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, gather around the remains of a house that was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike. (Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/CNS) Hamas is very strong in Gaza, he said, “and that makes people afraid that if the conflict continues for a long time—which it looks it will if someone does not come and stop it— there will be popular reaction against the Christians, as they have seen happen in other conflicts in the region”.

“When [the militants] see they are threatened and are going to lose, they usually go against the weaker segment of the population,” the priest said.

“We pray for peace and justice,” said Dr Tarazi of the Near East Council of Churches.

“We are against the killing of all civilians.

It is a vicious circle, one starts shooting and the other replies and the losers are the civilians,” he said.

“I hope things calm down and they begin to negotiate peace. We are fed up with this,” he added.

In his interview with The Southern Cross, Archbishop Brislin pointed to the central obstacle to peace: the illegal settlements which Israel has constructed throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“As long as the settlements continue, there is little hope for peace,” Archbishop Brislin said.

The settlements have been declared illegal in international law by the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention.

“It should be remembered that the illegal settlements are also a form of violence,” Archbishop Brislin added.

Little Caitlin van der Walt is a student at the Glory of Dance Christian Ballet School in Cape Town.

Catholic ballet teacher Carolyn Prouse incorporates elements of faith in her choreographies, marking her studio out as a specifcally faith-based initiative.

For ballet teacher, dancing for the Lord is part of a Catholic mission

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

B

ALLET teacher Carolyn Prouse, 31, began her own dance studio, the Glory of Dance Christian Ballet School, to teach dance in the form of praising the Lord.

The 31-year-old Catholic became a qualified RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) ballet teacher at the end of 2013. Since then, she works full time and gives dance classes on Saturdays in her studio in Monte Vista, Cape Town.

Dancing used to be the only way of using her talent to praise God, she said, adding that she has been blessed with the ability and opportunity to take her passion further.

The class is small, but the number of students is growing. Ms Prouse originally started with four students from Good Shepherd parish in Bothasig and now students from other parishes are joining.

“Religion therefore plays a big role in the studio,” Ms Prowse said. “I bring the Chris-

tian faith into my classes and our performances.”

Students are taught that all forms of dance can be used as a form of prayer and thanksgiving; and she incorporates this into her choreographies.

For example, last year’s performance was based on “The Good Shepherd” and this year’s theme is “Creation”. Ms Prouse incorporates religious music in the performance.

She is currently trying to get involved in charity work and outreach programmes. Her students recently danced at a Mother’s Day tea, and participated in raising funds for cancer medical treatments. Ms Prouse said that she would love to expand such initiatives as a ministry “out in the world”.

“I am not just a Catholic Christian teaching ballet. I advertise the studio as a Christian, so everyone knows that when they enter the studio, that God is present, and that we are using our talents in dance to praise him and give him the glory.”

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2

The Southern Cross, July 23 to 29, 2014

LOCAL

Bloemfontein’s Sacred Heart cathedral celebrates as it scores a half century

BY JAMIe JAMIeSON

S

ACRED Heart cathedral in Bloemfontein has celebrated the 50th anniversary of its building.

The anniversary was marked by numerous activities in the parish including a special novena, and a concert in which all the various societies which make up the parish took part, culminating a Mass.

For the concert, held in the Donovan Hall in the cathedral grounds, all the various lay bod-

ies were asked to put on a short play to explain how that body originated and what its function was in the running of the church.

These included the altar servers, the lay ministers, the Society of St Vincent de Paul, the Catholic Women’s League and the Knights of da Gama.

In addition there was Portuguese folk dancing, modern and ballet dancing, and music from the youth Mass band.

The Mass was celebrated by Fr

Leo Rouche, and the procession after Mass was led by Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo.

The Mass was also designated as a corporate Mass for the Knights of da Gama, Council 10.

In addition, the Knights were asked to escort the archbishop during the procession.

The Society of the Blessed Sacrament, comprising men from the Portuguese community in Bloemfontein, also took part along with hundreds of parishioners.

Bloemfontein’s Sacred Heart cathedral celebrated its 50th anniversary with a number of activites, including a procession through the streets after Mass.

Loreto School Queenswood, an Independent Catholic Christian School, wishes to make the following appointments with effect from 1 January 2015.

Foundation Phase Grade 3 (class teaching)

Intermediate Phase Grade 5 (class teaching) The successful applicant must meet the following criteria:

• Applicants should have a 4 year Bachelor of Education degree or a 4 year Teaching Diploma • Be registered with SACE • Be proficient in English and Afrikaans • Be computer literate • Applicants must be prepared to do extramural activities as required by the school.

• Understand and identify with the Catholic Ethos of the school

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The Principal: Mr M Pallozzi Loreto School Queenswood P.O. Box 11101, Queenswood, 0121 or Fax: (012) 333 2529 or e-mail: tanias@sagateway.com The school reserves the right not to proceed with filling this post. An application will not in itself entitle the applicant to an interview or appointment and failure to meet the minimum requirements of the advertised post will result in applicants automatically disqualifying themselves from consideration

Only those candidates who are short-listed for the position will be notified

Focus on abuse of the elderly STAFF RePORTeR

P

ARISHES have been urged to use this weekend to highlight abuse of the elderly.

“A number of parishes will be making a special effort on the weekend of July 26-27, the feast day of Joachim and Ann, the grandparents of Jesus,” said Toni Rowland of the Family Desk of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conferences.

“Depending on their parish circumstances they will bring the very oldies to church, have a special blessing for all grandparents, give them a tea or a cup of hot soup, and so honour and thank them. “ Mrs Rowland said Bishop

Kevin Dowling and his family team in the diocese of Rustenburg had made elderly abuse a focus for their attention in their parish family ministry programme.

The year 2014 is being commemorated by the SACBC with the United Nation’s 20th anniversary of the International Year of the Family.

The various monthly themes are also relevant for the bishops’ 2014-16 Focus on Families campaign. “Over these three years the Church’s teaching and the experience of families in their different contexts can be explored and included in prayer,” said Mrs Rowland.

A family prayer distributed by the Family Desk in a variety of

languages is being widely used around the country.

Mrs Rowland said to continue to promote committed and healthy families there would be a family conference and family faith and fun day on the weekend of September 20-21.

“Held in Johannesburg but with the participation of diocesan family teams, it will hopefully be an example of the kind of activity that highlights the importance of the domestic church of the home as the foundation cell of the wider Church,” said Mrs Rowland. n For more information contact Toni Rowland at 082 552 1275 or trowland@sacbc.org.za

Little Eden welcomes two new nuns

BY DYLAN APPOLIS

T

HERE was great excitement at Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg when long-serving Sisters of Imitation of Christ nuns welcomed two new nuns, Sr Seena and Sr Roopa from India.

They will join their community in serving the residents at Little Eden, the home for intellectually challenged children in Johannesburg.

Four years ago a wish by one of the late founders of Little Eden, Domitilla Rota Hyams, was fulfilled when the first three Sisters of Imitation of Christ nuns arrived from India to join the Little Eden family.

The nuns have played a great role in the physical and spiritual growth of the residents, Little Eden’s public relations officer Nicolette Muthinge said.

“The sisters are a great asset to

Lucy Slaviero and Veronica Mannix, both daughters of Little eden founders Danny and Domitilla Rota Hyams, with nuns from India who assist in the Johannesburg home for profoundly intellectually challenged people. the organisation as they come with training and experience in dealing with people with intellectual disabilities.”

Residents, staff and all serving members of Little Eden joyfully received the two nuns. All the nuns are currently accommo-

dated at Little Eden Elvira Rota village in Bapsfontein.

Mary Hyams , manager of Little Eden and daughter of the founders, said: “We are very grateful for their commitment and their spiritual input in the care of the residents.”

LOCAL

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

3

Tutu on assisted suicide ‘concerning’ A

BY STUART GRAHAM

NGLICAN Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s support of “assisted suicide” is “concerning”, according to the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

“I understand it is very difficult to witness people in terminal pain, but at the same time we are not the masters of life,” Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town told The Southern Cross.

Archbishop Tutu wrote in Britain’s Observer newspaper that he had been convinced by the case of Craig Schonegevel, a 28-year-old South African who had neurofibromatosis and ended up taking 12 sleeping pills and pulling plastic bags over his head because doctors

were unable to end his life.

“Some people opine that with good palliative care there is no need for assisted dying, no need for people to request to be legally given a lethal dose of medication,” Archbishop Tutu wrote.

“That was not the case for Craig Schonegevel. Others assert their right to autonomy and consciousness—why exit in the fog of sedation when there’s the alternative of being alert and truly present with loved ones?”

South Africa’s legal system denied Mr Schonegevel the right to die with dignity, Archbishop Tutu said.

Tutu’s comments were published after the former primate of the Church of England, Archbishop George Carey, expressed support for

a bill to legalise assisted dying in Britain.

Archbishop Tutu, who is 82, wrote that he had realised he did not want his own life to be artificially prolonged.

“I think when you need machines to help you breathe, then you have to ask questions about the quality of life being experienced and about the way money is being spent.

“This may be hard for some people to consider.”

He also criticised the way Nelson Mandela had been treated in his final months.

“What was done to Madiba was disgraceful. There was that occasion when Madiba was televised with political leaders President Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa.

“You could see Madiba was not fully there. He did not speak. He was not connecting.

“My friend was no longer himself. It was an affront to Madiba’s dignity.”

Pope Francis criticised European laws that promote euthanasia in a message to the Pontifical Academy for Life earlier this year.

He said “the tyrannical rule of an economic logic” excludes and sometimes kills.

“Many have fallen victim to this logic, especially our elderly,” he said in the message to the academy which was started by Pope John Paul II to deal with issues linked to the defence of life from conception to natural death.

“Health is certainly an important value, but it does not determine the

value of the person,” Pope Francis said.

“Health does not in itself guarantee happiness, even people with fragile health can be happy.”

The lack of good health and disability “are never a good reason to exclude, or worse, to eliminate a person”, he said.

Archbishop Brislin said society “must draw a distinction” between refusing treatment for any condition, which any person has the right to do, and the actual administering of drugs to euthanise a person.

The latter is suicide, he said.

“So while Nelson Mandela may have been kept alive unnecessarily, that is not the same as saying he should have been assisted in suicide,” Archbishop Brislin explained.

Late in life, Holy Land pilgrimage dream came true

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

he Holy City, Jerusalem, always seemed so far away for Mama Theresa Dladla. It was a name on a map. A place she knew from the Bible. She never believed she would get there.

But life had some surprises in store for the 84-year-old retired teacher from Mpophomeni mission in KwaZulu-Natal.

“A long time before I was as old as I am now, I heard about Jerusalem,” Mrs Dladla said. “I was praying all the time to see Jerusalem.

“Then one day Fr Jude Fernando of St Anne’s mission in the archdiocese of Durban told us there is a way to Jerusalem,” Mrs Dladla recalled.

“I was the first one to tell him that I wanted to go.”

Mrs Dladla, who attended Montebello Convent, had been saving money since her working days.

With help from her two daughters, she came up with the funds.

“I didn’t think I would go because I am old now,” she said.

Time moved fast and by early June it was time for Mrs Dladla, Fr Fernando and two others from Mpophomeni to take the bus to Durban for their flight to the Holy Land.

It was Mrs Dladla’s first time on an aeroplane and everything about it was memorable and terrifying.

“It was at night. I was afraid. I couldn’t see anything. It was like we were in a room,” she said.

One of the first stops was in Bethlehem to see the birthplace of Jesus in the basilica of the Nativity.

“We went to see where Mary and Joseph were staying. It was as exactly as we used to read in the Bible.

It was so interesting. In Nazareth they showed us the well where Mary fetched water. Each day they showed us a new place.”

Mrs Dladla remembers the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is recalled on the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the River Jordan, where he was baptised by John the Baptist. “We went high up that mountain, where Jesus preached,” she says. “When we were at the River Jordan I took some water with me so that I could remember where Jesus was baptised.”

Tears came to Mrs Dladla’s eyes when she saw where Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem’s church of the Holy Sepulchre.

“I cried all the time. I couldn’t stop. I saw Jesus there as if he was still alive. As if he can talk. It was so

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Theresa Dladla (second from left) with fellow pilgrims Constance Mdladla, Maureen Thadla, Flora Ntumbela, and Fr Jude Fernando in Nazareth. painful to me,” she said.

“To see those places, it makes me another person. I know Jesus would not have suffered like that if it was not for my sins.”

The high point of the two-week trip came in Jerusalem where Mrs Dladla celebrated her 84th birthday.

“I was very happy on that day.

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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.

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so special,” she said.

At home in Mpophomeni, many came to hear Ma Dladla’s stories.

“They wanted to see me and hear me talking. They wanted to know I was really back,” she said.

“I told them that Jesus wanted me to go there.”

Fr Fernando said Mrs Dladla he wouldn’t know what to do without

Mrs Dladla in the church.

“She translates for me into Zulu and she helps at the church teaching children and giving Holy Communion,” the Sri Lankan priest said. “She is in many ways my right hand.”

Despite news of unrest in the region, the Holy Land remains perfectly safe for pilgrims, according to a senior guide.

“Even in the worst times of the nobody [2000-2005], uprising harmed pilgrims,” said Rimon Makhlouf, a Catholic tour guide of 32 years experience who visited South Africa to lecture in April.

“The drivers and guides are always in contact with one another.

If a place is not 100% safe we don’t go there,” Mr Makhlouf said.

Recalling his visit to South Africa he said: “Before I came I heard terrible things about protests with burning barricades in Johannesburg, but where I went I saw nothing.

“It’s the same in the Holy Land; we are far away from the places where there is trouble.”

Mr Makhlouf appealed to South African Catholics to come to the Holy Land. “You have nothing to worry about. And you can trust that Our Lord and Our Mother will keep you safe.”

4

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Vatican urges caution over new pope interview

BY FRANCIS X ROCCA

T

HE Vatican has said a new press interview with Pope Francis, in which he says fighting sex abuse and the mafia will be priorities of his pontificate, should not be considered a record of his exact words.

According to the mid-July article in the Rome daily La Repubblica, the pope also spoke about failings of the modern family, the nature of divine forgiveness and possible changes to the discipline of priestly celibacy.

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ confirmed in a statement that the article “captures the spirit of the conversation” between Pope Francis and journalist Eugenio Scalfari, an avowed atheist, but cautioned that the “individual expressions that were used and the manner in which they have been reported cannot be attributed to the pope”.

Suggesting that the “naive reader is being manipulated” by

certain portions of the article, Fr Lombardi expressed particular scepticism about two statements attributed to Pope Francis: a claim that some cardinals have been guilty of sexually abusing children, and a vow to “find solutions” to the “problem” of priestly celibacy.

According to Mr Scalfari, the article was based on his third private conversation with the pope, an hour-long meeting at the pope’s Vatican residence on July 10.

In their latest meeting, Mr Scalfari writes, Pope Francis said “reliable data” indicate 2% of Catholic priests are guilty of sexually abusing children.

“This statistic ought to reassure me, but I must say it doesn’t reassure me at all,” the pope reportedly said. “The 2% who are paedophiles are priests and even bishops and cardinals. And others, even more numerous, know but keep quiet, punish but do not say why. I find this state of affairs unsustainable and it is my intention to address it with the severity it deserves.”

Pope Francis noted that a large proportion of sex abuse cases take place in the home.

“This situation is frequent in families, practised by parents, grandparents, uncles, friends of the family,” the pope reportedly said. “Often other members of the family know but do not intervene, ensnared by self-interest or by other forms of corruption.”

The pope reportedly said modern families increasingly fail in their duty to educate the young in the right values.

“Education as we understand it seems almost to have deserted the family,” the pope reportedly said.

“Everyone is occupied with his own tasks, often to assure the family a bearable way of life, sometimes to pursue one’s own personal success, in other cases because of competing friendships and loves.”

The pope, who declared in late June that members of the mafia have excommunicated themselves, also spoke about the Church’s re-

lationship to organised crime.

“Some priests tend to pass over the phenomenon of the mafia,” he reportedly told Mr Scalfari. “Naturally they condemn specific crimes, honour the victims, help their families when they can, but the public and constant denunciation of the mafia is rare.”

Noting a recent Marian procession in Calabria, when hundreds of people paused and bowed in front of the house of a presumed mafia boss, Pope Francis said: “All this is changing and will change.

Our denunciation of the mafia will not be just once but constant.”

Touching on the nature of divine mercy, one of his major themes, the pope stressed the importance of penance in the process of forgiveness.

“We do not judge, but the Lord knows and judges. His mercy is infinite but cannot be won by trickery,” the pope reportedly said. “If the contrition is not authentic, mercy cannot exercise its redemptive role.”—CNS

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. In a new interview the pope spoke about sexual abuse, families and the mafia. (Photo: Tony Gentile, Reuters/CNS)

Papal preacher: Jesus would have been a great TV evangelist

BY CAROL GLATz

T

HE Gospel is made for television and Jesus Christ would have been a perfect on-air evangelist, according to the papal preacher.

Televised programming requires “brevity, concision, applicability to life, and word and images blended together. It is an endeavour one can undertake without betraying the Gospel, quite the contrary, by

imitating it,” said Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household.

Jesus spoke in a very concrete way, using “parables, images, aphorisms and short stories”, he said in an interview published in the late July edition of the Italian Catholic magazine Credere.

“The Gospel is intrinsically ‘fit for television’,” he said.

If he had been born into the world today, “Jesus would have

been the ideal television preacher,” said the priest, who, for 15 years, hosted a weekly Gospel reflection on RAI Uno, a major channel on Italian television.

“There’s a deep affinity between the Gospel message and the medium of television [because television] helps the message reach people’s hearts,” he said.

“Jesus multiplied bread and fish in order to feed thousands of people,” Fr Cantalamessa said. “Televi-

sion multiplies the word, and not by one thousand, but by millions.”

The Italian Capuchin priest, who was to turned 80 on July 22, has been papal preacher since 1980 when St John Paul II appointed him; Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis respectively confirmed his position.

The papal preacher is tasked with preparing the traditional series of Lenten and Advent reflections each year for the pope and

top Vatican officials and is charged with preaching at the pope’s public celebration of the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday.

Fr Cantalamessa said he figures he has given about 280 meditations in the past 34 years.

With each meditation lasting about 30 minutes, “I’ve been responsible for having taken up a good 140 hours of the last three popes’ precious time,” he said.— CNS

Football legends set for Vatican’s match for peace

R

ETIRED football star Javier Zanetti, who was captain of the Argentinean national team and of Inter Milan, will soon don his boots again to take part in an interreligious friendly match for peace.

He will join football legends Zinedine Zidane of France and Roberto Baggio of Italy for the first “Inter-Religious Match for Peace”.

Lionel Messi, Francesco Totti, Gianluigi Buffon and Chelsea’s Portuguese manager José Mourinho may also take part, according to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.

Zanetti, a Catholic who retired last year after having represented Argentina 145 times, was chosen to organise the symbolic game with collaboration from the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences.

Zanetti said the game, scheduled for September 1 at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, was the “explicit wish of Pope Francis”, and that football players from various faiths would be invited to play in the name of peace and dialogue.

“How many values can we bear witness to simply by playing a game?” Zanetti said.

He described the match as “a symbolic gesture to help people under-

Javier zanetti and Pope Francis during a private audience at the Vatican in April 2013. (Photo: L’Osservatore Romano/CNS) stand that it is possible to build a world of peace, based on dialogue and respect for others”.

Those who “have ideas different from my own are not my enemies but an occasion for growth and enrichment”, he added.

The pontifical academy said it expects numerous international football stars to take part in the match, although no official teams have been complied yet.—CNA

Pope warns of ‘lost generation’

BY CAROL GLATz

P

OPE Francis has urged economists and financiers to help reverse the current “throwaway” culture and put people at the centre of monetary strategies and policies.

Children, the elderly and young adults are all being rejected “because they’re not useful”, he said. “Who’s going to be disposed of next? Let’s stop ourselves in time, please,” he told a group of experts participating in an international seminar organised by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

About 70 people, many of them leading economists, central bankers,

heads of international and intergovernmental organisations and Church leaders, came together to discuss ways economic systems and policies could work towards “a more inclusive economy” and the common good.

The pope said high unemployment for young adults has created a “neither-nor” generation of young people who “neither study nor work” because for many getting a higher education isn’t possible and there are no jobs.

People need to be made the focus again and become “the centre of society, of thinking, of reflection,” he said, urging the group to study and reflect “so that man is not disposed of”.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

5

Women bishops ‘an obstacle’ to unity

BY CINDY WOODeN

T

Jean-Baptise de Franssu (left), the new president of the Vatican bank, and outgoing president ernst von Freyberg pose during a news conference at the Vatican. New reports issued by the Institute for the Works of Religion, as the bank is officially known, aim at full transparency and accountability. (Photo: Tony Gentile, Reuters/CNS)

HE General Synod of the Church of England vote to authorise the ordination of women “is not creating a new reality for our dialogue”, since other provinces of the Anglican Communion, including the United States and Canada, already have women bishops, according to a Vatican official.

Fr Anthony Currer, the staff person for relations with Anglicans at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, also noted that “it is significant” that the move was made by the Church of England—the mother church of the communion—which is a point of reference for Anglicans worldwide.

With the Anglicans, Fr Currer said, “we have communion, which we describe as impaired or impartial. An area we have to explore with our dialogue partners is what is sufficient for the full communion we are seeking.”

When the General Synod took the first steps towards preparing for women bishops in 2008, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said: “Such a decision means a break from the apostolic tradition maintained by all the churches of the first millennium and is, therefore, a further obstacle for reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.”

When Cardinal Walter Kasper, then the president of the Pontifical

Council for Promoting Christian Unity, addressed the Anglican Communion’s Lambeth Conference in 2008, he told the delegates from around the world that ordaining women, especially as bishops, creates an obstacle to the Roman Catholic Church recognising Anglican ordinations, a key step towards full unity.

The Church of England began ordaining women to the priesthood in 1994. Consultative votes in the 43 dioceses of the Church in England showed overwhelming support for ordaining women bishops. Synod members were told that the majority of people in all dioceses voted yes and only nine dioceses reported a favourable vote of less than 90%.—CNS

Nuns freed, but antiHOLY CROSS SISTERS Christian terror goes on

In the Cross is Salvation

BY DALe GAVLAK

T

WO Iraqi nuns and three orphans kidnapped in late June have been released safely, according to the Christian rights group Middle East Concern.

The group, citing Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako, said the five were released without anyone paying ransom. They are reported to be in good physical health. They also said they were treated well during their abduction.

There has been no official statement on who kidnapped the nuns and orphans in Mosul, an area of Iraq that was overrun in June by Islamist militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). The extremist group has taken over vast swathes of territory across five Iraqi provinces north and west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The kidnapped Chaldean Daughters of Mary, Srs Miskintah and Utoor, and three orphans disappeared on June 28.

They went missing around the time the militants shelled Christian villages outside of Mosul, including Qaraqosh, forcing more than 40 000 Christians to flee, many with just the clothes on their backs. The majority of Qaraqosh’s inhabitants are Syr-

A Christian woman who fled from the violence in Mosul, Iraq, holds her daughter at a shelter in Irbil, Iraq. Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad has said the city of Mosul “is almost empty of Christians”. (Photo: Ahmed Jadallah, Reuters/CNS) iac Catholics.

The nuns live and work in an orphanage attached to the Chaldean monastery in Mosul.

The orphans were identified as Hala Salim, Sarah Khoshaba, and Aram Sabah.

Patriarch Sako and other Church leaders continue to express concern for the future of Iraq’s Christian communities.

Other non-Sunni Muslim Arab communities in areas controlled

by ISIS also have expressed fear for their future.

Middle East Concern said it has received reports in recent days of “atrocities against Yazidi communities, the appropriation of land belonging to Christians

and members of other minority communities, and the further removal of statues and religious symbols”.

ISIS militants reportedly have occupied both Mosul’s Chaldean Catholic and Syriac Orthodox cathedrals, removing the crosses at the front of the buildings and replacing them with the Islamic state’s black flag.

The Vatican’s Fides missionary news agency has confirmed reports that the militants instructed government workers to not hand out rations food and cooking fuel to all Christians, Kurds and Shiite Muslims in Mosul.

Workers ignoring the orders were threatened to be charged and prosecuted according to shariah law, Vatican Radio reported.

Homes once belonging to Christians in Mosul were also being singled out and marked “with the letter ‘N’—‘N’ for Nazarat”, which means Christian, Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad told BaghdadHope, an Italian blog that posts news about the Church in Iraq.

The abandoned homes are then occupied by Sunni supporters of the caliphate, Vatican Radio reported.—CNS

are an International Congregation whose members try to live the Paschal mystery and creating life in the midst of limits.

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Papal astronomer wins Sagan prize

BY CAROL GLATz

A

PAPAL astronomer has won recognition for his ability to communicate accurately and clearly the discoveries of planetary science to the general public.

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, a planetary scientist and meteorite expert at the Vatican Observatory, was awarded the prestigious Carl Sagan Medal for “outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist”, said the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences, which chooses the annual prize winner.

Through his many books, public lectures, interviews and multimedia presence, Br Consolmagno “has become the voice of the juxtaposition of planetary science and astronomy with Christian belief, a rational spokesperson who can convey exceptionally well how religion and science can coexist for believers”, the division said in a press release.

The US-born Jesuit astronomer has been at the Vatican Observatory since 1993, where he is now coordinator for public relations.

Br Guy Consolmagno SJ He credits his communication skills, in part, to his family lineage of vaudeville entertainers.

“At heart I am a storyteller,” he said. “I learned that from my father and he learned storytelling from his uncles, who were in vaudeville a hundred years ago.

“So when I present science, I look for the story to tell. What is the setting, who are the characters, what’s the challenge, where is the climactic moment when

the insight changes the way we look at ourselves and our universe? The story of the universe is the story science tells; so I tell it as a story,” he said.

“I am not trying to get folks to remember facts, but instead I am trying to get across a way of looking at the universe”, and help people see a new point of view, he said.

He said being a Jesuit “has made all the difference” in being able to communicate his Catholic faith in the public forum.

“I can concentrate on communicating my passion for my science and let my collar do the rest of the talking for me. It has been one of the greatest blessings of my vocation,” he said.

In the Church’s mission to better communicate that it is not opposed to science, but embraces it as an important human endeavour to understand God’s creation, Br Consolmagno encouraged all Catholic scientists and engineers to talk about their work in their parish communities.

“Often it is the religious folk who need the most to hear about how God reveals himself through science,” he said.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Liturgy evolves with language

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

The power of the pen

A

S South Africa’s only Catholic weekly, The Southern Cross enjoys a particular benefit, but one that also presents certain challenges.

Unlike Catholic publications in countries where the Church is bigger than it is in South Africa, various Catholic newspapers serve readers of distinct schools of thought.

In Britain, for example, The Tablet is read mostly by progressive Catholics, while their conservative counterparts tend to prefer the Catholic Times or Catholic Herald.

In the United States, the National Catholic Reporter serves the faithful of progressive mind, the National Catholic Register conservatives, Our Sunday Visitor the middle-ground and The Wanderer traditionalists.

Not so with The Southern Cross, which accommodates the whole range of ideologies in South Africa’s Catholic spectrum, as well as a broad set of demographics.

It is a perennial challenge to try to get the balance right; the reader will have to be the judge of how well we succeed in meeting it.

At the same time, the broad diversity of our readership provides The Southern Cross with an advantage: it is a meeting point for fellow believers who otherwise might not encounter one another.

In terms of demographics, this finds expression on the local news pages and, especially, on the popular page of community photos.

The letters page clearly does not give a representative picture of the demographic composition of our readership. It does, however, cover the range of philosophies and opinions held by South African Catholics.

Correspondence comes from bishops and parishioners, from theologians and devotees to particular venerations. It comes from reformers and ultra-traditionalists, from those who address miscellaneous issues and those who address only one—and most letters fall in between these points.

This rich diversity of opinion can make for a lively letters page which can then serve as a forum to get people talking, sometimes energetically, and might even inspire illuminative discussions beyond the printed page.

Invariably, there will be some letters which confirm one’s views, and others which one may strongly disagree with.

Hopefully, exposure to such a

diverse exchange of opinion helps us understand one another better.

The Southern Cross cannot publish all the letters it receives, but we try to run as many as possible.

In selecting letters for publication, this newspaper tries to be fair in giving a voice to a broad range of opinion.

This means, of course, that we will publish some letters with which the editor or the staff of The Southern Cross disagree, sometimes strongly so. However, the personal views of the staff of this newspaper can have no bearing on the selection of letters that are published.

It is not within The Southern Cross’ remit to reject letters simply because the editor or staff differ with their content, and no letter published in the newspaper bears the implied approval of the editor or staff.

Readers understand that the letters page is not a source for catechism, and this permits the publication of viewpoints which some people might consider contentious.

The Southern Cross does not allow the publication of letters that challenge the deposits of our faith under the guise of expressing Catholic thought. We trust that our readers are aware that, as our boilerplate at the foot of the correspondence page puts it, “letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately”.

Letters that are critical of doctrine or disciplines preferably should appeal to the teaching authority of the Church, not encourage readers to disobedience.

On the other hand, when correspondents explain their difficulties with living in accordance to certain areas of Church teachings, they cannot be summarily set aside. To ignore their experience is to be divorced from the realities of Catholic life.

Beyond the essential dogma, the unity of the Church is not located in uniformity of thought but in the way Catholics treat another. Robust dialogue is entirely permissible, for even the apostles engaged in vigorous debate.

Ideally, this should be accompanied by charity of thought. But should correspondents sometimes irk us, then it serves to remind us that this, too, is part of being Church.

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ENJOYED reading the letter by Fr Henry Ratering CMM (June 25) in response to my article of May 28. He has raised a number of good questions that I should have thought of when I wrote to you!

One overarching issue is that the English wording used in both the Apostles’ Creed and in the Nicene Creed are the same ones that have been used for centuries.

Firstly, the Apostles’ Creed. The wording “descended into hell”, as the English translation for “descendit ad inferos” (meaning “descended into the lower world, or the world of the dead”), was used in the Middle Ages.

It is in fact “old English”, and was used in a time when medieval theologians, in Western Europe, described the underworld (“infero”, “sheol”, “Gehenna”, “hell”, “hades”, “infernum”) as divided into four distinct parts: Hell of the damned (which some call Gehenna), purgatory, limbo of the

Worship styles

J

OHN Lee (July 2) makes some valid points but he also contradicts himself by rashly judging persons who “genuflect on both knees (as at Benediction) to ‘show’ their piety, before entering their pew for Mass”.

How can he presume to “see into the hearts” of these people when he quotes 1 Samuel 16: 7 in one breath and then goes on to make the judgment that these gestures, with which he is uncomfortable, are just for show, or, as I understood him to write, just exhibitionism. God alone sees into the hearts of people.

I overheard a conversation in which an old Muslim gentleman quite emphatically retorted that if Catholics really believe that God is present in the Blessed Eucharist, they would crawl into their church on hands and knees and remain on their knees for the duration of their worship.

Antoinette Padua, Cape Town

Quit judging

J

OHN Lee (July 2) is off-base with his criticism, bordering on being judgmental, casting aspersions on the demeanour and piety of fellow believers.

When Jesus said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, he did not say he was going to give us an auditorium filled with comfortable seats, an audience with flailing arms, and a preacher at the centre of worship who would bask in a cacophony of amens, and alleluias!

When Jesus reinstated the temple,

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fathers or patriarchs, and limbo of the infants.

The Nicene Creed wording identified by Fr Ratering, “for us men” as the translation of “Qui propter nos hómines”, is a usage that remained the general standard for many centuries—in fact, until only a few years ago—namely that the English words “man” and “men” has two distinct meanings.

One meaning refers to the males of the human species (Latin “Vir”), the other refers to all human beings or all people (Latin “hominis”). This is once again a translation that has been used for centuries and has acquired the strength of traditional usage.

So, far from these being some recent inaccurate or inappropriate translations, we are dealing here with usage that has been customary for many hundreds of years and which is the wording that we have learned by heart.

These translation usages are

he became the high priest and is at the centre of worship, the bread of the presence become man, the one before whom “all will bow and bend the knee”. The community of believers are not mere spectators, but partake around an altar where a miracle takes place during Mass.

Our Catholic worship provides a rich and deep liturgy. An orderly buffet of worship is laid before us in the Mass—with rituals, readings, aromas, colours, art, architecture and music—that provides a complete worship that is by no means “exhibitionist”.

Our faith is made up of religious practices which point us to a spirituality of a particular kind that leads us to holiness in Christ our Saviour. We can receive Christ on our tongue or hands, on bended knee or standing, in a wheelchair or on a sickbed.

Our Father demands that we love him “with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind”.

We shortchange God with a minimalistic approach and thus, if our worship is done with humility and surrender, we can never over-express our devotion, prayer, gratitude and praise to Jesus Christ.

Henry Sylvester, Cape Town

Conception crux

C

ARDINAL Wilfrid Napier (June 18), in explaining Archbishop Denis Hurley’s position on family planning, states that “to engage in the marital act in a way that excludes the conception of a child is morally wrong”.

Then he goes on to say that in the case of couple A using contraceptives and in the case of couple B using natural family planning, if the objective is the same—that is, to avoid conceiving a child—then what both couples are doing is morally wrong.

Now in the case of couple B there is abstinence and self-control, which is extremely difficult in many situations. If self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, surely this is to be commended.

Any form of selfishness is questionable under any circumstance, but there are family situations dictated to by poverty, the high cost of education, the danger of a genetic disorder being transmitted, and so on that might be a real problem.

If, at a considerable emotional cost to themselves, and as a form of responsible parenthood, couple B adopt the way of natural family planning, how can this be considered wrong?

How can these two situations ever be considered identical?

Joan Largier, Cape Town

Respect tradition

I

READ Stefan Gruner’s letter (June 18) and I would like to give my opinion on the matter.

pretty well standard throughout the English-speaking world, with the Anglican and Lutheran churches continuing to use these translations after the Reformation and many other Christian denominations having adopted them.

Fr Ratering’s final comment is indeed important. He says that “the real issue, which is linguistic sensitivity, namely that words, besides having literal meanings, also have emotive and evocative qualities”.

Fr Ratering’s observation is both insightful and sensitive. One of the difficulties faced by the translator is the subjective nature of the task.

Vernacular translation of the Order of the Mass is a very recent development in the Church, being only a matter of about 45 years in the making, and institutions such as Vox Clara and ICEL (International Commission on English in the Liturgy) have acknowledged that the process of translation is probably never-ending due to the constant evolution of the usage of language.

Chris Busschau, Johannesburg

I have to say: Yes, I am one from the 20th century (88 years old ) and in my time everyone took the Holy Host in the tongue. We were receiving the Body of Jesus and not the tiny flat round cookies, even if that is what we saw.

Pope Francis (as we see on television) dispenses Holy Communion always and only on the tongue.

There must be a reason!

With my poor intellect, I think, maybe, this is an old-fashioned form of respect, or maybe to prevent the Holy Host finishing in the hands of satanic rites.

I don’t know, but I do know the 20th century wasn’t that bad—no legalised abortion, no euthanasia, only to mentions a few practices.

I don’t like and I don’t want to criticise the era we live in now, but please don’t criticise the early 20th century.

Those who weren’t there do not know what they are talking about.

Loretta Apostoli, Cape Town

Contraception law will not change

O

NCE again, having put forward Catholic teaching, this time on contraception, I am declared, now

by M Bruce (June 11), to be in error.

Contraception, and its accomplice, abortion, are presently being joined by their comrade homosexuality. All three are anti-life, frustrating Almighty God’s plan for procreation.

The teaching against contraception, as a grave sin, has always been firmly entrenched in Catholic tradition. Uninterrupted declarations over centuries, including Pope Pius XI’s On Christian Marriage, show that the issue of contraception was definitively settled long before Humanae Vitae which itself affirms that same “uninterrupted Christian tradition”.

Protestants practise their faith on their conditions and not on Christ’s conditions (the teachings of the Catholic Church). This also seems to be so among many Catholics.

Our Lord told us that not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord”, will have eternal life, but he who does the will of the Father. His will is to be found in all teachings of the Catholic Church, including the teaching of Humanae Vitae. This teaching, condemning contraception, will never change.

Franko Sokolic, Cape Town Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in Letters to the editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate.

Letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

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

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

PERSPECTIVES Fr Ralph de Hahn

Why suffering is good D ESPITE the incredible advances in medical science and psychotherapy all humanity suffers under the sentence of death. This suffering is woven into the very fabric of human experience.

The universal question remains: Why do we still have to suffer so much when Jesus conquered all sin and death by his sacred passion, death and resurrection?

St Paul makes an amazing statement in saying: “In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ on behalf of his body which is the Church.”

We believe that Christ the Son of God has fully paid the price of our redemption; then what did Paul mean by this “lacking in the sufferings of Christ?”

The Church is the Body of Christ. He is the head and it is as the head of this enormous body that Jesus takes upon himself the guilt of all its members, and in so doing he promises us a share in his ultimate victory.

But we are also invited to a sharing in his suffering. It is the entire body suffering— the head with its members. It is the Church witnessing to our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection; the Church for which he gave his life. And it is in this extraordinary exposition of divine love that we Christians share in the graces and that “new life” proclaimed by the early apostles.

This is what Paul is saying when he teaches the Corinthians that wherever we go “we carry death in our body, the death that Jesus dies, that in this body also life may reveal itself…the life that Jesus lives” (2 Cor 4:10).

St John Paul ll in his excellent apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris (1984) explains that redemption was fully accomplished in Christ but that he did not bring it to a close for “it seems to be of the very essence of Christ’s redemptive suffering that suffering requires

yet to be unceasingly completed”.

Here we are invited to share in this redemptive suffering not only for our own spiritual growth but also for the sake of others…a vital point we so easily bypass.

Our suffering is redemptive; it has a purpose. We need to believe that suffering saves souls!

Christianity makes little sense without the cross. It is certainly not fitting that the Lord should take the path of shame and we the path of honour. We are indeed faced with a puzzling mystery when we see the good and the innocent suffer, as in the story of Job; however, God wants our trust, not our understanding.

In his divine providence and supreme wisdom God is able to produce rich fruits even from what appears to us as evil.

T

he ugly cross of Calvary was just the beginning of an incredible victory. Our suffering with Christ will also prove victorious. It may be difficult to absorb this truth as we face the horrors and inhumane suffer-

Mourners in a graveyard in Lima, Peru. Our suffering on earth is a vital part in building up the Body of Christ, argues Fr Ralph de Hahn. (Photo: enrique Castro-Mendivil, Reuters/CNS)

Point of Reflection

ings of our people on earth; it seems sheer folly to all unbelievers, but to us who believe in the unfathomable love of Jesus and his redemptive mission it is the power of God at work (1 Cor 1:18).

We should never suffer alone. Pain without purpose can lead to bitterness and despair, and so often has led to a rejection of a loving God. What makes Christian suffering meaningful is the dimension of love, God’s love for us in Christ (Rom 8:38) which is far beyond our understanding—and so is the suffering of the young and the innocent. Our only response is a deep unfailing faith and total dependence on his strength and his promise, as in the canticle of Jeremiah “I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console and gladden them after their sorrows” (Rom 8:18). “Our present suffering can never be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.” And we all know that God will keep his promise.

St John Paul ll spoke of suffering as a gift.

He referred to the compassion it evokes for and in our brothers and sisters; it has salvific meaning for those who believe in self-purification, keeps us mindful of our mortality in this passing world, moves us to unselfishly give time and love to the very sick and helpless. It can evoke a deeper respect and need of God and draw us closer to him, the source of all consolation and peace.

We suffer as Church. The Church and all creation is in agony as we grow painfully to maturity and fulfilment. And in acknowledging God’s superior wisdom we may yet come to realise the vital part played by our suffering in building up the Body of Christ.

7

Chris Chatteris SJ

Pray with the Pope

We must serve all General Intention: That refugees, forced by violence to abandon their homes, may find a generous welcome and the protection of their rights.

A

T a recent meeting I learned that 70% of the 50 million refugees in the world are Muslims. This is not surprising when one considers the situation in parts of the Muslim world.

Syria is being shredded by civil war and Iraq could go the same way. The political arrangements left by the British and the French after the dismemberment of the Ottoman Turkish Empire after World War I appear to be crumbling.

This violent instability has forced millions from their homes and neighbourhoods as these areas have become seemingly endless battlefields in what one military strategist has dubbed “war among the peoples”.

Our speaker reminded us that once in a camp, some refugees are condemned to spend years, even decades, there.

The work of Catholic agencies and NGOs with Muslim refugees is a practical response to this intention—”a generous welcome and the protection of their rights”.

It is also a sign of hope to people whose faith in organised religion as a force for peace must be badly bruised. To be welcomed by people who uphold your rights, whatever your faith, can be vital to restoring faith in humanity and faith in the ideal of peaceful religious plurality.

Such work is a reminder that as Christians we do not serve only our own but we include nonChristians. And we do this not despite the fact that they are not Christians. It is precisely because we are Christians that we serve everyone.

It’s Church teaching: Pay workers justly Mphuthumi Ntabeni

I

N South Africa, the practicalities of the just wage are currently being severely tested with numerous workers’ strikes, most of which turn violent.

It became an idea to die for after August 9, 2012, when following a wage dispute, about 3 000 unorganised mine workers, employed by Lonmin platinum mines, went on an unprotected strike.

The strike, as we all know, culminated on August 16 in what today is referred to as Marikana Massacre, in which 34 miners died, and several were injured.

The Marikana Massacre revived memories of brutality suffered under apartheid forces, prompting wide criticism of the government.

Whatever your view of it, the incident was a watershed moment of our post-’94 politics and represents a catalyst for change, and a wake-up call to the moral complacency that settled in our politics after the defeat of apartheid.

The recorded idea of a just wage goes as far back as Adam Smith, the 18th-century Scottish moral philosopher and pioneer of political economy. Writing in his Wealth of Nations, Smith recognised that rising real wages lead to the “improvement in the circumstances of the lower ranks of people” and are therefore an advantage to society.

In The Spirit of Laws Book XV, Montesquieu (1689-1755), the French lawyer and man of letters, was of the opinion that before Christianity had abolished civil slavery in Europe, working in the mines was judged too toilsome for any but slaves or malefactors.

Montesquieu saw that the master had an incentive to engage cheap labour rather than to own slaves. The master would be free from the care and expense of housing,

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Women protest outside the Lonmin platinum mine the day after South African police opened fire on striking miners in 2012.

(Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko, Reuters/CNS) feeding and clothing his workers.

The worker also benefited. He could choose his own lifestyle within the limits of his wages, selecting food, clothing and shelter to meet his desires.

Most of all, the worker would have the incentive to invest some capital of his own, so that he could educate his children, and perhaps give them a modest inheritance.

With that, the terms of the living wage were being crafted.

T

he idea of a living wage became central in the Catholic Social Teaching, beginning with Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum (“On the Condition of Workers”, 1891).

The encyclical deals with the practical problems of workers by demanding a priority for labour, and by calling for employers and workers to strive together for justice.

Pope Leo XIII proposed: • Consent to a wage between employer and workman is necessary, but the workman’s consent does not in itself ensure justice. The economic leverage of the employer must not be used to exploit workmen

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(paras 47-49).

• By natural law, the wage must support the wage-earner “in reasonable and frugal comfort”, and this supersedes any bargain to the contrary (49).

• A just wage will support a worker and his family and enable him “to put by a little property”. Laws should favour ownership of property by as many as possible (50).

• Unions and other associations that support workers are encouraged (52).

• Workmen, employers, the Church, government and philanthropists should all cooperate, in charity and mutual respect, to “ensure the well-being of the poor” (63).

The culture and tone of Pope Leo XIII was carried forward by Pope Pius XI, who in 1931 issued another social encyclical, Quadragesimo Anno (“On the Reconstruction of the Social Order”).

He encouraged enterprises in which workers shared in ownership or management, or profits of the companies they worked for.

Pope Pius XI advocated that “the worker must be paid a wage sufficient to support him and his family” (71).

He said that if ”existing circumstances” make it impossible to pay a just wage, “social justice demands that changes be introduced as soon as possible whereby such a wage will be assured to every adult working man”. (71). This was the beginning of the “just system” concept.

St John Paul II maintained the emphasis on respect for the dignity of each individual Continued on page 11

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‘Down-under’ Church Missionary Intention: That Christians in Oceania may joyfully announce the faith to all the people of that region.

N theory Catholic children ought to do better at geography than their non-Catholic peers.

After all, Catholics belong to a truly worldwide and missionary Church.

I remember vividly, as a small boy in school in Zimbabwe (then still called Rhodesia), a presentation by two missionaries who were working with Inuit (Eskimo) peoples.

The two young priests conveyed to us a world of kayaks, dog-sleds, blizzards, winter hunting and unimaginable cold. We were fascinated by the ingenious traditional artefacts they showed us—fur coats, sledding equipment and goggles carved out of bone with two narrow slits. Most of us had never even seen snow; we were awed by the world which opened up to us and interested to know that there were missions there, just as there were missions in our own country.

So, where is Oceania? If we don't know, that is perhaps the point of the intention—to raise our awareness about it and to get us to pray for it. Missionaries, even if they are only missionaries in prayers, should know where their efforts are to be directed!

In fact there is some debate about what the term Oceania means, but the most common usage denotes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and most of those exotic-sounding islands out in the Pacific—Kiribati, Tuvalu, Samoa, Tonga and even Pitcairn Island where the mutineers on the Bounty tried to hide out.

When we think of remote islands lost in a vast ocean, it brings to mind that phrase “to the ends of the earth” and we can take comfort in the knowledge that the Church has been rather literally faithful to its mission. There are few places on earth, even the most remote, where the Gospel is still to be proclaimed.

Even so, we must continue to proclaim it, near and far, and those who support that proclamation should pick up an atlas every now and then to see where their prayers are directed!

I

8

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

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St Joseph’s Sodality of St Joseph’s mission in Richmond, Kwazulu-Natal, celebrated Father’s Day. They are pictured after Mass with dean and lecturer at St John Vianney seminary in Pretoria Fr Nhlanhla Mchunu (centre front) and recently ordained Fr Siyabonga Mbeje CMM (back row, wearing glasses).

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Ursulines Ursulines of of the theBlessed Blessed Virgin Virgin Mary Mary We VirginMary, Mary, Weare arethe theUrsulines Ursulines of of the the Blessed Blessed Virgin called througheducation educationofofgirls, girls, calledto toserve serveChrist Christ through women and servants, pastoral and social work. women and servants, pastoral and social work.

Do you feel God’s call? Join us.

Do you feel God’s call? Join us.

Contact Vocation directress: Ursuline Sisters PO Box 36 Ngqeleni 5140 Cell: 072 958 2111 OR Box 212 Libode 5160 Contact Vocation directress: ursuline SistersTel: Mount 047 nicholas 555 0018

PO Box 212 Libode, 5160, e Cape Tel 047 555 0018 Cell: 072 437 4244 or 078 354 2440

Learners from St Francis College in Mariannhill received their first Holy Communion. They are pictured with chaplain Fr Alfred Senzo Ngidi and catechist Sr Mary Grace Dlamini CPS.

PRIESTS OF THE SACRED HEART “Here I am Lord” Vocation Office: P.O. Box 630 Hilton 3245 South Africa

Cell: +27 71 823 6295 E-mail: vocation.office@dehonafrica.net

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

MINISTRY

9

Laying the foundations for peace In a city torn apart by war and natural disaster, a parish is trying to lay the foundations for peace by building a sports ground.

Parish priest Fr EVANS CHAMA M.Afr invites us into his community.

F

OR those who follow international news, the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) needs no introduction.

It has been a battleground for a couple of decades.

However, the youth of our parish, Notre Dame d’Afrique (Our Lady of Africa), are determined to give Goma a new image.

Goma is the capital of North-Kivu province, in the east of the DRC. Since 1994 people have lived in the horrors of wars and today many nurse wounded memories of all kinds.

There are many women and girls who were raped, some of whom have contracted HIV or given birth.

Thus they live with a constant reminder of the violence and the humiliation they have suffered. Several women have been abandoned by their husbands, together with the children born in the act of violation.

And how do you deal with the boys who were conscripted as child soldiers and have become used to killing? Apart from the trauma they suffered themselves, they are also a threat to the population for they have learnt to earn their living by using force. As a result they are ready to shoot at anyone who resists them.

Our township continues to record deaths of this kind.

These are but a couple of examples of the open wounds in this postwar period. But this is only one side of the story; there is another side.

Although the security situation still leaves a lot to be desired, I appreciate that we nevertheless are enjoying a significant level of calm which was unimaginable just some months ago.

If only this peace would last so

that people can reconstruct their lives! It is not enough just to wish for peace, we must be ready to soil our hands to build and consolidate it.

At our parish of Notre Dame d’Afrique, we are particularly concerned, among other things, about accompanying children and the youth in their healing process by creating a friendly space where they can relax, play and do physical exercises.

Not only is play important for human development, but it is also remedial.

But where will these children and young people of our township find a space to play?

Imagine this! In our parish, which is located in a densely populated township called Katoy, we have nine parish schools: three secondary schools and six primary schools. And this doesn’t count the cluster of poor private schools around.

These nine schools have only a small space for the youth and children who frequent them to play.

That is why we have offered a little piece of land close to the parish church for development into a sports ground. This creates new challenges.

In a different area, it would suffice simply to slash the grass, uproot a few trees, draw lines, fix posts—and, voilà, you have a ground ready for play. This is not the case with Goma.

Missionary of African Father evans Chama (inset) has started a large building project at his parish in the DRC. Parishioners of Notre Dame d’Afrique parish must break through volcanic rock to level the ground for their new sports ground which will be dedicated to promoting peace in the area.

B

esides the wars and insecurity, there are also eruptions of the still- active volcano Mount Nyiragongo. The last eruption took place in 2002 (the video at bit.ly/1jwMfGd gives you an idea) which has left the entire town of Goma with a carpet of rough, black volcanic rocks. You have to watch your feet with every single step you take on the street.

Even the piece of land we are developing into the playground is nothing but a mound of volcanic rock.

Our project involves making a mini-football ground, two volleyball courts, a basketball court and a space for gymnastics. The work involves breaking the mound of rock, which we do by hand, spreading the broken stones to fill up the valleys, transporting soil from no less than 20km in the outskirts of Goma in order to cover the rocks, and cementing the

basketball and volleyball courts.

This project is estimated to cost about R570 000. With the contributions from the youth, schools, parishioners and help from wellwishers, we have raised about a third of that. We still have a long way to go.

Whenever my confrere from the Missionaries of Africa comes to the worksite, he tells me: “Evans, this is a crazy person’s project.” He is right.

Certainly, you must be crazy to take on such a project, given the magnitude of work, the difficulty and the limited means.

Indeed, standing before the

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Holy Childhood of Jesus

mound of rock, the first overwhelming feeling is to say: “It’s too hard; we just cannot do it.” But then we realise that what we are looking for is actually the cost of peace.

We must pay the price. And if we want lasting peace, we have to build it on the solid rock—our volcanic rock.

We are convinced that uniting young people from different tribal identities and from different religious beliefs around this project of constructing the sports ground, and finally bringing them to play together when the construction is completed, will itself be a school for peace.

The St Boniface Community

is presenting its annual Church Bazaar on Sunday 31 August 2014.

Starting with an open-air Mass at 9.00am at the St Boniface Community Centre, Cnr Puttick Ave and Kowie Road, Sundowner Ext 8, Randburg.

Tel 011 795 3651

MICASA TOURS

We are conscious that with every stone we put in place, we lay the foundation for peace. This is what gives us the energy to go on.

Do you want to join hands with us in laying a foundation for peace in this war-torn region of Congo? n Fr Evans Chama M.Afr. is a regular contributor to The Southern Cross.

His series on the Church’s social justice teachings concluded last month. He is currently preparing a new series of articles on the “Saints of Christian Unity”, which will commence in The Southern Cross later this year.

He can be contacted at evan schama@gmail.com

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Easter Pilgrimage to Lourdes

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

Write, phone or visit us

Holy Childhood Sisters P.Bag 553 Eshowe, 3815

Sr. Teressa Zungu Phone: 035 -4744242 Cell: 082-0932002 E-mail: awerresh@netactive.co.za

Mbongolwane Convent P.Bag 506 Eshowe, 3815 Sr. Bongiwe Xulu Phone: 035-4766262 Cell: 076-3064446

Led by Lionel Samuel 01-09 April 2015

Pilgrimage to Fatima, Garabandal, Lourdes, Dozulè, Liseux and Paris Led by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale OMI 10-23 May 2015

Pilgrimage to Italy-Shroud of Turin, Passion Play in Sordevolo, Milan, Rome, Verona, Venice Led by Father Victor Phalana 09-21 June 2015

Holy Land Pilgrimage

Led by Father Christopher Townsend 31 August -09 September 2015

Pilgrimage to Fatima, Lourdes , Rome and Assisi Led by Father Robert Mphiwe 07-19 September 2015

Contact: Tel: 012 342 7917/072 637 0508 (Michelle) E-Mail: info@micasatours.co.za

REMEMBERING OUR DEAD

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

For further information, please contact St Jude Society, Box 22230, Fish Hoek, 7975, Telephone (021) 551-1747, dpaarman@mweb.co.za

10

The Southern Cross, July 23 to July 29, 2014

SAINTS

Benedict Daswa: Good news soon?

Soon South Africa could see its very first beatification if the pope decides to beatify the martyr Benedict Daswa.

STUART GRAHAM finds out more.

T

HE quiet bushveld village of Nweli in Limpopo could soon find itself in the gaze of the world’s media as the Vatican considers a proposal to beatify South Africa’s first martyr.

Benedict Daswa was murdered by a mob on February 2, 1990, after he tried to convince elders in the village not to take part in a witchhunt after lightning struck a row of huts.

“We will hear by the end of the year, but so far all pointers indicate that the cause will go through,” said Sr Claudette Hiosan, who is leading Daswa’s sainthood cause.

“It could happen fairly soon after that. The cause is for martyrdom and therefore he does not need to have performed a [Church-recognised] miracle [through intercession].”

Tzaneen diocesan officials presented an initial case for Daswa’s beatification to the Vatican in 2009. The case was based on his writings and interviews with those who knew him.

The Vatican’s investigation was completed in 2010 and all the official documents were sent to the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.

The congregation will examine the cause for his sainthood in October.

“Their judgment will then be presented to the cardinal prefect and other archbishops and bishops of the sacred congregation for their approval. If that is received, it will then be given to the Holy Father for the seal of his approval and the setting of a date for the beatification,” Sr Hiosan explained.

Sr Hiosan said witchcraft is on the increase throughout Africa and this could be one of the reasons why the cause is being fasttracked.

The problem formed part of the discussions of the Second Synod of Bishops for Africa in 2009.

In his apostolic exhortation on the synod, Africae munus, Pope Benedict XVI noted: “Old fears are re-surfacing and creating paralysing bonds of subjection.

Anxiety over health, well-being, children, the climate, and protection from evil spirits, at times lead people to have recourse to practices of traditional African religions that are incompatible with Christian teaching.”

“Witchcraft is certainly very alive and well up here,” said Sr Hiosan. “In fact, the growth in devil worship and people involved in the occult is a worldwide phenomenon.”

B

enedict Daswa was born in Venda on June 16, 1946, as Tshimangadzo Samuel Daswa.

He was raised among the Lemba, a tribe which claims affinity to the Jewish culture. His boyhood years were spent herding goats and cattle.

After school, he joined a group of Catholics who met for instruction in the faith under a fig tree.

A village catechist inspired him to convert from traditional beliefs to Christianity and so Daswa was baptised on April 21, 1963. He was confirmed shortly after, taking the name Benedict after St Benedict, the 16th century son of slaves brought from Africa to Sicily.

Daswa qualified as a teacher and became active in his community through teachers’ unions, sport and local politics.

He married Shadi Eveline Monyai, with whom he had eight children, and became principal of Nweli primary school.

His contribution to the community was enormous.

He helped build a church and started a vegetable garden where youngsters could grow food for their families and sell produce to pay for school fees and uniforms.

But Daswa, who was known for running errands in his bakkie, was also fervently against superstition and the often-deadly witchhunts which are practised in the area.

He had often stood up for people accused of witchcraft and even had to cut his ties with a football team he founded, because he wouldn’t let the players carry lucky charms.

It was this rift with traditional culture that would ultimately cost

Benedict Daswa’s sainthood cause now rests with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The congregation will examine the cause in October. him his life.

I

n January 1990 when unseasonal lightning struck the homes in Nweli.

The village headman called a meeting of elders at a cattle kraal.

It was decided that a sangoma be hired to deal with the unseasonal weather, which the elders blamed on witchcraft.

Daswa argued rigorously against it. Lightning was natural, he explained. Witchhunts, which killed men and women unnecessarily, had to stop. A week later, while driving home, Daswa slowed his bakkie to a stop after finding his path blocked by a log.

He climbed out of the bakkie so that he could move the log. While he was doing so he was confronted by a mob of young men.

The men pelted him with stones, chased him across a field and into a pub.

The blow that probably killed him came from a knobkerrie that crushed his skull. When they were sure Daswa was dead, the attackers poured boiling water over his head.

The date was February 2, 1990—coincidentally the day President FW de Klerk unbanned the liberation movements.

No one was ever prosecuted for the crime.

Now, more than 24 years on, some of his killers still walk past his small headstone each day. It’s difficult to find a person in Nweli who doesn’t have a story about Daswa’s compassion and warmth, said Sr Hiosan.

“There needs to be justice, of course,” she said. “But forgiveness and justice are two separate things.”

“Forgiveness is a Christian virtue. We have let go of any desire to get even or to retaliate,” she said. “Justice is in the realm of the courts and the police. Forgiveness is very different from justice.”

Those who knew Daswa say that reopening the investigation into his death would accomplish little.

Simon Khaukanani, who once taught villagers about the Catholic faith alongside Daswa, regularly prays at his friend’s graveside.

He said those he holds responsible for Daswa’s death have never attended the graveside gatherings.

“We cannot even talk to these people and say, ‘Let us talk together about reconciliation.’ Because we have different beliefs,” he told Associated Press in an interview in 2012.

Mr Khaukanani added: “Benedict wanted to see unity among the community. Praying together, doing everything together.”

Chris Maphaphuli, who was inspired by Daswa to become a teacher and counted him as a friend, said Daswa had faults.

“He could be sharp-tongued, but was quick to apologise. He could be boastful about his faith, but he kept to his promises. He was a respected man, relatively rich, and that stirred jealousy.”

Daswa’s commitment to resisting superstition became all too public, Mr Maphaphuli told AP. “It is then that they started to hate him. To hunt him. Because they wanted to do away with him.”

Sr Hiosan said the diocese is trying to get further funding for the cause, which has cost more than R1,5 million so far.

“We could have a beatification on our hands next year and this will be expensive,” she said.

“We are in an incredibly poor rural area. We will need to have the grave site upgraded. The remains will have to be exhumed and verified as that is part of the process.”

Sr Hiosan said a 10-hectare site has been earmarked for the beatification.

“There is an incredible amount of expense associated with that.

There are town planner’s fees and buildings that need to be constructed. An unreal amount of money is needed.”

For more information contact Sr Hiosan on 015 307 5244 or email bendaswa@mweb.co.za. To contribute to the cause, deposits can be made to account name: Diocese of Tzaneen: Benedict Daswa Cause, Standard Bank, account 330911538, branch 052749. n To join The Southern Cross Pilgrimage of Prayer for the cause of Benedict Daswa, led by Bishop Joao Rodrigues of Tzaneen to Fatima, Lourdes, Avila and other places associated with Our Lady from September 25 to October 6 this year, contact Gail on 076 352 3809 or e-mail info@fowlertours.co.za.

SaFe, SeCuRe, CaTHOLIC ReTIReMenT Nazareth House, Johannesburg

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From double rooms to a penthouse and flats in the Larmenier Retirement Village, Nazareth House has everything you would wish for.

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For further information please contact The Social Worker: socialworker@nazarethhousejohannesburg.org Tel: 011 648 1002

CLASSIFIEDS

The Church and a just wage Continued from page 7 human person in his social justice encyclicals Laborem Exercens (1981) and Centesimus Annus (1991).

He defined “man” as the subject of work, rather than “production”. Work is good, man thereby becomes a co-creator with God himself in developing creation for the good of all (25.2).

St John Paul taught that in addition to the “direct employer”, who signs the paycheque and orders the work, the role of the “indirect employer”—society—must also be recognised.

St John Paul said: • Unemployment is an evil to

be fought, and insured against (18.1).

• Medical care should be easily available and cheap, and there should be provision for old age (19.6).

• Unions should struggle for social justice, but this must not be a “class struggle”. Unions seek the good of the workers, but not harm to others (20.3).

Catholic Social Teaching has always been against the alienation of radical capitalism, “when people use one another, and when they seek an ever more refined satisfaction of their individual and secondary needs”.

The widely publicised critique

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)

DURBAN: St Anthony’s parish in Durban has Holy Mass and Novena to St Anthony every Tuesday at 9am. On the first Friday of every month there is Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 5.30pm. Sunday Mass in at 9am. Phone 031 309 3496.

PIETERMARITZBURG: Couples for Christ invites all women to "God’s

beloved" women’s conference on August 22 and 23 at FeT College, Northdale, cor Balambra Way and Olympia Way, Pietermaritzburg. Registration fee: R150 per person (before July 31) or R180 thereafter. This includes conference kit, meals, teas and T-shirt. Contact Mary Chetty at 0724445144 or Olivia Sampson at 0795177492.

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of capitalism by Pope Francis, which some misguided people have even called “Marxist”, merely echoes what popes before him have said.

Most Catholic bishops’ conferences, including those of Southern Africa and of England and Wales, fully endorse the principle of the just wage. They invite Catholic organisations and charities to work towards its implementation.

Radical market economic theories have themselves never been able to dispute Smith’s argument even as they turn to prioritise profit over the living wages of workers.

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 612. ACROSS: : 5 East, 7 Priesthood, 8 Note, 10 Undreamt, 11 Status, 12 Nimbus, 14 Kedron, 16 Admits, 17 Barabbas, 19 Rode, 21 Underrates, 22 Shem. DOWN: : 1 Open, 2 Semester, 3 Stoups, 4 Jordan, 5 Edge, 6 Surmounted, 9 On the march, 13 Memorial, 15 Nobody, 16 Assure, 18 Alum, 20 Easy.

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CLASSIFIEDS

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 (R1,37 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

DEATH

SCHLIGHT—Fr Harry Schlight of Philadelphia and Namaqualand, missionary since 1948. His life of simplicity and service, his liberated thinking and his love of God will always be an inspiration to us. We were privileged to know him. May he rest in peace.

Mary Lack and Rosanne Shields SARDINHA—Alice Rodrigues passed away July 3, 2014. Deeply mourned by her husband elmano and children Ivonne, Louis and Terry, brother Adelino Vasco Feandeiro, wife Celsa Maria and children Valeria, Andres and families in europe.

IN MEMORIAM

Liturgical Calendar Year A Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday, July 27 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12, Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130, Romans 8:28-30, Matthew 13:44-52 or Matthew 13:44-46 Monday, July 28 Jeremiah 13:1-11, Deuteronomy 32:18-21, Matthew 13:31-35 Tuesday, July 29, St Martha Jeremiah 14:17-22, Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13, John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42 Wednesday, July 30 Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21, Psalm 59:2-4, 10-11, 17-18, Matthew 13:44-46 Thursday, July 31, St Ignatius of Loyola Jeremiah 18:1-6, Psalm 146:1-6, Matthew 13:47-53 Friday, August 1, St Alphonsus Liguori Jeremiah 26:1-9, Psalm 69:5, 8-10, 14, Matthew 13:54-58 Saturday, August 2, Our Lady of the Angels of Portiuncula Sirach 24:1-4, 16, 22-24, Psalm 34:5, 7, 9-10, 18-19, Galatians 4:3-7, Luke 1:26-33 Sunday, August 3 Isaiah 55:1-3, Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18, Romans 8:35:37-39, Matthew 14:13-21

The Southern Cross, July 23to July 29, 2014

GOUVEIA—edwardo. July 30, 2010. This day we sadly remember. A special person, a special face.

Someone we love and cannot replace. Always thoughtful, forever kind, these are the memories Wardo left behind after four long years, only God knows, how much we miss you and wish you back home. May God grant you eternal rest my love, our Dad and Pa. Forever loving you and always in our hearts Maria, Angelo, Justene, eddie, emily, Joanne, Mark, Jordan, Sheldon, Joshua and all the family.

DU PLESSIS—Dion, 31/05/1975 to 27/07/2007.

Seven years is half my life but I will never forget anything about you Daddy. We love you and miss you as much as ever. Your loving daughter Paige and all your family.

SANVIDO—Tony. In loving memory of my dear husband, our father and grandfather who passed away August 1, 1998. Always remembered with love by his wife Nancy, his children, and their families.

RIP. McCAULEY—FrJames CSSR. In loving memory of Fr Jim. Maureen Mayes.

PERSONAL

ABORTION is murder—Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow! Avoid pro-abortion politicians.

CATHOLIC TELEVISION: To receive eWTN Global Catholic Networks via satellite in the PTA/JHB region, please contact Frans on 082 698 1096.

CAN YOU be silent on abortion and walk with God? Matthew 7:21 See www.180movie.com TAXATION SERVICES: Tax & Vat returns prepared and e-filed by SARS-registered tax practitioner, (45 years’ SARS experience now on your side). Contact Mike 082 929 9874/033 396 5471 or mikewhite1@ telkomsa.net www.abortioninstru ments.com is the graphic truth that will set you free.

PRAYER

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.

MB.

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Order from books@scross.co.za or www.books.scross.co.za or call 021 465-5007 or buy at 10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town

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.

Remo Ciolli.

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.

In thanks for prayers answered, Pat.

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

LONDON, Protea House: Single R350, twin R560 per/night. Self-catering, busses and underground nearby. Phone Peter 021 851 5200. 0044 208 7484834.

KNYSNA: Self-catering accommodation for 2 in Old Belvidere with wonderful Lagoon views. 044 387 1052.

KNYSNA: S/c accommodation for 2/3 on dairy farm in gorgeous valley. Winter special R600. 084 458 8397.

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

Secure parking, ideal for rest and relaxation. Special rates for pensioners and clergy. Malcolm Salida 082 784 5675, mjsalida@ gmail.com SEDGEFIELD: Beautiful self-catering garden holiday flat, sleeps four, two bedrooms, open-plan lounge, kitchen, fully equipped. 5min walk to lagoon. Out of season specials. Contact Les or Bernadette 044 343 3242, 082 900 6282.

CASA SERENA The retirement home with the Italian flair.

7A Marais Road, Bedfordview, Jhb. Provides full board and lodging, medical services and transport.

Senior citizens wishing to retire in this beautiful Home, please phone

011 284 2917 www.casaserena.co.za

The Southern Cross is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa. Printed by Paarl Coldset (Pty) Ltd, 10 Freedom Way, Milnerton.

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

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: Stuart Graham (s.graham@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).

Directors: C Moerdyk (Chairman), Archbishop S Brislin, P Davids*, S Duval, e Jackson, B Jordan, Sr H Makoro CPS, R Riedlinger, M Salida, G Simmermacher*, R Shields, z Tom

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

NOAH OLD AGE HOMES

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

079 663 2634 DBN 031 201 5471 079 742 8861 JHB

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OES God really care?” is the cry too often on our lips, when it seems that everything has gone impossibly wrong, and that therefore we have been utterly abandoned.

Again and again, however, all that we need is just a tiny adjustment of our screen, and we see things once more with clarity. That is what can happen to us if we pay attention to the readings for next Sunday.

The first reading has the prophet addressing himself, rather reproachfully, it must be said, to those who think they are thirsty, and he takes on God’s voice and invites them to “come to the water”.

Not only that, but there is no charge for this thirst-quenching: “The one who has no money, come…and eat…drink wine and milk.”

And there is a warning against spending money on that which is unimportant, “what is not-bread, and your wages on what is notsatisfying”.

So we are invited: “Listen, and you shall have life, and I shall make a new and lasting covenant with you.” Does this sound like a God who has ceased to care for us?

Such a God would be unimaginable to the

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HERE are few more insightful studies into the spirituality of ageing than the late James Hillman’s book The Force of Character.

Ironically, Hillman was more critical of Christian spirituality than sympathetic to it; yet his brilliant insights into nature’s design and intent offer perspectives on the spirituality of ageing that often eclipse what is found in explicitly Christian writings.

Hillman begins this book, a discourse on the nature of ageing, with a question: Why would nature design things so that, as humans, just as we reach the pinnacle of our maturity and finally get more of a genuine grip on our lives, our bodies begin to fall apart?

Why do we suffer such a bevy of physical ailments as we age? Is this a cruel trick or does nature have a specific intent in mind when it does this? What might nature have in mind when the ailments and physical foibles of age begin to play some havoc with our days and nights?

He answers these questions with a metaphor. The best wines have to be aged and mellowed in cracked old barrels. This image, of course, needs little explication.

We know the difference between a mellow old wine and a tart young one that could still use some maturation.

What we don’t grasp as immediately is how that old wine became so mellow, what processes it had to endure to give up the sharp tang of its youth.

Thus, Hillman’s metaphor speaks brilliantly. Our physical bodies are the containers within which our souls mellow and mature; and our souls mellow and mature more deeply when our bodies begin to show cracks than they do when we are physically strong and whole, akin to what John Updike wrote after undergoing a

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Tiny adjustments bring clarity Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

composer of our psalm for next Sunday: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in love; the Lord is good to all, and merciful to all his creatures.”

Then, in words used for grace in many Christian and Jewish circles: “You open your hand and you satisfy the desire of every creature.” Just when you were feeling the remoteness of God, the poet sings: “The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.”

This is a God who casts a loving eye upon all of us.

That is something of which Paul is profoundly aware. He is head-over-heels in love with Christ, and cannot imagine that anything “is going to separate us from the love of Christ”.

He even makes a list of things that might so separate us—“affliction or being in a tight corner or persecution, of having nothing to eat or nothing to wear, or danger or swords”—all those threats that persuade us that God does not really care.

Paul asserts: “In all these things we conquer, and more than conquer, through the One who loved us.”

Then he produces another list of what might separate us from God’s care (though this one is harder to pin down): “Neither Death nor Life, nor Angels nor Authorities, nor things present nor things to come nor Powers, nor Height nor Depth [we may not fully understand what he is talking about here, but we hang on grimly to the end], nor any other created thing is going to be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We mop our brows and perhaps scratch our heads, but we feel dimly pleased with the message.

The gospel makes it absolutely clear how this love of God in Jesus really is a matter of personal care for us.

Visits from goddess of night

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18th Sunday: August 3 Readings: Isaiah 55:1-3, Psalm 145: 8-9, 1518, Romans 8:35, 37-39, Matthew 14:13-21

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Final Reflection

death-threatening illness. For Updike, there are some secrets that are hidden from health. For Hillman there is a depth of maturity that is also hidden from health.

W

ith that fundamental insight as his ground, Hillman then goes on in each chapter of the book to take up one aspect of ageing, one aspect of the loss of the wholeness of our youth, and shows how it is designed to help mellow and mature the soul.

And since he is dealing with various lapses in our bodies and our health, we can expect that what follows will be pretty earthy and far from glamorous.

For instance, he begins one chapter with the question: Why does it happen that, as we age, we find it more difficult to sleep uninterrupted through the night but instead are awakened with the need to go to the bathroom and heed a call of nature?

What is nature’s intent in that?

Hillman answers with another insightful analogy. In monasteries, monks get up each night while it is still dark and do an exercise they call “vigils”. If you asked them why they don’t do this prayer during the day so as to save themselves getting up in the middle of the night, they would tell you that this particular exercise can be done only at night, in the dark, in the particular mood that the night brings.

The night, the dark, and the more sombre angels this brings cannot be artificially replicated during the day, in the light.

Light brings a sunnier mood and there are

certain things we will not face in the light of day, but only when the dark besets us.

So what happens when our ageing bodies make us get up at night to heed nature’s call? We heed nature’s call but then often are unable to fall back into sleep immediately. Instead we lie in our beds trying to will ourselves back to sleep when something unwanted and unintended happens.

We receive a visit from the mythical goddess of night, Nyx. And she doesn’t come alone; she brings along her children: unresolved bitterness, lingering grudges, unwanted paranoia, frightening shadows, and a bevy of other dark spirits whom we can normally avoid and whom we refuse to face when the lights are on.

But now, in the dark, unable to sleep, we must deal with them, and dealing with them, making our peace with Nyx and her children, helps mellow our souls and helps us grow to a deeper maturity.

Monks already know this and so each night they schedule a session with the goddess of night.

They don’t call it that, of course, and might even be offended by the reference to their vigil prayer as a visit with this mythical goddess, but their spiritual wisdom mirrors that of nature.

Both nature and monks know that certain work inside the soul can only be done in the darkness of night.

Monks have secrets worth knowing and nature eventually teaches them to us, whether we want the lesson or not.

Nature eventually turns us all into monks—our ageing bodies eventually become a monastic cell within which our souls deepen, mellow, and mature, like wines being seasoned in cracked old barrels.

It starts, in our reading, with the crowds following Jesus (and preventing him from having some “down time”).

But notice his reaction: it is not, as yours or mine might be, “Oh no! Will they never leave me alone?”

Instead, “He had pity on them, and he healed their sick.”

The disciples, however, are not quite so keen, and, under the pretext of concern for the crowds, suggest that he dismiss them to go and buy food.

Jesus puts the ball back in their court: “Give them something to eat yourselves.”

The disciples, all practical and not all that caring, indicate that they have no more than “five loaves and two fish”, but Jesus is not deterred, takes the meagre resources, “blessed and broke and gave to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the crowds”.

The story is told without any sense of drama: it just happens, and “the surplus of the fragments was 12 full baskets”!

To realise how much God cares, all we have to do is learn to see our world with fresh eyes.

Southern Crossword #612

ACROSS 5. Direction for wise men (4) 7. Ministry turns to spheroid pattern (10) 8. Memorandum for the musician (4) 10. Not previously thought of (8) 11. Kind of symbol of social position (6) 12. Bright cloud about the saint (6) 14. Jesus crossed this valley (Jn 18) (6) 16. Confesses and lets in (6) 17. He was preferred to Jesus (Mt 27) (8) 19. Went on horseback (4) 21. Fails to give full marks (10) 22. Son of Noah (Gn 6) (4)

DOWN 1. Public (4) 2. Rest seem part of academic year (8) 3. They stop us holding the holy water (6) 4. Flower of the Baptist’s activity (Mk 1) (6) 5. Move slowly to the margin (4) 6. Overcame (10) 9. Those in the procession will be so determined (2,3,5) 13. Unforgettable monument (8) 15. Anonymous spirit? (6) 16. Dispel doubt, as user may do (6) 18. Alumnus with chemical start (4) 20. A letter taken from the essay is simple (4) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

F

ATHER visited a new member of the congregation, and saw that he had a horseshoe hanging above the door.

“Surely you don’t believe in the silly superstition that a horseshoe brings you luck,” the priest said, accusingly.

“Of course not,” said the man with the horseshoe, “but I’ve been told that it brings luck even if you don’t believe in it.”