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August 13 to August 19, 2014

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SA Church: Witchcraft is rampant

By STUART GRAHAM

T

HE Church is battling a rise in dark arts and witchcraft in rural areas around South Africa, according to Catholic leaders.

Holy Cross Sister Phutunywa Siyali, coordinator of the Southern African Bishops’ Conference’ Culture Office, told The Southern Cross that after an earth tremor in central South Africa on the afternoon of August 5 “a number of people” she encountered had asked: “Who had caused the earthquake?”

The implication of the question was that “someone must have practised a kind of witchcraft. The underlying belief was that someone caused it”, Sr Siyali said.

Witchcraft, she said, is widely practised in the Limpopo area, as well KwaZulu-Natal.

Sr Siyali said her office has been holding workshops in the SACBC region to educate school pupils about witchcraft and Satanism.

Sr Claudette Hiosan, who works at the Ave Maria Pastoral Centre in Mooketsi outside of Tzaneen, said witchcraft is strong in the area.

“It is certainly very alive and well up here,” said Sr Hiosan.

The nun is leading the sainthood cause for Benedict Daswa, who was killed by a mob near his village in February 1990 after he refused to take part in and contribute to witchcraft.

The growth in devil worship and “people into the occult” is spreading across Africa, Sr Hiosan said.

Catholic leaders hope that the cause for Daswa’s sainthood will highlight the issue.

Bishop João Rodrigues of Tzaneen said witchcraft is “bad everywhere”.

It is a pre-scientific practice which is “deeply rooted in a traditional world view that is pre-Christian”, he said.

“It is about a dark and negative spiritual world,” the bishop said.

T

he Church, he said, wants people to embrace what is good in their culture, as Daswa had done, but to exclude what goes against the Gospel.

“As we accept Christ, we have to look at what is wrong in our own culture and chal-

lenge it,” he said.

Daswa, said Bishop Rodrigues, was a man who was proud of his Jewish-linked Lemba culture.

“Benedict Daswa was a man of his culture, but through his faith in Christ, he realised that certain things were wrong with this culture,” Bishop Rodrigues said.

In an incident in November, a 60-year-old grandmother was accused of using witchcraft to cause an accident that killed 30 people on the Moloto Road in Mpumalanga.

Soon after the accident, 33 people were arrested after they burnt down the elderly woman’s house in Waterval.

Police spokesman Leonard Hlathi said a mob had accused the grandmother of bewitching the bus driver.

The police are known to relocate victims of witchcraft accusations, but are secretive about the locations of “witch camps”, most of which are in the Limpopo province.

I

n his 2011 apostolic exhortation on the Second Synod for Africa, Africae Munus, Pope Benedict XVI warned that witchcraft was having a revival in Africa, in part because of people’s anxiety over health, the future and the environment.

He asked bishops to face the challenge of Christians who have a “dual affiliation” to Christianity and traditional African religions.

The Church, he wrote, must clearly reject any “magical elements”, which cause division and ruin for families.

Meanwhile Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga has called on teachers to raise awareness about Satanism in South African schools.

She said an awareness drive was launched earlier this year after teenagers Thandeka Moganetsi, 15, and Chwayita Rathazayo, 16, were found dead in a field in Dobsonville.

The girls, who were dressed in George Khoza Secondary School uniforms, had cuts on their hands and necks. Three black candles and two new razor blades were found at the scene.

The police occult unit was part of the investigating team amid reports that the murders could be linked to Satanism.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town pins the papal Bene Merenti medal on Southern Cross business manager Pamela davids during a Mass in St Mary’s cathedral. Ms davids was awarded the medal in recognition of her 40 years of unbroken service to The Southern Cross, as well as her lifelong contributions to the parish of Corpus Christi, Wynberg, and the Schoenstatt Family Movement. Ms davids has been The Southern Cross’ business manager since 1995. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

Pope’s advice to altar servers

By CiNdy WoodeN

M

EETING 50 000 altar servers from German-speaking regions, Pope Francis urged young Catholics to make careful use of their freedom, treasure their dignity as sons and daughters of God and make time to pray each day.

“If you follow Jesus and his Gospel, your freedom will blossom like a plant in bloom and will bring good and abundant fruit,” the pope said. “You will find authentic joy, because he wants us to be men and women who are happy and fulfilled.”

For the first time in his pontificate, the pope gave a short public homily in German—a language he learned in the late 1980s when he worked on his doctorate in Germany.

During evening prayer with the young people, he said, “God showed us that he is a good father. How did he do it? Through the incarnation of his Son, who became one of us.”

In Jesus, the pope said, “we can understand what God really wants. He wants human beings who are free because they al-

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THE SAINTS OF ITALY Led by Fr EMIL BLASER OP

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Rome WITH PAPAL AUDIENCE | Assisi | Venice | Padua | Florence | Milan | Cascia (St Rita) | Siena (St Catherine) | Norcia (St Benedict) | Birthlace of St John XXIII | and more...

Pope Francis holds hands with youths during a meeting with altar servers in St Peter's Square.

(Photo: Stefano Rellandini, Reuters/CNS) ways know they are protected like the children of a good father.”

Still preaching in German, the pope said God needed a human being to bring his plan to completion: Mary, who “was totally free.

In her freedom, she said yes.”

In a Q&A session, Pope Francis told them the world needs “people who witness to others that God loves them, that he is our father,” Continued on page 4

2

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

LOCAL

Cyclists gear up for Africa charity tour

By STUART GRAHAM

F

ORGET the Tour de France. The Tour de Southern Africa is set to start when a peloton of four cyclists sets off on a 4 550km fundraising journey on the south and east coasts of Africa.

The cyclists—who will raise funds for the Homeplan group that partners with the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference to build homes for orphans—will take around six weeks to complete the trip.

“We build houses for orphans but funding is difficult to get hold of these days, so we decided to arrange a trip with sponsors paying us in Euros for every kilometre we cycle,” said Johan Viljoen, the programme manager for the Aids Of-

fice at the SACBC. The team, which includes Mr Viljoen and three retired Dutch cyclists from Homeplan, will leave from the Pomeroy parish in the diocese of Dundee later this year.

From Dundee, the peloton will pedal through Swaziland, then up the coast of Mozambique and into Tanzania before cutting inland to Arusha near the base of Kilimanjaro. The trip will end off in Nairobi in Kenya.

“We’ll cycle between 100km and 120km a day. We will be followed by a backup vehicle that will carry food and puncture repair kits,” Mr Viljoen said.

“If anyone would like to join us, they are more than welcome.”

Homeplan’s two-roomed houses, which cost R40 000 to build, are

constructed on tribal land with the permission of chiefs before they are handed over to orphans, many of whom live under nothing more than four poles covered with a tarpaulin sheet.

Mr Viljoen said Homeplan has built around 400 houses in 12 rural areas. Each house is built with a 2 500-litre rainwater tank.

“There are around four million orphans in South Africa. Many of them are completely destitute and have nowhere to live,” said Mr Viljoen.

The group also provides medical care, nutrition and school uniforms to orphans. n For more information contact Johan Viljoen on 012 323 6458 or jviljoen@ sacbc.rog.za

SACBC helping hand for Aids, TB

By JoHAN VilJoeN

S

WAZILAND has the highest prevalence of both TB and HIV in the world. The SACBC’s Early Detection of TB programme has made a difference in reducing morbidity levels.

Patients are detected during the early stages of the disease, are placed on TB treatment, and are monitored by community health workers for adherence to treatment.

The programme operates in 16 places. Two of them are in Swaziland: Good Shepherd in Siteki and Regina Mundi in Piggs Peak. In both places the programme is being run by parish-based, home-based caregivers.

The programme is currently being evaluated by Drs Ruth Stark and Marisa Wilke, under the auspices of the University of the Free State. Dr Stark is visiting implementation sites, interviewing project coordinators, caregivers and beneficiaries.

The two Swaziland sites are among the five best-performing in the programme. In both places, patients described caregivers as “their friends” in whom they confide and with whom they discuss all their problems.

Parishioners at St Thomas More and St John Fisher parish sign up for the family programme offered by the parish.

Ixopo focuses on the family

T

HE men and women of the St Thomas Moore and St John Fisher parish in Ixopo, Mariannhill diocese, are getting together to build Catholic, Christ-centred families.

They have committed themselves to undertake a course in reconciliation and family-building to enrich the lives of their families and the faith in their parish.

“This desire to build Christian families has deepened their faith and as a result also their commitment to the parish,” said parish priest Fr Dumisani Khumalo. “You can feel the change.”

The participating parishioners are committed to helping each

other and remain accountable to the promises they have made before their family and in the presence of the parish community.

The families now meet monthly to discuss their hopes, aspirations and difficulties.

“I hope that with the aid of the men’s group we will be able to offer this course to the parishioners awaiting trial in the local prison,” said Precious Blood Sister Clair Wade.

“Let us promote Christian families, then the message of love and peace will succeed in the heart of the next generation, and we will have left a valuable legacy for the future,” she said.

Fourth-oldest parish’s jubilee By dylAN APPoliS

S Mangcobo Mabuza with his daughter Thandolwethu, 8, and their caregiver Janet dlamini. Mr Mabuza has four children, the oldest of whom is 11. Their mother died in 2011. He is in Manzini during the week, looking for employment. The children are then alone at home. They have no money and no food, and rely fully on what they receive from Ms dlamini. Thandolwethu was found to have TB three months ago. She is on treatment.

This is in contrast to South Africa, where many patients do not want to see a caregiver near their houses.

In both places the poverty is acute, with starvation being common. The situation in Siteki is exacerbated by the fact that it is at the epicentre of a cholera epidemic,

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However, the programme is having an impact.

Fr Mandla Makama says that he used to bury around 25 people a year who died of TB. Since this programme started in August 2013, he has buried only three.

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OUTH Africa’s fourth-oldest Catholic church is preparing to celebrate its 150th birthday.

The parish of St Francis de Sales in Malmesbury, on the West Coast in the archdiocese of Cape Town, will celebrate the century-and-ahalf jubilee on September 24.

In 1861 Bishop Thomas Grimley, newly appointed head of the vicariate of Cape Town, bought one acre of land in Malmesbury for about £103 with the intention of starting a mission on the West Coast.

The construction of the church would not begin until December 1864, but the first Mass in Malmesbury was celebrated in the courthouse on January 27, 1864 by Bishop Grimley and Fr James O’Haire who travelled to Malmesbury, current

parish priest Fr Kizito Gugah told The Southern Cross.

“The foundation stone of the church was laid in December 1864, and on September 24, 1865, there was a big celebration when the new church of St Francis de Sales was solemnly blessed,” said Fr Gugah.

“The preparations are underway to make September 24 a memorable day of celebration of this important church in the life of the Catholic Church in South Africa,” he said.

Fr Gugah succeeded Fr Peter Ziegler earlier this year.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin and priests of the archdiocese, including those who have served the community, will take part in the parish’s 150th birthday celebration. n For more information phone 022 482-2228 or e-mail stfrancis desales@telkomsa.net

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The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

LOCAL

3

People ‘take law into their own hands’

By STAFF RePoRTeR

S

OUTH Africans are more inclined than ever to “take the law into their own hands” when it comes to accessing land and housing, a report by the Southern African Bishops’ Conference’s Parliamentary Liaison Office has found.

The report, by Jesuit Father Matsepane Morare on the housing crisis in South Africa, says three provinces – Western Cape, Gauteng and North West—are at the heart of confrontations about housing and access to urban land.

“If this trend continues, the country will lurch from one violent confrontation to another,” he says.

Western Cape and Gauteng have both seen huge population growth from 1996 to 2011 and are the provinces with the highest number of public protests, the report says.

North West, meanwhile, especially around the platinum mines, has been characterised by high migration patterns into already overcrowded spaces.

Other provinces, such as Eastern Cape, have seen radical drops in population.

The report says that though it appears as if poverty is a defining factor in the housing crisis, low-income households “which are not technically poor” also struggle.

“Nurses, teachers, police officers

and others in secure employment find themselves able to access neither private finance nor state housing,” it says.

“Thus, the question of housing is not simply about subsidised houses for the poor, it is an economic structural issue of access.”

It is also notable that the problem is largely an urban one, with informal settlements mushrooming, sometimes almost overnight, in open spaces in and around towns and cities.

South Africa’s housing problems also have a peculiarity resulting from the apartheid legacy, including the spatial architecture that still defines most cities and towns.

“As Pope Francis has noted, ‘houses and neighbourhoods are more often built to isolate and protect than to connect and integrate’,” Fr Morare says.

“In South Africa, much of the old apartheid residential divisions still persist, while the creation of exclusive gated communities, meant to ‘isolate and protect’ rather than ‘connect and integrate’, contributes further to social division.”

Pre-empting the haphazard influx of people from rural to urban areas, preparing land in advance for human habitation, and directing people onto land already prepared and serviced, rather than reacting

to illegal occupation of land and property, could all contribute to alleviating the problem.

There are “some signs” that government is taking the challenge more seriously and is moving beyond merely the provision of basic houses, the report says.

In 2013 the ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs produced an integrated urban development framework .

During the debate on the 2014 state of the nation address, minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe announced that President Jacob Zuma had told him to establish an interministerial committee on revitalising distressed mining communities.

Join Italian saints pilgrimage STAFF RePoRTeR

F

OR the fifth time, The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas will team up to headline a joint pilgrimage.

From September 6-18, 2015, the joint pilgrimage will follow the great saints of Italy, in a journey to Rome, Assisi, Venice, Padua, Florence, Siena, Milan and other sites.

The pilgrimage will be led by Fr Emil Blaser OP, station director of Radio Veritas.

A special visit will be to the mountainous birthplace of Pope St John XXIII near Bergamo in northern Italy.

Other saints on the itinerary include Ss Anthony of Padua, Rita of Cascia, Benedict of Norcia (founder of the Benedictine order), Catherine of Siena, and many more.

Rome is known as the city of saints—most famously, St Peter and St Paul. The group will also visit the Roman catacombs.

Assisi is the place of Ss Francis and Clare. At the basilica of St Clare the original cloaks and other possessions of the saints are on display.

In Greccio, in the Rieti Valley, the pilgrims will see the cells of Ss Francis and Bonaventure.

St Francis invented the nativity scene in Greccio and wrote the rule of the Franciscan order in nearby Fonte Colombo.

The Southern Cross and Radio Veritas last co-hosted the Canonisation Pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi in April/May this year.

Previous collaborations included pilgrimages to Lourdes, Rome and the Holy Land, all led by Fr Blaser.

“We are excited to headline another pilgrimage with Radio Veritas,” said Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher.

These joint actions are a con-

Radio Veritas’ Fr emil Blaser oP prepares to preside over the live draw for the winner of the raffle for two places on the dominican pilgrimage to the Holy land and Rome in September. The winner of the prize, worth about R70 000, was Marianna Pullen Bulha of Swaziland. The draw was made live on air on Fr Blaser’s morning show on Radio Veritas. Proceeds of the raffle go to the training of dominican priests.

R982 tip for praying By dylAN APPoliS

A

WAITRESS at a Maxis restaurant in Northgate Mall, Johannesburg, received a surprising tip from a generous customer—because she believes in God. Bernadett Baleni, 38, is married with three children, the oldest starting university next year, the middle child being 12 years old and the youngest two and a half.

While Mrs Baleni was serving the customer, he asked her: “Benni, do you believe in God?” Mrs Baleni replied: “Yes, I do.”

He then asked: “When you pray, do you feel that your prayers are sometimes not answered?”

Mrs Baleni said: “I used to believe that before I became a Christian.

However, now that I am a Christian, I know that God will answer my prayers when the time is right.”

The customer replied: “Praise God” to which Mrs Baleni re-

The basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (St Mary of the Flower) is part of the programme in the Saints of italy pilgrimage headlined by The Southern Cross with Radio Veritas in September 2015. The pilgrimage will visit many shrines and tombs of popular saints and go to such places as Rome, Venice, Milan, Assisi and Siena. (Photo: R Thiele) crete sign that the Catholic media in South Africa are working closely together, he said.

Mr Simmermacher said a pilgrimage to various shrines and tombs of saints is faith-enriching.

“As Catholics we have close relationships with our saints. We use them as guides through life’s journey and involve them in our prayer life.

To visit the places of the saint’s birth, life, death and burial brings us closer to them,” he said.

The Saints of Italy Pilgrimage is the second Southern Cross pilgrimage planned for 2015.

In May, Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria will take a group of pilgrims to the Holy Land and then to Turin to see the Shroud of Turin, as well as Rome and Florence. n For more information or to book on either pilgrimage please contact Gail at info@fowlertours.co.za or call 076 3523809.

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sponded: “Amen!”

The customer then said: “Benni, your prayers have just been answered.”

His bill came to R17.80. He put down R1 000, leaving her with a tip of R982,20—or 5618%.

“It was a blessing that I received,” Mrs Baleni told The Southern Cross. “God is on time when it comes to answering my prayers.”

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Bernadett Baleni with the R982 tip she received for believing in God.

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Y

es, it is! Images of Gaza in flames have created an idea that the whole Holy Land is dangerous. But where pilgrims go, life goes on as it always does.

So we can be sure that pilgrims are safe in the Holy Land?

Yes, we can. Our guides and drivers know the region intimately, and know exactly where possible troublespots might be – should there be any, they will be easily bypassed. Working within a network, the guides and drivers of the Holy Land are experts in keeping pilgrims well out of harm’s way.

But is there a possibility that things go wrong for pilgrims?

Even in past times of unrest, not a single pilgrim among millions ever came to harm. The Holy Land is always absolutely safe for pilgrims.

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The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Church aid agencies plan for future Gaza needs

By JUdiTH SUdiloVSKy

W

ITH close to a quarter of a million Palestinians rendered homeless by the fighting between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, the Coordinating Catholic Aid Organisations met repeatedly to organise action to confront the humanitarian crisis.

In addition to the present material needs—food, water, personal hygiene items, medicine and diesel fuel for generators—the Catholic aid associations from the Holy Land, Europe and the United States have begun to plan for the psychosocial needs of Gazans.

“We are talking about a massive number of people who will be in need of help, and of at least 200 000 children who will need intervention,” said Sami El-Yousef, regional director of the Jerusalem Office of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).

CNEWA ran such a programme after the Israeli incursion into Gaza in 2012, he said.

In addition, he said, lack of drinking water has become a critical issue with the bombing of Gaza’s only electrical power plant, which has left the area largely without electricity for pumping water and sewage treatment. Diesel

A Palestinian man reacts upon seeing destruction in Khan younis, Gaza, after the city was hit by israeli shelling and airstrikes on August 1.

(Photo: ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Reuters/CNS) fuel is urgently needed for generators while milk for young children is also in short supply, he said.

CNEWA had been supplying the Anglican Al Ahli Arab Hospital with fuel for the generator for intermittent power outages, but after the attack on the power plant in late July, the hospital was left without any fuel and had to shut down all operations temporarily, said Mr El-Yousef.

The unsanitary conditions in the streets are also causing illnesses, and Mr El-Yousef said many children are coming to the hospital with cases of malnutrition, diarrhoea and fever. The hos-

pital is also treating many of those injured, he said. Other clinics are located in dangerous areas and have been shut down almost from the start of the hostilities, he said, adding: “It is really desperate.”

There is a shortage of medications in the hospitals because people and institutions have used up their credit lines, and cash to purchase them is not available, Mr ElYousef said. CNEWA has been able to give written financial assurances to the banks, enabling the hospital to make necessary purchases, he said.

Catholic Relief Services’ country representative in Jerusalem, Matthew McGarry, credited the “heroic” staffers in Gaza for their continued dedication in distributing aid kits to those most in need.

Several of the staff members have lost family members, and others are now homeless but have continued to work to provide for others, he said.

“They are a committed, selfless team,” he said. “They are doing God’s work.”

“The situation is increasingly desperate and catastrophic,” he said. “The numbers are so huge and the needs so enormous.”— CNS

Cardinal alarmed at high number of German Catholics leaving the Church

A

GERMAN cardinal has warned that the number of Catholics leaving his country’s Church is “alarmingly high” and urged an end to “scandals and vexations” involving clergy.

“There’s no doubt these figures must make us think. We’ve obviously suffered a loss of trust and credibility which has rarely happened so violently,” Cardinal Karl Lehmann of Mainz wrote in a column published in the issue of Glaube und Leben (Faith and Life), the diocese’s weekly newspaper.

“The Church isn’t just another club, and all efforts must now be made to prevent more scandals through repentance and renewal,” wrote Cardinal Lehmann, a former president of the German bishops’ conference.

The column followed the release of new Church data that

showed a sharp increase in Catholics removing their names from parish and diocesan membership rolls.

Catholics made up 30% of Germany’s population of 82 million in 2013, according to Church figures published on July 18. In comparison, 29% of Germans claimed membership in the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Germany.

Registered departures slowed during the 2005-13 pontificate of German Pope Benedict XVI, but jumped again to nearly 179 000 last year, from more than 118 000 in 2012. More than 10 000 Catholics joined or rejoined the Church during the year.

Departures doubled to nearly 8 000 in the troubled Limburg Diocese, where Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst resigned in March after controversy emerged over ex-

penditures for his residence and a diocesan centre.

The Church reported that Sunday Mass attendance dropped from 11,7% to 10,8% of Catholics during the year, compared to 22% in 1989. Church baptisms and marriages also fell.

German sociologist Michael Ebertz told the Catholic news agency KNA he believed the abuse and Limburg scandals had caused the rise in departures, despite much-publicised countermeasures subsequently taken by the German bishops.

The “positive example” set by Pope Francis appeared unable to prevent “a high potential for disappointment among Catholics”, he said. Formal resignations from Church membership were often “the final stage of a long process of distancing from it”, he said.—CNS

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Pilgrims travel in boats as they accompany the statue of our lady of Nazareth during an annual river procession and pilgrimage along the Apeu river to a chapel in Macapazinho, Brazil. (Photo: Ney Marcondes, Reuters/CNS)

Pope’s 11-hour trip to Albania

By CiNdy WoodeN

A

FTER a quick flight over Italy and the Adriatic Sea, Pope Francis will make an 11-hour visit to Albania on September 21, making time to meet with the nation’s leaders and bishops, but also spending time with disadvantaged children and other people assisted

by Catholic charitable organisations.

According to the schedule released by the Vatican, Pope Francis also will hold a late-afternoon meeting with the leaders of other religions and other Christian communities.

Albania has a population of about 3,2 million, more than half of whom are Muslims. According to

Vatican statistics, about 16% of the population is Roman Catholic.

About 7% of the citizens belong to the Orthodox Church.

The pope will spend the entire day in Tirana, Albania’s capital. His flight to Albania will land in and take off from Mother Teresa International Airport and his Mass with Albania’s Catholics will be celebrated in Mother Teresa Square— both honour the famous ethnic Albanian, Bl Teresa of Kolkata.

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, present-day Macedonia.

The pope will leave Rome at 7:30 and arrive in Tirana 90 minutes later. He will arrive at Rome’s Ciampino airport on his return at 21:30.—CNS

Priest-politican back in fold

By CiNdy WoodeN

P

OPE Francis has lifted the suspension of Maryknoll Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, who was ordered 29 years ago to stop exercising his priestly ministry because he refused to give up his political position in Nicaragua’s Sandinista government.

The pope made his decision after Fr D’Escoto, 81, formally requested permission to resume priestly duties. Vatican Radio reported that Fr D’Escoto had written that he wanted to be able to celebrate Mass again “before dying”.

Fr D’Escoto supported the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front in its effort to overthrow the government of Anastasio Somoza.

When the Sandinistas came to

power in 1979, he was named foreign minister, a position he held until 1990.

The Code of Canon Law prohibits priests from holding partisan political offices. After repeated attempts by the Vatican and their religious orders to convince them to resign their positions, Fr D’Escoto and two brothers—Jesuit Father Fernando Cardenal, the Sandinista education minister, and Trappist Father Ernesto Cardenal, the culture minister—were suspended by the Vatican in 1985.

Fr Fernando Cardenal was readmitted to the Jesuits in 1997, four years after renouncing his membership in the Sandinistas. His brother, a poet, continues to be involved in politics.—CNS

Papal advice to altar servers and all youths Continued from page 1 and that they are the ones who need to share that good news with their peers.

People are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and heal the sick, but “we disciples of the Lord have another mission as well: that of being channels that transmit the love of Jesus”.

Pope Francis told them that “time is a gift from God” but, like other gifts, it must be used well.

“Perhaps many young people waste too much time in useless things: chatting on the Internet or with your cellphone...the products of technology that should simplify and improve the quality of life, but sometimes take attention away what is really important,” the pope told the youths As for time management, Pope Francis told the young people, “but you’re German and you do this well”.

No matter what people do each day, the pope said, “one priority must be that of remembering the Creator, who allows us to live, who

loves us and accompanies us on our journeys”.

The pope also responded to a question about how youths could experience the freedom he is talking about when their lives are governed by family and school rules.

Pope Francis said that if people do not use freedom well, it leads them far from God and “can make us lose the dignity with which he has clothed us”, which is why the Church, one’s parents and schools make rules and give young people guidance.

A misuse of freedom “can transform into slavery, slavery to sin”, he said.

“Dear young people, do not use your freedom unwisely. Don’t squander the great dignity of being children of God that has been given to you.”

The five-day pilgrimage to Rome, sponsored by the German bishops’ conference, included tens of thousands of Germans ages 13 to 27, but also altar servers from Austria, Switzerland, Lithuania and northern Italy.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

5

Pope calls nuns back after getting answering machine By eliSe HARRiS

C

ALLING a Carmelite convent in Lucena, Spain, for the second time since December, Pope Francis contacted the nuns, asking them to give his affection and blessing to all the people in their town in the province of Córdoba.

According to COPE, a Spanish radio network that is partially owned by Spain’s Episcopal Conference, Pope Francis sent his “affection, health and blessing” to the city of Lucena during a Saturday afternoon phone call.

It was roughly 16:30 when the sisters of the convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Lucena heard their phone ring. They were surprised when they picked it up to hear the voice of Pope Francis on

the other end of the line.

This call marks the second time the pope has dialled the community since his election as bishop of Rome. The first call was on December 31, 2013, to wish them a happy new year.

Having received only the answering machine in his first attempt to contact the community, the pontiff left them a voice mail, joking: “What are the nuns doing that they can't answer? I am Pope Francis, I wish to greet you in this end of the year. I will see if I can call you later. May God bless you!”

The nuns had been praying when the call came.

The prioress of the convent, Sr Adriana, has known Pope Francis for 15 years, and has been sending him letters containing the inten-

Pope Francis left a voice message for Carmelite Sisters in december.

This month he phoned them back.

(Photo: CNS) tions of the city’s inhabitants, who gave them to the sisters to send to the pontiff, COPE reports.

Pope Francis, she explained, wanted to respond to these letters

Vatican: Sign of Peace not a ‘good morning’ greeting

By CiNdy WoodeN

pope asked the community to speak with “the chaplain of Lucena, so that the rest of the priests from the city send this message” of affection and blessing “to everyone”.

Out of the five nuns in the cloistered community, three hail from the pontiff’s native country of Argentina, including Sr Adriana.

The community is eagerly hoping for the visit of the pope to Spain for the 500th anniversary of the birth of St Teresa of Avila, foundress of the Discalced Carmelites, in 2015.

Although the Vatican has said nothing so far, both the country’s new king, Phillip VI, and the president of Spain’s bishops’ conference, Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez, have sent invitations.—CNA

JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME!

HOLY LAND & JORDAN with Fr Sean Wales CSsR 8-18 November 2014

T

HE Sign of Peace at Mass has not always led to serenity among liturgists or within the congregations gathered each Sunday in Catholic churches around the world.

After nine years of study and consultation, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has told Latin-rite bishops around the world that the Sign of Peace will stay where it is in the Mass.

However, the congregation said, “if it is foreseen that it will not take place properly”, it can be omitted. But when it is used, it must be done with dignity and awareness that it is not a liturgical form of “good morning”, but a witness to the Christian belief that true peace is a gift of Christ’s death and resurrection.

The text of the congregation’s “circular letter” on “the ritual expression of the gift of peace at Mass”, was approved by Pope Francis and posted in Spanish on the website of the Spanish bishops’ conference. Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi SJ has confirmed its authenticity.

Catholic News Service obtained a copy of the letter in English.

In 2005, members of the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist adopted a formal proposition questioning whether the Sign of Peace might be better placed elsewhere in the Mass, for example at the end of the prayer of the faithful and before the offering of the gifts.

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, current prefect of the congregation, and Archbishop Arthur Roche, the congregation’s current secretary, said Pope Benedict XVI had asked the congregation to study the matter.

After doing so, in 2008 it asked bishops’ conferences around the world whether to keep the Sign of Peace where it is or move it to another moment “with a view to improving the understanding and carrying out of this gesture”.

“After further reflection,” the letter said, “it was considered ap-

with this new call by sending a message of “affection, health and blessing” and insisted that they “be good”.

Sr Adriana told the Spanish news agency La Mañana that Pope Francis knows that “in Lucena and in Spain we are praying for him”.

She also said that the pontiff found it very funny that in Spain he has been called “Pope Curro”, which is another name often attributed to those named Francisco. It would be the equivalent of calling someone named Francis “Frank”.

Pope Francis reminded the nuns of his December voicemail, which was published in papers and news outlets across Spain and Latin America with headlines lauding the closeness of the pope to his people.

At the end of his August call, the

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Explore the Kruger Park with A priest exchanges the sign of peace with fellow clergy. The Vatican has issued new guidelines on the peace greeting in the Mass. (Photo: Gregory Shemitz, long island Catholic) propriate to retain the rite of peace in its traditional place in the Roman liturgy and not to introduce structural changes in the Roman Missal.”

But that does not exclude the need for new or renewed efforts to explain the importance of the sign of peace so that the faithful understand it and participate in it correctly, the congregation’s letter said.

T

he letter asked bishops to study whether it might be time to find “more appropriate gestures” to replace a sign of peace using “familiar and profane gestures of greeting”.

And, it said, they should do everything possible to end “abuses” such as: • “The introduction of a ‘song for peace,’ which is nonexistent in the Roman rite.”

• “The movement of the faithful from their places to exchange the sign of peace amongst themselves.”

• “The departure of the priest from the altar in order to give the sign of peace to some of the faithful.”

• People using the sign of peace at Christmas, Easter, baptisms, weddings, ordinations

and funerals to offer holiday greetings, congratulations or condolences.

“Christ is our peace, the divine peace, announced by the prophets and by the angels, and which he brought to the world by means of his paschal mystery,” the letter said. “This peace of the risen Lord is invoked, preached and spread in the celebration [of Mass], even by means of a human gesture lifted up to the realm of the sacred.”

In some Catholic liturgical traditions, it said, the exchange of peace occurs before the offering in response to Jesus’ exhortation in Matthew 5:23-24: “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

But in the Latin rite, the letter said, the exchange of peace comes after the consecration because it refers to “the ‘paschal kiss’ of the risen Christ present on the altar”. It comes just before the breaking of the bread during which “the Lamb of God is implored to gives us his peace.”—CNS

Australian Cardinal edward Bede Clancy, former archbishop of Sydney, died on August 3 at the age of 90. A Scripture scholar, Cardinal Clancy led the Sydney archdiocese for 18 years, retiring in 2001 at 77.

Born on december 13, 1923, in lithgow, New South Wales, he was ordained in 1949. in 1973, Pope Paul Vi named him auxiliary bishop of Sydney, and five years later Pope John Paul ii named him archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn. in 1983, he became archbishop of Sydney and a cardinal in 1988.

Cardinal Clancy’s death leaves the College of Cardinals with 211 members, 118 of whom are younger than 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. (Photo: CNS)

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6

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Catholics and atheists

P

OPE Benedict XVI surprised many in 2011 when he invited atheists to participate in his interfaith peace gathering in Assisi. Likewise, Pope Francis is comfortable talking about matters of faith with atheists, as he did in two interviews with Italian veteran journalist Eugenio Scalfari.

The Catholic Church seeks dialogue with atheists, provided it is sincere and respectful, with a view to creating mutual understanding.

Lately, the climate for such dialogue has improved. Many atheists now express embarrassment at the methods of atheist preachers such as Richard Dawkins.

There is also a sense of unease that the atheist argument is pronounced by TV comedians such as Ricky Gervais and Bill Maher, both of whom are prone to deliberately distorting the positions of religions and ground their criticisms on the false premises they have created.

Christians certainly do not recognise the god which these atheist preachers refer to. As Cardinal Cardinal Cormac Murphy, now retired of Westminster, once put it: “I usually find that the god that is being rejected by them is a god I don’t believe in either.”

While the Dawkins school of atheism knocks down strawmen in order to invalidate the Church, others might simply fail to understand the faith—and faith itself.

Atheists tend to incorrectly assume that the God Catholics believe in is effectively “one more object” in the universe, rather than the basis of and condition for its existence.

A common error resides in the demand by atheists that Christians offer scientific proof of the existence of God, which would be a reasonable demand if God was “an object”.

Christian faith, however, is just that: a confidence that God does exist which requires no proof and can provide none. Faith does not claim to be scientific. It is impossible to explain the source of that confidence in the terms demanded by atheists; faith in God is not expressible in scientific calculations.

Moreover, the demand for scientific proof is unreasonable when science itself does not hold all the answers. The notion that one day science will hold all answers, as some atheists propose, is in itself an act of faith.

To illustrate: the Catholic Church’s stringent process in reviewing reported miracles is often lumped together with the excitable claims of miracles in faithhealing churches.

The Catholic Church holds that miracles are inexplicable events for which there are no scientific explanations. Atheists tend to reject that inexplicability by anticipating with certainty that one day science will provide such answers. Perhaps it will, but stating one’s faith in that prospect is in itself “unscientific”.

Christian and atheist philosophies are embedded in such contradictory premises that it is unlikely that one side will “win” the argument, though individuals may be persuaded one way or another.

With that in mind, dialogue should not be hostile or combative, but instead seek to clarify misconceptions so as to foster a genuine understanding of one another’s perspectives, unclouded by distorted assumptions.

This means also that Catholics understand that atheists don’t by definition “hate” God (how can one hate something one doesn’t believe to exist?).

Reaching such an understanding can have practical application.

Most reasonable atheists now hold that the perceived excesses of religion are best counteracted by secularism, not by polemic about the existence of God. So when the Church states its position on bioethical issues such as embryonic stem cell research or abortion, it will not persuade atheists by reference to God’s law, because to the atheist there is no God and therefore no such law.

The case must be stated on merits both sides can understand. (Not all atheists, it must be noted, are intrinsically supporters of abortion; morality can exist without belief in God.) At the same time, atheists have a tendency to interpret the Church’s position on issues such as abortion in cynically secular terms, usually equating the Church’s pro-life philosophy with its perceived suppression of women. Such views need correction.

Sincere and open dialogue can do much to ease suspicion, even hostility, between those who believe in God and those who reject the notion of a higher power. For that alone, it must be pursued.

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receive preference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discretion.

Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

Laity’s financial expertise needed

Y

OUR front-page report “SA bishops to discuss future of the Church” (July 30) states that, among other matters, the bishops have on their agenda the fact that “there is no money”.

This is a crisis that thinking lay Catholics in South Africa have been warning about for years.

Pope Francis has urged the bishops and clergy to get closer to “their flock” such that they “smell like their sheep”. In this regard I offer the following thoughts for the bishops to consider.

In early 2011 the bishops launched the Bishops’ Trust. Their target was to raise R50 million to be invested to fund the local Church in the future.

In the parish that I attended at the time, Fr Brian Reed delivered a excellent homily appealing for funds for the trust. I responded and received a fine letter of thanks and receipt from the SACBC. There was no follow-up whatsoever, however.

Three months ago I enquired from the SACBC for details of the trust and learnt that the trustees are the five metropolitan archbishops with no lay representation. The trust has to date collected only R14,15 million—less than a third of its target.

Further, the funds have been in-

vested with a number of investment managers, of whom only one is recognised as being in the top four investment houses in South Africa.

Surely it is now time for the bishops to relaunch the trust. To do this they need to appoint lay trustees with knowledge and experience of marketing and finance. Such persons exist within the ranks of the laity in South Africa.

If Pope Francis could launch a new finance department in the Vatican with 50% lay representation, then surely the bishops of this country can follow this example?

The target of R50 million is not beyond the Catholics of this country.

Let us now turn to diocesan finances. Our bishops must realise that here too a problem exists.

The practice in many dioceses, whereby the bishop taxes parishes without any discussion or negotiation, must cease. It is high time that bishops find and appoint competent financial advisers who can assist the bishops in assessing the needs of their dioceses. Once these needs are prioritised then negotiations with individual parish finance committees can begin.

Parish priests have a role to play in being prepared to talk finance from the pulpit, something too many have been reluctant to do.

I

my blood remains in me, and I in them” (Jn 6:56).

We pray: Christ, our salvation from the bondage of sin, make us worthy to approach your most holy table. Give to us the wisdom to understand the nature of your spiritual nourishment and allow us to approach you in humble adoration.

Amen Tony Sturgess, Johannesburg

We should bend down before God

READ somewhere of a non-Christian postulating that if the Catholic Christian truly believed that the bread and wine of the Eucharist was indeed the body and blood of Jesus Christ—God present in the Mass—they would approach reception of this sacrament on their knees in the profound knowledge of their unworthiness!

How could one look upon the fount of all holiness, knowing the extent of one’s own sinfulness?

In fact, the nonchalant attitude many adopt when approaching the Eucharistic table betrays an unawareness or innocence of the real nature of that which is about to meet them.

Indeed, were that awareness more acute we should “tremble” in anticipation of love sublime—but our perception is clouded by the cataract of our own humanity.

A common misnomer outside Catholic teaching is to refer to the Eucharistic meal as “representative” or “symbolic” of what transpired on that fateful night so long ago. The fact of anamnesis does not lessen its reality, it is not an evocative demonstration but is Christ present for all time.

“This is my body”, “This is my blood” says our Lord (Mt 26:26-28).

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks

The Host is holy

T

HE very well-written letter by Fr Brown (June 4) is highly commendable and should also be seen as a very humble and respected approach to this most holy sacrament, the Eucharist.

To receive the holy body of our Lord in the hand is most detestable, to say the least! Can we ever imagine the holiness of this sacrament when we receive our Lord, the holy spotless victim into soiled, sweaty hands that touch benches, steering wheels, cigarettes and even perhaps a running nose.

St Padre Pio always said “we are not worthy to receive him” and indeed we should show our utter respect by humbly going on our knees during Communion to receive the body of christ.

After all, this is the greatest gift that God Almighty has given us, his son, our Lord Jesus Christ who was humiliated and died for us sinners.

Stefan Gruner (June 18) should be ashamed of referring to the sacred host as “round flat cookies”.

Those 20th-century years, which he referred to, were joyful years when everybody served and worshipped a strict, respected and disciplined Church, so different from what we have today where people laugh, talk and even answer cellphones during Holy Mass.

Jan Visser, Musina, Limpopo

End disrespect

B

RAVO, Fr Jerry Brown, for your letter regarding the disrespectful manner in which the Eucharist is received (June 4).

Finally, someone speaks out of genuine concern to preserve and defend the reverence, dignity and holiness which is due to the greatest treasure the Catholic Church possesses.

Why is there a new attitude of “just anyone can handle it”? One can only assume that if there are those who choose to kneel receiving, it would be, at the very least, in order before the true presence of Christ (if that's what one truly believes)?

In the past the laity was expected to “pray, pay and obey”. This is no longer acceptable to younger lay Catholics. Research that I have carried out reveals that only about 30% of registered parishioners contribute regularly to their parish. The majority of these contributors are older persons who will no longer be alive in 10-15 years from now.

Younger Catholics take the view that if they hear nothing about finance, then all must be well. This is no longer acceptable. Younger Catholics are the ones the Church is neglecting and who feel alienated. They need to be shown that they are important and that their needs and views are listened to.

Latest news is that the bishops’ conference is thinking of establishing a new laity council. This is long overdue and one hopes that the bishops would at last get closer to the laity and “smell like the sheep” by listening to their concerns, views and advice on matters of which the bishops have little knowledge or experience.

As a lifelong Catholic in my twilight years, I urge the bishops of Southern Africa to give serious consideration to what I have stated above. Let us all make a fresh start, to speak and listen to each other— laity and clergy.

Mervyn Pollitt, Waterfall, KZN Worship is one of those fundamental acts that affect the whole being, and externals should then be in evidence.

We all know about the poisonous tongue, but unfortunately it belongs to the body as a whole (Rom 14:11; Isaiah 45:23; Phil 2:10, Ps 95:6).

Responding to Mr Lee’s reply to Fr Brown’s letter (July 2), what is your hurry to quicken the queue?

Nothing is more important than being present at the highest unity on earth.

Did you know that Communion in the hand contributes to the loss of the sense of the sacred? An object is sacred when it is segregated from normal use.

C Kruger, Cape Town

We are all chosen

R

EADING a recent Sunday reflection, these words caught my attention: “He [St Paul] has just made it clear that God’s plan includes non-Jews, but now he has to face the question: What about the Jews?

Are they not God’s chosen people?”

It’s funny how all of humanity still sees others in this fashion.

Is life really about blacks and whites, Jews and non-Jews—or is life about embracing each other as God’s children made in his image?

Life would be much better if we could accept each other in this way.

The promise of Rev 21:1-5a (“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…”), the reading of August 5, is more meaningful and fills humanity with hope to look forward to that time.

In the gospel of the same day, according to St Luke, Jesus’ response is apt: “No, happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

The word of God to humanity is simply: “Love one another as I love you.” God challenges us to do a simple act, to love one another.

If we claim to love God, whom we cannot see, yet hate those made in God’s image whom we can see, are we being true to him?

This is God's unexpected call to humanity, difficult as it may be.

Lele Nkutha, Soweto 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

PERSPECTIVES

A new world rises out of the ashes I N the barrage of reporting on the conflict in Gaza over the last few weeks, one moment remains etched in my mind.

It was July 27. The Israeli authorities and Hamas had agreed to a 24-hour humanitarian window to allow the Palestinians to go out and buy groceries, bury the dead, see what was left of their homes.

Just two hours into the ceasefire, Hamas fired a missile into Israel, which prompted an immediate retaliation. The result—many people were caught in the crossfire.

Al Jazeera interviewed a father and his two children who had returned home to pack a few belongings. The father explained how an explosion tore through their house and his wife was killed.

Visibly shaken by the recollection, he puts his head down in sorrow and his daughter—no more than 12 or 13—takes up the narrative of how she watched her mother die. Just before she breaks down, consumed with the anguish of realisation that whatever remnant of normality was possible in a community ravaged by war is forever gone, she asks: “But what did we do, for them to do this to us?”

This question, accompanied by her heart-rending grief of helplessness, stayed with me all week.

What did we do? What did they do? I don’t want to dwell on who is right and who is wrong. Both sides have legitimate grievances but the litany of accusations and justifications are ineffectual in finding a lasting solution. We won’t find any mustard seeds in the debris of broken agreements and lives.

Instead, another question haunted me this week. What do we do? Yes, us.

Catholics living miles away in a little corner of Africa so far removed from these very real human dramas?

Many of us possibly can’t deal with the images and the devastation of human life, responding simply by turning off the TV and focusing on more pleasant things.

Some of us may be watching these events with a keener interest because a part of our religious DNA is connected to this place, this Holy Land, where our Lord walked and preached, laughed and wept, died and

rose again.

And we feel angry, because this is the birthplace of our faith and some small part of us feels that an injustice has been committed against us as well.

Or perhaps you’re a little like me, a sceptic who has spent far too long mulling humanity’s inhumanity to man in the name of some perceived difference.

Against a backdrop of cynicism which understands that every peace is merely a truce until the next confrontation, my first response was to say: we will not see a resolution to this conflict in our lifetimes.

Fortunately, I have some very wise friends who changed my perspective by asking me to consider this human drama in a different light.

D

rawing on the wisdom of Fr Joseph Kentenich—the founder of the Schoenstatt Movement who similarly watched his homeland, Germany, and most of Europe being destroyed during World War II—she explained that sometimes an old world must die so that a new world can be born. The death throes of the old and the birth pangs of the new are so traumatic that surely something beautiful will rise from the ashes.

As I was grappling to understand what she meant by this, another friend said to me: It is only when there is nothing else that can possibly be done from a human standpoint that God steps in and works miracles.

When we admit our powerlessness, God manifests his glory, his love, his grace.

Nuns light candles spelling “peace” in Arabic in front of the altar in St Catherine church, Bethlehem. (Photo: debbie Hill/CNS)

Sarah-Leah Pimentel

The Mustard Seeds

I now understand what was being said to me. With our human abilities we try to fix things, but sometimes do more harm than good. But when, in humility we turn towards God and we acknowledge that we are weak, that we don’t know what else to do, that our efforts seem to bring about the same poor results, then we open the door for God’s grace.

We need to allow our pride and our selfishness to be destroyed so that a new world can rise from the ashes. As Christians, we know that Christ first needed to die before he could earn for us the gift of eternal salvation.

In this light, I now see Pope Francis’ meeting and prayers with the Israeli and Palestinian presidents in a very different light. Two weeks ago, I was tempted to see it as a failed effort of Vatican diplomacy.

Now I believe the Holy Father had a moment of prophetic vision during his visit to the Holy Land and saw a new land being born.

But he saw also that this new land is not one of our making. Only God can lead us into this new promised land. And to do this, he needs willing human cooperators.

The prayers by Pope Francis and the two presidents were a public act, each in the language of their faith. But more importantly, they were an acknowledgement that alone, they will not find a solution. I believe they were earnest when they asked our common Father Yahweh/Allah/God to work that miracle of peace.

Again I ask: What do we do? What is our response? To the conflict in Israel/Gaza, Iraq, Ukraine, DRC, Somalia, Nigeria? What is our response to the conflicts and impossible situations of our own lives?

Instead of watching helplessly, we can add our prayer, trustfully asking that stone-cold hearts be transformed before more innocent human lives are lost.

How a leadership academy was born Emmanuel Ngara S OME years after my arrival at the University of Natal, I was given special responsibility for students and management information, and gave up my original post as deputy vice-chancellor for Planning and Resources.

This was at a time when managing students in South African universities had become extremely challenging and disturbing for university leaders.

At the University of Natal, the leadership felt that someone at deputy vicechancellor level had to have overall responsibility for students on all three campuses of the University. The lot fell on me, the only African member of the top executive at the time.

My interaction with students led me to realise the need for students and other leaders to get proper training in leadership. With the active participation of students, I designed short courses for student leaders.

I also became aware of the dire need for leadership development in the Church. My wife Teboho and I started running workshops for young people from Catholic parishes in Durban.

Our interest in leadership eventually developed into a conviction that Africa needed good leaders and that there was a real need for establishing a leadership institute in Southern Africa for both generic leadership (for government, companies and other secular organisations) and

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Christian leadership. This is a conviction that is still with me to this day.

At the time the call appeared to be so strong that Teboho and I both voluntarily resigned from our jobs in Durban to go and set up a leadership institute in Pretoria.

By the time we opened the Lead and Inspire School of Leadership for short courses in Pretoria, I had published a book titled Christian Leadership: A Challenge to the African Church (Paulines Publications Africa), with a foreword by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M Tutu.

Our concept of leadership had been well thought out and formulated and we thought we knew what we wanted to achieve.

On August 31, 2007, we organised a launch for Lead and Inspire with pomp and ceremony, and with the former minister of education, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, as the guest of honour.

Among other things, we outlined Lead and Inspire’s approach to leadership which was premised on four pillars: • The traditional African philosophy of ubuntu, which informed our approach to teaching; • the idea that leadership is a subject that is related to, but distinct from, management; and • the principles of servant leadership.

Among the organisations we ran workshops and short courses for were the Black

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One of our most ambitious projects was to register a subsidiary of Lead and Inspire called Batho Community Development Foundation, which ran an empowerment project for young people in the disadvantaged community of GaRankuwa north of Pretoria, to which we donated 12 computers.

As a leadership academy that ran short courses, Lead and Inspire was a real innovation, and many would-be partners and well-wishers commended us for our dynamic approach and the unquestionable quality of our product; but somehow we failed to secure the kind of partnerships and support we needed to be able to penetrate the market.

We, however, managed to get Lead and Inspire registered and accredited to offer diploma qualifications. How we fared in that is the topic of my next column.

In the meantime the need for good leadership in the world appears to be becoming more and more critical.

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

7

Michael Shackleton

open door

Can I marry a Muslim in church?

My fiancée of nine years is Muslim and I am Catholic. We are supportive of each other’s religion and feel that as the fundamental beliefs are essentially similar, there is no need to convert. We would like to marry in the Catholic faith and in Islam. His imam is more than willing to marry us without my converting. I have been told it would not be possible for a Catholic priest to marry us. Is this true?

It is most important to both of us and my family as well.

Name withheld

Y

OU do not say whether you have spoken personally to an imam or to a priest, but you are aware that both Islam and Catholicism are reluctant to approve marriage across the faith barrier.

The Church will permit a Catholic to marry a member of another faith on the following conditions: • the Catholic must declare readiness to remain loyal to the Catholic faith, and promise to do all possible to ensure that any children are baptised and brought up in the faith; • the non-Catholic must be informed of this and understand the obligations the Catholic has undertaken. Also, the couple must be given instruction on the Church’s teaching on marriage.

Marriage vows, in which each party gives free consent to the union, are valid and complete once made in the Catholic rite of matrimony.

The couple are then truly married and any other religious celebration before or after this event, which expresses giving or renewing matrimonial consent, is forbidden. This regulation is a strict one for Catholics and will apply in your case.

If the imam is willing to accept your nonconversion to Islam he should furnish you with all conditions that are laid down by Islam for the marriage of a Muslim man to a Christian woman.

I do not want you to feel I am pouring cold water on the prospect of a happy wedding ceremony and marriage, but before going ahead, it is important that you each be more than just supportive of each other’s faith. Get to know the significant doctrinal differences in more detail and how your consciences may react in future to particular teachings or practices of the other’s religious observances.

The fundamental beliefs of Islam and Christianity may not be as similar to each other as you imply.

It is not impossible for you to be married in church but there are many ifs and buts. You and your fiancée should have a heart-to- heart talk with his imam and your priest about it.

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

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

MICASA TOURS

Easter Pilgrimage to Lourdes 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

8

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

louise Toldo, daughter of domenico and elizabeth, and Kyle Beckett, son of Clark and Marion, were married on May 10, 2014 at St Therese parish in edenvale, Johannesburg, by Fr Joseph leathem oMi.

COMMUNITY

Stephanie Thomas, daughter of Crawford and Rachel, and Brenton Saunders, son of Marcus and Claire, were married on November 30, 2013 at Christ The King parish in Wentworth, durban, by deacon Audley Frankson. Photographer: Renato daniels, rntdaniel@yahoo.com

Fr John Thompson SdB, parish priest of St John Bosco in Robertsham, Johannesburg, initiated a blanket drive where parishioners were asked to bring blankets for the needy or give a donation. 1 500 blankets were collected and distributed to prisoners, refugees, the elderly and various schools. Pupils from the lerato education Centre in Jackson’s drift are pictured with their new blankets.

Melanie lucas, daughter of Brian and Hester, and dylian Barends, son of Nicky and Maureen, were married on May 3, 2014 at our lady Help of Christians church in lansdowne, Cape Town, by Fr Canice dooley SdB. Photographer: Theresa louw.

The Catholic Women’s league of our lady of Fatima parish in durban North had a high tea with the theme flower power. (From left) Christine Schoombe, liz Newberry, Tottie Bremner, Jenny davies, Margaret larkins and CWl branch president Anna Accolla.

Blayke Alexander was confirmed by Archbishop Stephen Brislin at our lady of the Assumption parish in MilGert Sumner of St Boniface parish in Knysna prepared a floral arrangement for the feast of Pentecost depicting fire and enlighten- nerton, Cape Town. Blayke and Archbishop Brislin are seen with parish ment of the Holy Spirit. priest Fr Stan Botha.

Kreste Modisa parish in Mmabatho, North West, commissioned 20 new altar servers. They are pictured with parish priest Fr Molefe Koloi and the adult support body Puleng Bopape.

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

CHURCH

9

The reluctant pope August 20 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Pope St Pius X. GüNTHeR SiMMeRMACHeR looks at the life and papacy of the man born Giuseppe Sarto.

A

WORLD war had just begun when the saintly pope closed his eyes, drew his last breath and ended his pilgrim journey on earth.

It was August 20, 1914. Pope Pius X had served as the Vicar of Christ for 11 years, following the long, in many ways progressive pontificate of Pope Leo XIII. And he almost didn’t become a pope, a job he was not particularly interested in anyway.

The conclave of 1903 was actually well on its way to electing Pope Leo’s secretary of state, the competent and powerful Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, who was a few weeks short of his 60th birthday.

Cardinal Rampolla had widely been expected to succeed Pope Leo. But during the conclave, Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko, the prince-archbishop of Krakow, pronounced the veto of the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Franz Josef I. Three European states had a right to veto a papal election—the others were France and Spain. The reasons for Austria’s objection to Cardinal Rampolla are unclear; speculation ranges from Rampolla’s bias towards France to his refusal to give the emperor’s son, who had died of suicide, a Catholic burial. It likely was a combination of factors that triggered the veto.

Instead, the conclave elected Cardinal Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, the 68-year-old patriarch of Venice, who took the name Pius X. Pius was not pleased at the way he had become pope, and quickly abolished the veto powers of states,

with the threat of excommunication for any politician who tries to interfere in a papal election.

T

he new pope’s choice of name, Pius X, gave an immediate indication of the direction his pontificate would take: a return to the ways of Pius IX, who had fought liberalism, both secular and theological, and insisted on absolute papal supremacy. This was going to be a conservative pontificate.

Central in Pius’ papacy was his war on “modernism”, which he decreed a heresy, in the Church.

Modernism, a term Pius first used in his 1907 encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, is not easy to define, nor did so-called modernists present a cohesive group. Some who were thus labelled doubtless flirted with heresy; others merely proposed reforms which today we take for granted. To Pius, modernism represented the “synthesis of all heresies”.

Those who referred to modern philosophical systems in their theology, who were open to reconciling science with faith, who did not read the Bible literally, or sought progressive reforms within the Church were liable to feature on the blacklist.

After Pope Pius died, it is said, his successor, Pope Benedict XV, had a curious look at the list of people suspected of being mod-

ernist heretics. He was taken aback to find his name on it.

Another suspected modernist was Fr Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII. It is fair to say that the campaign against modernists, at least in its execution, was not the most edifying element of Pius X’s pontificate.

But there is no doubt as to his personal qualities of holiness. Pius was a humble, down-to-earth man who resented the isolation from the world which was the way of the papacy. Since Italy’s unification in 1871, with its annexation of the Papal States, the popes did not move out of the Vatican. That changed only in 1929 with the Lateran Treaty.

On the day of his coronation, Pius caused widespread shock when he turned up with a simple pectoral cross of gilded metal. He brushed off protests by saying that this was the only pectoral cross he owned.

He resented the pomp that surrounded the papacy. “Look how they have dressed me up,” he lamented to a friend on one occasion. “It is a penance to be forced to accept all these practices. They lead me around surrounded by soldiers like Jesus when he was seized in Gethsemane,” he told another friend.

At the time when Pius became pope, pontiffs didn’t even eat with others. He quickly changed that, inviting friends to dine with him.

SA’s churches of St Pius X P

S

IX churches in South Africa are dedicated to St Pius X; all of them were founded between 1955 and ’56, within a couple of years of the saint’s canonisation.

Edenburg, Bloemfontein; Hilton, Aliwal North; Melmoth, Eshowe; Mofolo, Johannesburg; Plumstead, Cape Town; Waterkloof, Pretoria.

ius defined himself by his background of poverty. He was born on June 2, 1835 in Riese, then still part of the Austrian empire, but now in the northern Italian region of Treviso.

With his postman father, devout mother and seven younger surviving siblings, the young Giuseppe grew up in poor circumstances.

Giuseppe was 15 and a top pupil when the local bishop chose him for the priesthood, sending him on a scholarship to a seminarian

Above: Pope Pius X, who died 100 years ago on August 20. Top left: young Giuseppe Sarto, the future Pope Pius X. Bottom left: The kitchen of the Sarto family in Riese. school in Padua. He was ordained in 1858, and soon became wellknown for his remarkable sense of charity and his catechetical work.

In 1884 he was appointed bishop of Mantua by Leo XIII, who in recognition of his handling of a difficult diocese made Sarto a cardinal in 1893, and appointed him patriarch of Venice.

As bishop in Mantua and then Venice, Sarto had been renowned for his rapport with children, for whom he always had sweets in his pocket. As pope he always sought out children at his audiences, and included them in his weekly catechism lessons in the courtyard of the San Damaso church in the Vatican.

Pius promoted the reception of daily Communion. This was revolutionary in a time when most Catholics would receive Communion three or four times a year. He effectively lowered the age at which children would receive Communion, from around 12-14 to an age of “discernment”, at about seven.

“Holy Communion is the short-

est and safest way to heaven,” Pius said, and he is still known as the “Pope of the Blessed Sacrament”.

Pius also had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, to whom he devoted his second encyclical, Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum (1904). He decreed that every parish should have catechism classes, another novel reform which we take for granted today.

A keen promoter of Gregorian chant, Pius banned the use of the piano or percussion instruments and any form of profane music.

The organ was exempt from exclusion, but not women, whom he banned from singing in church choirs.

Other reforms concerned the structure of the curia, the Code of Canon Law (though this was completed only after his death) and scriptural scholarship.

Pope Pius suffered a heart attack in 1913, the same year Cardinal Rampolla died. His health never fully recovered from that.

The outbreak of World War I depressed the pope profoundly. On Continued on page 11

The pope who followed Pius X

By GüNTHeR SiMMeRMACHeR

T

HE First World War had just started, and people were still predicting it would all be over

by Christmas, when the splendidly named Cardinal Giacomo della Chiesa was elected Vicar of Christ in succession of Pope Pius X. The new pope took the name Benedict XV—the first to take that name since 1740.

The first four years of Benedict’s pontificate were dominated by the Great War—the conclave had deliberately elected a pontiff with diplomatic experience—and the pope was consumed by it. He not only repeatedly appealed for peace, but also tried to broker an end to the conflict, which he had termed “the suicide of civilised Europe”.

His efforts in 1914 were rebuffed: Germany, after initially accepting them, found his proposed terms “insulting”, the French found them biased against them.

Thereafter, at Italy’s urging, the allies froze out all efforts by the Holy See to mediate in peace efforts. Ironically, Pope Benedict’s resolute neutrality caused both sides to suspect him of bias. Benedict’s detailed and fair 1917 peace proposal was roundly ignored.

Even his efforts at humanitarian efforts were subject to suspicion, though the Church did perform significant relief work.

The diminutive Benedict was 59 years old when he was elected pope.

He had been born in 1854 into a patrician family in Genoa.

Giacomo first qualified as a lawyer before entering the priesthood. Ordained in 1878, he went to Rome and under the mentorship of Cardinal Mariano Rampolla began a

bright career as a diplomat and curial official, ultimately working under his patron in the secretariat of state.

When Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto became Pope Pius X, the new pope removed Rampolla (whose bid at the papacy was scuppered by an Austrian veto) as secretary of state, but allowed della Chiesa to stay on until naming him archbishop of Bologna in 1907.

Unusually, Pius did not name della Chiesa a cardinal, as was customary for a new archbishop of Bologna. The elevation to cardinal came only on May 25, 1914. Cardinal della Chiesa barely had time to wear in his red hat—just over three months later, he was elected pope.

Benedict XV may be the least remembered of the 20th century’s nine popes, but in his papacy of just over seven years, he did much good.

He promoted the training of priests in Africa and Asia, where he proposed the Church should foster local, not European, cultures.

A practical, common-sense man rather than a high-minded theologian, Benedict even issued an encyclical which called for better preaching.

While he reiterated Pope Pius X’s condemnation of modernism and declined to lift the excommunications of theologians imposed by his predecessor, he also tempered the excesses of the anti-modernist campaign.

During World War I he placed Europe under the protection of Mary, Queen of Peace, and promoted Marian devotions. On the day of the first reported apparition of Fatima, on May 13, 1917, he consecrated a new bishop: Eugenio

Pacelli, who as Pope Pius XII would be the Vicar of Christ through the next world war, from 1939-45.

Benedict was a modest, unassuming man. Perhaps his humble nature contributed to his death at the age of 67 on January 22, 1922.

Earlier in the month he had celebrated Mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae (which was rebuilt in the 1990s and now accommodates Pope Francis). Afterwards he patiently waited outside in the pouring rain for his car to arrive. After this he contracted a flu which turned into the pneumonia which would kill him.

Benedict XV is buried in the crypt of St Peter beneath St Peter’s basilica.

Pope Benedict XV appeared on the front-page of the very first edition of The Southern Cross on october 16, 1920.

Retrouvaille Cape Town

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Contact no: 074 175 7523 Website: www.helpourmarriage.com for more information.

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Contact Veronica 083 784 7455, Email redacres@omi.org.za Regrettable due to stolen telephone cables, we do not have a landline anymore.

10

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

FAITH

Pope’s Top 10 Tips for a happy life In an interview with an Argentinian weekly, Pope Francis offered 10 Tips for Happiness, as CAROL GLATZ reports.

S

LOWING down, being generous and fighting for peace are part of Pope Francis’ secret recipe for happiness.

In an interview published in part in the Argentine weekly Viva, the pope listed his Top 10 Tips for bringing greater joy to one’s life:

1. Live and let live Everyone should be guided by this principle, he said, which has a similar expression in Rome with the saying, “Move forward and let others do the same.”

2. Be giving of yourself to others People need to be open and generous toward others, because “if you withdraw into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric. And stagnant water becomes putrid.”

3. Proceed calmly The pope, who used to teach high school literature, used an image from an Argentine novel by Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the protagonist—gaucho Don Segundo Sombra—looks back on how he lived his life.

“He says that in his youth he was a stream full of rocks that he carried with him; as an adult, a rushing

river; and in old age, he was still moving, but slowly, like a pool” of water, the pope said. He said he likes this latter image of a pool of water— to have “the ability to move with kindness and humility, a calmness in life”.

by attraction, not proselytising,” the pope said.

4. A healthy sense of leisure The pleasures of art, literature and playing together with children have been lost, the pope said.

“Consumerism has brought us anxiety” and stress, causing people to lose a “healthy culture of leisure”.

Their time is “swallowed up” so people can’t share it with anyone.

Even though many parents work long hours, they must set aside time to play with their children; work schedules make it “complicated, but you must do it”.

Families must also turn off the TV when they sit down to eat because, even though television is useful for keeping up with the news, having it on during mealtime “doesn’t let you communicate” with each other, the pope said.

5. Sundays should be holidays Workers should have Sundays off because “Sunday is for family”, Pope Francis said.

6. Dignified jobs “We need to be creative with young people. If they have no opportunities they will get into drugs” and be more vulnerable to suicide, the pope said.

“It’s not enough to give them food,” he said. “Dignity is given to you when you can bring food home”

from your own labour.

7. Respect and take care of nature Environmental degradation “is one of the biggest challenges we have,” Pope Francis said. “I think a question

that we’re not asking ourselves is: ‘Isn’t humanity committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?’”

8. Stop being negative “Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem. That means, ‘I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down,’” the pope said. “Letting go of negative things quickly is healthy.”

9. Respect others’ beliefs “We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyses: ‘I am talking with you in order to persuade you.’ No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The Church grows

10. Work for peace “We are living in a time of many wars,” he said, and “the call for peace must be shouted. Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive” and dynamic.

Pope Francis also talked about the importance of helping immigrants, praising Sweden’s generosity in opening its doors to so many people, while noting anti-immigration policies show the rest of Europe “is afraid”.

He also fondly recalled the woman who helped his mother with the housework when he was growing up in Buenos Aires.

Concepcion Maria Minuto was a Sicilian immigrant, a widow and mother of two boys, who went three times a week to help the pope’s mother do laundry, since in those days it was all done by hand.

He said this hard-working, dignified woman made a big impression on the 10-year-old future pope, as she would talk to him about World War II in Italy and how they farmed in Sicily.

“She was as clever as a fox, she had every penny accounted for, she wouldn’t be cheated. She had many great qualities,” he said.

Even though his family lost touch with her when they moved, the then-Jesuit Father Jorge Bergoglio later sought her out and visited her for the last ten years of her life.

“A few days before she died, she took this small medal out of her pocket, gave it to me and said: ‘I want you to have it!’ So every night, when I take it off and kiss it, and every morning when I put it back on, this woman comes to my mind,” the pope said.

“She died happy, with a smile on her face and with the dignity of someone who worked. For that reason I am very sympathetic toward housecleaners and domestic workers, whose rights, all of them, should be recognised” and protected, he said.

“They must never be exploited or mistreated.”—CNS

HOLY CROSS SISTERS’ SCHOOL

Holy Cross Sisters’ School is an independent Catholic School established in Bellville, Cape Town, in 1969. The school has a caring family atmosphere in the Holy Cross tradition and a record of quality, values-based education.

Applicants are invited for the following posts commencing 1 January 2015:

Pilgrimage Highlights HOLY LAND: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Jordan River and much more...

ROME: Papal Audience, Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Catacombs, Major Basilicas, Ancient and Baroque Rome...

FLORENCE: Dumo cathedral, Church of the Holy Cross with the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo, Renaissance Florence...

TURIN: Reserved viewing of the Shroud of Turin in the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, plus sites of Don Bosco on his bicentennial: Pinardi Chapel and Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians...

INTERMEDIATE PHASE TEACHER and GRADE ONE TEACHER

The successful applicant will be:

     

fully qualified to teach in the Relevant Phase of the GET able to teach all subjects in the grade trained in CAPS willing and able to promote the school’s Catholic ethos and teach Religious Education (preferably a practicing Catholic) registered with SACE willing and able to become fully involved in the school’s curricular and coach hockey or netball or play the piano

Apply in writing, giving details of qualifications, experience and the names of three contactable referees, including your parish priest or minister, to: The Principal, Holy Cross Sisters’ School, P.O. Box 1016, Bellville, 7535 OR email: admin@holycross.co.za

Closing date for applications: Wednesday 27 August 2014

The school reserves the right not to proceed with the filling of 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. No faxed applications accepted. Candidates not contacted shall consider their applications unsuccessful.

CLASSIFIEDS

Deacon Carl Pingle

W

E’VE all met never-to-berepeated characters in our lifetime. They are never to be repeated because they are unique—one of a kind— no one could ever be like them.

Deacon Pingle, who died on April 10 at the age of 81, was such a man. An accomplished businessman, he repaired sewing machines, clocks and things of a similar ilk. A man with huge hands, he was yet able to handle the most delicate parts of a machine or clock.

In addition to all that, Deacon Pingle found the time and energy to apply his considerable talents first to studies for the diaconate, then to the ministry of the dia-

conate, in Johannesburg and then in Durban. He always took the extra step, serving on the diaconate board and becoming its treasurer. He had his own way of bookkeeping. No one understood it, but unlike most diocesan commissions or offices, the diaconate board was totally self-reliant. It never had to borrow or seek a grant from the diocese.

Deacon Pingle served for years as secretary treasurer of the Oblate District Nursing Services, a body that managed the administration and finances of the remaining Catholic clinics in the Dundee and Durban dioceses. He managed the funds so well that he could ensure every nurse got a

Monument of St Pius X in St Peter’s basilica, erected in 1923. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)

Southern CrossWord solutions

SOLUTIONS TO 615. ACROSS: 1 Rock, 3 Benedict, 7 Camillo, 8 Until, 10 Puts asunder, 11 Reveal, 13 Presto, 15 Catholicism, 17 Delay, 18 Leghorn, 19 Boys' Town, 20 Espy. DOWN: : 1 Recuperated, 2 Comet, 4 Exodus, 5 In turns, 6 Pleasantly, 8 Underlings, 9 Love of money, 12 Vocally, 14 Follow, 16 Irons.

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: Walk for Life celebration on September 13 will begin at 10:00 at Holy Trinity parish (210 Musgrave Road) with Holy Hour followed by a prayerful walk to Curries Fountain where a Mass of Reparation will be celebrated by Cardinal Wil-

frid Napier oFM and Bishop Barry Wood oMi. PIETERMARITZBURG: Couples for Christ women’s conference on August 22 and 23. Registration fee: R180. Contact Mary Chetty at 0724445144 or olivia Sampson at 0795177492.

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.

DEATHS

bonus at year end.

His last, and in many ways his highest impact, ministry was as a member of the Interdiocesan Tribunal, of which he was the longest-serving member.

He served in many roles, as auditor, interviewer, judge and advocate.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier OFM

The saintly Pope Pius X Continued from page 9 August 15, the feast of the Assumption, he fell seriously ill. On August 20, the day the German army invaded Brussels, he died at the age of 79.

Pius X was buried in a simple tomb in the crypt below St Peter’s basilica. It was moved in 1952 to the chapel of the Presentation inside the basilica.

The move to canonise Pius X followed within a couple of years after his death. Devotion to the late pope in the subsequent decades was widespread. In 1923, when his sainthood cause was officially launched, a huge monument was erected in his memory in St Peter’s.

In 1944 Pius’ body was exhumed. Although it had not

The Southern Cross, August 13 to August 19, 2014

been embalmed and the organs not removed, it was in a good condition; so good, that in 1944 it went on public display for 45 days. During that time the German occupiers were expelled from Rome, an event which attracted further devotion.

In short order Pius was beatified in 1951 and then canonised in 1954, both by Pope Pius XII. The canonisation, on May 29, was televised internationally.

Pius X was the first pope to be canonised since Pope Pius V in 1712, and the last until the canonisation of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II this year.

In order to avoid competition with St Bernard on August 20, St Pius X’s feast day is August 21.

Liturgical Calendar Year A Weekdays Cycle Year 2 Sunday, August 17, 20th Sunday Isaiah 56:1, 6-7, Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8, Romans 11:13-15, 29-32, Matthew 15:21-28 Monday, August 18 Ezekiel 24:15-23, Deuteronomy 32:18-21, Matthew 19:16-22 Tuesday, August 19, St Louis Ezekiel 28:1-10, Deuteronomy 32:26-28, 30, 35-36, Matthew 19:23-30 Wednesday, August 20, St Bernard Ezekiel 34:1-11, Psalm 23:1-6, Matthew 20:116 Thursday, August 21, St Pius X Ezekiel 36:23-28, Psalm 51:12-15, 18-19, Matthew 22:1-14 Friday, August 22, Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary Isaiah 9:1-6, Psalm 113:1-8, Luke 1:26-38 Saturday, August 23, St Rose of Lima Ezekiel 43:1-7, Psalm 85:9-14, Matthew 23:112 Sunday, August 24, 21st Sunday Isaiah 22:19-23, Psalm 138:1-3, 6, 8, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

ST. KIZITO CHILDREN’S PROGRAMME St. Kizito Children’s Programme (SKCP) is a community-based response to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children, established through the Good Hope Development Fund in 2004 in response to the Church’s call to reach out to those in need. Operating as a movement within the Archdiocese of Cape Town, SKCP empowers volunteers from the target communities to respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) living in their areas.

The SKCP volunteers belong to Parish Groups that are established at Parishes in target communities. Through the St. Kizito Movement, the physical, intellectual, emotional and psycho-social needs of OVCs are met in an holistic way. Parish Groups provide children and families with a variety of essential services, while the SKCP office provides the groups with comprehensive training and on-going support.

In order to continue its work, SKCP requires on-going support from generous donors. Funds are needed to cover costs such as volunteer training and support, emergency relief, school uniforms and children’s excursions. Grants and donations of any size are always appreciated. We are also grateful to receive donations of toys, clothes and blankets that can be distributed to needy children and families.

if you would like to find out more about St. Kizito Children’s Programme, or if you would like to make a donation, please contact Wayne Golding on (021) 782 7941 or 082 301 9385 email info@stkizito.org.za. donations can also be deposited into our bank account: ABSA Branch: Claremont, 632005; Account Name: Good Hope development Fund; Account Number: 4059820320 This advertisement has been kindly sponsored

COETZER—Jimmy (Bushy) 17/1/192924/7/2014. Passed away very peacefully. His life of simplicity, his liberated thinking will always be an inspiration to us. 50 years of togetherness with his wife Astrid who loves you, mourns for you and misses you. May God grant you eternal rest my love. Forever loved and always in our hearts. Astrid, Peter, Joy, Bill, Neil and Zaida.

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.

TOWSEY—Paula (née Smith). died suddenly in her home in Bryanston, August 4, 2014. Most beloved daughter and sister, will be sadly missed. love from her mother, brothers and sister and all the family.

IN MEMORIAM

FALLER—emil Nicholas Joseph. died August 18, 1990. lovingly remembered by your family who will gather in the mountains from far and wide this September.

YOUNG—Berry. in loving memory of a mother and grandmother who passed away 19/8/2009. Remembered by Ramona, Virginia and Carlotta.

PRAYERS

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

Remo Ciolli.

O MOST beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendour of Heaven, blessed Mother of the Son of God, immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. o Star of the Sea, help me and show me herein that you are my Mother, o Holy Mary Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, i humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to secure me in my necessity. There are none who can withstand your power, o show me that you are my mother. o Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Thank you for your mercy towards me and mine. Amen

ST MICHAEL the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, o Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.

Amen..

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING: The pill can abort (chemical abortion) Catholics must be told, for their eternal welfare and the survival of their unborn infants. See www.epm.org/ static/uploads/downloads/b cpill.pdf NOTHING is politically right if it is morally wrong.

Abortion is evil. Value life!

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Call Fr Kevin Reynolds, 082 974 4653. www.abortioninstruments.com is the graphic truth that will set you free.

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TOURS TO ITALY - (Rome) Travelling in June 2015 Places of interest: St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Roman forum and many more.

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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. 5 min walk to lagoon. out of season specials. Contact les or Bernadette 044 343 3242, 082 900 6282.

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Website: www.scross.co.za 21st Sunday: August 24 Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23, Psalm 138: 1-3, 6, 8, Romans 11:33-36, Matthew 16:13-20

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N our journey to God we have constantly to be told to think again, because God does things differently.

In the first reading, Shebna is sacked by the prophet from being steward of the king’s palace, and replaced by Eliakim, for reasons that in our reading at least are not wholly clear, although there may be a hint in that it is said of Eliakim that “he shall act as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem”, which is presumably where Shebna is deemed to have failed.

But the post from which he is being sacked is clearly a matter of high authority, since we hear that “I shall give him the key of the house of David”.

The psalmist does not need to think again, for, as always, the poet is well aware of the absolute centrality of God: “I shall thank you Lord, with all my heart; before the gods I shall make music to you.”

And, as nearly always in the psalms, it is the Temple that is the heart of the matter: “I shall bow towards your holy Temple, and I shall give thanks to your name.”

Still, though, we have to be told to think the unexpected: “For the Lord is on high, but

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Tune into God’s way of thinking Fr Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

he sees the lowly.”

The heart of the matter, though, is God’s utterly unexpected love: “Your steadfast love is forever—do not abandon the work of your hands.”

In the second reading for next week, Paul is in a mood to praise God like the psalmist; and the reason for this is that he has managed a remarkable rethink.

We are now at the end of those important chapters, Romans 9-11, when Paul has been trying to work out the current status of the people of Israel, given that God has now opened up his mysteries to the gentiles also.

Paul has managed that tricky theological

task, and so he gasps in astonished joy: “O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how untrackable his ways!”

What has really struck Paul is how different God is: “Who has known the Lord’s mind? Who has been his adviser?”

Paul ends this section in a song of praise: “To him be glory for ever. Amen!”

The gospel for next Sunday likewise involves something of a rethink.

It is the familiar story of Jesus at Caesarea Philippi, in the far north of Galilee, and he is inviting his disciples to share with him on what people are saying about the “Son of Man”, which we have already discovered to be Jesus’ way of referring to himself.

They offer various options: “John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah [Matthew’s favourite prophet, as it happens], or one of the prophets”.

But then they have to think again as Jesus addresses a fresh question to them: “What about you? Who do you say I am?”

Peter, impetuous as ever, leads the way,

Karma will always get you N 1991 Hollywood produced a comedy entitled City Slickers, starring Billy Crystal. In a quirky way it was a wonderfully moral film, focusing on three middle-aged men from New York City who were dealing with midlife crises.

As a present from their wives, who are frustrated enough with them to attempt anything, the three are given the gift of participating in a cattle drive through New Mexico and Colorado.

And so these three urbanites set off to ride horses through the wilderness. The comedy part of the film focuses on their inept horsemanship and their naiveté about cattle and the wilderness. The more serious part of the movie tracks their conversations as they try to sort through both their own struggles with ageing and the larger mysteries of life.

One day as they are discussing sex, one of the three, Ed (played by the late Bruno Kirby), the character with the least amount of moral scruples, asks the other two whether they would be unfaithful to their wives and have an affair if they were sure that they would never be caught.

Billy Crystal’s character, Mitch, initially engages the question jokingly, protesting its impossibility: You always get caught! All affairs get exposed in the end.

But Ed persists with his question: “But suppose you wouldn’t get caught. Suppose you could get away with it. Would you cheat on your wife and have an affair, if no one would ever know?” Mitch’s answer: “No, I still wouldn’t do it!” “Why not?”

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Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

asks Ed, “nobody would know.” “But I’d know,” Mitch replied, “and I’d hate myself for it!”

There are volumes of moral wisdom in that answer. Ultimately nobody gets away with anything. We always get caught, not least by ourselves and by the moral energy inside the air we breathe.

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oreover, whether we get caught or not, there will always be consequences. This is a deep, inalienable moral principle written into the very fabric of the universe itself.

Universal human experience attests to this. Nobody ultimately gets away with anything, despite every protest to the contrary.

We see this articulated, for example, in the very heart of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and virtually all Eastern religions in a concept that is popularly called the Law of Karma.

Karma is a Sanskrit word which means action or deed, but it carries with it the implication that every action or deed we do generates a force of energy that returns to

us in kind—what we sow is what we will reap.

Hence, bad intent and bad actions will ricochet back on us and cause unhappiness, just as good intent and good actions will ricochet back on us and bring us happiness, irrespective of what is seen or known by anyone else. The universe has its own laws that assure this.

Jesus was no stranger to the idea. It is present everywhere in his teachings and at times explicitly stated: “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Lk 6:38).

In essence, Jesus is telling us that the air we breathe out is the air that we will re-inhale, and that this is true at every level of our existence. Simply put, if we are emitting too much carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the air we will eventually find ourselves suffocating on them.

And this is true at every level of our lives. If I breathe out bitterness, I will eventually find myself breathing in bitterness. If I breathe out dishonesty, I will eventually find myself breathing in dishonesty.

Conversely, if I breathe out generosity, love, honesty and forgiveness, I will eventually, no matter how mean and dishonest the world around me, find life inside a world of generosity, love, honesty and forgiveness.

What we breathe out is what we will eventually re-inhale. This is a non-negotiable truth written into the very structure of the universe, written into life itself, written into every religion worthy of the name, written into the teachings of Jesus, and written into every conscience that is still in good faith.

Where does this principle ground itself and why can it never be violated without consequence? The principle is alienable because the universe protects itself, because Mother Earth protects herself, because human nature protects itself, because the laws of love protect themselves, because the laws of justice protect themselves, because the laws of conscience protect themselves, because God has created a universe that is moral in its very structure.

Being moral or not is not something we can choose or not choose. We don’t have that prerogative because God created a morally contoured universe, one that has deep, inalienable moral grooves which need to be honoured and respected, irrespective of whether we get caught or not when we cheat.

with a designation that we know to be entirely correct: “You are the messiah, the son of the living God.” In response, Jesus congratulates him, giving him his full name and patronymic: “Simon Bar-Jona”, on the grounds that this information is not the result of human talk (“flesh and blood”) but “my Father, the one in heaven”.

Then he is given a new nickname, and a function: “You are rock, and on this rock I am going to build my community, and the gates of hades will not gain the mastery over it.”

Next we hear the metaphor of keys that played such an important part in our first reading: “I am going to give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

He now has a very unexpected function: “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what ever you untie on earth will be untied in heaven”.

Then we have to think again, as after all they are told to shut up: “He instructed his disciples to tell nobody that he was the messiah”.

What is going on here?

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ACROSS 1. The Church is built on it (4) 3. Pope emeritus (8) 7. Fictional Don of the Po Valley (7) 8. Unlit up to a point in time (5) 10. Separates by divorce (4,7) 11. Disclose, as God will do of himself (6) 13. Hey! Quick musical trick?

(6) 15. The practice of the universal Church (11) 17. Postpone Lady E (5) 18. Chicken from Italian city (7) 19. Fr Flanagan’s home? (4,4) 20. Catch sight of (4)

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DOWN 1. Recovered to dupe caterer (11) 2. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, inside a heavenly body (5) 4. Bible book of departure (6) 5. How to take it one by one (2,5) 6. Delightfully spell at any new way (9) 8. Subordinates (10) 9. It’s the root of all evils (4,2,5) 12. By word of mouth (7) 14. Come...me (Matthew 19) (6) 16. You can have too many in the fire (5) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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PRIEST was invited to attend a house party.

Naturally, he was properly dressed, wearing his priest’s collar.

A little boy kept staring at him the entire evening. Finally, the priest asked the little boy what he was staring at.

The little boy pointed to the priest’s neck. He asked the boy: “Do you know why I am wearing that?”

The boy nodded his head, and replied: “It kills fleas and ticks for up to three months.”