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January 21 to January 27, 2015

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Pope Francis in Sri Lanka

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Church reaches out to evangelicals

BY STUART GRAHAM

B

ISHOPS will reach out to evangelicals leaders during a meeting in Pretoria later this month as the Church seeks to form closer ties with non-Catholic Christian groups.

“I am thrilled to be challenged to reach out to our evangelicals and honour our Lord in that way,” Bishop of Dundee Graham Rose told The Southern Cross.

“Talk of competition is a major distraction.

When this happens, we start working against each other. Competition is puerile.”

The meeting will take place during the SACBC Plenary that will run from January 2027.

Bishop Rose said the bishops were responding to a call by Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, to dialogue with evangelical Churches.

During an ad liminia meeting with the Pontifical Council the bishops were asked by Cardinal Koch: “What is being done about [dialogue with] evangelicals?”.

“We are grateful to be prompted by our leaders to say ‘Hey, are you overlooking this?’.

This is the discernment of the pope from his experience in Latin America. We need to reach out to these churches.”

Bishop Rose said “Christian unity” was part of Christ’s command.

“Our intention is certainly not to say you are bad and we are beautiful. We can not afford to be divided. That has long been known in ecumenical movements.

“Communication and collaboration and humility before Christ is what we are about.

“We can help each other do better work.

God can do great things through us.”

Cardinal Koch’s request to the bishops came amidst various initiatives by Pope Francis to reach out to evangelical Churches.

Last year the Holy Father partnered with his friend, the late Evangelical Episcopal Bishop Tony Palmer, to create unity with evangelical groups in the United States.

Pope Francis recorded a video message of unity and love on Bishop Palmer’s cellular phone. The message was shown to evangelicals in Texas. It later went viral on the internet site Youtube.

“Many evangelicals are amazed at Pope Francis and are warmly attracted by things he is saying,” said Bishop Rose.

“They are becoming more and more enthusiastic about collaboration and community and the growing unity between Christians.

The late Evangelical Episcopal Bishop Tony Palmer, who was instrumental in setting up dialogue between Pope Francis and the evangelical Churches.

“There has been major suspicion and major ignorance on both sides. But now we are seeing the miracle of convergence.”

There is a critical need for more communication and understanding of the nature of unity, the bishop said.

He said he would take his cue from a new strong, rich form of ecumenism called “receptive ecumenism” when he communicated with the evangelicals.

Receptive ecumenism is when Church leaders share their weaknesses and learn about the strengths of other Churches.

The bishops will have an ecumenical session dedicated to evangelical churches on Monday January 26.

The Reverend Hermie Damons, a member of the Evangelical Alliance of Africa and other leaders, including some who worked with Bishop Palmer will be present at the meeting.

“The meetings are symbolic. They will set a foundation from which we can move on,” said Bishop Rose.

“There are things that we can do together.

If we do we will all become better Christians.

“God reveals himself in all people,” the bishop said. “Our unity is in Jesus. There is no other unity.”

Last year, shortly before his tragic death in a motorbike accident, Bishop Palmer recalled to The Southern Cross something that Pope Francis had told him during one of their meetings.

“He said as Christians there are only two things we need in common,” Bishop Palmer said. “You have to love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself.

“Some are confused because they think he is calling on us to compromise our doctrine.

He is not. When you learn to love your neighbour, you learn to love all the more.”

Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, outside The Southern Cross offices during a recent visit. Archbishop Makgoba, who is the primate of Southern Africa, is a Southern Cross reader and revealed that he is a particular fan of Fr Nicholas King’s column.

(Photo: Dylan Appolis).

Catechism translated into Farsi by Iranian scholars

BY ANDREA GAGliARDUCCi

T

HE publication of the Farsi language edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church may foster further interreligious dialogue in Iran, although this will depend on the commitment of local communities, a Vatican official said.

Fr Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, stressed that “time will tell if this translation into Farsi of the Catechism of the Catholic Church will help to foster the culture of the encounter, [which is] so close to the Pope’s heart”.

However, he added that “much will depend on the availability and openness of local communities, first of all of Christian Churches,” that will have the opportunity to use this Farsi edition of the Catechism “to present, in a balanced and unequivocal way, the contents of faith to members of other religious traditions, especially to representatives of the diverse Islamic world of Iran”.

The Farsi edition of the Catechism was presented at the Gregorian University in Rome. It includes a foreword by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Sponsored by the University of Religions and Denominations of Qom, Iran, the idea

behind the translation of Catholic texts into Farsi arose in a context of increased interreligious dialogue carried forward by Shi’ite Islam.

“That Iran and Iranian religious authorities have decided to translate many texts proves that they are opening to the Western world and to Christianity, and especially to Catholic Christianity,” said Fr Samir Khalil Samir, SJ, an expert on Islamic studies.

This is why “many texts of Catholic tradition, including City of God by St Augustine, have been translated into Farsi,” recounted Fr. Khalil.

Shi’ites make up some 15% of Muslims in the world, and the city of Qom is one of the “holy centres” for this Muslim confession.

The shrine of Qom, where the body of the eighth Shi’ite imam’s wife is buried, is visited by 15 million people per year. More than 100 study centres are established in Qom, and there are between 50 and 60 thousand scholars of yhe Q’uran and Islam, out of 1 million inhabitants. Two thousand of these scholars are committed to studying other religious, such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism.

Presenting the new translation, Hojjat Continued on Page 3

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The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

LOCAL

Tribute paid to ‘erudite and kind’ Fitz

BY DYlAN APPOliS

A

FEW weeks after Fr James Fitzsimons (Fitz), at 95, had an operation in which one of his legs had to be amputated below his knee, he sadly passed away. On January 8, Fr Fitz was relieved from his suffering, which was a great loss not only for his friends and family, but for everybody else whom he had made an impact on.

Fitz had an exceptionally rich and full life. He joined the Society of Jesus at the age of sixteen and studied Greek, Latin and philosophy at Oxford.

As a young man he was missioned to Rhodesia and subsequently had many different ministries. He had a passion for and was gifted in languages, music and

photography. In the 1970s he did pioneering work in South Africa in the shift towards giving eight-day retreats in the individually directed form.

For the ten-year anniversary celebration of this spirituality work, he wrote a piece entitled “Born Again in my Eighties.”

Fitz wrote: “Not only were they (the course participants) lively with interest and questions, keeping us on our toes intellectually and spiritually, but being an ecumenical group, they brought to our discussions and found in them, a particular richness which gave me, for one, a special joy.”

Russell Pollitt, director of the Jesuit Institute told The Southern Cross: “Fitz was a holy man—not because he was perfect but because

Fr James Fitzsimonds he knew his need for God. He will be remembered as a writer, poet, scholar, priest but, most of all, as an excellent spiritual companion who journeyed with many people from

diverse backgrounds with passion, patience and compassion.”

In the last decade of his life Fitz wrote prolifically. Among his writings are several wonderful collections of poetry including one on the Spiritual Exercises, and a collection of reflections on the daily scriptures called “Now I see”. In the past year he also worked on a translation from Latin into English of the life of one of the early Jesuits in Africa. He continued to offer spiritual direction.

Fitz spent several years as a columnist at The Southern Cross, where he had a weekly column called “Praying With the Pope”.

“Fr James Fitzsimons (Fitz as he was universally known) had an astonishingly long and varied life in the Jesuits,” Fr Chris Chatteris said.

“His contribution to the Jesuit effort

in South Africa and in Zimbabwe included teaching at St George’s College, being the headmaster at St Ignatius College, Chishawasha (where Southern Cross correspondent Prof Ngara was one of his star pupils), working in Fons Vitae, the Jesuit-run renewal institute (with Bishop Naidoo as a colleague), being parish priest at Holy Trinity, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, being vicar for religious in Johannesburg, chaplain to two sisters’ communities and as the author of a copious flow of articles, poems and reflections.”

Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher said: “Fr Fitz was an editor’s dream of a columnist, one whose immaculate and incisive copy was always on time. The local Church will miss his erudition and kind character.”

Dynamic Bryanston duo Verulam parish unifying to run marriage retreat initiatives return ‘lost sheep’

BY DYlAN APPOliS

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

HE Bryanston Catholic church in Johannesburg has been successfully running its Family Life Desk for over three years now and the work has been coordinated by the dynamic husband and wife team of Robert and Mahadi Buthelezi.

“We are passionate about our work to prepare, restore, repair and revitalise relationships,” Mahadi Buthelezi said.

The couple, together with Fr Michael Fitzpatrick, started the Family Life Desk at their parish because of their passion for successful family life and marriage.

Now, Bryanston parish, under Fr Keith Gordon-Davis, together with the Buthelezis, is to run its first-ever marriage retreat.

The marriage retreat will be taking place on February 14, at the Bryanston Catholic church and registration starts at 7:30, with no cost for attending the retreat.

“The retreat promises to focus on who am I?, forgiveness, and much more,” say the Buthelezis.

“All you need to bring is yourselves and your Bible.” n For further information, contact Mahadi Buthelezi on 083 992 0387.

A

Robert and Mahadi Buthelezi of Bryanston parish in Johannesburg will be running a free marriage retreat on February 14.

BILINGUAL church in Verulam outside of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal had been losing parishioners due to “language differences” but after a spiritual cleansing, and a series of novel projects, is bringing back “lost sheep”.

Ms Lucia Govender, secretary of the parish pastoral council at Our Lady of Good Help, told The Southern Cross that the church once had between 600 and 700 families attending Mass, but that figure had declined to less than 400.

“Our parish is bilingual, with English and Zulu speakers,” Ms Govender said.

“We have many Zulu-speaking parishioners, but a lot of the English left because they they did not understand the Mass.

“We are trying to bring back the lost people who left the parish.”

Ms Govender said the church’s new parish priest, Fr Jude Fernando who had been transferred from Mpophomeni parish outside Howick, had injected an enormous amount of passion, energy and leadership into Our Lady of Good Help.

“Fr Jude has been working very hard to bring lost sheep back to the parish and so far the participation

of people has been wonderful.”

One of Father’s Jude’s first initiatives when he took over the parish was to hold a spiritual cleansing.

“There was an exceptional turnout,” Ms Govender said.

“It really uplifted the parish. We adored the Eucharist. This adoration was so important. We prayed a lot in this time.

“The results have shown. There has been a transformation in the past month.”

‘The spiritual cleansing really uplifted the parish.

We adored the Eucharist This adoration was so important’

To encourage unity among the church’s language groups, Fr Jude arranged lamps to be lit on the altar

by English- and Zulu-speaking children, youth and adults to symbolise the light of Christ.

“The lamp symbolises the alpha and omega and our reunification as one family.

“Ideally the church should have a universal language where everyone should be accommodated for.

“Father wants to break animosity

that has built up over years. He wants to unite the parish again. He wants us to be an example to other parishes.”

Ms Govender said Fr Jude is working closely with the church councils to move the parish forward and is arranging retreats for each group in the church.

“We hope this will enhance the transformation process by bringing people together and uniting them with common goals.”

Ms Govender said one unification initiative aimed to give the church’s yard “a spiritual atmosphere”.

Our Lady of Good Help often has Hindu and Tamil visitors who come to the parish to pray at the grotto.

Many light candles and find devotion and solace in the parish.

Families are being encouraged to donate trees to the church for planting in the yard.

“Fr Jude wants to landscape the entire yard and make it look like a park. He wants to create a mood of warmth that is conducive and comfortable for our visitors.”

Ms Govender added: “There is a very positive vibe at Our Lady of Good Help. You can feel it.”

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The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

LOCAL

Catechism now in Farsi Continued from Page 1 ol Eslam va ol Moslemin Sayyed Abolhassan Navvab, rector of the University of Religions and Denominations, explained that “many steps have been made to promote better relations between Islam and Christianity”.

However, he also cautioned that some dialogues are merely held for their own sake. “I ask for Catholic cooperation to build fruitful dialogue,” he said.

Professor Ahmad Reza Meftah directed the project of translation. He explained that the English edition of the Catechism was the “reference edition”, but the translation was then refined and polished by an Italian Catholic who speaks Farsi fluently, and who also compared the translation with the original version in Latin.

According to Roberto Catalano, director of the Interreligious Dialogue department of the Focolare movement, the Farsi edition of the Catechism “will help to bypass some difficulties in fostering interreligious dialogue”.

The biggest of these difficulties is that “Farsi is the official language in Iran, but it cannot be officially used by the Church in Iran. Christians in Iran are allowed to use, according to Iranian law, Armenian, Chaldean, Latin, English and Italian, but not Farsi, in order to avoid the possibility of any proselytism,” Mr Catalano said.

As the Farsi edition of the Catechism has been published, now the scholars of Qom will be able to study Christianity from an original text.

As Fr Ayuso put it: “Dialogue is possible if we strain to understand the others, and—even before—if we strain to understand ourselves.—CNA

A

N attack by gunmen on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris is an attack on the core principle of democracy, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference said this week.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin, the president of the SACBC, said in a statement that the Church in Southern Africa was in solidarity with the people of France.

“On behalf of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa, I express our outrage at the vicious attacks on journalists and civilians in the city of Paris, in recent days,” Archbishop Brislin said.

“The loss of life is truly tragic and the attack on a core principle of democracy viz freedom of expression, is deplorable. Our hearts go out to the loved ones of those who have been killed and all who mourn their death.

“We express our deepest condolences to them. We believe that it is only God who will heal them.”

Two Islamist gunmen murdered 12 people at the newspaper’s offices on January 7.

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Five others were killed in subsequent attacks in the Paris area.

The latest cover of Charlie Hebdo shows a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad weeping while holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”.

It is believed earlier cartoons of the Prophet prompted the attack on the magazine.

In another attack in Paris two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack, four Jewish men died after an Islamist gunman took hostages at a kosher supermarket.

A policewoman was shot dead in a third shooting, which is believed to have been carried out by the same attacker.

On January 11, more than one million people marched in Paris against the attacks.

“To the people of France, we stand in admiration of your courage and solidarity shown in these difficult times,” Archbishop Brislin said.

“The Unity March of Sunday January 11, showed us, and the whole world, the resolve of the French people to unite and rise above this evil.

“Be assured of our solidarity and prayerful support.”

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Hurley weekend at cathedral

E

ACH year since Archbishop Denis Hurley’s death on February 13, 2004, Emmanuel cathedral parish in Durban observes a “Hurley weekend” as close as possible to the anniversary of his death. This is an opportunity to honour his memory and the huge contribution he made to the struggle for justice in South Africa and for the implementation of the Vatican II decrees.

This year has a particular significance because it is also the “Hurley centenary year” recalling Denis Hurley’s birth in Cape Town.

The special guest preacher for the Hurley weekend is Fr Anthony Egan SJ of the Jesuit Institute, with which the Denis Hurley Centre has a partnership.

Fr Egan will also lead a workshop entitled “Charity & Freedom: Archbishop Denis Hurley and the Church’s Social Teaching” which is open to people from any parish or indeed of any Church or faith. It will be held in the new Denis Hurley Centre on Saturday February 14 from 10.00 to 17:00. Participants are asked to bring a plate of eats to share.

The first Mass of the weekend at which Fr Egan will preach will follow the workshop at 17.30 and will end with a candlelight procession to the archbishop’s tomb in the Lady chapel of the cathedral, where a brief service will be led by Sr Marion Millane HF. On Sunday February 15, there are

Fr Anthony Egan SJ three Masses: 7.45 (English), 10.00 (bilingual) and 12 noon (isiZulu).

At 15:00 on Sunday in the main hall of the Denis Hurley Centre, there will be a report back on the progress of the centre and the new director of the centre will be introduced.

On the morning of November 9, the archbishop’s 100th birthday, the Denis Hurley Centre will be officially opened. That evening there will be an outdoor concert “World Religions in Concert” performed by the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra in the mall between the cathedral and the centre. n For further information, phone 031 201 3832/072 806 4417.

4

The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Pope to Sri Lankans: Pursuit of truth ends strife

BY FRANCiS X ROCCA

A

RRIVING in Sri Lanka, a country recovering from two-and-a-half decades of ethnic and religious civil war, Pope Francis said reconciliation would require its people to explore their painful recent history and accept persistent differences within their multicultural society.

“The process of healing also needs to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity,” the pope said at an arrival ceremony at Colombo’s international airport.

Pope Francis addressed his words to Sri Lanka’s new president, Maithripala Sirisena, who was elected and sworn in the next day.

During his campaign, Sirisena promised an independent investigation into war crimes allegedly committed during the 26-year struggle between government forces and rebels belonging to the country’s Tamil minority.

In his remarks to the pope, Sirisena noted that during the last papal visit, by St John Paul II in 1995, “Sri Lanka was embroiled in annihilating terrorism, following the mayhem caused by the terrorists in the daily lives of the people” —a reference to the Tamil Tigers, finally defeated in 2009 by the military under Sirisena’s predecessor, President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The war divided Sri Lanka along religious as well as ethnic lines, since members of the Sinhalese majority are typically Buddhist, and Tamils for the most part Hindu. Catholics, who make up 7% of the country’s population, include members of both ethnic groups. Rajapaksa, who sought reelection, had his political base in the country’s Sinhalese-Buddhist majority. Sirisena enjoys more support among minorities.

“Sri Lanka for many years knew the horrors of civil strife and is now seeking to consolidate peace and to heal the scars of those years,” Pope Francis said, his voice hoarse and weary-sounding after the 10-hour flight from Rome. “I am convinced that the followers of the various religious traditions have an essential role to play in the delicate process of reconciliation and rebuilding which is tak-

Pope Francis wears a robe presented to him during a meeting with religious leaders at the Bandaranaike Memorial international Conference Hall in Colombo, Sri lanka. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) ing place in this country.”

That afternoon, the pope met with local Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and other Christian leaders, telling them that efforts at “interreligious and ecumenical relations take on a particular significance and urgency in Sri Lanka”, as sources of “healing and unity” after years of “civil strife and violence”.

Again, he sounded a note of realism, stressing that dialogue could not eliminate cultural differences but would emphasise the need for their acceptance.

“For such dialogue and encounter to be effective, it must be grounded in a full and forthright presentation of our respective convictions. Certainly, such dialogue will accentuate how varied our beliefs, traditions and practices are.

But if we are honest in presenting our convictions, we will be able to see more clearly what we hold in common,” the pope said. “Men and women do not have to forsake their identity, whether ethnic or religious, in order to live in harmony.”

The pope urged followers of different religions to cooperate in social service, providing for the “material and spiritual needs of the poor, the destitute” and thus “rebuild the moral foundations of

society as a whole”.

At the interreligious meeting, held at a Colombo conference centre, a Hindu leader, speaking the Tamil language, voiced hopes for lasting peace and draped a saffron silk shawl over Pope Francis’ shoulders.

A representative of the local Muslim community condemned “terrorism, racism, extremism”, including recent killings by Islamist militants at a Paris newspaper and a military-run school in Pakistan.

A Buddhist monk, representing the faith of 70% of Sri Lanka’s population, noted the common dedication of great religions to the values of love, self-sacrifice and peace, as well as the common susceptibility of humanity to hatred and violence.

On Pope Francis’ first day in Sri Lanka he was greeted by traditional dancers and drummers, a 21-gun salute and a choir of teenagers who sang a song of welcome in English, the same language the pope and Sirisena used for their remarks. Girls in white dresses and boys in neckties and shorts waved gold-and-white Vatican flags. Nearby stood 40 elephants draped in colourful fabrics, a traditional gesture of honour for distinguished guests.

The pope’s entourage, led by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, wore white cassocks in keeping with the ecclesiastical custom in tropical climates.

Temperatures were in the high 20s in the bright sunshine.

The pope rode the 28km distance to the nuncio’s residence in an open-sided popemobile past crowds waving Vatican flags. A persistent breeze made it impossible for him to keep his zucchetto on for much of the ride. Because the pope made frequent stops to greet and bless individuals along the way, his ride took twice as long as expected, leading him to cancel a meeting with Sri Lanka’s bishops planned for early afternoon.

This is Pope Francis’ second trip to Asia, following a visit to South Korea in August. He spent two full days in Sri Lanka, before flying to the Philippines.

Pope Francis celebrated Mass at the canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz—the country’s first saint, which took place at Galle Face Green in Colombo.—CNS

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A boy holds a banner with an image of Pope Francis as he waits for the pope to arrive to celebrate the canonisation Mass of St Joseph Vaz at Galle Face Green in Colombo, Sri lanka. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

North Korea tops list of Christian persecution

BY JONATHAN lUXMOORE

A

N international report has warned that Christians face worsening mistreatment worldwide and called for “urgent action” by Western governments and Church leaders.

“Christians are being persecuted with greater intensity than ever before, as their general situation deteriorates,” said Zoe Smith, British head of advocacy with the Netherlands-based Open Doors International.

“While the rise of Islamist extremism has been a major factor in the Middle East and Africa, we’re concerned persecution is now also occurring in countries of Asia and Latin America where it wasn’t historically an issue.”

In early January, Open Doors, an interdenominational charity, released its annual World Watch List, surveying the fate of Church members in 50 countries. It said 2014 had “the highest level of global persecution of Christians in the modern era”, but added that current conditions suggested “the worst is

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It said communist-ruled North Korea topped the list as “the most dangerous country for Christians”, with 70 000 languishing in prison, while Somalia came “a surprisingly close second”.

The report added that persecution threatened the demise of Christians in the Middle East, where 700 000 had fled Syria since the 2011 outbreak of war, and the Christian population of Iraq had been cut to just 300 000 in the face of Islamic State attacks.

In an interview with Catholic News Service, Ms Smith said Western countries “have a real mandate to speak out for the fundamental right of each individual person, not only of Christians, to believe as they wish and change their religion if they want to. We need them to be even more active in this area.”

Founded in 1955 to smuggle Bibles to communist-ruled Eastern Europe, Open Doors now works in more than 65 countries and has national branches in 24 countries, including the US and Canada.—CNS

The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

5

Vatican recognises Oscar Romero as martyr for faith S

BY CHAz MUTH

Bishops from around the world pray during a Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Bethlehem, West Bank. Sixteen bishops of the Holy land Coordination were on a two-day visit to Gaza. (Photo: Debbie Hill/CNS)

Bishops see signs of hope in Gaza D

BY JUDiTH SUDilOVSKY

ESPITE the immense destruction still evident in Gaza following the war there last year, the resilience of the people gave hope to 16 bishops of the Holy Land Coordination during their visit to the Gaza Strip.

“What made a deep impression on me is that the people are not broken,” said Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town. “Their will is very strong. We saw this in the way they interacted with us and the fact that life is as back to as “normal” as possible. It signifies the strength of the human spirit.”

It took some of the bishops six hours to get through the Erez checkpoint into Gaza where they celebrated Mass, met with members of the Christian community and were briefed on the work of CRS, Caritas and the Pontifical Mission in Gaza.

The bishops also visited the Israeli border town of Sderot, which was among the Israeli towns that came under bombardment.

“We shouldn’t make light of the Israeli perspective and we need to listen to it; it is truly a concern and before the walls of separation there were suicide bombings. We understand the fear, but that is not a longterm solution,” said Bishop Cantu.

“The wall of separation is causing even more problems, even in the short term.”

Auxiliary Bishop William Kenney

of Birmingham, England, noted that an Israeli they spoke with in Sderot remembered with fondness the time when Gazan workers were able to come to the city, and they had meals together.

Israel and Egypt instituted a border blockade of Gaza in 2007 following an internal struggle between two Palestinian factions—Hamas—which Israel, the United States and others consider a terrorist organisation— and Fatah, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip following their legislative election win in 2006.

As a result of the blockade, the bishops noted, Gaza residents are still struggling to repair or rebuild their homes when it is extremely difficult to obtain much-needed building supplies.

Tens of thousands of people are still living in their bombed out homes or under primitive conditions even during the recent cold spells, the bishops noted, calling Gaza an “open-air prison”. “The biggest need for the people of Gaza is freedom,” said Bishop Felix Gmur of Basel, Switzerland. “They do not feel free because there is no exchange of goods or (movement) of people.”

He noted the strength of the shrinking Gazan Christian community. “They hold on. They keep being there,” Bishop Gmur said. “They are living in circumstances which are partially hostile because...there are some (Muslims) who would like them to be outside of Gaza.” —CNS

CHOLARS who have studied the life of murdered Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero say a reading of the tea leaves suggests advancement of his sainthood cause is imminent.

The news is being met with jubilation by many Romero researchers and with mixed emotions by Salvadorans.

Supporters of the cause for Romero’s canonisation have been frustrated for years by what they view as a stalled effort.

However, the cause now appears to have momentum, and a soon-tocome beatification or sainthood announcement “would be a great day for us”, said Damian Zynda, an Archbishop Romero researcher who is a faculty member with the Christian Spirituality Programme at Creighton University.

Mr Zynda was among several scholars interviewed during the annual International Conference on Archbishop Oscar Romero at the University of Notre Dame in September.

The most promising movement of the cause came when the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference announced that a panel of theologians advising the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes unanimously voted to recognise the archbishop as a martyr, and declared that the archbishop had been killed “in hatred for the faith”.

Archbishop Romero, an outspoken advocate for the poor and an uncompromising critic of a Salvadoran government he said legitimised terror and assassinations, was shot and killed on March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass in a San Salvador hospital chapel during his country’s 12-year civil war that ended in 1992.

The next step in the process lies with the cardinals and bishops who sit on the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, who will vote on whether to advise the pope to issue a decree of beatification. A miracle is not needed for beatification of a martyr, though a miracle is ordinarily needed for his or her canonisation

Faith and space exploration

BY DENNiS SADOWSKi

H

OW people value space exploration may just depend on someone's particular faith.

An analysis of the results of several national surveys by a University of Dayton political science professor found that Catholics are more supportive of the US maintaining a leading role in probing the depths of space and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence than people of other faiths.

Political scientist Joshua Ambrosius told Catholic News Service evangelical Protestants, on the other hand, are significantly less likely than people of other faiths to see the value of the nation’s space endeavours. Evangelicals also tended to have less knowledge about space, he said.

Why evangelicals are less supportive of the various facets of space exploration is uncertain, but having grown up in an evangelical family, Mr Ambrosius said he can understand some possible reasons.

“In my family, there wasn’t a lot of discussion about science and its relevance. I had influences that would question the findings and contributions of modern science, particularly the view of evolutionary origins (of humans). I grew up in a Church and a tradition very oriented around creation science. It wasn’t until I was an older teenager and in college [that] I

The results of a survey show that Catholics are supportive of space exploration. (Photo: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team, Reuters/ CNS) turned to accept the scientific explanation of evolution,” he said.

Mr Ambrosius studied various factors outlined in four surveys, including knowledge of space, interest in space, support for funding of space exploration, views on the benefits of space exploration, space optimism and space nationalism— whether the US should be a leader in space exploration.

“Evangelicals express significantly higher expectations that an asteroid will hit earth, but significantly lower expectations of the discovery of life off the earth,” he said in his report,

“Separation of Church and Space: Religious Influences on Support for Space Exploration Policy”.

He found that evangelicals are the least knowledgeable, interested and supportive of space exploration. He also learned that Jews and members of Eastern religions were most knowledgeable and supportive.

Evangelicals also are more certain that Jesus will return in the next 40 years than they are that humans will make significant progress in space exploration during that time, Mr Ambrosius wrote.

For Catholics, the depth of the practice of their faith does not seem to matter when it comes to supporting a space programme. Mr Ambrosius’ analysis found that there was no difference in the support of space exploration between Catholics who attend Mass weekly and those who attend less often.

“There seems to be a role that Church leaders, particularly among evangelicals, play in developing space policy and space exploration,” Mr Ambrosius explained.

The findings are significant because evangelical Christians could influence policymaking when it comes to funding space exploration. “Definitely the space community needs to build upon this interplay of outreach to religious publics,” he added.—CNS

Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero is pictured in a 1979 photo in Chalatenango, El Salvador. A panel of theologians advising the Vatican's Congregation for Saints' Causes voted unanimously to recognise the late Salvadoran archbishop as a martyr. (Photo: Octavio Duran/CNS) as saint.

Some scholars say it is possible Pope Francis will not adhere to convention and fast-track the canonisation process without a miracle.

“I’m not naive, because I’ve walked through a lot of trenches, but I’m hopeful,” said Holy Cross Father Robert Pelton, director of Latin American/North American Church Concerns for the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Fr Pelton also organises an annual international conference on Archbishop Romero at the university.

“It’s so long overdue,” said Julian Filochowski, chairman of the Archbishop Romero Trust in London, which was launched in 2007 to raise awareness about the murdered justice advocate’s life and work. “I think it will give great encouragement to the Church and to those who are bread-breaking-justice-seeking Christians and Catholics around the world.”

Archbishop Romero’s sainthood cause was opened at the Vatican in 1993, but was delayed for years as

the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith studied his writings, amid wider debate over whether he had been killed for his faith or for political reasons. And there has been concern that he has been used as a political symbol rather than a religious symbol in El Salvador.

The martyrdom of Archbishop Romero is different from how most people traditionally see martyrs, said Michael Lee, associate professor of theology at Jesuit-run Fordham University.

“Many of us have notions of ancient Christian martyrs before a Roman emperor, but here is Romero, and so many others, who have given their lives for the struggle for justice and human rights, which was inspired by the Gospels’ teachings,” said Mr Lee. “These truly are martyrs and we need to understand martyrdom in a new light because of their example.”

Pope Francis has been an outspoken admirer of Archbishop Romero.

He quoted him during a recent general audience at the Vatican, and when he was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, he reportedly said he already considered Archbishop Romero to be a saint.

Beatification and canonisation of the murdered Salvadoran archbishop would provide the Church and people of Latin America with a role model for peace and social justice, said Thomas Kelly, professor of systematic theology at Creighton University.

“It would definitely give people who take the social justice teaching of Vatican II very seriously a model and exemplar who is now a saint in a way that we do not have and have not had before,” said Mr Kelly. “It would definitely, I think, propel the agenda of Pope Francis in many ways.”

Similarities between Pope Francis and Archbishop Romero include a deep concern for the poor, efforts to minimise the power of the very wealthy and use of the pulpit to advocate for the poor and victims of societal abuses, he said.—CNS

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6

The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Root out prosperity cult teachings

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Acting editor: Fr Chris Chatteris SJ

F

Are we Charlie?

T

O identify oneself directly with the victims of some terrible event or monstrous injustice has become almost fashionable, ever since John Kennedy’s visit to West Berlin in 1963 when, in solidarity with the people who were divided by the Iron Curtain, he famously said: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” And when the 9/11 attacks took place in 2001, people around the world proclaimed: “We are all Americans now.”

Millions of people in France and worldwide have recently been proclaiming “I am Charlie” in reaction to the recent murderous terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Personal identification is an understandable first response of human sympathy. Then, as the emotions of the event settle and reflection begins, the responses become more nuanced. How did this happen? Was it inevitable?

What should be done?

Memories of earlier events eliciting such solidarity remind us that they can be used by politicians for dubious ends.

9/11 was used by Messrs Bush and Blair to wage war in Iraq, and look at Iraq today. How will politicians use, as undoubtedly some will, the Charlie Hebdo outrage? When that happens, many people who proclaimed “I am Charlie” may feel used.

So, are Catholics Charlie?

There is no question about our condemnation of the terrorist murders. Although in the past the Church has used force, including the deadly force of torture and execution, against those who attacked it verbally, we have come to realise that such a response was and always is unworthy of the one we follow. The Inquisition was a gross betrayal of the Jesus who commanded us to love our enemies and who forgave those who crucified him.

The Slovenian philosopher Slavov Žižek has made the interesting point that religious fanatics who feel they must kill those who mock their faith betray a lack of confidence in that faith.

A good definition of fanaticism is “overcompensation for doubt”.

By contrast, when Charlie Hebdo published a horribly obscene cartoon of the Blessed Trinity, the cartoonists and editors knew that

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.

Christians would find it offensive but no Christian fanatics would kill them. They could also count on a similarly restrained reaction from Jews.

One of Charlie Hebdo’s arguments in their defence is that they do not single out any religion or group in particular; everyone is fair game. But parcelling offensiveness out equally does not lessen its intrinsic hurtfulness. Nor does it address the vital question of the level of respect and civility required in a democratic society which is both pluralistic and multi-religious.

Certainly, freedom of speech is a fundamental right in a democratic society, but that it is unlimited is a myth. Here in South Africa one cannot use the k-word, and rightly so, because it was used in the past to dehumanise people and can still do so. In Germany one may not (by law) deny the historical truth of the Holocaust, because to do so is to dehumanise Jews all over again. An attack on a revered historical figure can be an attack on those who revere that figure. I doubt if South Africans would tolerate obscene cartoons of Nelson Mandela.

For history teaches that verbal or written violence leads to violence, even genocide. This was horribly demonstrated in Rwanda by the extremists’ use of the term “cockroaches” of the Tutsis, repeated on their propaganda radio station. Having reduced human beings to the level of insects, they persuaded very ordinary people to treat them like insects.

The question, therefore, is not whether we should have freedom of expression or not. The real question is always: how much freedom?

If anyone can say anything about anybody, then it can become impossible to agree to disagree respectfully. The necessary respect and tolerance required for democratic dialogue can disappear in a welter of violent language. If words degenerate into real violence, a dictator often steps in and that’s the end of all our freedoms.

If being Charlie means standing for an extreme, aggressively offensive freedom of expression, then can a serious Catholic, or indeed a serious democrat, be Charlie?

OR years I have been concerned about the absence of quality Catholic teaching and spirituality in Church sodalities. In most of the parish groups there is no spiritual director or they depend on a parish priest who seldom if ever attends meetings, and show little interest in supporting the group.

The result of this lack is that in many groups people without any training in theology or spirituality give shallow (and even erroneous) teachings which do not do justice to the richness of Catholic doctrine and spirituality.

Many of the questionable teachings and practices of Pentecostalism and the prosperity gospel cults are being openly punted in certain charismatic groups.

Often this involves people being

Get facts right

Y

OUR correspondents Colin Arendse (“Eyes on the DA”, January 7) and Wesley Seale (“Doom and gloom”, January 14) both take issue with remarks made by me on behalf of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), either in interviews with your reporters or in briefing papers published by the CPLO. Anyone who ventures to criticise a political party is bound to upset the loyalists of that party, and they have every right to voice their displeasure; but it helps to get the facts straight.

Mr Arendse states that “the purpose of the CPLO … is to hold all spheres of government to account” and assumes that this includes the DA government of the Western Cape. He says that if we do not produce a paper analysing its failures, the CPLO risks “being regarded as just another anti-ANC front.”

In fact, the purpose of the CPLO is to liaise with the national sphere of government, and to do what it can to hold both the national executive and the legislature to account.

It should also be mentioned that we have a relatively unusual situation in South Africa, in that there has been only one governing party at national level since the start of our democratic era. We have yet to experience national government by any other party. If or when we do, Mr Arendse may be assured that the CPLO will subject such other party to similar scrutiny.

Mr Seale, referring to the December 24 front page article, “Dark, angry start for 2015”, says that “the headline and the contents of the article spell nothing but gloom and doom”. I agree with Mr Seale that the headline—which of course I did not choose—is overly negative.

However, it is often tricky to capture the tone of a whole article in a five-word headline; that is why it is

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promised healings and solutions to their financial and personal woes that do not materialise and the casting out of non-existent evil spirits.

All this carries on under the noses of parish priests who are too preoccupied to bother about what is happening in the sodalities and prayer groups or do anything about it.

If a priest cannot give teaching in person, he should at least distribute satisfactory material to lay leaders or (better still) ensure they are put through courses on spiritual leadership and theology.

Because I am a longtime supporter of the charismatic renewal, I am concerned that questionable practices, far from building up the charismatic renewal, give it a bad name and damage the Church.

I would like those with the rea good idea to read the whole piece carefully.

If Mr Seale had done that he would have noted that I mentioned the considerable progress that has been made against crime in recent years, and that I highlighted the role of the police, the citizenry (in community policing forums) and the courts in this regard. He would also have noticed that I expressed a “glimmer of hope” that our labour and business institutions might provide stronger economic leadership and thereby do more to address our single biggest problem, unemployment.

I also noted that it is not simply up to government, even less the President, to tackle unemployment and to set overall economic direction. My purpose was to refute the kind of superficial analysis that simplistically blames everything bad on the government of that day, or worse, on an individual leader.

Whether all this makes me a “prophet of doom” is something that your readers can judge for themselves, but understanding the world of politics, and helping the Church to play a constructive role in its interactions with that world, is a more complex and nuanced matter than simply tossing around a few inaccurate generalisations and epithets.

Mike Pothier, research coordinator, CPLO, Cape Town

Lack of love

A

NEW year is upon us—time for fresh ideas and new beginnings in the spirit of love and compassion and by spreading God’s grace.

After happily absorbing so much of Pope Francis’ advice concerning bishops “smelling of their flock” and his exhortations on “dialogue”, “compassion” and “love”, the SACBC letter denouncing Mary Ryan, and confirming her excommunication, came as a shock.

The letter gave no hint of any dialogue, and if there was any compassion or love, it was carefully disguised—and the smell that emanated was very different from what Francis apparently had in mind.

The SACBC missive states: “The Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful” (cf. Canon 1024).

This statement appears to convey at least two messages.

The first is that at this stage in Church history, there is no evidence that God condones women priests—it does not categorically state that women priests are forever unacceptable. The Church was granted the power of “binding and loosing”, so what prohibits the Church from accepting the guidance of God by allowing women priests to serve a needy Church?

The second message reinforces the old RC adage that Church layfolk have no choice but to blindly “pray, pay and obey”—not anything like Francis’ “dialogue” encouragement.

In the light of God’s grace and

sponsibility for the charismatic renewal on the diocesan and national level to take a stand on this issue and ensure that serious steps are taken to terminate the spread of prosperity gospel teachings in a Catholic charismatic renewal setting.

It should also ensure that those attending charismatic renewal groups are given comprehensive Catholic instruction on spirituality and doctrine on a regular and sustained basis, especially on issues where there has been large-scale and systematic erroneous teaching.

However, it is also time that bishops took a stand on the issue of erroneous practices and also on bad or non-existent spiritual and doctrinal formation in many parish groups and compel clergy to fulfil their canonical responsibilities of credible pastoral care and spiritual formation.

Frank Bompas, Johannesburg Francis’ guidance, there must surely be more compassionate ways to have handled Mary Ryan’s case?

Geoff Harris, Rooi Els, Western Cape

Dialogue of care

I

WOULD like to support Luky Whittle’s appealing argument (December 31) in favour of dialogue on contentious issues such as women priests. Promoting dialogue within the Church is the main thrust of We Are All Church South Africa (WAACSA), of which I am national coordinator.

As a psychiatrist, I know that the healthiest way to approach conflict between two parties is to address it in a spirit of mutual respect. Attempts to silence or threaten the other party are not only likely to entrench the conflict but are also not worthy of caring leadership.

Brian Robertson, Cape Town

Zuma donation

T

WELVE months ago the Zuma foundation offered to make a contribution to the translation of the Bible into Zulu. I well remember Cardinal Wilfrid Napier writing an excellent letter to the Durban Sunday Tribune setting out why the donation to this project could not be accepted by the Church. The cardinal’s refusal was widely reported in other print media.

Now twelve months later the front page of the latest issue of The Southern Cross (January 14) carries the headline “Zuma foundation funds Zulu Bible translation”.

The report states that this is the culmination of an agreement signed between the Mariannhill diocese and the Zuma foundation on January 5 2014. This seems to fly in the face of the Cardinal’s letter.

Indeed it brings into question the integrity of the Catholic Church.

Surely if an agreement on such a sensitive matter was signed twelve months ago it would have been discussed at one of the plenary meetings of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference held in the past year?

The timing of this latest announcement both in The Southern Cross and other media was clearly made to coincide with the ruling party’s 103rd birthday celebrations which in turn signals the start of that party’s election campaign to garner support for the party at next year’s municipal elections. In my view the donation should have been politely refused.

Mervyn Pollitt, Waterfall, KZN 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

Are there dogs in heaven? Raymond Perrier

A

TEARFUL child approached the Holy Father and explained that his little dog had died. With the skill of a natural pastor, the pope reassured the boy that there was room for all God’s creatures in heaven. And with this throwaway line, a debate blew up that went round the world.

If you think the above story was about Pope Francis you are in good company—The New York Times made the same mistake. In fact, the story about the pope and the puppy involved Blessed Paul VI 40 years ago.

However, Pope Francis did recently make a comment about the environment and this is what caused journalists to reopen the question of whether or not animals go to heaven.

Why did any of this matter? If heaven is the destiny of those who are saved, does that mean that dogs can be saved? And if so, does that mean that dogs will be judged, for there can be no heaven without hell? And if they are judged, that must mean that dogs have souls—that can be put at risk through sin. And if dogs can sin, they must have a conscience. And if dogs, why not all animals? And if all animals have a soul and a conscience and the chance of salvation, what does that say about the piece of bacon you are tucking into as you read this over breakfast?

The animal rights lobby went wild with excitement about the misquote: was the pope, already a friend of unmarried mothers, refugees, Muslims and homosexuals, now also endorsing vegetarianism?

No, was the categorical response from the (Catholic) head of the pig-breeders’ association in America. The pope would certainly not want to deny us our pork chops.

And in any case—the quote that always comes out at this point—Genesis 1:28 gives human beings “dominion over the fish in the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” and so (the implication is) we can do what we like with the rest of creation.

One sensible Jesuit pointed out that the pope’s words were a “pastoral response, not a theological statement” and so should not be overanalysed. But I could not help noticing that much of the theology that we draw from the Gospels comes from “pastoral responses” that Jesus gives to the

random people whom he encounters—not a little boy with a dead puppy but a rich young man or a woman caught in adultery or a grieving widow.

As I ponder the pope’s words—that is, Pope Paul not Pope Francis—my concerns go beyond my lamb chops or leather shoes and instead focus on what heaven is going to be like.

A heaven full of puppies—especially ones like Razzle that don’t bark, are obedient and give you unconditional love—would be delightful. But then, what about the ugly dogs? And the growling ones? And the smelly ones? And the cats?

Moreover, if we take this to its logical conclusion, it means that there must be room in heaven for mosquitoes.

A (non-religious) friend of mine, trying to make sense of this, offered the perspective that in heaven there would only be room for fluffy animals because they would fit in with the fluffy clouds.

So the mosquitoes that are there will be “the cute ones that don’t bite—they just sing”. It still sounds to me like being locked away for eternity in a room with a buzzing insect!

As I pursue these thoughts I find myself very quickly becoming God—judging which animals will go to heaven and which will not.

Serena Shea kisses her Yorkshire terrier, Champ, following the blessing of pets at immaculate Conception Church in Massachusetts. The blessing occurs close to the October 4 feast of St Francis of Assisi, patron of animals. Raymond Perrier puzzles over whether Champ will get to heaven.

(Photo: Gregory A Shemitz/CNS)

Commitment to love A LREADY one month into the new year and we meet our new underlying theme for the year. PicknPay uses a keyword, “Inspired,” ABSA Bank uses “Prosper” so couldn’t we, as the Church or at least as families, use the word “Commitment”?

We can use the concept in its broadest sense, or a somewhat narrower application in the theme for the year “Marriage and Family, Committed to Love and Life,” and on a monthly basis tease it out and apply it.

The full overview of the themes, month by month, can be downloaded from www.marfam.org.za or the SACBC Family Life Desk website.

It includes commitment to and by youth, parents, grandparents, woman-man relationship and more. February, of course, being the month of love, we all as members of families in different relationships are invited to focus on commitment to love.

Marriage Encounter from the late 1970s introduced the concept of a “decision to love” which means much the same thing.

That has been an underlying vision for me for the last 35 years of family ministry in some form and for many who experienced ME, Catholic Engaged Encounter and Retrouvaille, which all came from the same stable, so to say.

A commitment or decision to love is basic to all family relationships. You can’t or shouldn’t just walk out on relationships because you are disillusioned or even in a stage of misery.

There can be a future for a hurting marriage or a troubled family with the necessary skills, knowhow and commitment to make things work. We do accept, all the same, that this is not always the case because there are situations that are beyond repair, or should never have been started in the first place.

I believe the following idea says it well.

Within a family, on good, happy, positive, exciting days of romance and friendship, there is commitment to a person. On OK

Judy McGary and her husband, John, have been married for 48 years. Now retired, they run a vegetable farm, and participate in a community-supported agriculture programme. Columnist Toni Rowland believes commitment to love is essential to our relationships. (Photo: Theresa laurence/CNS) days, which are most likely the most common for most of us, unfortunately, there is commitment to relationships, to marriage or to family. On bad days, there is commitment to commitment.

That is the bottom line, it is what making a decision to love is all about. It is wonderful but also painful to see how many families do make that type of commitment. However, living in constant misery or conflict just because of determination to stick with the decision may also not be lifegiving to those involved. The most difficult decision in such a difficult situation is to be willing and committed to make changes.

Another wise saying that bears repeating, is “If you keep doing the same thing the same way, you will end up with the same result.” If family members continue to behave in the same negative ways that cause conflict, nothing will change. I get

Faith and Society

But how soon do I then slip into the trap of judging which people will go to heaven? I guess we are all tempted by a view of heaven full of people whom we like, or who are like us. Lots of space for our friends, and the relatives we get on with, and the members of our “clan”. But not much space for the people we didn’t spend time with on earth, the ones from a different group or “race” or religion or lifestyle or political view.

The question of animals in heaven starts to open a much bigger can of celestial invertebrates; it tests our genuine acceptance of others.

When I was a Jesuit novice, we spent a quiet evening—we had a lot of those—speculating with the novice master on what heaven would be like.

I held forth: for me, heaven would be like an eternal cocktail party, full of the people I had enjoyed meeting in life or whom I had always wanted to meet. And I could move endlessly round the cocktail party, chatting to more and more people, sipping martinis and never getting drunk, and hobnobbing with my grandmother or St Ignatius or Noel Coward.

My novice master—not a natural extrovert—went pale at the thought of it.

“That,” he said, “is my idea of hell!”

I suspect that God knows what he is up to. If the little boy’s idea of heaven is to be reunited with his lost puppy then surely God can sort that out. And that won’t undermine the kind of heaven experienced by the person who cannot abide animals.

And there will even be a kind of heaven for the insect lover who wants to be surrounded for all time by mosquitoes and bugs and spiders.

And we will all learn—under the gaze of a merciful Father and with the passing of eternity—to learn to understand and accept each other’s view of heaven. n Raymond Perrier has co-authored a book of daily reflections for Lent entitled Pilgrims in the Modern World which is now available for R65 excl VAT from Catholic bookshops and from the Jesuit Institute at admin@jesuitinstitute.org.za

Toni Rowland

Family Friendly

phone calls from time to time, and so do those who work with troubled situations, and someone will say: “I want to work at this relationships but he/she isn’t interested.” Spouses, parents and children, and the elderly too are invited, even challenged, to consider that a commitment to love requires willingness to forgive and openness to change, not just to maintain the status quo if it is not what it could be.

This can be applied well to the season of Lent too which begins on February 18.

Conversion and repentance apply to our relationship with God as well as with others. The major difference, of course, is that God is always reaching out to us, does not need to change but wants us to make the changes that will improve our relationship with him.

While on holiday in the countryside I was more conscious of birdcalls than I normally am in town, where one mostly seems to hear hadeda birds shouting at each other. I heard a call that sounded much like someone clicking and tapping away on their cellphone.

Then too we have people training birds to talk, but it is more likely to have people imitating bird calls.

So I thought of the harmony that is brought about by imitation. Pope Benedict mentioned living in harmony in the second African synod document Africa’s Commitment. I like to think that a commitment to love involves being willing to do things “your way,” or ideally “our way” not just “my way” so as to live in harmony.

It may take some doing to share one another’s music across relationships and generations, but making beautiful music together, sharing love songs, cannot but bring joy to body and spirit. n For the 2015 family year planners and MARFAM resources, visit www.marfam. org.za

The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

7

Winnie Graham

Point of Debate

Teach the Ten Commandments

W

HEN I learned recently that a certain farm worker in the valley where I live had spent 15 years in prison for murder, I was pretty shaken. My home is one of the most peaceful corners of South Africa. Surely there could be no murderer among us?

Yet, when I thought about it, I reasoned the man had paid for his crime and who was I to deny him a second chance?

I’d met him a number of times and found him a cheerful, pleasant fellow always willing to help.

Surely he couldn’t be that bad? So I set aside my prejudices and greeted him cheerfully every time our paths crossed.

Then, soon after, he was allegedly involved in a fight which left his opponent so seriously injured that he is likely to be maimed for life and, should he recover, might never work again.

This act of violence happened no more than half a kilometre from my front door.

In the scheme of things, the crime is not regarded as particularly serious. It is unlikely to make a paragraph in even the local newspapers.

In a country where, according to statistics, 16 259 people were murdered in 2012/13—something like 45 a day—what’s another near death?

Still, that violent act left me feeling sick at heart. I could not stop thinking of the victim’s wife and children, wondering how they would cope in the months ahead.

And though my sympathies were very much with them, I was overwhelmed by a sense of pain that the perpetrator could have so forgotten himself that he almost killed a fellow worker, in the process virtually destroying his own life and that of his family.

Yet, the disagreement that triggered the fight could so easily have been avoided.

It apparently started late on a Saturday night when the men were drinking. Cheap wine has destroyed more than one family, not only in the rural areas but countrywide. In this case one man ended up in prison, the other in hospital.

Murder, it seems, has become almost a national pasttime in South Africa. Our murder rate is about four and a half times higher than the global average of 6,9 murders per 100 000. Attempted murder cases have increased from 14 859 to 16 363. And that is to say nothing about rapes, assaults and other crimes of violence.

Which brings me to the crux of the matter.

When I was a schoolgirl, one of the first lessons our teachers drilled into our heads was the ten commandments—and they applied equally to pupils of all (or no) religious denominations.

We knew we could not use the name of the Lord our God in vain, that we should keep the Sabbath holy, that we should honour our fathers and mothers, that we should not steal, commit adultery, give false testimony against our neighbour—and certainly that we should not commit murder.

Every one of those commandments make sense, but, it seems, religious instruction is no longer a given in most schools. Yet, in my view, they are of paramount importance, providing a firm foundation for all who aspire to lead a good life.

And though the commandments may be part of the Old Testament, they apply to people of all religious persuasions. They are undoubtedly among the most important instructions in the Bible.

I learned the commandments by heart as an eight-year-old schoolgirl. They are not always easy to obey but when I was tempted to do something silly, one of the famous ten would invariably leap to mind—and make me think.

Who knows how many lives might be saved if they were ingrained into the psyche of every schoolchild? It is certainly worth the try.

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8

The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

COMMUNITY

Students from Brescia House School in Johannesburg attended their weekly Mass at the parish of the Resurrection in Bryanston, Johannesburg, where parish priest Fr Keith Gordon-Davis gave a special blessing to the Grade 7 pupils who will be going to high school this year. The Mass was also attended by three Probians (inset from left) John Martin, president of the Probus council, Rodney Frances and James Marallich. The Probus organisation has over 300 000 members in approximately 4 000 clubs worldwide and was started by Rotary in the USA and Canada in the 1920s.

Robyn liedeman, daughter of Peter and lorraine, and Radley Cloete, son of Michael and Jahala were married on December 17 in St Agnes’ parish in Woodstock, Cape Town, with Fr Rohan Smuts presiding.

The altar servers of the Newcastle deanery attended a camp which toured the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands.

The Catholic Deaf conference was held in Cape Town, where a working committee of seven members was elected to clarify and implement the recommendations of the conference over the next two years. (Back from left) zanele Mbothwe, Eric Mahamba and Fr Charles Phoofolo OMi. (Seated) Sibusiso zulu, Fr Mark James OP, Fr lufeyo Mpaha CMM and Makeni Myanga.

St John Bosco parish in Johannesburg celebrated with its members who have reached the 50-year marriage mark and beyond. (From left) Benny, 92, and Theresa, 89, Nagan, married for 66 years, Fr Eugene Hennessy SDB, and Anne, 74, and ivan, 80, Mansour, married for 54 years, are pictured at a senior citizens Christmas party given by the youth of the parish.

St Catherine’s School

Your child’s education is the most important decision you will ever make. It lasts a life time.

Congratulations to the Class of 2014!

The Principals, Staff and Board of Governors are absolutely delighted with their performance!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish them the very best in their future endeavours.

• • • •

St Catherine’s School once again achieves 100% pass rate 78% Degree Pass 22% Diploma Pass 32 Distinctions from 36 learners

MPUMeLeLo nhLaPo Mpumi was our top learner with an overall average of 87%. She achieved a distinction in each of her seven subjects which included English, Afrikaans, Mathematics, Physical Science, Accounting, Geography and Life Orientation WE iNViTE YOU TO OUR

OPEN DAY

7 MARCH 2015

From 09h00-12h00

neo PhahLa Neo achieved an overall average of 81.1% and distinctions in English, Mathematics, Computer Application Technology and Life Orientation. He was amongst the top 1% of CAT learners through the IEB schools.

rYan JaMeS Ryan achieved an overall average of 76% with distinctions in Mathematical Literacy and Life Orientation.

KaYLeen JaCoBS Kayleen achieved distinctions for Afrikaans First additional language, Business Studies and Life Orientation. Her average was 73.0%

For further information or to arrange a viewing of the school, 31 Piercy Avenue, Parkhill Gardens, Germiston Please contact: Tel: 011 827 4102 Fax: 011 827 4117 Email: marketing@stcatherines.org.za Web address: www.stcatherines.org.za

PERSONALITY

The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

9

New bishop of Klerksdorp: I come as a pilgrim On January 25 Mgr Victor Phalana will be ordained as the new bishop of Klerksdorp. MATHiBElA SEBOTHOMA spoke to the new bishop and others who know him.

B

ISHOP-ELECT Victor Phalana will be ordained to the episcopate to head Klerksdorp diocese on January 25.

The date was chosen to coincide with the plenary session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Pretoria, thus enabling all bishops to attend the ceremony at the Oppenheimer Stadium.

Bishop-elect Phalana is the outgoing vicar-general of Pretoria and administrator of the Sacred Heart cathedral in the country’s administrative capital.

The new bishop of Klerksdorp was given up for adoption by his mother when he was young, a fact that was unbeknown to him until recently.

“The person that I always called father was in fact the uncle of my biological mother,” Mgr Phalana said. He was raised by Clovis and Victoria Phalana.

His home in Erasmus, in the North West province, was a “mission house” as it was used for teaching catechism and used for celebrating sacraments by the visiting priests.

The bishop-elect said his parents were personal friends of the first bishop of Pretoria, Archbishop John Garner. In 1975, when Archbishopelect George Daniel visited his parents, he remarked while brushing the young Victor’s head: “This is my future priest.” In 1988 Archbishop Daniel ordained Mgr Phalana as a priest in what was considered the largest ordination in Pretoria.

Mgr Vincent Hill, 84, attributes Mgr Phalana’s vocation to his parents who were lay ministers until their death. “There the seeds of his priestly vocation were sown,” said Mgr Hill.

In 1988 Mgr Hill welcomed the young priest into his presbytery in

Bishop-elect Victor Phalana, whose lack of soccer skills as a seminarian saw him play as goalkeeper. He say that he hopes to transfer his passion for evangelisation and pastoral formation to Klerksdorp.

Marokolong, Hammanskraal.

“It was at Hammanskraal that Fr Victor served his first months as my assistant priest, with great enthusiasm for youth ministry,” Mgr Hill said. He joked that one of his memories of his assistant priest was the number of traffic fines he had to pay for the new, inexperienced driver.

Fr Benedict Leseteli, head of the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata in Southern Africa, said that the Stigmatine Fathers nurtured the vocation of the bishop-elect.

Through their help the young Victor was enrolled at their vocations’ centre in the absence of minor seminaries in the region. He was later admitted to Tsogo High School which was run by the Sisters of Mercy.

Mgr Phalana has singled out Italian Stigmatine Father Michele

Pilgrimage to Fatima, garabandal, Lourdes, Dozulé, Lisieux and Paris led by Archbishop B Tlhagale OMI & Fr T Motshegwa 10 - 23 May 2015

D’Annucci, who was murdered in 2001, and Irish Mercy Sister Majela Quinn “for believing in me”. It was Sr Quinn who sponsored the high school student to attend his first vocation workshop, held at St John Vianney seminary in Pretoria in 1979.

In 1980 he was admitted to St Paul’s preparatory seminary in Hammanskraal. It was the first time that he lived in a multiracial community.

B

ecause of his hatred of apartheid, he, together with fellow seminarians Michael Van Heerden and Peter-John Pearson—both now priests in Cape Town—started the Catholic Student Movement (CASM).

Their objective was to make theology relevant to the South African situation under the National Party.

In their black cassocks they marched to the Union Buildings to demand for the scrapping of apartheid.

During their seminary days they were addressed by luminaries like Dominee Beyers Naude, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa.

“Our rector, Fr [now Archbishop] William Slattery, allowed us to visit political prisoners and to console victims of police brutality,” Mgr Phalana recalls. He admits that he was “wild and radical”. He remembers the time when some seminarians hated the present national anthem “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica” (God bless Africa), considering it “communist”.

Mgr Phalana admits that he was never good at playing football. As a result for six years he was relegated to goalkeeping for the seminary.

“We had good defenders, so I did not have to work hard,” he recalls.

He lacked in footballing skills, but the bishop-elect excelled at music: he produced two gospel music albums. His love for spiritual music was inspired by fellow seminarians who were professional musicians, such as Frs Cosmas Mzizi, Alexius Madela and Paul Manci.

He studied Spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and at the Kenyan Maryknoll Institute where he graduated in African studies.

“It was in Kenya, after undergoing the Life in the Spirit Seminar, that my life was transformed in a radical way,” Mgr Phalana says. He said that he lacks words to explain that experience which made him “surrender to God and allow the Holy Spirit to envelop” him.

Mgr Phalana spent some of his priestly time teaching in all three seminaries of South Africa and at Lumko Institute.

He has spread his mission field to the modern means of communication. On Facebook he has 2600 friends. He says he uses social media “to evangelise and have fun”.

Looking forward to his new ministry as bishop of Klerksdorp, Mgr Phalana said he is not “coming as a messiah but as a fellow pilgrim”.

“The people of Klerksdorp must know that I am human with weaknesses and limitations,” he said,

adding that “I am looking forward to listening to them and learning from their experience of faith.”

Bishop-elect Phalana said he could “use my passion for evangelisation and pastoral formation to help in growing the kingdom of God in the Church of Klerksdorp”.

In Klerksdorp I would like to work together with local municipalities and the provincial government.

“Recently I joined the delegation of the SACBC to plead with the minister of Home Affairs to be lenient with religious and priests who are applying for work visas,” he explained. “Minister Malusi Gigaba was listening and was positive about the role of the Church in the development of South Africa.”

His experience in Pretoria told him that ambassadors, politicians and government officials “are ready to engage with the Church, and so we must have cordial relationships while we leave space for our prophetic ministry when things are not right”.

While Klerksdorp is gaining a dynamic bishop, Pretoria is losing a beloved priest. Some parishioners and friends cried when they heard that Mgr Phalana was leaving for another diocese. He consoled them by saying: “Yes, you are losing me, but others will be gaining. And God will replace me with someone better.”

Diocesan Pastoral Council chairperson Kuki Mbatha said: “We will miss Fr Victor for supporting and elevating lay ministry in the archdiocese of Pretoria. We release him to evangelise Klerksdorp.”

Archbishop Slattery says he is privileged to have worked together with the bishop-elect.

“Fr Phalana follows the example of a number of priests who worked in the archdiocese and are now ministering in other dioceses: Bishop Abel Gabuza in Kimberley, Bishop Dabula Mpako in Queenstown, Bishop Jan De Groef in Bethlehem, and Bishop John Tlhomola in Lesotho,” Archbishop Slattery said.

As for Bishop-elect Phalana, he is excited to work under the guidance of Pope Francis who “calls the Church to be caring, compassionate and grounded”.

Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Holy Childhood of Jesus We have moved to: 1 Plein Street, Sidwell, Port elizabeth

Pilgrimage to Camino De Santiago Compostela in Spain led by Fr David Rowles 10 – 21 September 2015 Pilgrimage to rome, assisi and San giovanni rotondo led by Fr. Karabo Baloyi 20 – 30 September 2015 Pilgrimage to Medjugorje led by Fr Gavin Atkins 16 – 28 September 2015

Pilgrimage to the holy Land led by Fr Chris Townsend 31 August – 12 September 2015

Pilgrimage to Poland and Prague led by Fr Victor Ngwenya 21 September - 03 October 2015

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10

The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

Biomimicry as a Sign of the Times Velcro, self-cooling buildings, self-healing plastics, aerodynamic cars are the results of biomimicry. FR CHRiS CHATTERiS SJ describes how biomimicry, the development of technologies which closely resemble natural structures and processes, is efficient, environmentally friendly and a tribute to the divine Creator.

I

N 1941 the Swiss engineer George de Mestral looked closely at some of those seeds which stick so irritatingly to our clothes when we are out in the wild. His microscope showed him how they are coated with tiny hooks. The technology that finally resulted from his observations was the now omnipresent product Velcro.

This is an example of “biomimicry”, the scientific movement whose guiding philosophy is a close imitation of the structures and processes of the natural world.

Velcro is familiar to us. A lesser known example of biomimicry is the Eastgate Centre building in Harare, Zimbabwe, which mimics an anthill’s passive cooling system “constantly opening and closing vents throughout the mound to manage convection currents of air cooler air is drawn in from open lower sections while hot air escapes through chimneys” (http://brainz.org/15-coolest-cases-biomimicry/).

Other examples are the mimicking of gecko toes, sharkskin-covered aircraft, artificial photosynthesis and self-healing plastics. The gecko example is particularly fascinating. “[T]heir bulbous toes are covered in hundreds of tiny microscopic hairs called setae. Each seta splits off into hundreds of even smaller bristles called spatulae. [T]he tufts of tiny hairs get so close to the contours in

walls and ceilings that … a type of physical bond happens when electrons from the gecko hair molecules and electrons from the wall molecules interact with each other and create an electromagnetic attraction.” One possible application is a stitch-free way of closing wounds.

Of course, some might question the distinction between a dominating science and an imitative one.

After all, is not all science ultimately based on an imitation of nature?

Aircraft, for all their noise, pollution—and in the case of military aircraft—destructive and dominating power, are manifestly modelled on birds. Nuclear power—including nuclear weapons—mimics the complex processes occurring in our lifegiving sun, and provides us with light and warmth as the sun does.

The internal combustion engine does what all mobile physical organisms do, which is to transform chemical energy into mechanical energy for the purpose of locomotion and transport.

Indeed; however there are some crucial differences. Firstly, this biomimetic approach to applied science involves a closer, more careful and more respectful imitation of natural structures and processes. A glider is more biomimetic than a supersonic jet; it looks and operates more like birds, such as the albatross, which glides most of the time.

Secondly, more biomimicking products do less environmental damage. The glider is quieter and emits no exhaust gasses. Velcro sticks without the chemical reactions (sometimes dangerous) that powerful glues (like superglue) use.

And thirdly, they are generally far more efficient in the use of resources, especially energy. The classic, Coca Cola bottle shape of so many cars turns out not to be the most efficient aerodynamic shape after all. The stumpy-looking boxfish shape takes that prize. DaimlerChrysler engineers are confident of getting considerable reductions in fuel consumption and gas emissions with their boxfish-shaped vehicle.

It’s all a long way from the steam engine which was, by today’s standards, absurdly inefficient and

caused serious levels of pollution and looked like nothing on earth.

But what is the significance of this attitudinal shift from the application of science as a domination of nature to the humbler approach of imitation, and what underlies this move from a ruthless manipulation of natural processes and structures to a humbler and gentler approach?

Why are we now willing to admit that we super-smart humans can actually learn something, even from insects?

One reason is systems theory. We are now more conscious than in early modernity of our position as part of nature and her systems. We now understand that seeing ourselves as floating above nature is not only obviously silly, but also downright dangerous. We could end up cutting off the natural branch that supports us if we persist in using dominative and destructive technologies which damage our natural environment.

As we have noticed the destructive results of many of our modern products, we have understood better our potential for destruction.

Even if we regard ourselves as merely “monkeys with car-keys” as my philosopher-mechanic puts it, we are nonetheless the most powerful ape in the tree, with the capacity to ruin the tree. Permanently.

The newer world-view recognises that, as the environmentalists say, “Mother Nature knows best” and that it’s not a good idea to abuse your mother but that respect is the universally sanctioned behaviour towards mothers. St Francis of Assisi would surely have agreed and Leonardo da Vinci put it pithily thus: “Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are labouring in vain.”

A final thought. “Imitation”, we say, “is the highest form of praise”.

It is tempting to wonder whether biomimicking scientists are unconsciously praising the Creator that some of them say does not exist. If so, the divine sense of humour is being made hilariously manifest in this fascinating sign of the times!

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Technolgy copied from nature. Top: Velco and the briar. Middle: glider and the seagull. (All photos: Morguefile)

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left: Mercedes-Benz (Photo: YouTube).

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hiking Pilgrimage in the holy Land Fr russell Pollitt SJ 3 to 12 September 2015

holy Land & rome Led by Fr Brian Mhlanga oP 30 Aug to 10 Sept 2015

in the footsteps of St Dominic

Spain • France • italy Fr Martin Badenhorst oP 14 to 29 July 2015

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The Southern Cross, January 21 to January 27, 2015

CLASSIFIEDS King for Winter Living Theology lectures

BY DYlAN APPOliS

D

URING the months of June and July, Jesuit Fr Nicholas King will be giving lectures at the Winter Living Theology (WLT) series across South Africa.

Fr King will also be giving public lectures at the University of Pretoria and the University of the Free State.

Well known to many South African Catholics through his column on the Sunday scriptures in The Southern Cross, he is currently a visiting professor at the Jesuit School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College in the US. Fr King has published extensively, including his innovative and fresh translation of the scriptures published in 2013 by Kevin Mayhew. Copies of this, and other publications by Fr King, will be available at WLT.

WLT is open to anyone who wants to attend. The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the Jesuit Institute collaborate to bring a scholar to the country every year so that priests, religious and lay people can come together to learn more about their faith.

The Jesuit Institute of South Africa reports that the title of Fr King’s lectures will be “The Scandal of Christian Disunity—A Biblical Approach”.

Fr Nicholas King will be visiting the following places: • June 2-4, Johannesburg, at Church of the Resurrection, Bryanston • June 9-11, Bloemfontein, at Donovan Hall, cathedral • June 19-20, Swaziland, at the cathedral, Manzini • June 23-25, Durban at Glen-

Liturgical Calendar Year B Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday January 25, Third Sunday Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Psalms 25:4-9, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20 Monday January 26, Ss Timothy and Titus 2 Timothy 1:1-8, Psalms 96:1-3, 7-8, 10, Mark 3:22-30 Tuesday, January 27, St Angela Merici Hebrews 10:1-10, Psalms 40:2, 4, 7-8, 10-11, Mark 3:31-35 Wednesday, January 28, St Thomas Aquinas Hebrews 10:11-18, Psalms 110:1-4, Mark 4:120 Thursday, January 29 Hebrews 10:19-25, Psalms 24:1-6, Mark 4:2125 Friday, January 30, St Hyacinth Marescotti Hebrews 10:32-39, Psalms 37:3-6, 23-24, 3940, Mark 4:26-34 Saturday, January 31, St John Bosco Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19, Luke 1:69-75, Mark 4:35-41 Sunday, February 1, Fourth Sunday Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalms 95:1-2, 6-9, 1 Corinthians 7:32-35, Mark 1:21-28

Our bishops’ anniversaries This week we congratulate: January 27: Archbishop Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloemfontein on his 70th birthday.

January 27: Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg on the 23rd anniversary of his episcopal ordination.

CLASSIFIEDS

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.

IN MEMORIAM

Fr Nicholas King SJ more Pastoral Centre • July 7-9, Port Elizabeth at St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre 1• July 14-16, Cape Town at Schoenstatt Centre, Constantia n For more information please contact the Jesuit Institute on 0114824237 or admin@jesuitin stitute.org.za or visit www.jesuit institute.org.za

being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and i shall be clean; wash me, and i shall be whiter than snow. let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. Psalm 51

DA SILVA—Terence. in loving memory of my dear husband who passed away 25/1/2006. Always remembered by his wife Mary, all family and friends, parishioners of Holy Family and Our lady of Fatima Church, Bellville and legion of Mary. Rest in peace.

PRAYERS

PERSONAL

Southern CrossWord solutions SOLUTIONS TO 638. ACROSS: 1 Nuance, 4 Sirens, 9 Philosophical, 10 Theorem, 11 Mould, 12 Snuff, 14 Sneak, 18 Other, 19 Replete, 21 Hail Holy Queen, 22 Notary, 23 Mental. DOWN: 1 No pity, 2 Alive in Christ, 3 Choir, 5 Inhuman, 6 Encouragement, 7 Salads, 8 Looms, 13 Further, 15 Goshen, 16 Trill, 17 Kernel, 20 Pique.

Community Calendar To place your event, call Mary Leveson at 021 465 5007 or e-mail m.leveson@scross.co.za (publication subject to space)

CAPE TOWN: Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Mass on last Saturday of every month at 9:30 at Sacred Heart church in Somerset Road, Cape Town. Followed by vigil at Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Bree Street.

Contact Colette Thomas on 083 412 4836 or 021 593 9875 or Br Daniel SCP on 078 739 2988.

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

Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration at Good Shepherd parish, Bothasig, in the chapel. All hours.

DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena

Southern Cross BOOKS Günther Simmermacher

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to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9am. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30pm on first Friday of every month. Sunday Mass at 9am. 031 309 3496 Overport rosary group.

At Emakhosini Hotel, 73 East Street every Wednesday at 6.30 pm.

Contact Keith at 083 372 9018 or 031 209 2536 NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to 16:45, followed by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30pm.

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. leon and Karen.

PRAYER for Consecrated life. “loving Creator, we thank you for the gift that religious life has been within our Church and society. Help us to nurture this gift so that the congregations may continue to be a healing presence in our world. May we all respond to the realities of our present times, in ways that promote your reign now and in the future. May your kingdom come, may your will be done. Amen”

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.

HAVE mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For i know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have i sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. indeed, i was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward

ROMAN UNION OF THE ORDER OF ST URSULA

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

11

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

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4th Sunday: February 1 Readings: Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9, 1 Corinthians 7:32-35, Mark 1:21-28

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OD’S voice is different; and how are we to know when God is talking to us?

That is the question posed to us by the readings for next Sunday.

In the first reading, Moses is asking that question, and looking ahead to the time when another prophet in the same tradition will arise: “The Lord your God will raise up for you from among your kinsfolk a prophet like me: you are to listen to him”.

He reminds them that this was because they found the voice of God, “and the great fire” altogether too menacing for their comfort.

The rule is that they are to listen to what the Lord speaks through the prophet, “or I shall hold them accountable”.

Equally, though, no prophet is to say anything other than what the Lord has instructed them to utter, nor are they to “speak in the name of other gods”: if they do, “that prophet shall die”.

The psalm has a simple answer, which is to “rejoice in the Lord, the Rock who saves us”, and he goes on in liturgical vein, “let us enter God’s presence with thanksgiving”. And

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We welcome prayers, volunteers and donations.

Listen carefully for God’s voice Fr Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

the more time we spend in the presence of God, the more clearly we shall hear his voice.

“Come”, he sings, “let us bow down in worship, kneel before the Lord our Maker”. If you get that right, then nothing can go wrong; or, in the words of the psalm, “do not harden your hearts”.

And if we do not harden our hearts, then life becomes a good deal simpler. This is the point that Paul is trying to make in the second reading for next Sunday; he is trying to sort out the delicate question of whether Christians should get married, which was something of a neuralgic point in Corinth, one on which various positions were held;

the answer he produces is that what counts is wondering how to please the Lord, or to worry about the Lord’s affairs, in a way that leaves the person “undivided”. That is how God speaks to us.

In the gospel, we continue our journey with Jesus through Galilee; and here our task is to listen out for the voice of the Lord.

We are in Capernaum, which Jesus has made his headquarters, instead of Nazareth.

Then he does what he always does, namely to go into the synagogue on Saturday; that is one of the ways you hear what God is saying to you.

Notice the effect: because he was speaking God’s word: “They were amazed at his teaching; for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”

Now the scribes are those who have the rare gift of reading and writing; so they can say what is “written in the Law”; but that is not the same as “speaking with authority”.

Now we see an example of what it means to “speak with authority”. For Jesus is confronted by a man with an unclean spirit, and

Appreciating our differences T’S common for us to see God’s grace and blessing in what unites us. We naturally sense the presence of grace when, at our core, we feel a strong moral bond with certain other persons, churches, and faiths.

That, biblically, is what defines family.

But what if what separates us, what if what makes other persons, Churches, and faiths seem foreign is also a grace, a difference intended by God? Can we think of our differences as a gift from God? Most religions, including Christianity, would answer affirmatively.

Thus in both the Jewish and the Christian scriptures, there is the strong, recurring motif that God’s message to us generally comes through the stranger, the foreigner, from the one who is different from us, from a source from which we would never expect to hear God’s voice.

Added to this is the notion that when God speaks to us we generally experience it as a surprise, something that does not easily square with our normal expectations as to how God should work and how we should learn.

There’s a reason for this. Simply put, when we think we are hearing God’s voice in what’s familiar, comfortable, and secure, the temptation is always to reshape the message according to our own image and likeness, and so God often comes to us through the unfamiliar.

Moreover, what’s familiar is comfort-

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Final Reflection

able and offers us security; but, as we know, real transformative growth mostly happens when, like the aged Sarah and Abraham, we are forced to set off to a place that strips us of all that is comfortable and secure. Set off, God told Sarah and Abraham, to a land where you don’t know where you’re going.

Real growth happens and real grace breaks in when we have to deal with what is other, foreign, different. Learn to understand, writes John of the Cross, more by not understanding than by understanding. What’s dark, unfamiliar, frightening, and uninvited will stretch us in ways that the familiar and secure cannot. God sends his word to the earth through “angels” and they’re not exactly something we’re familiar with.

If this is true, then our differences are also a grace. Accordingly, seeing things differently does not mean that we are not seeing the same things. Accordingly, different notions about God and different

ways of speaking about God do not mean that we’re speaking of a different God. The same holds true for our Churches, having different concepts of what it means to be Church does not necessarily mean that there isn’t some deeper underlying unity inside our diversity. Similarly for how we conceive of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, how we imagine Christ as being really present inside of bread and wine, can take many forms and can be spoken of in different ways, without it meaning that we’re speaking of a different reality.

John Paul II, addressing an interfaith gathering, once commented that “there are differences in which are reflected the genius and spiritual riches of God to the nations”. Christian de Chergé, after a lifetime of dialogue with Islam, suggests that our differences have a “quasi-sacramental function”, that is, they help to give real flesh in this world to the riches of God, who is ineffable and can never be captured in any one expression.

Our differences then are part of the mystery of our unity. Real unity, which needs to reflect the richness of God, does not exist in uniformity and homogenisation, but only in bringing into harmony many different gifts and richness, like a beautiful bouquet of flowers brings together of a variety of different flowers inside one vase.

This has implications for every area of life, from how we receive immigrants in our countries, to how we deal with different personalities inside our families and places of work, to how we deal with other Christian denominations and other religions.

Without endorsing a naive syncretism and without denying the rightful place for discernment, it must still be affirmed that our differences, conceived as an expression of a deeper unity that we cannot yet conceive, open us up more fully to the deep unfathomable, ineffable mystery of God and, at the same time, prevent us from making an idol of our own ideas, our own religious traditions, our own ways of understanding faith, and our own theologies and ideologies.

Moreover, accepting differences as being intended by God and as the presence of grace in our lives should prevent us from constructing our religious identity on the basis of opposition to others and the unhealthy need to forever protest our own uniqueness and truth against what’s other.

God loves us all equally. Difference, then, understood as part of the mystery of unity, should help keep us humble and honest enough to let others take their proper place before God.

something of a battle ensues. The unclean spirit tries to win the war by addressing Jesus by name (“Jesus Nazarene”), and by identifying him: “I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” The spirit has however bitten off far more than he can chew, and we hear God’s voice as Mark tells us what happened next: “Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Shut up, and come out of him”. There is some resistance on the part of the spirit, “convulsing him and crying with a loud cry”; but it does what it has been told: “It came out of him.”

Then we are told of the reaction of the spectators: “they were all amazed” [a reaction that we shall encounter many times in the course of this gospel], and repeat the verdict: “What’s this? A new teaching with authority.” Then they say what they mean: “He even commands unclean spirits—and they obey him.” Finally, this powerful word of God spreads outwards, “everywhere into the entire region of Galilee”, which is wherever you are reading these words.

Listen, this week, for God’s voice.

Southern Crossword #638

ACROSS 1. Subtle difference about ace nun (6) 4. Their songs lured sailors into danger (6) 9. I hop local ship, being calm despite hardship (13) 10. Mathematical proposition Hero met (7) 11. Set jelly in it (5) 12. You sniff it (5) 14. This tell-tale is furtive (5) 18. Not the same (5) 19. Peer let out he’s well supplied (7) 21. Marian prayer (4,4,5) 22. Papal official who draws up contracts (6) 23. Arithmetic of the brain cells (6)

DOWN 1. It is shown by the unmerciful (2,4) 2. Not dead to the Lord (5,2,6) 3. Parish singers (5) 5. Barbaric and against our nature (7) 6. Incitement (13) 7. South African boys make these dishes (6) 8. Draws nigh to the weavers (5) 13. More distant (7) 15. Land where Jacob was to settle (Gn 45) (6) 16. Quavering sound from the choristers (5) 17. Nut, we hear, is an army officer (6) 20. Equip for feeling irritated (5) Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE new archbishop of Durban was concerned about the casual dress of the tourists visiting the cathedral, so he fixed a sign on the cathedral door: “We warmly welcome all visitors and tourists, but wish to make you aware that there are no opportunities for swimming in this church. It therefore serves no purpose whatsoever to enter it in beachwear.”

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