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The

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December 2 to December 8, 2015

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Pope on ‘rigid priests’: They bite!

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A special year of God’s favour

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What Year of Mercy means to SA Church

BY STUART GRAHAM

T

HE Church has called on Catholics to emulate Pope Francis as he starts the Year of Mercy on December 8 by opening the Holy Door at St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican in a symbolic gesture aimed at bringing people closer to God and each other.

The door is one of five leading into St Peter’s and is kept sealed until the opening of a Holy Year. The Holy Father will open the door on December 8 so that pilgrims from around the world may enter the church as a declaration that they are reconciled with God. “That closed door will be opened. The idea is to invite pilgrims from all over the world to enter the door of mercy,” said Archbishop William Slattery, spokesman of the Southern African Catholics Bishops’ Conference.

“By entering through the Holy Door you are making an active declaration that you have to be reconciled with God. This Jubilee Year of Mercy aims for us to be reconciled with God and with each other.”

The Southern African Church has called on parishes around the country to open a holy door in their own churches as a gesture of mercy, Archbishop Slattery said.

“The fundamental quality of God is mercy.

His mercy endures forever. The very meaning of the Church is to be an instrument and fountain of God’s mercy.”

Pope Francis is very conscious that the world for many seems to be hopeless due to cruelty, violence, terror attacks and war. The economic system is also being very hard on people, the archbishop said.

“Our world needs a new sense of hope and mercy and that is the aim of this year,” Archbishop Slattery said.

“Pope Francis is saying, ‘less talk and more work’. He is telling the Church and bishops to get closer to the people. People are in great need of hope today,” the archbishop said.

“The pope is appealing to the international community to reduce the gap between the rich and poor. If inequality continues, violence is inevitable.”

In the document that announced the Year of Mercy earlier this year, titled Misericordiae Vultus (“The Face of Mercy”), Pope Francis

Workers break a brick wall to reveal the Holy Door, covered since Holy Year 2000, in St Peter’s basilica, in preparation for the Year of Mercy. (Photo: L’Osservatore Romano/CNS) said he hoped that all the faithful would have a genuine experience of God’s mercy, which comes to meet each person in the Face of the Father who welcomes and forgives, “forgetting completely the sin committed”.

“To experience and obtain the indulgence, the faithful are called to make a brief pilgrimage to the Holy Door, open in every cathedral or in the churches designated by the diocesan bishop, and in the four papal basilicas in Rome, as a sign of the deep desire for true conversion,” the Holy Father wrote.

“It is important that this moment be linked, first and foremost, to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist with a reflection on mercy.”

The Year of Mercy will start on the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. It is an apt day to launch the year, as it is through Mary that God’s mercy reached the world, Archbishop Slattery said.

The date also marks the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council.

The SACBC has asked a group of priests led

by Redemptorist Father Larry Kaufmann, a popular missioner, to travel the country offering special parish missions and services of mercy.

“The Year of Mercy is meant to be a spiritual but also a very practical year,” Archbishop Slattery said.

The Year of Mercy will run until the end of November 2016.

The Vatican’s Christmas tree is positioned in St Peter’s Square. The tree is a 25m-high spruce fir from Bavaria in Germany. It arrived earlier than usual to be ready for the December 8 opening of the Holy Year of Mercy. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Singing nun gets in on Sister Act

T

HE Italian nun who won The Voice of Italy talent show will star in a stage production of the musical Sister Act, which opens in Rome in December.

Sr Cristina Scuccia, better known as “Suor Cristina” won the TV talent show last year with her performances of songs by the likes of soul singer Alicia Keys.

Appearing on stage in her habit and wearing a silver cross that swung as she swayed, Sr Cristina became a worldwide media sensation. As the contest’s winner she signed a record deal with Universal.

Now the 27-year-old Ursuline nun has been cast in the stage production of the 1992 movie Sister Act, in which Whoopi Goldberg played a singer hiding out in a convent after witnessing a murder. The musical will open on December 10 at Rome’s Brancaccio Theatre, Religion News Service reports.

Sr Cristina will take on the role of Mary Robert, a young and shy nun with an impressive singing voice.

The nun hopes to receive the support of the pope.

“I think he would support me, because the Church must reduce its distance from the people. God bless this musical!” she told Italian news agency ANSA. “Theatre is a way to meet others and leave my message of love,” she added.

Pope Francis greets Sr Cristina Scuccia, an Italian nun and singer, during a weekly audience last December 10. The Ursuline nun, who won the 2014 season of The Voice of Italy singing competition, will now appear on stage in the musical Sister Act. (Photo: L’Osservatore Romano/Reuters/CNS) Sr Cristina’s career has attracted some controversy, particularly for her remake of Madonna’s 1984 hit “Like A Virgin”.

She defended her choice, stating the lyrics are significant as they show the “beauty of the transformation of life”, which she saw as related to her experience of finding God.

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The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

LOCAL

Priest: Pope’s Mass for Uganda martyrs will unify

BY STUART GRAHAM

A

MASS by Pope Francis for Ugandan martyrs who were tortured and burned to death on a pyre at the hands of a local king 130 years ago will do much to unify the country’s divided religious groups, a local priest told The Southern Cross.

The Holy Father visited two shrines during his visit the central African country, one Anglican and one Catholic, dedicated to the martyrs who continue to inspire religious communities across Uganda to this day, said Fr Robert Ochola, a Ugandan Comboni priest based in Pretoria.

“Uganda is still deeply divided when it comes to religion, but the one thing all have in common is the martyrs,” said Fr Ochola.

“Anglicans, Catholics, Muslims and the independent churches relate to them. All look to the martyrs for inspiration,” he said.

“Pope Francis knew this and he used them to continue with his theme of religious unity.”

The first of the Catholic mis-

sions was established in Uganda in 1879 by the Society of Missionaries of Africa, who were known as the White Fathers due to the colour of their long white garments.

Within six years, the White Fathers had built up a community of converts among the Baganda, who were the largest and most powerful of the local ethnic groups in the area.

The Baganda Catholics were soon instructing and leading their own converts, many of whom lived and taught at the court of the local King Mwanga.

But conversion to Christianity among the Baganda meant a rejection of the traditional religions and the converts came to be regarded with suspicion by their people.

Mwanga, a violent ruler who often forced himself on his pages, saw the presence of the missionaries as diminishing his influence.

In all, 45 Christians were martyred—22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans—between 1885 and 1887.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI canon-

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ised the 22 Catholic martyrs.

Five years later he laid the foundation stone of the shrine to be built in Namugongo in their honour.

Kampala’s archbishop emeritus, Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, told Uganda’s Catholic Radio Sapientia that Pope Francis’ visit to Uganda represents a cause for reflection “on our lives as believers” among his countrymen.

Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria said the martyrs sparked Christianity in modern Africa.

“They are truly the focal point of evangelisation in Africa,” he said.

“Every year 2 to 3 million people a year go to Namugongo on a pilgrimage. Some arrive on their knees,” he said.

Fr Ochola said the Mass for the martyrs by Pope Francis will hopefully lead to a positive change of attitudes.

“Look at how the martyrs lived their lives.

“They went against divisions and tribal beliefs, beyond all these barriers,” he said.

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Deacon David Houbert of St Joseph’s parish in Morningside, Durban, was ordained by Bishop Barry Wood, assisted by Deacon Mike O’Neil and Fr Brett Williams. Deacon Houbert is seen with his parents, Francois and Joscelyn Houbert.

Mariannhill buys retreat house as Sisters leave

BY STUART GRAHAM

C

OOLOCK House, a retreat and spiritual renewal centre on the south coast of KwaZuluNatal, has been taken over by the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill with the departure of the Good Shepherd Sisters.

The Mariannhill Missionaries became aware in the middle of 2015 that the Good Shepherd Sisters had put Coolock House up for sale, after 50 years at the premises, said provincial superior Fr Bheki Shabalala CMM. “The property is adjacent to the property we already own as the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill and which we use for vacations for our confreres and the general public,” Fr Shabalala said.

“We decided to buy Coolock House in order to expand our ministries and apostolate in KwaZuluNatal and beyond, and we hope to link it with our existing property nearby.”

The South African Mercy Sisters opened Coolock House in April 1965, with a staff of four sisters, after buying the land from the Mariannhill Provincial House.

The name Coolock was given in remembrance of the house in which the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, Mother Catherine McAuley, lived.

The house was meant for sisters only, but over the years Coolock grew from being a place of retreat and rest for religious sisters to a centre where people of all faiths gath-

ered for spiritual renewal and relaxation.

Mariannhill will continue with the ministry of retreats and spiritual renewal that the Mercy Sisters “have done with great success over 50 years”, Fr Shabalala said.

The house will be available as a holiday resort during the time when there are no retreats.

“We also would like to add programmes that we believe our local Church and society are yearning for at this time,” Fr Shabalala said.

The programmes will include retreats and spiritual renewal courses, programmes offered by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and religious major superiors, personal growth courses, preservation and restoration of human dignity programmes, youth ministry, marriage encounters, family life programmes, skills development, and leadership training programmes for parish structures.

“Obviously the Mariannhill congregation will not achieve all these ministries by itself,” Fr Shabalala said. “We will rely on the laity’s lively collaboration, participation and provision of people with expertise on some programmes.”

To that end, the congregation is open to welcoming external programmes, “provided that they help in the evangelisation of the people of God, the safeguarding of their human dignity and the deepening of their spiritual life”, Fr Shabalala said. n For bookings phone 039 684 6358.

Leaflet to offer ‘homily’ to bored kids at Mass

BY STUART GRAHAM

M

ASS can be heavy business for a child at the best of times but a new leaflet aimed at those from the ages of six to nine aims to liven up services for younger Catholics.

The leaflet—produced by Redemptorist Pastoral Publications, which also publishes the Catholic Link newsletter—will focus on the gospel reading of the day but will also include word puzzles, colouring pictures and a range of other fun activities for children.

“The aim is to make children feel part of Mass,” Janet Cholwill of Redemptionist Pastoral Publications

told The Southern Cross.

“The leaflet will be based on the theme of the Mass that day and will be produced weekly,” she said.

“While the priest is giving a sermon on the Gospel, the child can be colouring-in or completing a word puzzle on the same topic.”

Some 10 000 of the A4-size leaflets will be distributed countrywide every week and will be sold for a modest 60 cents each. “We are planning to send them out in time for Easter next year,” said Ms Cholwill.

“They can be used by any Christian Church. Not only Catholics,” she added.

The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

LOCAL

3

Bishops: Islam needs single voice on Quran I

BY STUART GRAHAM

Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher with copies of his grandfather’s Word War I memoir, A Soldier For the Kaiser.

‘Moving’ First World War memoir now out STAFF REPORTER

A

PRIVATELY written memoir of a German soldier in World War 1 is now published as a book.

The book, titled A Soldier for the Kaiser, was produced by Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher.

It is his translation from German of the memoir written by his grandfather, Adam Simmermacher, in 1932.

The memoir has not been published in German yet. Only five copies of the typed and bound manuscript are known to exist, all in possession of the family.

Adam Simmermacher was a soldier in the war from January 1915, when he was 20, till the armistice in November 1918. In the memoir he describes life in the trenches and on the battlefield. He fought in several famous battles, including Verdun, Arras and Ypres. He also fought for a month at the Somme.

“It seems Adam kept a journal of some kind, much against the rules.

The memoir includes times, dates and other details one couldn’t possibly remember 14 years later,” said Mr Simmermacher.

He described his grandfather’s writing as “very human”. “This is not the kind of war book where the author observes troop movements and their effect. This is a low-ranking soldier telling us what it was like to be knee-deep in flooded trenches, or be in the midst of battle as mortars are exploding everywhere, or how the superiors made the soldiers’ life a

misery,” Mr Simmermacher said.

He said that there are “some interesting parallels” with the great World War I novel, All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, published in 1929. “What my grandfather called ‘the beast in the superior’ is present in both books, for example, as are one-on-one combat encounters with French soldiers, though with different consequences.”

Mr Simmermacher never met his grandfather, who died in 1941 while in detention by the Gestapo, the Nazi security police. Still, through the memoir he said he found a connection with his grandfather.

“There are certain character traits which we share, presumably passed down via my late father. I can see a lot of myself in Adam,” Mr Simmermacher said.

Mr Simmermacher said the reaction from people who have read the book has been very positive. “Most people say they were deeply moved by it,” he said.

The book also includes several photographs, most of them never published before.

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Choirs set to ‘clash’ in Pretoria

T

HIS year’s “Clash of the Choirs” will be staged by Radio Veritas and the Interdiocese Catholic Church Choirs Music Association from December 5-6 at Sefako Magatho University in Pretoria.

Last year choristers and supporters descended upon the Mmabatho Civic Centre in Mahikeng, attracting more than 3 500 choristers and supporters who came from as far as Uganda.

This year, the Our Lady of Africa

choir from Uganda will be attending the festival and play two concerts in Pretoria.

For the second time, Radio Veritas will present the St Cecilia Award to the best conductor. Last year’s inaugural winner was Themba Tshabalala of Dobsonville, Soweto.

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SLAM requires a single leader who will speak out against those committing acts of terror in the name of the religion, Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference spokesman Archbishop William Slattery has told The Southern Cross.

Religion is about tolerance, friendship and people, and creating harmony and community— but terror attacks give all religion a bad name, the archbishop said.

“We watched Boko Haram destroy people in northern Nigeria, while in November ISIS terrorists killed 129 people in Paris and a bomb killed 49 people in Beirut,” he said.

“The most shocking thing is that one of the suicide bombers in Nigeria was an 11-year-old girl,” Archbishop Slattery said.

“Can you imagine people who would strap a bomb onto a girl

and send her into a market? Can you ever imagine them running a government? Can you imagine the healthcare system or security they would have?” he asked.

“Who speaks for Islam? Who takes responsibility? Who interprets the Quran? The pope speaks for Catholics. There is no one to make an ultimate statement on the interpretation of the Quran,” Archbishop Slattery said.

Islam has no central authority in its denominations, much like most Protestant and Evangelical Churches.

Individual imams have issued formal condemnations in the form of fatwas against ISIS, alQaeda, Boko Haram and other terror groups, but in the absence of a structural hierarchy, these are not binding to all followers of Islam.

The real source of terror is poverty, oppression and little education, Archbishop Slattery said.

The attacks are caused by a lack

of critical thinking and hopelessness, he said.

The priority of religion is the human person, the archbishop said. “Religion which requires violence, force and the slaughter of people is not about community but a perversion of what religion is about.

“The promoters of this violence seek publicity, donors and new recruits, but never change attitudes,” he noted.

The Western world has a “soft underbelly” as regards spiritual values, with many having lost their sense of religion and community, the archbishop said.

“There is an emptiness that lures young people into violence which gives focus to their lives,” he said of young people raised in Europe who join terror groups.

“The Catholic Church prays for the victims and their families, for the wounded and their healing,” Archbishop Slattery said.

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The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

Pope: Education is too selective and elitist T

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

Seminarians perform with fellow rock band members of St Joseph’s seminary in Yonkers, New York. (Photo: Gregory Shemitz/CNS)

‘Rigid priests bite!’

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

P

RIESTS are not “mushrooms” that magically sprout at ordination, but they have a history, a community and a family that both they and their superiors must keep in mind, Pope Francis said.

“On the day of their ordination, I always say to the new priests: ‘Do not forget where you came from; from the flock. Do not forget your mother and your grandmother,’” the pope said . “This means that you cannot be a priest believing that you were created in a laboratory. No, it begins in the family with the tradition of the faith and all the experiences of the family.”

The pope addressed a group of priests and bishops who were participating in a conference sponsored by the Congregation for Clergy to mark the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s decrees on priestly formation and on the priestly ministry and life.

“A priest’s path to holiness begins in the seminary,” the pope said.

Priests are not “mushrooms that suddenly sprout in the cathedral on the day of ordination”, the pope said, which is why it is essential for priests and seminary staff to keep in mind the path that leads to a vocation, especially family life.

Recalling a young Jesuit priest who contemplated leaving the priesthood, the pope said he advised him to speak to his mother.

When he came back, Pope Francis said, “his mother had given him two spiritual slaps. She put him in his place and he went forward because he returned to his roots. That is why it is important to not cut the roots from which you came”.

Priests, the pope continued, also

must be mindful of their duty to serve others and remember that “our own sanctification is closely linked to that of the people”. He also stressed that priests must learn to rejoice and not become rigid authoritarians with the flock entrusted to them.

“I tell you sincerely: I am afraid of rigid [priests]. I am afraid,” the pope said. “Rigid priests, keep them far away, they bite! The words of St Ambrose comes to mind: ‘Where there is mercy, there is the spirit of God. Where there is rigidity, there are only his ministers.’ And a minister without the Lord becomes rigid. This is a danger for the people of God. Be pastors, not officials.”

Pope Francis also encouraged them to be merciful in administering the sacrament of reconciliation.

Speaking off-the-cuff, the pope addressed the bishops present, telling them that they must be close to their priests and must always attend to their needs with fatherly care. If their episcopal duties keep them from meeting with a priest, Pope Francis urged them to “at least, take down his number and call him”.

A bishop must spend more time in his diocese and less time traveling, the pope said. “If you don’t feel like remaining in a diocese, then resign.”

Regarding seminary formation, the pope, recalling his time as the director of novices, warned that those in charge of priestly formation must be mindful of issues that may not be evident at first, but tend to manifest “when they feel secure”.

“It is interesting: When a young man is too rigid, too fundamentalist, I do not trust them,” he said.

“Behind him there is something that maybe not even he knows.”— CNS

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HE educational alliance among families, schools and states is broken, causing a serious situation that leads to selecting to educate only “supermen” chosen solely based on intelligence or wealth, Pope Francis said.

“Behind this, there is always the ghost of money—always,” he said.

Education has become “too selective and elitist. It seems that only those people or persons who are at a certain level or have a certain capacity have the right to an education”.

The pope held an impromptu question-and-answer session during an audience with more than 2 000 participants in a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Christian Education and the 25th anniversary of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, St John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on Catholic universities.

Taking questions from administrators and faculty members, the pope spoke about Catholic identity in education and warned about the dangers of exclusion and educating within “the walls” of a selective and safe culture”.

Roberto Zappala, headmaster of Milan’s Gonzaga Institute, asked the pope what makes a school “truly Christian”. Christian education, the pope responded, is not just about providing catechesis, but requires educating children and young people “in human values”, particularly the value of transcendence.

Educating that is too focused on the tangible and ignores the spiritual dimension of existence is “the biggest crisis” facing Christian edu-

BY JONATHAN LUxMOORE

T

HE secretary-general of Mali’s Catholic bishops’ conference said he fears the November hotel attack in Bamako forms part of a wider Islamist campaign, but insisted Catholic-Muslim ties will not be affected by the latest violence.

Mgr Edmond Dembele said the assault on Bamako’s Radisson hotel, which left at least 20 dead, occurred during the Church’s annual national pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Mali at Kita, 260km from the capital. Muslims also went on the pilgrimage.

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cation, he said. “We must prepare hearts so the Lord can manifest himself,” which requires an education that strives to reflect “the fullness of humanity that has this dimension of transcendence”, he said.

Spanish Lasallian Christian Brother Juan Antonio Ojeda, a professor at the University of Malaga, asked the pope how educators can foster a culture of encounter and restore the broken bonds among schools, families and society.

The pope said Catholic educators must overcome a tendency of being selective and must work to restore the broken “educational alliance” among families, schools and society, which tends to place profit over people”.

Educators, he continued, “are among the worst-paid workers: what

does this mean? It means that the state simply has no interest. If it did, things wouldn’t go that way .”

When asked how Catholic schools could contribute to building peace in the world, the pope called on them to educate the poor and the marginalised even if that meant cutting the staff at some of their schools in wealthier neighbourhoods.

“They have something that youth from rich neighbourhoods do not through no fault of their own, but it is a sociological reality: they have the experience of survival, of cruelty, of hunger, of injustice. They have a wounded humanity,” he said.

Pope Francis also gave the participants a homework assignment: to think about how to fulfill the corporal and spiritual works of mercy through education.—CNS

Christian-Muslim ties defy terror

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Pope Francis is crowded by well-wishers as he arrives to lead an audience for participants in a world congress sponsored by the Congregation for Catholic Education in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican. (Photo: Stefano Rellandini, Reuters/CNS)

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think this crisis, far from weakening ties, will actually strengthen them,” Mgr Dembele said.

“We know there’s a minority of Muslims who would like see things change. But they’re just a small group, and I’m confident good relations will continue between Christians and Muslims in our country,” he added.

Archbishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako told Vatican Radio that the “infiltration of jihadi groups” had been helped by “poverty and lack of prospects among young people”, but added that he also believed the “deep communion” between Christians and Muslims would not be damaged.

“The international community should help educate young people and find a solution to unemploy-

ment problems here,” the archbishop said. He cited countries like Nigeria, Niger and Chad, “where the population is also largely composed of young people who easily fall prey to a fundamentalism which provides money and makes promises”.

Catholics make up around 1,3% of Mali’s population of 15,5 million, 90% of whom are Muslims.

Mgr Dembele said Christians who had fled advancing Islamists in northern Mali in 2012 did not yet feel “safe enough to return”.

However, he added that Muslims were affected by the same “security fears and uncertainties”, and said Malian Christians hoped the pope’s “message of peace, reconciliation and coexistence” would be heard throughout Africa.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

INTERNATIONAL

5

Syriac patriarch: West has betrayed Christians T Members of the Carabinieri, the Italian military police force, stand guard as people leave Pope Francis’ Angelus blessing in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. Security at the Vatican has been ramped up following the terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS)

Iraq scraps conversion law

BY SIMON CALDWELL

T

HE patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church has welcomed a decision by the Iraqi government to redraft the part of a new national charter that would have forced some Christian children to convert to Islam.

The Iraqi Council of Representatives agreed, 140-66, to amend the charter after religious minorities, led by Christians, objected to a section that required that non-Muslim children of parents who converted to Islam to follow them into their new faith.

After the vote, Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad described the outcome as a victory for justice and equality.

“This decision shows support and is an important message for the minorities in Iraq,” he told Asianews, a Vatican press agency.

“It is also a clear demonstration of democracy.”

“I am deeply satisfied with the Iraqi parliament’s decision,” added Patriarch Sako, who had threatened to appeal to international authorities following the approval of the

article by the Assembly of Deputies.

In a report carried by the Assyrian International News Agency, Salim al-Jibouri, council of representatives president, invited nonMuslim politicians to help to rewrite the charter to ensure that all minorities enjoyed rights guaranteed by the Iraqi Constitution, which upholds freedom of religion and conscience.

Besides Christians, minority Yezidis, Mandeans, Kakai and Bahai leaders had also opposed the charter, and minority politicians walked out of parliament sessions in protest when it was first approved.

Sahar Mansour, a Chaldean Catholic from Mosul who is now living in a refugee camp near Irbil, in Kurdish-controlled territory, said the vote might represent a landmark moment in the establishment of a democratic Iraq.

She noted, however, that the decision to rewrite the charter was met with stiff opposition from some influential Muslims, which was causing deep unease among the estimated 300 000 Christians remaining in Iraq.—CNS

HE head of the Syriac Catholic Church has accused Western governments of betraying Christians in the Middle East and said it was “a big lie” to suggest Islamic State could be defeated with airstrikes.

In a interview with Le Messager, an online Catholic magazine in Egypt, Syriac Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan said: “All Eastern patriarchs, myself included, have spoken out clearly to the West from the very beginning: Be careful, the situation in Syria is not like that of Egypt, Tunisia or Libya—it’s much more complex, and conflict here will create only chaos and civil war.

“They listened and responded: No, the Assad regime will fall in a few months. As I predicted, that hasn’t happened, and five years later, innocent people, especially Christians, have no support. The West has betrayed us.”

French and US warplanes stepped up attacks on Islamic State positions in Syria and Iraq after terror attacks in Paris and Beirut. But the patriarch said airstrikes were ineffective at targeting Islamic State leaders because its religiously indoctrinated operatives were well financed and armed and had infiltrated local populations.

Patriarch Younan said Catholics had lived for centuries in eastern

A destroyed field hospital in the rebel-held area of Douma on the outskirts of Damascus. (Photo: Mohammed Badra, EPA/CNS) Syria and had “understood the horror of the situation” following the 2003 Western invasion of Iraq. He said Western nations said they wanted to bring democracy to the Mideast, but “since there’s no real separation of religion from the state, our nations do not easily accept democracy”.

“Western democracies have conspired against Syria and produced the destruction of the nation’s infrastructure, the demolition of houses, towns, villages, monuments and archaeological sites,” Patriarch Younan said.

He said Western politicians, es-

Holy Family on Vatican stamp

BY CAROL GLATz

T The Vatican’s 2015 Christmas stamp

HIS year’s Vatican Christmas stamps feature a 15th-century manuscript illumination of the Holy Family.

Flanked by a lowing ox and a donkey, Mary and Joseph pray over baby Jesus as angels sing above and poor shepherds approach.

The image, painted by an un-

Where have all the Bibles gone?

known artist, is from the Codices Urbinates Latini 239 [1477-1478] from the Vatican Library. The special edition stamps are in two denominations of 80 euro cents and 95 euro cents (R10-15) in sheets of 10.

All order requests should be made by e-mail to: order.ufn@scv.va The Vatican stamp office will then send a proper order form and methods of payment .—CNS

www.catholic-pe.co.za/stpius

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES

F

IFTY years ago, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum urged the faithful to nourish their faith by reading the Bible, putting an end to centuries of seeing direct access to the Scriptures as something reserved to the clergy.

Stating that “easy access to sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful”, the document stressed that frequent Bible reading allows the faithful another connection to “the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ”.

Pope Francis repeatedly asks the faithful to carry a pocketsized gospel or bible and to read several verses a day. The pope even had free copies of a pocketsized edition of the Gospels given to the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square at a number of his Sunday Angelus addresses.

“Take this Gospel; carry it with you, to read it often, every day,” he said in March. “Carry it in your purse, in your pocket, but read it often. A verse, a passage every day. The word of God is a light for our path.”

The Bible is considered the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and with versions in close to 350 different languages. However, a question remains: With so many Bibles available worldwide, why are there still Christians with limited knowledge or access to the word of God? In short, where have all the Bibles gone?

The Biblical Center of Africa and Madagascar hosted a confer-

pecially in the US, Britain and France, appeared to favour “an endless conflict in Iraq and Syria”, while Western media had proved “silent, cowardly and complicit” by failing to “defend truth and justice”.

“It’s a shame the West has abandoned Christians to this situation,” said the patriarch.

The Syriac Catholic leader praised Pope Francis for being “a defender of justice” and appealing for solidarity with Middle East Christians, but said threatened Catholic communities now needed “not words but deeds”.—CNS

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Pope Francis holds up a Bible as he promotes reading of the Bible. (Photo: Paul Haring/CNS) ence in Rwanda to reflect on Dei Verbum, and participants agreed it placed “the Bible at the centre of Christian spirituality”.

Access to Scripture is no simple task in Africa, a continent known for its linguistic diversity with an estimated 2 000 languages. Conference participants committed themselves to two goals: finalising the translation of the Bible in local languages and continuing to work so “that the faithful may have access to the word of God”.

But Dei Verbum also is relevant in areas where access to the word of God is not as challenging as in Africa.

The Holy Year of Mercy, which begins on December 8, presents an opportunity to help the faithful understand God’s love through studying Scripture.

When Pope Francis announced the jubilee, he empha-

sised the need “to live in the light of the word of the Lord” with mercy at its centre.

Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, echoed the pope’s words, saying that the teachings of Dei Verbum shed a light on divine revelation as a direct link between God and humanity.

“It is God who saves mankind and not mankind who saves God,” he said.

For the faithful to understand the Bible and faithfully interpret God’s word, Cardinal Muller offered a simple piece of advice: “I recommend reading or having a Bible with scientific commentaries for this introduction [into Scripture], because all these texts come from a very different time, a very different culture than our own. One needs explanations in order to understand it.”—CNS

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The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

The call to mercy

O

N December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican, and with that launch the Year of Mercy.

There is no overstatement in expecting this to be a historic point in the history of the Church as Pope Francis presents us with an opportunity to redefine and refine the way our faith is presented to the world.

In Pope Francis’ vision, the Catholic Church must be seen not as a judgmental institution that enforces its teachings by threat and sanction, but as a place where people can find the loving and merciful God. It is, of course, an act of mercy to guide the faithful, and all who come to the Church, in the teachings of the Church that ease the path to salvation, so there is no question that doctrines need to be changed in this more welcoming Church.

What Pope Francis calls for is a new, more generous way of articulating and applying the doctrines of the Church through the model of divine mercy.

The example of God’s limitless mercy, borne out of his unconditional love for us, must always guide us, even and especially when it is easier to be hard of heart, or even vengeful.

In this way, the concept of a Year of Mercy is not a vague feel-good idea, or a project to be discarded once the Holy Year closes next November.

The Year of Mercy issues to us individually and to the Church in general a call to conversion.

That call is perennial; this Holy Year serves to amplify it and offer us an occasion to deepen that faith which keeps transforming us. Hopefully, too, it will provide the tools with which to translate the call to conversion into action, for example through parish missions and special liturgies.

The Year of Mercy cannot be simply dealt with by restating our sincere belief in a merciful God who forgives our sins while we give our assent to programmes of mercy through the click of a Facebook “like” button. The Year of Mercy calls us to live God’s mercy concretely in our lives.

In our individual lives, we might begin this by seeking

God’s mercy for our trespasses through the sacrament of reconciliation. Then, having experienced God’s mercy, we may feel fortified to examine whether our general attitudes and life choices cohere with God’s will.

Do we place political or ideological positions above God’s will on questions such as refugees, capital punishment or abortion? Do we place our own material comforts above the needs of the poor and marginalised?

Do we try to understand other people when their words or actions provoke our disagreement, instead of condemning and retaliating? In our interactions with others, do we always try to be a reflection of God’s love?

Do we bear grudges against those who have wronged us, against our children whose life choices we differ with, against siblings with whom we have lost touch? Do we find it difficult to forgive others, or even ourselves?

Do we participate in gossip or duplicitous behaviour so as to disadvantage others? Do we engage in corrupt or exploitative business activities? Do we keep areas of our moral or ethical conduct hidden because we know they are wrong?

Very few of us will emerge from an examination on these points, and others like them, with a clean bill of spiritual health.

The Year of Mercy offers us an opportunity to heal ourselves by living God’s will as expressed by Christ in the Gospel.

This is the conversion Pope Francis calls us to. It is a challenge that offers the greatest reward.

A good way to enter the Year of Mercy is by contemplating the mystery of mercy itself. A beneficial starting point is the very readable and inspiring document which Pope Francis wrote to announce the Holy Year, Misericordiae Vultus.

In the second paragraph of the text, the Holy Father spells out for us why mercy is the key to our spiritual life: “It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace.

Our salvation depends on it.”

May the Jubilee Year of Mercy bring about a transformation in all; individual, Church, and the world.

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.

Nuns’ retreat house needs help I N September I stayed overnight at the retreat house of the Capuchin convent in Melville, near Port Shepstone on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, and spent hours sitting at the foot of the beautiful white cross out at the front, just reading and gazing up at Our Lord.

My unplanned drive and decision to stay there coincided with a retreat of a confirmation group from Durban. Therefore the kind sisters gave me the “older” accommodation and apologised profusely.

I had no idea why they apologised, as it was simple but comfortable and more suited to me.

I was greatly amused when they invited me to come earlier for supper, fearing that the ravenous teenagers would demolish everything in sight.

Amazingly, this big group welcomed me and I gained some valuable insight from the young adults.

I realised how wise they are. They may not see or say things like you or I do, but their voices are pleading with us to hear them, to listen, to feel, to notice them.

Since I was alone, I think that

Taxing questions for Catholics

J

UNE Boyer (November 11) quotes Fr Anthony Egan SJ on homosexual marriage, calling for a systematic re-evaluation in the light of developments in scientific knowledge.

The late Archbishop Denis Hurley strongly supported the ordination of women as well as optional celibacy for the priesthood.

As an older generation Catholic struggling to understand the brave new world of open-ended moral theology, I would appreciate any answers to the following questions.

Am I correct that Catholics voting in favour of homosexual marriage support the sacrament of marriage being administered to Catholic homosexual couples, male or female, by a Catholic priest in a Catholic church?

Do the supporters of Catholic homosexual marriage, and of women and married priests, support the sacramental marriage of two homosexual priests, male or female, in a Catholic church?

There are recorded occurrences of men and women marrying and having children, before divorcing their spouses and engaging in a homosexual relationship.

Should the Catholic marriages of these couples automatically be annulled so that they could then have another sacramental homosexual Catholic marriage?

Should the Catholic Church sup-

the confirmation group took pity on me and invited me to be part of the evening session they were having after supper.

All the children and facilitators congregated in the hall and I was privy to a most amazing experience of the children being handed letters their parents had written and each one finding a quiet place, sitting on the floor and intently reading.

Teenagers who normally seem so blasé and, as the older generation sometimes erroneously think, have “attitudes’, sat so seriously and with such rapt but vulnerable expressions on their faces, reading what they often don’t want to listen to their parents saying.

Tears filled my eyes too when I saw many unashamedly overcome with emotion, even the boys, with tears streaming down their faces.

Candles were then lit and the dim hall, with meditation music flowing, became a place of solace, a place of healing for them.

Some may have come from broken homes, some from extreme poverty, some from homes where alcohol and drugs were rife and othOpinions 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

port the wishes of married homosexual couples to have children by artificial insemination or surrogate motherhood, as the case may be?

As there are three involved in the addition of these children to a Catholic homosexual marriage, should the sacrament of marriage be limited to only two persons?

Should persons with attraction to both sexes be permitted a sacramental marriage involving three persons, provided these are loving and faithful relationships?

Does the Bible state that marriage should only involve two persons?

If a married priest gets divorced, whether male or female, hetero or homosexual, should the priest be allowed to continue in Holy Orders, providing he or she doesn't remarry?

There are scientific studies challenging the recent claim of a genetic predisposition to sexual attraction and recorded instances of practising homosexual persons permanently changing their homosexual behaviour.

Should there be further developments in scientific knowledge chal-

ers were simply overwhelmed with the upcoming exams. Here, in this little piece of heaven for just two days, they were able to revive their drooping spirits.

These are my memories from just one visit. I am sure that many others were touched in a special way at the Capuchin convent.

I hope they, and others, would want to assist the Sisters in financing the urgent repairs to the 84year-old convent whose cloister walls are in danger of collapse at some parts unless costly renovations are carried out, for which the Sisters have obtained quotes.

Perhaps local businesses or artisans might offer to undertake the roofing repairs themselves at a discount or perhaps even pro bono.

Their appeal for funds has been endorsed by Bishop Pius Mlungisi Dlungwane of Mariannhill.

The Sisters’ banking details are: Absa Bank, Port Shepstone, Acc Name: Capuchin Adoration Convent, Acc Number: 4064021771, Clearing Code—630128.

They can be contacted on e-mail at sr.veronicacapuchin@gmail.com or on 039 684 6336.

Rosemary Govender, Scottburgh

lenging the genetic predisposition hypothesis, would moral theologians support a further re-evaluation of the Catholic sacrament of marriage?

Chris Rawlins, Durban

Fond football memories

F

RANCO Sokolic, a frequent contributor to the letters page of The Southern Cross over the years, passed away on November 17. A chartered accountant, he was also an ardent pro-life activist.

What is not generally known about him was that he was also the youngest player, at 16 years old, to play for the Marist 1st Division soccer team in the Western Province Senior League, and was also a member of the Western Province U-16 team that won the inter-provincial competition with a record 47 goals scored and nil against.

That Western Province team included Eddie Firmani and Stuart Leary, both of whom went on to have distinguished professional careers in Europe. Both joined Charlton Athletic in 1950. Firmani later played for Inter Milan, and won three caps with Italy from 1956-58.

In the provincial competition Archbishop Denis Hurley’s nephew, Charlie Hurley, represented Southern Transvaal. Both he and Franco Sokolic were centre forwards.

Bernie Moat, Britannia Bay, Western Cape

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PERSPECTIVES

A year of God’s favour: Living mercy Sarah-Leah A Pimentel FEW weeks ago, I spoke in a nearby parish on the subject of the family; in particular about the need for parishes to create support groups for families that are hurting.

After the event, while everyone was milling about with a cup of coffee, a lady came up to me and commented that although, in principle, the idea of support groups for families in difficulty was good, it would cause more damage than good.

Her statement really surprised me, so I asked her to explain what she meant. “Well you see,” she said, “people talk.” She said that all too soon, everyone would know who was having difficulties in their marriage or with their children, and they would be the subject of gossip and be judged for their failings.

Surely, I said, such a group is a sacred space where those who participate can speak freely, and know that their problem was being kept in confidence within the group. She laughed cynically: “You are young; you don’t know people. People talk.

What will happen is that those poor people will end up more broken than before they joined the group.”

Her words stuck with me. I recognise that there was a truth to what she was saying. She may have been speaking from personal experience or from a lifetime of observing what happens within parish communities. It made me sad to think that if our local Church communities cannot be sacred spaces of mercy, then where do we go to find healing and make peace with the situations of our lives?

The sacrament of reconciliation can go a long way in making Christ’s mercy tangible, but that requires good and humble confessors. I am fortunate to know many priests who are gifted confessors, and they are gold. They have the art of listening to the heart, speaking the words of the Holy

Spirit and in the absolution, their hands truly impart the love, compassion and mercy of Jesus.

But I also know that I spent many years away from the confessional because of the heavy judgment I encountered in the confessional. Despite the absolution I received, I found myself less at peace than I had been before going to confession.

I have been told that my imperfections that keep me from God are not “real sins” and that I was holding up the queue of real penitents outside. I have been told that I should stop teaching catechism when I confessed that I was struggling with one of the teachings of our faith.

T

hese experiences, both those related by a stranger and my own, are evidence enough that although we speak regularly about a “gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love” (Jonah 4:2), we don’t always experience this as we walk through the journey of life in the Church.

This is perhaps why Pope Francis has declared a Year of Mercy which will begin in a few days on the feast of the Immaculate

The sacrament of reconciliation is a good way of experiencing the mercy of God.

The Mustard Seeds

Conception. For the next year, we are called to reflect and enact mercy.

It begins on the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, a time of radical transformation in the Church.

Vatican II sought to build a bridge between the Church and the world. One of the most famous expressions to have come out of the Council is that it was meant to “throw open the windows of the Church and let the fresh air in”. In other words, Vatican II was a call to the Holy Spirit to come upon the Church and heal it. Healing is mercy.

Those of us born after Vatican II grew up in a Church that was less given to graphic sermons of eternal hellfire and condemnation. We were raised in a Church that depicted the forgiving and compassionate Jesus. We have become less rigid and increasingly are invited to be “fully alive” (Jn 10:10) in our participation of every aspect of Church life.

But yet, many Catholics still experience condemnation. Many Catholics still feel excluded from the life of the Church, many feel judged for past choices and the knocks of life along their journey of faith.

This is why, I think, Pope Francis has called the Year of Mercy. He is not calling the Church to engage in theoretical mercy, but to actually live it. He is calling each one of us to eradicate the limits of our mercy.

He is inviting us to experience mercy and to be merciful to those we encounter.

Continued on page 11

The questions that challenge us W E live in a complex and confusing world. If you are puzzled by the number of creeds and the level of unbelief in our world today, do not blame yourself.

You are in good company, as there are many like you and me who are confused about what to believe and what not to believe; who ask themselves whether there is a church that can claim to be an authentic Christian church; who even go to the extent of asking themselves: is religion necessary in our age where everything is driven by science and technology?

What would be wrong is to stop asking these questions and either give up going to church; or adopt the attitude that says, well, I was brought up in this church, I will just go to church to fulfil family expectations, or I will go to church whenever I feel like it.

If you are to be a disciple or apostle of Jesus in the modern world, you need to be prepared to answer many difficult questions, both for yourself and for others.

To the issue of whether religion is necessary in the modern science and technology-driven age, you may wish to begin by asking yourself what the Church teaches about the purpose of human life?

Is science the answer to all questions to which humanity needs to have answers?

In any case, is science its own creator?

What or who is there beyond science and religion?

Very well, you may ask, assuming that there is a Supreme Being whom Christianity and other religions call God, how am I expected to believe that Christianity is the one and true religion? What of traditional African religions? What of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam? Who is greater, Jesus or the Prophet Mohammed? Considering the

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Christian Leadership

Many people challenge us with arguments that question our religion, going right to the point of whether Christ is the Saviour of the world. Emmanuel Ngara looks at some of them to set the focus for his upcoming columns. fact that Islam seems to be on the march to become the universal religion of the world, how can Christians claim that Jesus is the Saviour of the world?

I

n any case, you might add, Christianity itself is so hopelessly divided today: Which of its thousands of churches and sects can claim to be “the authentic church of Christ?” We have prophets today who, through what we are told are miracles and wonders, are purporting to be the true representatives of Christ. Shall we follow these and desert the leaders of the so-called mainline churches? Why did the mainline

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churches get so hopelessly divided in the first place?

And, you might add, if the leaders of these mainline churches are true followers of Jesus, why are they not able to perform the miracles that the prophets of the new churches are said to be able to perform?

After all, the Gospel of Mark quotes Jesus as saying: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mk 16: 17-20). Is this not proof enough that the new prophets who are said to perform miracles and wonders in the name of Jesus are the true representatives of Christ in our time?

These are the questions, especially from young people, that challenge us as Christians.

We may not be able to answer all these and other questions to everyone’s satisfaction, but in this series I will try and suggest ways of developing Christian leaders who will be able to hold their own when confronted with such issues and difficult questions.

While I will express my opinions on the matter, I will be grateful to those readers who may wish to make a contribution to the debate on developing strong Christian leaders for the Church of our time.

The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

7

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

How do we explain all the world’s evil?

One is horrified by the evil that is terrifying all and sundry these days. How can one explain why the human heart can be so viciously merciless in wanting to kill and kill innocent people?

Is it due to Original Sin? S Wright

I

MAGINE the result if the Genesis story of the temptation of Eve turned out differently. The serpent assured Eve that she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit in the garden. This was in contradiction of God’s command, which she and Adam had understood clearly.

Suppose she had preferred to stay obedient to God and enjoy the delights of the garden, and therefore not give in to temptation. The loving harmony and balance between God and his human creatures would have remained intact. The relationship between the uncreated God and his creatures would have been sustained according to his design and will.

Of course, things did not turn out this way. The serpent told Eve that if she and Adam ate the fruit their eyes would be opened and they would “be like God” (Gn 3:5). This sounded so promising that when she took another look at the fruit-bearing tree, Eve saw that it was a delight to the eyes and good for food. She and Adam ate its fruit.

Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience demonstrated that they distrusted God. They wanted to be like him, which no creature could be, and so they destroyed the concord between divine and human love. They not only shattered their intimacy with the Creator. They also scuttled their own mutual intimacy by causing strife between them, which continued in their children. Their son Cain killed his brother Abel.

God willed everything to be good and in good order. The human will in turn was to be directed to what is good in God’s design for humanity.

If Adam and Eve had not sinned, they would have conformed to the principle: It is good to obey God’s truthfulness, therefore I will to do so. Instead, their principle became: I will to distrust God’s truthfulness, therefore it is good to do so.

What is good by divine institution gives way to what is good for me or for us.

Those committing atrocities and inhumane cruelty against others intend these acts as desirable because they see them as good for their own cause.

They are unconcerned about the consequences for others.

So, evil is the disharmony of humanity within itself and with God. It is the distortion of the human will.

The death and resurrection of Jesus has overcome evil because Jesus obeyed his Father’s will and became one of us. Until he returns in glory on the Last Day, evil remains among us, and it is, as our faith teaches, the result of Original Sin.

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000; or e-mail: opendoor@scross.co.za; or fax (021) 465 3850. Anonymity can be preserved by arrangement, but questions must be signed, and may be edited for clarity. Only published questions will be answered.

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8

The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

COMMUNITY

Send us your photos to pics@ scross.co.za ...but please have patience: Sometimes we Youth at Our Lady Help of Christians in Lansdowne, Cape Town, were confirmed by Archbishop have an overflow of photos Stephen Brislin (top left). They are pictured with parish priest Fr Marian Kulig SDB (right) and awaiting assistant priest Fr Roy Elavungal SDB (left). publication.

Grade 3 pupils from Holy Rosary Convent received their first Holy Communion from Fr Joseph Leathem OMI at St Therese parish in Edenvale, Johannesburg. (Back from left) Caitlyn de Klerk, Sphesile Phiri, Caitlin de Freitas, Vanessa dos Santos, Kirah Koen, Massimiliana Piganelli and Victoria Ntsheke, (front) Erin Braun, Cheleigh Watson and Kamusi Ononokwa.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul held its allAfrica assembly. President general Dr Michael Thio (right) is seen with Southern Cross columnist Gushwell Brooks and Germaine Landsberg.

Pontsho Ndaba went on pilgrimage to the shrines of Europe. Ms Ndaba (centre) is seen with Lorato Phalatse and Nelisiwe Dlamini outside St James cathedral in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Children received their first Holy Communion at Don Bosco parish in Robertsham, Johannesburg, at a Mass celebrated by Fr John Thompson SDB. With the children are catechists Clare Pillay and Lisa Ellapen.

Holy Rosary parish in Krugersdorp, archdiocese of Johannesburg, celebrated its Portuguese festa.

Pupils from Sacred Heart College in Observatory, Johannesburg, were confirmed at St Francis of Assisi parish in Yeoville by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale.

Our Mother Of Perpetual Help parish in Malabar, Port Elizabeth, hosted its annual interdenomenational Senior Citizen’s Day. Fr Joslan Goji (left) hosted this years event.

Youth at Durbanville parish in Cape Town were confirmed by Archbishop Stephen Brislin. Seen here are (from left) parish priest Fr Michael van Heerden, Archbishop Brislin, Fr Godfrey Solomon and Deacon Des Eyden.

REFLECTION

The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

9

What Vatican II document means for us today Half a century ago Vatican II issued its pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes.

Reflecting on its opening sentence, MIKE POTHIER reveals its relevance today.

distract us from what really matters. Power, status, prestige, material wealth, all the incidental things which in fact occupy so much of our time and effort, and thereby limit our ability to respond to our neighbour’s joys or worries.

So, nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in [our] hearts. This is not just a question of being poetic. An echo is not an imitation of a sound, or an approximation; it is not me trying to sound like you. Rather, it is one and the same sound, simply reflected back to its origin.

This imagery serves to reinforce the idea that the cares of the world are our cares too; they are, like a sound and its echo, one and the same.

And of course it is in our heart, our life-centre, that we hear and reflect the call of our neighbour. We receive it with warmth and emotion, rather than with cool calculation, however sympathetic that might be.

F

IFTY years ago, on December 7, 1965, the last of the 16 major documents to emerge from the Second Vatican Council was promulgated.

The “Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World”—usually known by its opening words in Latin, Gaudium et Spes—is a long document; indeed at nearly 35 000 words it is the longest ever published by a Church council.

Fortunately, although it is rewarding to study the whole document, or even to read one of the many summaries available in print or online, the essence of Gaudium et Spes can be grasped from the opening two sentences, in less than 60 words.

They are among the most resounding, and the most lyrical, to be found in the Church’s teaching: “The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts.”

It is worthwhile examining this brief passage in some detail.

To start with, the whole of human experience is combined and contained between the polar opposites of joys and hopes on the one hand, and griefs and anxieties on the other. Whatever their situation, however elevated or cast down people may be, no matter whether they rejoice in life, or simply endure it, they are embraced and their experience of life is accommodated.

In the original Latin, and in some English translations, the document has “joy and hope, grief and anxiety”, all in the singular. However, many English versions, including the one on the Vatican website, have these words in the plural.

Somehow, this emphasises the scope and depth of the empathy that is being expressed here—it touches all the joys and hopes and griefs and anxieties, not just a joy here and a grief there.

And, as one reads further into the document, this scope becomes apparent as it deals with marriage and the family, cultural matters, economics, political life, war and peace, and international relations.

A procession of youths making its way to Sunday Mass in Mutungulu, Kenya. The Vatican II constitution Gaudium et Spes said: “The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the people of our time… are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ as well.” (Photo: Nancy Phelan Wiechec/CNS)

A message beyond time

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ext, the focus is on the people of our time; that is, all the people, not just Catholics, or Christians or believers, but everyone.

This signals the Council reaching out to humanity as a whole.

It also reveals a certain immediacy and concreteness—the message is concerned with people of our time, actual people, those struggling with real problems, and those thriving on what life has to offer.

Naturally, it was not intended that the teaching of Gaudium et Spes should be limited only to people alive in 1965. On the contrary, its message reaches out beyond any particular time, touching all of us, and demanding of all of us that we consider very seriously the people of our time.

Now our attention is drawn to that group of people for whom God, and therefore the Church, has a special concern—those who are poor or afflicted in any way.

The emphasis on the poor and afflicted would soon be encapsulated in the phrase “the preferential option for the poor”, first coined by the great Jesuit General, Pedro Arrupe, and subsequently taken up by the liberation theologians. It is now a concept firmly entrenched in Catholic Social Teaching.

It is important to note that it is not simply material or financial poverty that attracts this special concern. We may be poor in spirit, emotionally poor, lacking in social connections such as friendships and family; we may feel ourselves

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to be marginalised or rejected, lonely or depressed.

Likewise, afflicted must be read in its widest sense: it may mean physical suffering or ill-health, spiritual darkness, emotional or psychological distress of some kind; or it may refer to the victims of political oppression or economic injustice.

All those who suffer poverty or affliction in any way are included in this special mention.

The simple word ‘are’

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ext, we come to what I would suggest is the single most significant word in these opening lines—the simple word “are”.

At one level, it acts simply as a link between the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of the world and the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.

However, it does much more than this.

The Council could have written that Christians “share in” or “sympathise with” the good and the bad things experienced by the people of their time; it could have spoken of solidarity, of feeling others’ pain and sadness, or of how followers of Christ ought to respond to other people’s joy and grief.

All these formulations would be good in themselves, and would hopefully prompt a deeper sense of unity among all people.

But that little word “are” takes it to a much higher level. It signifies a complete identification between what “people” experience and what the “followers of Christ” experience.

A SOLDIER FOR THE KAISER

That is, of course, if we are true followers of Christ. If we are, then when our neighbour suffers a misfortune, we experience it not as if it were our own, but as our own. Likewise, when someone else is filled with joy, we are filled with joy too.

Think about it. We have all probably been in a position where we’ve felt happy about our friends’ good luck, or where we have been upset by something bad happening to them. But all too often, our very genuine response is tempered by a competing emotion: a touch of envy perhaps, in the first instance, or a sense of relief that the bad thing didn’t happen to us.

There is nothing wrong with this; such mixed feelings are only human. But if we truly experience other people’s good and bad fortune as our own, then there can be nothing to feel envious or relieved about; there is no distance, no separation between what they feel and what we feel.

This is certainly a very high standard to set, and very few of us succeed in meeting it. And yet, this radical, unreserved identification with the other person is what is required of us if we are to be worthy “followers of Christ”.

To be genuinely human

T

he second sentence calls attention once again to the scope of what should concern us—everything genuinely human.

At the risk of reading too much into a word, perhaps the inclusion of the word “genuinely” is meant to alert us to those things which

The message today

F

ifty years ago, the world was filled with tension and uncertainty. The Cold War was at its height, with West and East testing each other’s limits. The atom bomb was a fearful reality. Often, innocent people in the developing world bore the brunt of the superpowers’ rivalry.

Poverty, illiteracy, disease and famine affected huge swathes of Africa and Asia. Newly-independent nations were trying to find their feet, and often descending into tribalism, tyranny and oppression.

It was in this context that the Council urged Christians towards radical identification with the people of the age. And today? The message is the same.

As we contemplate the destruction of ancient communities in the Middle East; as we witness terrorist atrocities in so many parts of the world; as we see that the riches of the earth are still not shared equitably, leading to poverty, disease and lack of opportunity; as we see how little innocent human life is valued; and as we begin to grasp the dangers inherent in drastic climate change, the words of Gaudium et Spes reach out over the span of 50 years, as vital and as urgent as ever: “The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ as well. Nothing that is genuinely human fails to find an echo in their hearts.” n Mike Pothier is head of research for the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office.

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The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

FAITH

What’s behind the Holy Doors of Rome?

To launch the Holy Year of Mercy, Pope Francis will open the Holy Doors of Rome’s major basilicas.

CAROL GLATz looks at the meaning of this.

F

OR a spiritual leader who denounces a world divided by walls, a Church shuttered by cliques and hearts hardened to compassion, opening wide the Holy Door for the Year of Mercy on December 8 will be a significant and symbolic moment for Pope Francis.

In Catholic tradition, the Holy Door represents the passage to salvation—the path to a new and eternal life, which was opened to humanity by Jesus.

It also symbolises an entryway to God’s mercy—the ultimate and supreme act by which he comes to meet people. Mercy is “the bridge that connects God and humanity, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness,” the pope wrote in Misericordiae Vultus (“The Face of Mercy”), the document with which he instituted the Holy Year of Mercy.

Doors have always had a special meaning for the Catholic Church, according to the late Cardinal Virgilio Noè, the former archpriest of St Peter’s Basilica.

“The door of a church marks the divide between the sacred and profane, separating the church’s interior from the outside world. It is the boundary defining welcome and exclusion,” he wrote in his 1999 book, The Holy Door in St Peter’s.

The door is also a symbol of

The Holy Doors of (from left) the basilicas of St Peter’s, St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Paul Outside the Walls. Pope Francis will open each of them to usher in the Holy Year of Mercy which begins on December 8.

Mary—the mother, the dwelling of the Lord—and she, too, always has open arms and is ready to welcome the children of God home. Pope Francis will open the Holy Door of St Peter’s on the feast of Mary’s immaculate conception.

But the door especially represents Christ himself—the one and only way to eternal life. As Jesus said: “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” (Jn 10:9).

The Holy Year traditionally begins with the opening of the Holy Door of St Peter’s to represent a renewed opportunity to encounter or grow closer to Jesus, who calls everyone to redemption.

Jesus knocks on everyone’s door; he yearns to accompany and nourish everyone. “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me,” the Book of

Revelation quotes him as saying.

But doors are also narrow, Cardinal Noè wrote in his book, and people must stoop with humility and “be brought down to size by conversion” in order to be “fit” for eternal life.

That is why passing through a Holy Door is part of a longer process of sacrifice and conversion required for receiving an indulgence granted during a Holy Year. A plenary indulgence, the remission of temporal punishment due to sin, is offered for pilgrims who also fulfil certain other conditions: reception of the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist, visits and prayers for the intention of the pope and performing simple acts such as visiting the sick.

T

his spiritual process of encounter and conversion is made tangible in the elaborate rituals developed over time for the opening

of the Holy Door.

The symbolic ceremony of opening a Holy Door came more than a century after the first Holy Year was proclaimed in 1300.

Pope Martin V, in 1423, opened the Holy Door in the basilica of St John Lateran—the pope’s official seat as Bishop of Rome—for the first time for a jubilee. Next, Pope Alexander VI called for all four Holy Doors in Rome—St Peter’s, St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Paul Outside the Walls—to be opened at Christmas in 1499 for the Jubilee of 1500.

Starting in the 16th century, the ceremony to open the door in St Peter’s basilica included the pope reciting verses from the Psalms and striking the wall covering the Holy Door with a silver hammer three times.

Masons completed the task of dismantling the brick and mortared wall, which represents the diffi-

culty and great effort required to overcome the barrier of sin and to open the path to holiness.

Some have found meaning in the fact that Jesus had five wounds and St Peter’s basilica has five doors. Opening the Holy Door recalls the piercing of Jesus’ side from which poured forth blood and water, the source of regeneration for humanity.

The Holy Door of St Peter’s, in fact, is decorated with 16 bronze panels depicting the story of Jesus, in his mercy, seeking his lost sheep.

The symbolism of the hammer in the hands of the pope represents the power and jurisdiction God gives him to cast away the stones of sin, chink open hardened hearts and break down walls separating humanity from God. The removal of the wall also conjures up pulling away the stone that sealed the tomb of Lazarus, whom Jesus resurrected from the dead.

For the closing of the door at the end of the Holy Year, the traditional rite included the pope blessing and spreading the mortar with a special trowel and setting three bricks for the start of a new wall—a symbol of the spiritual rebuilding of the Lord’s house as well as the ever-present human temptation to put up new barriers against God with sin.

While there have been some changes to those ceremonies over time, the Holy Door is always a reminder that because of God’s mercy, any obstacles can always be removed, and the door to hope and forgiveness is always there waiting.

Vatican officials are adopting a reservation system for pilgrims who want to cross the threshold of the Holy Door during the Year of Mercy.—CNS

Holy Year concept explained

BY CAROL GLATz

A

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HOLY Year as a time of spiritual renewal has its biblical roots in the jubilees observed by the Jewish people at 50-year intervals, when debts were pardoned and slaves were freed.

The term “jubilee” itself comes from the Hebrew word yobel, meaning a ram’s horn, which was used to make the trumpet that signalled the beginning of this time of forgiveness.

For the Catholic Church, a Holy Year remains a time of great spiritual significance, and emphasis is placed on the examination of conscience and conversion, the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation, concrete acts of solidarity and initiatives to restore justice.

The jubilee is called a Holy Year because it aims to encourage holiness, strengthen faith in Christ and inspire greater communion within the Church and society.

The first Holy Year was proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300, when thousands of Christians from throughout Europe came on pilgrimage to Rome.

Among those who journeyed to the Eternal City for the first celebration was the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who is commonly said to have found the inspiration for his Divine Comedy during that pilgrimage.

In the 15th century, Pope Paul II set a 25-year timetable for Holy Years, which has been the norm since, in order to allow each generation the possibility of experiencing at least one Holy Year.

As a way to stress the importance of forgiveness and renewing one’s relationship with God, plenary indulgences are offered during Holy Years. An indul-

The Vatican’s official logo for the Jubilee Year of Mercy gence—that is, the remission of temporal punishment for sins— is customarily granted to those who make a pilgrimage to Rome and fulfil certain other conditions: reception of the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist, visits and prayers for the intention of the pope and performing simple acts such as visiting the sick.

Those who do not make a pilgrimage to Rome can gain the same indulgence by receiving penance and the Eucharist and praying for the pope during a visit or a community celebration in a church designated by the local bishop.

T

he Holy Door, symbolising the doorway of salvation, marks the “extraordinary” spiritual passage offered the faithful during a jubilee year. There are only seven Holy Doors: four at the major basilicas in Rome and one each in France, Spain and Canada.

On Christmas Eve 1999, Pope John Paul II changed the traditional Holy Door ritual at St Peter’s basilica when he did not strike the wall sealing the door.

Instead, he pushed open the Holy Door—the wall had been dismantled beforehand.

Bishop Piero Marini, thenmaster of papal liturgical ceremonies, said: “Elements of the old ritual which have become obsolete will be replaced by others which better express the biblical and liturgical significance of the Holy Door.”

When Pope Alexander VI opened the Holy Door on Christmas 1499, “he used a mason’s hammer, and the blows were not completely symbolic; the pope tried to break through part of the wall”, Bishop Marini said.

For centuries, the opening ceremony included a long pause to allow masons to finish taking the wall down before the pope crossed the threshold.

In addition to an “ordinary” Holy Year set at 25-year intervals, occasionally a special jubilee is proclaimed to mark some outstanding event. The custom of these so-called “extraordinary” jubilees began in the 16th century, and they can vary in length from a few days to a year.

There have been 26 “ordinary” holy years so far, the last one being the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. There were no jubilee celebrations in 1800 and 1850 because of political turmoil at the time.

There have been two extraordinary jubilees in the last century: 1933, proclaimed by Pope Pius XI to mark the 1 900th anniversary of Christ’s redemption, and 1983, proclaimed by John Paul II to mark 1 950 years since the redemption.—CNS

CLASSIFIEDS

We Catholics need to learn what immaculate conception means

BY JULIA BEACROFT

Liturgical Calendar Year B – Weekdays Cycle Year 1 Sunday December 6, Second Sunday of Advent Baruch 5:1-9, Psalms 126, Philippians 1:4-6, 811, Luke 3:1-6 Monday December 7, St Ambrose Isaiah 35:1-10, Psalms 85:9-14, Luke 5:17-26 Tuesday December 8, Immaculate Conception of Our Lady Genesis 3:9-15, 20, Psalms 98:1-4, Ephesians 1:36, 11-12, Luke 1:26-38 Wednesday December 9, St Juan Diego Isaiah 40:25-31, Psalms 103:1-4, 8, 10, Matthew 11:28-30 Thursday December 10 Isaiah 41:13-20, Psalms 145:1, 9-13, Matthew 11:11-15 Friday December 11, St Damasus Isaiah 48:17-19, Psalms 1:1-4, 6, Matthew 11:1619 Saturday December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11, Psalms 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19, Matthew 17:10-13 Sunday December 13, Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:10-18

ON TAPE

A group of readers is preparing audio tapes of excerpts from The Southern Cross for interested people who are blind, sight-impaired, unable to hold a newspaper or illiterate.

Anyone wanting to receive tapes as part of this service, available for an annual subscription fee of only R50, may contact Mr Len Pothier, 8 The Spinney Retirement Village, Main Rd, Hout Bay, 7806 or phone 021-790 1317.

The Post Office will deliver and return tapes without charge. Should you know of any interested blind or otherwise reading-impaired person, please inform them of this service.

CLASSIFIEDS

BRUYNS—Noel. Left us on December 6, 2004. Still fondly remembered by his colleagues at The Southern Cross.

PRAYERS

who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.

Amen.

FATHER in heaven, everliving source of all that is good, keep me faithful in serving you. Help me to drink of Christ's truth, and fill my heart with his love so that I may serve you in faith and love and reach eternal life. In the sacrament of the Eucharist you give me the joy of sharing your life. Keep me in your presence. Let me never be separated from you and help me to do your will.

THANKS

So the next time you hear the expression “immaculate conception” used mistakenly or out of context, smile and say to that person that they are certainly not the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, but are definitely loved by God, nonetheless.

Every child who enters the world can become a member of God’s family, but there is only one Jesus Christ. n Julia Beacroft is a catechist and pastoral volunteer who lives in Torquay, England. Her first book, Sanctifying the Spirit, will be published and available to buy next year.

A year of God’s favour Continued from page 7 Advent is the perfect time to practise mercy, because we are presented with so many opportunities to reach out to those who often experience society’s mercilessness.

After all, Christ’s birth was God’s gift of mercy for all people, irrespective of creed or life choices. A child is the gift of new beginnings and of continuing the journey of our lives by a different path.

Mercy is praying for our friends and colleagues, even if they do not share our faith.

Mercy is refraining from taking advantage of others, especially when someone stands in our debt.

Mercy is acting justly, but acknowledging that justice is more than equality; rather it is responding to each person as an individual with their own unique story.

Mercy is a calling to live a lifestyle of mercy each day.

Mercy is to look out at the world through the eyes of the Christ Child.

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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 (R1,50 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

IN MEMORIAM

M

Y husband is one of four children. He has a brother who is the eldest and two sisters who are both younger than him and they are fairly evenly spaced out in terms of age.

My wonderful, now late, mother-in-law used to love to tell a tale concerning her youngest offspring; in fact, she would fairly “dine out on it”.

Having discovered that she was expecting a fourth child, she could hardly wait to give her husband the glad tidings. However, to her surprise, he replied: “Well, how did that happen then?”

Her answer was to tell him that it was certainly not an immaculate conception!

We Catholics so often hear the term “immaculate conception” used incorrectly in this way.

We understand that Mary was immaculately conceived in her mother’s womb without a single spot or stain of sin. This was to enable her, in turn, to provide a perfect home for Jesus when she herself conceived, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Only she, who was totally without sin herself, could have borne the baby Jesus—God’s only begotten Son. It is this that we celebrate on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, on December 8.

My mother-in-law did not, of course, have an immaculate conception. However, thanks to the Lord’s loving providence, she was able to give birth to four children of her own.

She may not have been blessed in the same way that Mary, the Mother of God, was blessed, even so she was loved and cherished by the Lord in exactly the same way that each and every one of us are.

The Southern Cross, December 2 to December 8, 2015

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. Riccarda.

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

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GRATEFUL thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Mother Mary and Ss Rita, Joseph, Anthony, Jude and Martin de Porres for prayers answered. Riccarda.

WITH THANKS to St Jude, for prayers answered. Mrs Martin.

PERSONAL

ABORTION WARNING: The truth will convict a silent Church. See www. valuelifeabortionisevil. co.za ABORTION is murder – Silence on this issue is not golden, it’s yellow! Avoid pro-abortion politicians.

See www.hli.co.za GATHERING at Shantivanam India Ashram of Bede Griffiths, December 2015. For details visit http://oblatesofshanti vanam.yolasite.com/ VISIT PIOUS KINTU’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE http://avemaria832.simple site.com This website has been set up to give glory to the Most Holy Trinity through the healing power of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. View amazing pictures of Pious Kintu’s work in Congo and various African countries since 2007. Also read about African Stigmatist Reverend Sister Josephine Sul and Padre Pio among others.

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3rd Sunday of Advent: December 13 Readings: Zephaniah 3:14-18, Isaiah 12:26, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:10-18

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S outher n C ross

EXT Sunday is “Rejoice” Sunday, when you can relax the grim austerity of your Advent abstinence. Certainly there is a good deal of rejoicing in the readings that the Church offers us for the day; but it is not the kind of rejoicing that the retailers are currently pressing on you in the shops, or that you are supposed to encounter in the parties to which you find yourself bidden at this time of year.

In the first reading, Zephaniah is indeed encouraging his hearers to rejoice: “Rejoice, daughter of Sion, make a noise, Israel; rejoice and exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem.”

Then the prophet makes an interesting move, saying: “The king of Israel is in your midst.” But then, just as we might be thinking that the old monarchy was after all to be restored, he identifies this king as YHWH, the sacred name of God. There is something to make us rejoice; only if God is king can Sion be told: “Do not fear…your God will rejoice over you in exultation.” It is God, this Advent, who is the

source of all our joy.

Somewhat unusually, the psalm for next Sunday comes from Isaiah, but it is certainly a psalm, a song of thanksgiving because: “God is my Saviour; I trust, I shall not fear.”

After that, the poet offers a metaphor that speaks powerfully in a dry country: “You will draw water in rejoicing from the fountains of salvation.”

Then this jubilant poem ends: “Shout and rejoice, Sion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” There is no mistaking the matter; God is the source of our joy.

There is joy aplenty in our second reading: “Rejoice in the Lord all the time,” it begins, “and again I shall say, ‘rejoice’.”

It is worth knowing that Paul is in prison, from which he is by no means certain to get out alive.

Nevertheless, he is in determinedly joyful mood, thinking more of the Philippians than of his own plight, praying that their “forbearance” will be “made known to all human beings”, and setting the whole thing in context:

“The Lord is near.” He does not want them to “be worried”, but to keep their prayers up: “With gratitude make your petitions known to God” (which is not the mood in which you and I normally address our requests to the Almighty).

And then: “The peace of God which rises above all intellect will keep your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” And it is in that last phrase that we are to find the source of all our joy: “in Christ Jesus” is where we must consciously place ourselves in the days and weeks ahead.

In the Gospel, we have the crowds gathered round John the Baptist, asking (like ourselves, perhaps at this stage in the Advent season): “What are we to do?”

John’s answer may not lead them precisely into joy: “If you have two cloaks, share with someone who has none [that is not what the shops are telling you just now], and let someone who has something to eat do the same.”

Then, rather to our surprise, two other groups appear: “tax-collectors” and “people

Is all of Islam to blame?

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killed thousands more Muslims than they have killed Christians, or persons of any other religion. While their ultimate target may well be the secularised, Christian West, more immediately their real war is against true Islam.

Moreover, the victims of Islamic terrorists are not just the thousands of moderate Muslims who have been direct victims of their violence and killings, but also all other Muslims who are now painted with the same brush and negatively judged in both their religiosity and their sincerity.

Whenever Islamic terrorists perpetrate an act of violence, its victims are not just those who die, are injured, or who lose loved ones—it’s also all true Muslims, particularly those living in the West because they are now viewed through the eyes of suspicion, fear and hatred.

But the Muslim religion is not to blame here. There is nothing inherent in either the Quran or in Islam itself that morally or religiously undergirds this kind of violence.

We would shout “unfair” if someone were to say that what happened during the Inquisition is inherent in the Gospel. We owe Islam the same judgment.

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ne of the great students of world religions, the renowned Houston Smith, submits that we should always judge a religion by its best expressions, by its saints and graced-history, rather than by its psychopaths and aberrations. I hope that others offer us, Christians, this courtesy.

Adolf Hitler, who was baptised and con-

Conrad

HIS is not a good time to be a Muslim in the Western world. As the violence perpetrated by radical Islamic groups such as ISIS, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram becomes more and more prevalent, huge numbers of people are becoming paranoid about and even openly hostile towards the Islam as a religion, seeing all Muslims as a threat.

Popular opinion more and more blames the Muslim religion itself for that violence, suggesting that there is something inherent in Islam itself that’s responsible for this kind of violence.That equation needs to be challenged, both in the name of truth and in the name of what’s best in us as Christians.

First of all, it’s untrue. Painting all Muslims with the same brush is like painting all Christians with the same brush, akin to looking at the most depraved man who calls himself a Christian and saying: “That’s Christians for you! They’re all the same!”

Second, it’s also unfair. Islamic militants no more speak for Islam than Hitler speaks for Christianity (and that comparison isn’t idly chosen).

Finally, such an equation misleads our sympathy. The first victim of Islamic terrorism is Islam itself—authentic God-fearing Muslims are the first victims of this violence.

When we look at the history of any terrorist Islamic group such as ISIS or alQaeda, we see that it first establishes itself by terrorising and killing thousands of its own people—honest, God-fearing Muslims. And it goes on killing them.

ISIS, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram have

For further info or to book contact Michael or Gail at 076 352 3809 or 021 551 3923 info@fowlertours.co.za www.fowlertours.co.za/ poland-2016/

Nicholas King SJ

Rejoice in Christ Jesus

on military service”. Rather to their surprise, they are told, in the first place, “not to do anything over and above their orders”, and in the second place, “no intimidation, no harassment—and be content with your wages”.

Where, they might well ask, is all the fun in life, in that case? That leads to an obvious question: Who is John the Baptist, and is he the Messiah?

A good question, but we are not there yet, and John points to that Other: “The one stronger than me, and I am not fit to undo the thong of his sandals; he is going to baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

So where, you ask, is all the joy in this mid-Advent Sunday? Luke’s answer is a triumphant one: “With many other words of consolation, he was preaching the good news to the people.”

There is immense joy here, but not necessarily in the way that we were expecting.

Southern Crossword #683

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

firmed in the Catholic Church, was somehow a product of the Christian West, as was Mother Teresa.

Houston Smith’s point is that the latter, not the former, is a truer basis for judging Christianity. We owe our Islamic brothers and sisters the same courtesy.

And that’s more a recognition of the truth than a courtesy. The word “Islam/Muslim” has its origins in the word “peace”, and that connotation, along with the concept of “surrender to God”, constitutes the essence of what it means to be a Muslim.

And for more than 90% of Muslims, that is exactly what it means to be a Muslim, namely, to be a man or woman of peace who has surrendered to God and who now tries to live a life that is centred on faith, prayer, responsibility and hospitality.

Any interpretation of Islam by a radicalised group that gives divine sanction to terrorist violence is false and belies Islam.

Islamic extremists don’t speak for God, Mohammed, Islam, or for what it means to surrender in faith, but only for a self-serving ideology—and true Muslims are, in the end, the real victims of that.

Terrorist attacks, like the recent ones in Paris, Beirut and Mali, call for more, not less, sympathy for true Muslims. It’s time to establish a greater solidarity with Islam, notwithstanding extremist terrorism.

We are both part of the same family: We have the same God, suffer the same anxieties, are subject to the same mortality, and will share the same heaven. Muslims more than ever need our understanding, sympathy, support and fellowship in faith.

Christian de Cherge, the Trappist monk who was martyred by Islamic terrorists in Algeria in 1996, wrote a remarkable letter to his family on France shortly before he died.

Well aware that he had a good chance of being killed by Islamic terrorists, he shared with his family that, should this happen, they ought to know that he had already forgiven his killers and that he foresaw himself and them, his killers, in the same heaven, playing together under God’s gaze—a gaze that lovingly takes in all of God’s children, Muslims no less than Christians.

St John Paul II Pilgrimage to Poland Southern Cross

Sunday Reflections

ACROSS

5. Pay it when you hear the bell (4) 7. A fact equal to a kind of coffin (10) 8. If US returns there’s a Muslim mystic (4) 10. Archbishop of Pretoria (8) 11. Aaron’s sister (Ex 15) (6) 12. Art gallery shutter (6) 14. They may decorate church walls (6) 16. Taxi driver (6) 17. Headlong scramble to church exit? (8) 19. Eats where the sun rises (4) 21. Economic system of Rome? (10) 22. It’s in church, we hear, surrounded by water (4)

DOWN

1. Experts at the card table (4) 2. Place of worship, like St Peter’s (8) 3. Sambal providing healing (6) 4. Yell in the sudden wind (6) 5. SMS from the Bible? (4) 6. They will keep the books in good order (10) 9. Like divine presence everywhere (10) 13. Canopy that folds (8) 15. Seraph who might be a Tibetan (6) 16. Make like God (6) 18. Computer rodents (4) 19. Grave (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

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NE day, Eve was walking in the garden with God when she told him that sometimes she felt very lonely.

“No problem,” God replied, “I will make you a man for a companion.”

And he took some mud and started shaping it when he suddenly stopped.

“Oh, Eve, there’s just one thing about this man I’m making for you,” God said. “You’ll have to tell him he was here first.”

A journey to the places of St John Paul II’s life and devotions, led by a Bishop who knows Poland intimately.

Led by Bishop Stan Dziuba 13 - 21 May 2016

Kraków | Wadowice (on St John Paul II’s birthday) | Black Madonna of Częstochowa | Niepokalanów (St Maximilan Kolbe) | Divine Mercy Sanctuary | Warsaw | Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (with miraculous icon) | Zakopane | Wieliczka Salt Mine (with Mass!)