The
S outhern C ross
July 30 to August 5, 2014
reg No. 1920/002058/06
No 4883
www.scross.co.za
Pope’s path to unity with evangelicals
Page 9
r7,00 (incl Vat rSa)
Fr Rolheiser: How to live with suicide
Page 12
The story of Pretoria-born future saint
Page 10
SA bishops to discuss future of the Church By StUart GraHaM
T
HE Southern African bishops will “reflect on challenges” and deliberate on the future of the Church when they meet for their plenary session in Mariannhill in August. The bishops meet in plenary twice a year. Fr S’milo Mngadi, communications officerrof the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), said an issue that is likely to arise at the meeting from August 6-13 is the drying up of funding for the Church from Europe and the United States. “One of the general issues for the Church is that there is no money,” said Fr Mngadi. “Funding from Europe and the US has reduced and there is a need for the Church to be more self-reliant.” Fr Mngadi said Europe and the United States “generally” thought of South Africa as “well to do” and not needing much. “South Africa has one foot in the first world and the other in the extreme [of poverty]. Europe looks at that first world and thinks everything is okay.” Europe, which is more secularised than before, is specifically avoiding funding Church projects. “It will still fund aid projects such as drug rehabilitation, but the projects that are core to the Church, such as catechism and evan-
gelisation, are very difficult to fund,” Fr Mngadi said. The shortage of funds must lead to “the consciousness of owning the Church locally”, he said. “Once we get that right, the money will follow.” Fr Mngadi said the first day of the meeting will be a day of recollection, with most of the time spent with the bishops “collegially” where the bishops—by themselves and without staff present—share their pastoral experiences, reflect on challenges and “deliberate on the future of the Church in our area”. Other points of discussion and deliberation will include “Church and state relations after 20 years of democracy”, the restructuring of the bishops’ conference “with evangelisation as the key point”, and the possibility and prospects for a national laity council. Fr Mngadi said the Church realises it has to become more involved in “having a voice” in the government, particularly in economic issues such as worker strikes and corruption. “Prior to democracy we were very clear that we were fighting apartheid. After 1994, when democracy was ushered in, we had to let the democratic government work without interference from our side,” he said. “We realise that the Church needs to be more involved [in politics]. Issues are emerging that need the voice of the Church.”
Late pope was Riddler X By CaroL GLatz
G
OING by the pseudonym “X”, Pope Leo XIII anonymously crafted poetic puzzles in Latin for a Roman periodical at the turn of the 19th century. The pope created lengthy riddles, known as “charades”, in Latin in which readers had to guess a rebus-like answer from two or more words that together formed the syllables of a new word. Eight of his puzzles were published anonymously in Vox Urbis, a Rome newspaper that was printed entirely in Latin between 1898-1913, according to an article in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.
A reader who submitted the correct answer to the riddle would receive a book of Latin poetry written by either Pope Leo or another noted Catholic figure. The identity of the mysterious riddle-maker, however, was soon revealed by a French reporter covering the Pope Leo XIII Vatican for the daily newspa- (1878-1903) per Le Figaro. Felix Ziegler published his scoop on January 9, 1899, a year after the puzzles started Continued on page 5
the parishioners of Sacred Heart church in Qoqodala, Queenstown diocese, are enthusiastic about their Catholic newspaper. Under the motto “It’s our Faith; Let’s Live It”, parish priest Fr Mathias Nsamba and parishioners promote and actively sell the newspaper every week. “Catholics who promote The Southern Cross in their communities are just as important a part of the social communications apostolate as those who produce the newspaper,” said editor Günther Simmermacher. “We are always grateful to those, most of whom are unknown to us, who help to get The Southern Cross into the hands of the faithful.”
Pope’s SA friend dies in bike crash after visit home
T
HE South Africa-raised evangelical bishop who used his iPhone to film a video of Pope Francis addressing other Pentecostals died on July 20 after a motorcycle accident. Bishop Tony Palmer (pictured), whom Pope Francis referred to as his friend, was riding the motorcycle when he crashed head-on with a car travelling in the wrong lane, according to Ian Findlay, principal of Embassy Bible College in Bath, England. Bishop Palmer, a member of the independent Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, had just finished a visit to South Africa, where he had grown up. He made several public appearances and was interviewed on Radio Veritas. One of his final press interviews, possibly the last, was with The Southern Cross’ Stuart Graham. The article of it appears on page 9 this week. Bishop Palmer leaves behind a wife and two teenage children. Pope Francis’ scheduled meeting with Pentecostal at Caserta, southern Italy, on July 28 was brokered by Bishop Palmer. Bishop Palmer, who was born in Britain and grew up in South Africa, was co-founder of The Ark Community, which describes itself as “an Internet-based, interdenominational” Christian community. Previously he served as
the director of the South Africa office of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, a US-based Pentecostal group offering megaprayer meetings around the world. Pope Francis’ iPhone video message, filmed by Bishop Palmer in January, was addressed to participants in a conference sponsored by Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Addressing Bishop Palmer as “my brother, a bishop-brother” and saying they had “been friends for years”, the pope spoke of his longing for Christian unity and his confidence that God would bring about the miracle of Christian unity. Soon after Pope Francis’ election, Bishop Palmer said he had met the future Pope Francis in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2008 when he sought the then-archbishop’s permission to work with charismatic Catholics in the city. Bishop Palmer met the pope again in late June, along with a group of other Pentecostal and evangelical pastors. At that meeting, Pope Francis announced his intention to visit the church of another Pentecostal pastor he’d met in Buenos Aires, Giovanni Traettino.
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