The
S outhern C ross
January 28 to February 3, 2015
Reg No. 1920/002058/06
No 4909
www.scross.co.za
Ponchifex: What we learned about Francis in Manila
Page 9
Fr Rolheiser: Why we need morality
Page 12
R7,00 (incl VAT RSA)
Bishop speaks 25 years after Daswa murder Page 10
Bishops: Feb 8 prayer day for modern slaves BY STAFF REPORTER
H Brescia House School in Johannedsburg is feeling a triple blessing as it welcomed no fewer than three sets of twins into Grade R this year. (From left) Tyla and Jayden Wilford, Sanelisiwe and Anelisa Makunga, and (front) Nosizwe and Nomhle Mulumba.
Jo’burg nun: Give women greater role in the Church BY STUART GRAHAM
A
JOHANNESBURG-BASED sister has criticised comments by US Cardinal Raymond Burke that the advent of girl altar servers has inhibited vocations to the priesthood as a “lame argument”. Sr Judith Coyle IHM, a lecturer in theology at St Augustine College in Johannesburg, told The Southern Cross that there are a lot of other things to be considered when looking at the question of decreasing priestly vocations. The Catholic Church dropped its ban on girls assisting the priests during Mass in 1983. “It requires a certain manly discipline to serve as an altar boy in service at the side of a priest, and most priests have their first deep experiences of the liturgy as altar boys,” Cardinal Burke said in January. “If we are not training young men as altar boys, giving them an experience of serving God in the liturgy, we should not be surprised that vocations have fallen dramatically.” “Young girls as altar servers certainly seem to be accepted in parishes today,” Sr Coyle said. “They bring a new dimension to an all-male scene.” The Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary noted “significant progress” under Pope Francis on the issue of women in the Church, but said that more needs to be done. “Pope Francis has restored hope in many
people. He does have some way to go on the place of women in the Church. The Holy Father is from a male religious order. I presume he worked with many women in his previous ministries. He does fall a bit short on gender equality issues, but he does acknowledge that there should be a greater place for women in Church,” she noted. “He has, for example, included a number of women on the International Theological Advisory Committee. Whether there can be a greater place for women in the Church under the current structures is the underlying question,” Sr Coyle said. “There often appears to be a fear in the Church to speak about gender issues.” The Church must investigate ways to give women a greater role in the liturgy. “I think it is a loss to the Church that women can never preach or even read the gospel. So, I say we should consider that question as a possibility,” Sr Coyle said. “We have to find other ways of proclaiming the Gospel. If the Church is to be whole we need a more whole-some perspective,” she said. An alternative to women priests, which the Church does not permit, is to consider the possibility of having women as permanent deacons, Sr Coyle said. “That would at least allow women to preach and allow them to be involved in some sacramental administration of the Church.”
UMAN trafficking is on the rise in Africa, with people being abducted “from our own doorsteps”, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) says in a new pastoral letter as it called on South Africans to join the struggle against modern-day slavery. In the letter, SACBC president Archbishop Stephen Brislin said trafficking is on the rise in Africa, with South Africa a central place of trade in human beings. He called for February each year to be dedicated to the promotion of human trafficking awareness. “People are being abducted in a world that has lost its fear of God and any sense of the sacredness of human life,” the archbishop said. “South Africa has become a particular hotspot—on our own doorstep,” he noted. “Joining in this struggle against human trafficking is to join Jesus in his search for those lost and scattered ones,” the letter said. Archbishop Brislin called for February 8 to be dedicated as a day of prayer for all who have been trafficked. The date marks the feast of St Josephine Bakhita (1868-1947), the Sudanese saint who was a victim of human trafficking at age of nine. The SACBC’s Counter-Trafficking Office has prepared booklets relating the story of St Josephine Bakhita as well as other relevant information to help observe this time of prayer. Archbishop Brislin said that “our thoughts are drawn to the plight of those who have been trafficked, sold like commodities and sucked into organised crime in the cruellest violation of their dignity and rights”. Last April’s abduction of over 200 Nigerian girls by the extremist group Boko Haram, and the ensuing worldwide “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign, was a wake-up call “for each one of us”, the pastoral letter said. “We also think of those who dedicate their lives and energy to aiding these young victims and in combating this terrible scourge,” it said. “We wish to support them as well as acknowledge those who work tirelessly in raising awareness about the trafficking of our fellow human beings.” Vulnerable people are shipped around the world as merchandise, poor people are lured with promises of well-paid jobs, people are drugged, raped and beaten, said Archbishop Brislin. “They are separated and isolated from family and friends, taken by force—modern slaves
Southern Cross & Radio Veritas Pilgrimage Phone Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 or e-mail info@fowlertours.co.za fowlertours.co.za
THE SAINTS OF ITALY Led by Fr EMIL BLASER OP
Rome, Assisi, Florence, Padua, Milan, Venice and more
6 - 18 September 2015
Rome WITH PAPAL AUDIENCE | Assisi | Venice | Padua | Florence | Milan | Cascia (St Rita) | Siena (St Catherine) | Norcia (St Benedict) | Birthplace of St John XXIII
Sudanese saint Josephine Bakhita, whose feast day is on February 8. conned into dehumanising conditions of work and left without the means and wherewithal to escape their bondage,” he said. “This has become a terrible scandal, an abominable evil in human society and the source of so much suffering.” Human trafficking is said to be the thirdmost lucrative illicit business in the world, along with drug and arms trades. Pope St John Paul II referred to the activities of human trafficking as “infamies which poison human society, debase their perpetrators and constitute a supreme dishonour to the creator”, while Pope Benedict XVI called it “a scourge of modern times”. Pope Francis speaks of “an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ”. “The best defence against human trafficking is for every community to become conversant with its dynamics,” Archbishop Brislin said. As communities, he said, we should educate “ourselves” as to what human trafficking is and to be alert to what is happening around us. It is important to be familiar with how traffickers operate and to report any suspicious cases of human trafficking to the police or Church officials, he said. It is vital to check the genuineness of job offers, be they local or overseas, to ensure that children are registered. And, he added, it is necessary to pray together for victims of human trafficking and for an end to trade in people.