160601

The

S outher n C ross

June 1 to June 7, 2016

Reg no. 1920/002058/06

no 4979

www.scross.co.za

Theologian: What St Catherine would tell Pope Francis

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Who’s who in the conflict zoo

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R8,00 (incl VaT RSa)

New papal nuncio on coming to SA

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Catholic schools hit in jobs-for-sale extortion scandal

By Mandla ZiBi

T

HE Catholic Institute of Education (CIE) will not name Catholic schools that have been affected by the government’s report on the “teacher posts for sale” scandal in case such schools will be victimised by those involved in the scandal or be subjected to departmental restrictions.

Mduduzi Qwabe, CIE spokesman, told The Southern Cross that a number of Catholic public schools had been part of the Department of Basic Education’s ministerial task team investigation into allegations of the sale of teacher posts in South Africa.

Education minister Angie Motshekga released the probe’s final report in late May. Professor John Volmink, the chairman of the education standards and certification authority Umalusi, headed the investigating team.

Six provinces were in the spotlight: Eastern Cape, Limpopo, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. The final report found that KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of alleged jobs-for-cash cases.

The scandal focused mainly on alleged abuses of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), which has been accused of “controlling government” in some provinces. Other entities involved were school governing body members, and circuit and district officials.

Though the report said many allegations against Sadtu teachers had lacked sufficient evidence, it confirmed that a number of Sadtu-affiliated teachers were employed in top positions for which they were not properly qualified.

The CIE’s Mr Qwabe confirmed that “a lot” of Catholic public schools had been the target of Sadtu’s tactics.

“Sadtu is very interested in Catholic public schools because of their good quality of education and governance,” he said. “During the interview process for senior staff and principals they would insist on deciding which questions should be asked and which ones not to ask.”

But he could not give out the names of the schools affected because the department frowns on stakeholders talking to the media on the issue and schools might be victimised.

“The CIE welcomed the release of the ministerial task team report and commended the Department of Basic Education “for giving

this issue the importance it deserves by appointing a task team to investigate”, Mr Qwabe said.

“We further call on the ministry to ensure that the recommendations are implemented effectively. The seriousness of the report is indicated by potential witnesses being unwilling to be interviewed as they feared for their safety,” he said.

The CIE particularly singled out the report’s recommendation that the 38 cases pointing to wrongdoing and criminal conduct be handed over to the South African Police Services for further investigation.

Disciplinary action had to be taken “against those officials who failed to ensure that the processes of recruitment were free of corruption”, Mr Qwabe said.

The CIE also supported calls for the strengthening of school governing bodies in their role as “mediators between schools and communities”, pointing out that the ministerial report recommends independent panels be appointed to handle recruitment processes.

In a statement the basic education department said: “Investigations into most of these [cases] have not been concluded and an extension of the forensic part of this report has been granted. The forensic part of the whole investigation will be completed in August 2016, after which the necessary remedial action will be instituted.”

The department confirmed that a total of 81 cases had been investigated, 38 of which provided grounds for reasonable suspicion ofwrongdoing. Some of those occurred in Gauteng, while allegations in Limpopo had not been proven as of yet.

There are 346 Catholic schools in South Africa. Of these, 250 are public schools on private property, which means they receive government funding, and 95 are independent schools. There are 170 857 learners in Catholic schools, of whom 89,96% are black, 52,57% are girls and 26,53% are Catholic.

The CIE is an associate body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and provides services to the network of 346 Catholic schools in the region. Their focus is largely in rural and peri-urban schools in the poorer, less developed parts of Southern Africa.

The matric pass rate for Catholic schools is continually above the national average.

Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, who as the patriarch of antioch and all the East is the spiritual leader of Catholic Maronites worldwide, enters the Our lady of lebanon church in Mulbarton, Johannesburg, during his visit to South africa’s Maronite community. (Photo: Mark Kisogloo)

Cardinal visits his Maronite flock in Johannesburg

By Mandla ZiBi

A

N estimated 10 000 people came out to greet Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of Antioch and all the East, when he visited South Africa.

Cardinal Rai is the 77th Maronite patriarch and head of the Maronite Church, a position he has held since March 2011, when he succeeded Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir.

The patriarch was accompanied by Archbishop Boulos Sayyah, vicar-general of the Maronite Patriarchate; Mgr Simon Faddoul, the apostolic visitor of the Maronites in Southern Africa, and Fr Malek Abou Tanous, superior-general of the congregation of the Maronite Lebanese Missionaries worldwide.

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg and the apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Peter Wells, joined Cardinal Rai at a special Mass at Our Lady of Lebanon church in Mulbarton, south of Johannesburg.

The Maronite Church is a rite in the Catholic Church that originated in Lebanon.

According to Ken Hanna, coordinator of the People of the Cedars which serves the Maronite community in South Africa, Cardinal Rai’s visit “was to encourage the dynamism of the Maronite Church in South Africa and to meet his missionaries”.

“South Africa has something that no other

place in the world has. Besides being blessed with the spirit of Mandela, this place has an amazing diversity of people of faith: Maronite, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Protestant and many more. Besides, the Maronite Church is growing all the time here,” Mr Hanna said.

Cardinal Rai also came to bless the annual inaugural month of the parish and its church.

Every year in May, the Mulbarton church holds a festival and fundraising event in celebration of the building of the church and establishment of the parish.

The cardinal blessed the opening of a newly-built sports field at the parish school.

He also visited the Lebanese embassy in Pretoria and Our Lady of the Cedars church in Woodmead, Johannesburg.

“This visit by his Beatitude was a momentous occasion. He is not only a bridge between the Eastern and Western Catholic Churches but also between all Christians and all Muslims,” said Mr Hanna.

“He is very close to Pope Francis [with whom] the patriarch visited Bethlehem in 2014, and against all advice from his colleagues, he told the occupying forces in Palestine to break down the wall dividing Palestine” from Israel, Mr Hanna said.

The Maronite Church in South Africa Continued on page 3

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The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

LOCAL

What would St Catherine tell Pope Francis today?

By SR aliSOn MunRO OP

D

OMINICANS from across Gauteng gathered to celebrate the feast of St Catherine of Siena, to honour a saint who left a major mark on the history of the Church and on the Dominican understanding of what it means to be involved in the marketplace.

Dr Nontando Hadebe, a theologian from St Augustine College, was invited to imagine what St Catherine might say to Pope Francis in our own day, making historical comparisons and finding parallels.

She noted that St Catherine’s spirituality and dedication moved her from confinement to public space where she was a political mediator, challenging popes to act with integrity and passion for the unity and witness of the Church.

St Catherine (1347-80) worked at persuading Pope Gregory to return to Rome from the papal exile in Avignon, and on Pope Urban, urging him to be more understanding and patient towards the people around him.

The three popes of our time— John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis—have each reacted differently to Vatican II, and there is in some manner a kind of papal schism. In the Church there are divisions, corruption, financial mismanagement, crisis in the priesthood.

Pope Francis is in Rome, active in politics with “soft power”, and exerting influence. He is accessible, and active through the media.

He is very popular, has adopted a simple lifestyle, is responsive to crises in the world, is very pastoral and orientated to human rights.

But there are challenges around a kind of schism in the Church between “liberals” and “conservatives”, representing a wide range of views. Francis takes a middle-ground approach. At the

dr nontando Hadebe speaks at a gathering to celebrate St Catherine of Siena. same time there is a large gap between the teachings of the Church and the lives of ordinary families.

“Catherine would be affectionate to Francis, supportive of him, recognising the strength of the continuity of his teaching with that of other popes,” Dr Hadebe said.

St Catherine would challenge him on equal inclusion of women and the laity’s vocation and the priesthood of all believers, referring to Acts 2:17:17-20—“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh”.

Pope Francis understands there is an environmental crisis, but not, Dr Hadebe said, “that women are most affected”. St Catherine would challenge him on inclusion of homosexual people, citing St Paul’s chapter 12 in the First Letter to the Corinthians, that the gifts of the Spirit allow each person to participate.

Francis advises us in his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, to listen to scientific evidence, “but he is not doing the listening around homosexual concerns”, said Dr Hadebe. St Catherine would call on him to be consistent, to bring back the hu-

manity and dignity of all people.

Thirdly, the saint would call on the pope to strive for unity in the Church, but not being a slave to it, and not trying just to please everyone at the cost of truth.

“We need clarity, not a vagueness” which may well lead to people’s turning away, Dr Hadebe said.

Dr Judy Coyle, a sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, gave a presentation on medieval women mystics and their call to holiness for us today. Their lives predated St Catherine, and yet their spirituality had an influence on her own, with many of the same themes present.

Known as Beguines, they lived a form of life open to women who did not become religious and who did not marry. The Beguine life flourished for about one hundred years in the urban centres of Europe where the problems associated with territorial wars, diseases, and marriage by war and rape flourished.

Continued on Page 11

Holy Rosary School held its matric dance. Seen here are the girls in their traditional photo taken after the much-anticipated fashion show where they modelled their dresses for the school.

Philosopher dies at 77 STaFF REPORTER

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ENOWNED philosopher Augustine Shutte (pictured) died of cancer on May 23 at the age of 77.

Dr Shutte, a former Dominican friar, was a member of the philosophy department at the University of Cape Town from 1972 to 2003.

His first career was as a cleric, initially as an Anglican before his conversion to the Catholic Church, upon which he joined the Dominican order. He left the clerical life and married first Stephanie Gerard, with whom he had three children— Jonathan, Thomas and Anna—and then Acilia Schoeman.

At various points he was chair of the Catholic Theology Society of South Africa and of the UCT Philosophy Society, according to the University of Cape Town.

“His philosophy was broadly Aristotelian and Thomistic but transposed into a modern key of subjectivity and intersubjectivity, and issued in a PhD

entitled ‘Spirituality and Intersubjectivity’, in which the influence of Karl Rahner and of John Macmurray was prominent,” an obituary by UCT said.

“His theology matured over 50 years of reflection recorded in his recently completed memoirs, from an orthodox (but progressive) understanding to a version of the Christian faith in a secular and scientific age open to all religious traditions.”

Recently he practised as a priest in the Roman Catholic Women’s Priest Movement and was active in the reform movement We Are All Church South Africa.

A memorial service for Dr Shutte was held on May 28 at the Anglican Christ Church in Constantia, Cape Town.

a statue of 14th-century St Catherine of Siena in the monastery of her childhood home in Siena

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Maris Stella school in durban celebrated its 117th birthday with a special Mass led by Cardinal Wilfrid napier, supported by school chaplain Fr Peter lafferty and Holy Trinity parish priest Fr Sabelo Mkhize. (Photo: Michelle Whitfield)

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ARIS Stella school in Durban celebrated its 117th birthday with a special Mass led by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, supported by Fr Peter Lafferty, the school’s chaplain, and Fr Sabelo Mkhize, Holy Trinity’s parish priest.

Cardinal Napier reminded the students and members of the congregation that just as the caterpillar transforms into the beautiful butterfly, so God is not finished with us yet and we must open our hearts to his plans for us.

Maris Stella’s campus caters for girls from Grade 000 to Grade 12. The aim is to instil in their girls the necessary life skills, knowledge and values (including confidence, self-respect, loyalty and tolerance) to enable them to make positive contributions to society.

This Holy Family Catholic school in Durban’s Stephen Dlamini (formerly Essenwood) Road was founded

by Pierre Bienvenu Noailles and the Holy Family sisters over a century ago.

Soon after the sisters of the Holy Fam-

ily arrived in Natal in 1864, they opened a school in Broad Street. The original building on the Maris Stella site in Essenwood Road was constructed in 1897, and the Maris Stella Convent School was officially opened in 1899.

Steady growth in enrolment demanded the creation of additional facilities. The chapel was built in 1923, and the Centenary Hall opened in 1964, marking the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Holy Family sisters in South Africa.

In the 1960s and ’70s, the number of Holy Family sisters diminished so that in 1982 they decided that the school would henceforth be managed by a board of governors. The school says the ethos and traditions of the sisters still permeate the school today.

The sisters continue to show a lively interest in school matters and representatives attend most school functions, with Sr Colette Holmes in attendance at the weekly Friday Masses.

The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

LOCAL

3

SACBC gives missionaries SA crash course

By Mandla ZiBi

S

OME 25 priests and religious from various countries in Africa, Europe and Asia gathered at Lumko Retreat Centre in Johannesburg to undergo an intensive orientation workshop on the realities of missionary work among Catholic communities in South Africa and the broader region.

The group included both priests and religious sisters from different international religious congregations who are already working within the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) area.

“The shortage of vocations to the priesthood and religious life is one of the main factors causing the local Church to regularly depend on international missionaries in order to proclaim the Gospel in our communities. Hence in recent years there has been an inflow of missionaries from different continents into the SACBC region,” said Fr Paul Tatu,

communications officer of the bishops’ conference.

“It is very important that these agents of the Gospel are well-prepared so they can well immerse themselves in the culture and traditions of the people they are to serve, like St Paul who succeeded in proclaiming the Good News to nations foreign to him,” Fr Tatu said.

The two-week programme, which is in its second year, is a joint project of the SACBC and the Leadership Conference of Consecrated Life. The participants came from as far afield as Germany, Poland, Nigeria, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Ethiopia, Pakistan, France, Spain and Zambia.

One of the participants, Sr Chinenye Anyanwu from Nigeria, said that although she has been in South Africa for six years already, she had not had the opportunity for proper socio-cultural induction into the local community.

“But now I have a better picture of the history of the country and

why certain things are happening the way they are. I feel a part of the people of South Africa and I feel more compassion for them. I also feel more a part of the local Church and more ready to learn its ways,” said Sr Chinenye.

Despite initial worries about coming to South Africa, Comboni Father Paul Chintu from Zambia has now become a fan of the “the rainbow nation”, saying that the workshop had made him feel even more welcome.

“I have been in the country for less than three months. I heard so many negative stories about South Africa before coming here and I was full of mixed feelings about my mission—but the reality is totally different from the misconceptions I had,” Fr Chintu said.

“All the prejudices I had about South Africa are now gone. I am happy learning Xitsonga and I am very comfortable with the people of Mpumalanga,” said Fr Chuntu, adding that he is now able to preach St Benedict’s College in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, joined the Oblates of Mary immaculate in celebration of the feast day of St Eugene de Mazenod. The Oblate congregation, which was founded by St Eugene, this year celebrates its bicentennial.

Fr Thabo Mothiba, St Benedict’s chaplain, welcomed Fr Vitalis Marole, the Oblate novice master, as the main celebrant. novices from the Oblate novitiate in Germiston accompanied Fr Marole on this special occasion. Two of the novices shared with the learners and staff inspirational stories of their vocation and discernment.

Missionaries from various countries gathered at the lumko Retreat Centre for a workshop on South african society. and conduct Mass in Xitsonga.

Nigerian Father Simon Offordum summed up his appreciation for the

workshop by quoting his own culture: “He who travels a lot is wiser than a grey-haired man.”

Top-level US visitors see work done at project

I

KHAYA OVC Project in the Bethlehem parish of the archdiocese of Durban hosted a high-level delegation of visitors from the United States and South Africa.

The US consul general in Durban, representatives of members of the US Congress, the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) officials, staff of the Centres for Disease Control, UNAIDS staff, and staff from the KZN premier’s office visited the project in the Valley of a Thousand Hills to see examples of the work being done to support orphans and vulnerable children with PEPFAR money.

Fr Madlala, who began the project with the help of professionals in

the community and coordinator Mrs Mkhize, and Ikhaya staff, caregivers, guardians and children at the centre accorded the visitors a great welcome, with children performing a Zulu dance.

Sr Alison Munro of the SACBC Aids Office outlined the achievements of the Church’s OVC project in partnership with PEPFAR in different parts of South Africa, highlighting the services received regularly around prevention of HIV infection and care for those who are infected or affected by Aids.

The delegation also visited the home of a vulnerable family where several children are being supported

by PEPFAR services.

Maronite patriarch in Johannesburg Continued from page 1 began in 1910 in Johannesburg when Fr Emmanuel El-Fadle, the first Maronite priest to walk on South African soil, converted a building into a church and residence. Currently the Maronites have two parishes and six missions in South Africa. Two of the missions are in KwaZulu-Natal

and North West provinces.

Patriarch Rai was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, the fourth Maronite patriarch to receive the red hat.

Following Pope Benedict’s resignation in 2013, Cardinal Rai participated in the conclave that elected Pope Francis.

Cardinal Rai was one of four

cardinal-electors from outside the Latin Church who wore distinct vestments proper to their respective churches. The others were Coptic Catholic Patriarchemeritus Antonius Naguib, SyroMalabar Major Archbishop George Alencherry and SyroMalankara Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis.

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4

The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

INTERNATIONAL

Pope Francis: Hear cries of the suffering P

anglican archbishop Michael Jackson and archbishop diarmuid Martin of dublin lead an ecumenical Good Friday procession in dublin. (Photo: John Mc Elroy/CnS)

Pope to visit Ireland for 2018 meeting of families

A

RCHBISHOP Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has confirmed that Pope Francis, or his successor, will visit Ireland in 2018 for the World Meeting of Families.

Archbishop Martin confirmed that when he discussed the issue of visiting Ireland with the pontiff, Pope Francis said: “I will come, and if I don’t come, my successor will come.”

As well as Dublin, the pope would probably visit Northern Ireland to complete the 1979 historic pilgrimage of St John Paul II, when rising tensions in the North made a visit there impossible.

Archbishop Martin made his remarks in an interview with the Irish Independent. The Irish Catholic said

that a “well-placed Vatican source” confirmed that “all the indications from Rome are very positive about this”.

“It would obviously be the hope that the Holy Father would make a visit to Northern Ireland and, perhaps, some other parts of Ireland, since many Irish Catholics will want to have an opportunity to attend Mass with Pope Francis,” the source said.

Speculation about a papal visit began in September, after Pope Francis announced in Philadelphia that Dublin would host the 2018 World Meeting of Families. Popes have presided at all but two of the eight meetings held since the first meeting in 1994.—CNS

Concern over Malawi albino ritual murders

By PRinCE HEndERSOn

C

HURCH leaders in Malawi have expressed concern over the rise in the number of killings and abductions of people with albinism for alleged ritual purposes.

“Albinos are being abducted and killed for ritual purposes.

Graves have been exhumed and some people have been caught by the police with bones and other albino body parts,” said Martin Chiphwanya, acting coordinator for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace of Malawi’s bishops’ conference.

People with albinism should be treated with dignity, he said.

All stakeholders have to collaborate in efforts to end this problem, he said, adding that thorough research is needed to fully under-

stand it, with a view of sensitising communities.

Mr Chiphwanya said there is also a need to collaborate with neighbouring countries that have had similar experiences, such as Tanzania.

President Peter Mutharika has said his government would send a delegation to Tanzania to learn how that country managed to deal with the problem.

Malawian police with their counterparts in Mozambique recently arrested two herbalists in connection with the death of an albino boy who was abducted and killed for his bones.

Fr George Kaliati of Blantyre in a homily condemned the abductions and killings of albinos, describing it as a symbol of moral decay and lack of love for one another.—CANAA

OPE Francis sent a message to the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, urging participants to “contribute in a real way to alleviate the sufferings of millions” because of conflicts, violence, persecution and natural disasters.

“In this context, the victims are those who are most vulnerable, those who live in conditions of misery and exploitation,” the pope said in his message to 5 000 participants from 175 countries. His remarks were read

by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, to a group that included 57 heads of states or governments with the aim of fixing the “broken” humanitarian aid system.

“Today I offer a challenge to this summit: Let us hear the cry of the victims and those suffering. Let us allow them to teach us a lesson in humanity. Let us change our ways of life, politics, economic choices, behaviours and attitudes of cultural superiority,” the pope said.

“Learning from victims and those who suffer, we will be able to build a more humane world,” he said.

“First of all, we must do this in a personal way, and then together, coordinating our strengths and initia-

uS actor Forest Whitaker speaks during the opening ceremony at the World Humanitarian Summit in istanbul.(Photo: Sedat Suna/CnS

tives, with mutual respect for our various skills and areas of expertise, not discriminating but rather welcoming. In other words: There must be no family without a home, no refugee without a welcome, no person without dignity, no wounded person without care, no child without a childhood, no young man or woman without a future, no elderly person without a dignified old age,” Pope Francis said.

He also said the summit was a chance to recognise those “who serve their neighbour and contribute to consoling the sufferings of the victims of war and calamity, of the displaced and refugees, and who care for society, particularly through courageous choices in favour of peace, respect, healing and forgiveness. This is the way in which human lives are saved”, he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the highest-profile Western leader attending the summit in which outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hoped to restructure the way the world responds to humanitarian crises.—CNS

Teens cancelled Disney Benedict XVI trip to see Pope Francis denies Fatima

By MaRía XiMEna ROndón

D

OZENS of teen girls in Paraguay had planned to celebrate their 15th birthday—or Quinceañera—at Florida’s Disney World. But the students at the Almenas de Asunción school called off the trip and decided to visit Rome so that they could attend the Jubilee of Adolescents with Pope Francis.

Quinceañera is a commemoration of the transition from childhood to adulthood, when Latin American girls reach 15 years of age. In Paraguay, many families give their daughters a special trip at this age, and these teens dreamed of visiting the amusement park.

However, one of the school’s teachers read about the celebration of the Jubilee of Adolescents in Rome held as part of the Year of Mercy.

“We saw the opportunity to change the idea for the trip from Disney and we wanted to give them the opportunity to experience a quinceañera trip in a different way to give them a new vision of themselves and their families,” said Ruth Cardozo.

The 35 students were thrilled with the idea from the very beginning.

“A lot of them told their moms

that it was better to take a picture in Rome with the Vatican in the background than with the Disney castle,” the teacher said.

The Jubilee of Adolescents was held in Rome in late April. More than 60 000 young people took part by going to confession, participating in pilgrimages, and a Mass presided

by Pope Francis.

Judith Jaquet is one of the quinceañeras who had the opportunity to participate with Pope Francis in the encounter with young people during his apostolic visit to Paraguay and who went to Rome Thanks to this experience, Judith said she was able to walk through the Holy Door in St Peter’s basilica, one of the most emotional moments of the trip. “You’re preparing spiritually and you’re asking God to give you the plenary indulgence. You feel free, it’s like starting all over,” she said.

For Sofia Mendoza, one of the most powerful moments was when Pope Francis said in his homily that happiness “is not an app you download on your cellphone”.

This was the first time she saw Pope Francis and for her: “It was beautiful, I felt an amazing peace.”— CNA

rumours again

By Cindy WOOdEn

S

IXTEEN years after the Vatican released the text of the so-called Third Secret of Fatima, rumours cyclically arise claiming that the Vatican still is keeping part of Mary’s message to three children in Fatima, Portugal, secret.

The Vatican press office took the unusual step of publishing a communiqué with reaction from retired Pope Benedict XVI, who—as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith—oversaw the secret’s publication in 2000 and personally wrote a commentary on it. He insisted at the time that the complete text had been published.

A blog published a story claiming a German priest, Fr Ingo Dollinger, said that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had told him soon after the publication in 2000 that part of the message was still secret.

The statement said: “In this regard, Pope Benedict declares ‘never to have spoken with Professor Dollinger about Fatima’, and he confirms decisively that ‘the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima is complete.’”

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The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

5

Pope embraces top imam

By JunnO aROCHO ESTEVES

A

Murdered Sr Veronika Terezia Rackova. (Photo: Fr liam dunne/CnS)

Slain nun buried in S. Sudan

By FRanCiS nJuGuna

T

HE body of Holy Spirit Missionary Sister Veronika Theresia Rackova, 58, director of St Bakhita Medical Centre in Yei, South Sudan, has been interred in Yei, not in Kenya as earlier planned.

Sr Rackova was shot in Yei while driving an ambulance after taking an expectant mother to the hospital. She died in Nairobi after undergoing two surgeries.

Consolata Father Nicholas Makau, a Kenyan priest who had been actively involved in the burial plans for the nun, said that the memorial Mass in Nairobi was celebrated by Archbishop Charles Balvo, apostolic nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan.

Fr Zacharia Angotowa Sebit, vicar-general of the Yei diocese, said that Catholics from his diocese asked that Sr Rackova be interred in South Sudan.

“She died...serving the needy of South Sudan,” he told CNS. Sr Maria Jerly, regional superior for the Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, said that Sr Rackova was shot as people marked John Garang Day. She added that a motive for the shooting was not known.

Three soldiers were arrested in connection with the incident, and Sr Jerly added: “One of them is said to have admitted having shot at Sr Rackova.”

Six of the order’s nuns are serving in South Sudan, mainly in the Yei diocese. Sr Jerly said that the congregation did not plan to leave the area.

“On the contrary, we would like to continue giving services to the needy people of this great country of South Sudan,” she said, adding, “Some of our sisters are right now tormented over the incident, but we plan to continue to carry our badly needed services to the poor people of this country.”

Fr Sebit said that Catholics in South Sudan had forgiven the three soldiers charged in her murder.

“It was now up to the government to play its rightful part by ensuring that those soldiers are punished” for her death, Fr Sebit said.

Sr Rakova was a medical doctor and as a specialist in tropical diseases, she worked in Ghana. She served as head of the province of Slovakia for 2004-10, after which she was assigned to South Sudan— CNS

New Holy Land custos

By JudiTH SudilOVSKy

T

HE Holy See has approved the election of Franciscan Father Francesco Patton as the new “custos” of the Holy Land, replacing Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who held the position for 12 years.

The custos is the provincial minister of the Franciscans in almost all of the Middle East, with jurisdiction over territory extending through Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus and Rhodes, and at their monastery in Cairo.

In these countries he serves as a liaison among the patriarchs, bishops and apostolic nuncios. In addition, he is authorised to sign statements with the Middle East patriarchs and must navigate the current delicate political landscape of the region.

The custos also cares for the needs of the local Catholic community, “the Lving Stones” of the region, and is responsible on behalf of the Catholic Church to care for and guard some 50 shrines, where the Franciscans welcome and coordinate the reception of pilgrims and tourists.

A date for Fr Patton’s installation, which is marked by three traditional ceremonies in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, West Bank, has not yet been announced.

Fr Patton, 52, currently lives in Italy and belongs to the Franciscan Province of St Anthony. He was ordained in May 1989.

He served as secretary-general of the general chapters in 2003 and 200, and as visitator general in 2003. He was minister provincial

Fr Francesco Patton, the new Franciscan Holy land custodian. in Trent, Italy, from 2008 to 2016 and has served as president of the Conference of Provincial Ministers of Italy and Albania.

He also has served in various capacities outside of the order, including as a member of the presbyteral council and secretary of the pastoral council of the archdiocese of Trent. He also has been a professor of social communications and contributed to archdiocesan publications, radio and TV. Fr Patton was elected beginning with the traditional two rounds of voting by secret ballot by the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land.

The first three names of the second round were then sent to the general council of the Order of Friars Minor in Rome, which nominated Fr Patton.

Traditionally, the custos serves a six-year term, which can be renewed for another three years and, if many of the friars desire it, it can also be renewed for another three years, as in the case of Fr Pizzaballa, another Italian.—CNS

FTER five years of tension and top-level silence, Pope Francis and the grand imam of one of the most important Sunni Muslim universities in the world embraced at the Vatican.

“The meeting is the message,” the pope told Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar University, as the religious scholar approached him just inside the door of the papal library.

Dr el-Tayeb’s spring visit was the first meeting between a pontiff and a grand imam since the Muslim university in Cairo suspended talks in 2011.

Established in 1998, the formal dialogue between al-Azhar and the Vatican started to fray in 2006, after now-retired Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech in Regensburg, Germany.

Al-Azhar officials and millions of Muslims around the world said the speech linked Islam to violence.

In February, Bishop Miguel Ayuso Guixot, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, delivered a letter to Dr el-Tayeb from Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, council president, inviting him to the Vatican to meet the pope.

Cardinal Tauran and Bishop Ayuso welcomed the imam to the Vatican and accompanied him to the papal meeting.

Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, said the pope spoke privately with Dr el-Tayeb in a conversation that included a discussion about “the great significance of this new encounter within the scope of dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam”.

“They then dwelt upon the com-

Pope Francis exchanges gifts with dr ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Egypt’s al-azhar mosque and university, during a private meeting at the Vatican. (Photo: Max Rossi, Reuters/CnS) mon commitment of the authorities and the faithful of the great religions for world peace, the rejection of violence and terrorism and the situation of Christians in the context of conflicts and tensions in the Middle East as well as their protection,” Fr Lombardi said.

At the end of the audience, Pope Francis presented the grand imam with two gifts: a copy of his encyclical Laudato Si’, and a peace medallion depicting an olive tree holding together two pieces of a fractured rock.

In an interview after the papal meeting, Dr el-Tayeb said the “circumstances” that led his institution to halt the dialogue with the Vatican “no longer exist”, so the Vatican and the university can “continue our holy mission, which is the mission of religions: ‘to make people joyful everywhere’ by teaching them about

God”.

Meeting Pope Francis, “the first impression, which was very strong, is that this man is a man of peace, a man who follows the teaching of Christianity, which is a religion of love and peace,” and “a man who respects other religions and shows consideration for their followers”, the imam said.

Al-Azhar university, as a reference point for many Sunni Muslims around the world, is engaged in an ongoing programme to clarify the meaning of classical Islamic texts and make clear to Muslims, including schoolchildren, that groups claiming to base their violent actions on Islam are promoting “a deviant understanding” of the faith.

The Middle East, he said, has seen “rivers of blood and cadavers”, in part because of the misuse of religion.—CNS

HOLY CROSS SISTERS’ SCHOOL

Holy Cross Sisters’ School is an Independent Catholic School established in Bellville in 1969. The school has a caring family atmosphere in the Holy Cross tradition and a record of quality valuesbased education. It is nestled in the leafy suburb of Bloemhof with extensive grounds and excellent sporting facilities.

PRINCIPAL OF SCHOOL

Applications are invited for the following post commencing 1 January 2017

The successful candidate will:  Preferably be a practising Catholic  Have an understanding and be committed to the Catholic ethos and mission of the school  Have a teaching degree / diploma / M+3  Have an understanding of present developments in education and experience in CAPS  Be familiar with the Religious Education Policies and Programmes in Catholic Schools  Have strong leadership skills  Have good interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate at all levels in diverse situations  Have excellent organisational skills  Have a minimum of 10 years teaching experience  Have held the position of Deputy Principal or at least HOD in a Primary School in South Africa  Have a satisfactory record of innovation, commitment and professionalism  Be registered with SACE  Be either a South African citizen or hold permanent residence in South Africa

  

        





KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Manage and provide leadership in accordance with principles and policies of the school Manage the Pre-Primary, Primary and Aftercare facility Co-ordinate and direct the Academic, Extra Curricular, Liturgical and Religious programmes in the school Ensure that all staff meet appropriate professional standards Provide appropriate pastoral care for staff and learners Manage all aspects of Human Resources Manage all administrative tasks Manage Quality Assurance in the school Administer and take responsibility for the Annual Budget approved by the Board Be accountable to the relevant authorities mainly the Holy Cross Provincial, the Board and WCED Facilitate adequate planning and ensure appropriate development Ensure that the school acts in accordance with the Vision and Mission of the Holy Cross Sisters at all times Conduct the school as a Christian community in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church and the charisma of the Holy Cross Sisters.

Collaborate with the Catholic school network, including Provincial and national structures

Applicants must submit a comprehensive CV together with 2 referees including 1 from your parish priest to: The Chairperson of the Board of Governors, Holy Cross Sisters’ School, P.O. Box 1016, Bellville 7535 OR Submit it in a sealed envelope to the secretary of the school OR Electronic application: admin@holycross.co.za Closing date: 17 June 2016

Holy Cross Sisters’ School reserves the right not to proceed with the filling of the post. An application in itself will not entitle the applicant to an interview or appointment. Failure to meet with the requirements of the post will automatically disqualify the applicant.

6

The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Keep the youth in faith

R

EADERS will be delighted to read this week about a group of teenage girls who had the choice between going to Disneyland or to see Pope Francis on a pilgrimage—and chose the pope ahead of the mouse.

Alas, these 15-year-old girls from Paraguay are not representative of their cohort. Indeed, even for many practising and serious adult Catholics who have the means to travel internationally, the allure of traditional holiday destinations—London, Mauritius, Thailand—has greater appeal than benefiting from the spiritual rewards of pilgrimage to places such as the Holy Land, Rome or Lourdes.

When the practice of faith is in competition with temporal lifestyle choices, religion often comes second.

And not infrequently, the practice of faith is abandoned completely, especially among the young who are presented with so many competing, sometimes mutually exclusive, lifestyle choices.

In the past, the assumption was that most Catholics who dropped their faith after confirmation would return when they started their families. Recent research shows that this can no longer be taken for granted.

One of the reasons for this that people, certainly in the Western cultural environment, get married later than they did in previous generations, giving them more time to grow apart from their church.

The growing separation of people from the Church is hardly a new phenomenon. In late May it was reported that there were now more people identifying themselves as atheists in Britain than there were those professing to hold religious beliefs. And those who identify as religious do not necessarily attend the liturgies of their religion.

The trend towards this has been inexorable for several decades, and is apparent throughout most of Europe, with few exceptions.

Even in the United States, where those professing atheism remain a minority, the Catholic Church is recording steadily diminishing numbers of those who go to Mass regularly.

Many people who were raised as Catholics align with the growing group of people who declare that they do not need institutionalised religion to maintain a relationship with God, falling in with the “spiritual but not religious” persuasion.

Not a few point to what they perceive as hypocrisy by Church leaders and the faithful alike to explain their disaffection from organised religion—an argument which many who remain in the fold of churches might empathise with.

The Catholic Church has long recognised the problem, and under Pope Benedict XVI launched the New Evangelisation mission to address the problem of Catholics falling away from the Church.

Pope Benedict even formed a Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation.

Pope Francis embodies the message of the New Evangelisation by preaching the need for the Church to open its doors to all, though the accent is more on those who want to return to the Church, or join it, but fear that they might not be accepted.

While the impact of Pope Francis’ pontificate on the Church’s evangelisation efforts is difficult to measure, his ability to communicate Christ’s love and mercy provide those who see their mission in the secularised world with some impetus to reach the disaffected.

Would the teenagers in Paraguay have passed on Disneyland if the alternative had not been Pope Francis?

Many parents of non-practising Catholics experience despair over their children’s abandonment of the faith. No doubt, this leads to heated arguments in many homes.

Experts in evangelisation counsel against taking a confrontational approach in these circumstances.

While parents must not be complacent when their children drift from the faith, their response must be calm and predicated on seeking dialogue rather than a winnertakes-all debate—never mind futile prescription or badgering.

Parents must pray and equip themselves to be able to answer the questions and challenges their children might have. These answers must be presented not to score points or “win” an argument but to present a different perspective to that which is leading the young person away from the faith. And this must have a relationship with Christ at its centre.

So it is important to ask what the young person finds persuasive about the alternatives—another church; being spiritual-but-not-religious; a secular position; boredom or rebellion—to the Catholic faith. These should then be discussed in an atmosphere of respectful dialogue.

We need Gospel truth in homilies

S

ISTER Susan Rackoczy’s Point of Debate article “A moratorium on homilies?” (April 13) refers.

In Vatican II’s Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, we read that as ministers of God’s Word, priests owe it to everybody to share with them the truth of the Gospel and to teach the Christian message or explain the Church’s doctrine.

Their role is not to teach their own wisdom but the Word of God and to issue an invitation to all to conversion and to holiness.

So what do we Catholics want to hear from the pulpit?

We need to hear Christ’s message. We need to hear what it means to be a Christian today. We need to be reminded that Christians are those who have a clear faith about Jesus of Nazareth, that he is the Christ, the Messiah of God. We need to be reminded that the crucifixion and resurrection proclaim a divine action and a divine victory;

Challenge political status quo

T

HE letter by Bernard Moat (April 27) laments professed Christians who support the present status quo.

This was a problem during the 45 years of institutionalised apartheid as well, during which the blasphemous statement that religion and politics should not mix was touted and used to criticise our Church’s Justice and Peace Commission.

Now, God is often left at the door of the voting station and reconnection with the Lord is made upon exit.

Douglas Eckard in his letter (April 13) suggests that there is no “quick fix” to eradicate the injustices of apartheid within 22 years.

Really? Certainly there has been no shortage of cash for—need we say again—Nkandla, luxury cars, salaries and perks for those in power. They found the quick fix.

Plus the free spending, corruption and so on.

One must pose the question: Would you dare say to a poor struggling person that 22 years is enough time for some to receive the benefit from a democratic South Africa but not enough time for the majority?

James Dryja, Roodepoort West, Gauteng

We must cooperate

I

REFER to the letter about the racism debate by Douglas Eckard (April 13), with which I agree.

I suggest a slightly different approach. Let us appreciate, respect and retain our differing cultural heritages which make up our “rainbow nation”.

We would not have a “rainbow

PRICE CHECK For the price of one issue of The Southern Cross you get less than one can of cola he T The

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.

that it is a proclamation of God’s action and of his grace reversing our sinfulness.

There are many Catholics who have little acquaintance with the Bible from youth and whose first acquaintance with the Bible comes through hearing simplistic interpretations from media preachers. And how quickly they are convinced!

Their response to what is a Christian today would possibly be “Have faith in Jesus as Saviour”. A great number might respond in existential terms of loving one’s neighbour.

Many a preacher, especially when preaching against racial prejudice before a liberal congregation, may convince himself that he is preaching the Gospel. This also ensures that no parishioner will be angry with him. But preaching to such a congregation about the divinity of Christ might provoke embarrassment and offence.

If preaching the Gospel means

nation”, of which most of us are proud, were it not for these wonderful different cultures from across the world.

These differences can and must be used to strengthen our nation.

And there will always be a minority who do not accept some of these minor cultural differences. So what?

That does not mean that the rest of us (the majority on all sides) cannot get on with the task of building a strong economy without corruption and with a safe environment, which after all is what we are all hopefully seeking, utilising all the resources of all the cultures at our disposal, and not just some.

Frans van Neerijnen, Johannesburg

Courage for SA?

W

ITH reference to the article “Gay Catholics: What we want in the Church” (February 10), Jesus loves you so much that he gave his life for you. Maybe the question should be: What does Jesus want from gay Catholics?

Courage is a wonderful international apostolate (https://couragerc. org/). Perhaps someone would like to start a chapter in South Africa? Is God calling you to do this?

Shirley Doyle, Johannesburg Opinions expressed in The Southern Cross, especially in letters to the Editor, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or staff of the newspaper, or of the Catholic hierarchy. The letters page in particular is a forum in which readers may exchange opinions on matters of debate. letters must not be understood to necessarily reflect the teachings, disciplines or policies of the Church accurately.

Letters can be sent to PO Box 2372, Cape Town 8000 or editor@scross.co.za or faxed to 021 465-3850

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SA reaction to bid for deaconesses

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BY MANDLA ZIBI

T

HE presence of ordained women deacons in the African Church would present a good challenge to patriarchy but their introduction would be difficult, a theological commentator has warned.

Fr Anthony Egan SJ of the Johannesburgbased Jesuit Institute commented on Pope Francis’s intention to set up a commission to investigate the possibility of women being allowed to ser ve as permanent deacons in the Church.

At a meeting this month with members of the International Union of Superiors General, a leadership group for superiors of women’s orders, Pope Francis accepted a proposal that

Fr Anthony Egan SJ, Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS and Archbishop William Slattery said Catholics and Christians throughout the world know that the “greatest examples of Christian life are women”.

The archbishop said “there is no doubt” about the ability of women to perform the tasks of the permanent diaconate

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mentioning the unmentionable, then the Christological message is often what would disturb liberal congregations. It is far easier to speak on social issues that have won common consent and to leave individuals to work out entirely for themselves what God might want of them in their personal lives.

And do they preach anything corrective about sexual morality before a liberal congregation? Every disapproving attitude is dismissed as “Victorian”. If one reads the New Testament it soon becomes clear that these concerns are apostolic and Pauline.

Finally we need to hear of Jesus’ ministry to the poor and oppressed.

We Christians conceive the proclamation of the Word of God as changing the world. But the change to holiness will ultimately reflect the image and likeness of God. As it is written in Leviticus 19:2 “You must be holy because I the Lord your God am holy.”

Dominic Sam, Port Elizabeth

Mercy is for all

I

N her letter MA TeBrake (May 4) suggests that if homosexuality was genetic it should have died out because homosexuals don’t have children.

Of course, many homosexuals do have children. Many homosexuals marry heterosexuals and have children, perhaps in an effort to conceal their sexual orientation due to society’s attitude towards them.

Yes, the Old Testament does declare homosexual activity to be worthy of condemnation, such as in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 where it is referred to as a major crime punishable by death. But then there are passages in the Old Testament that recommend stoning to death individuals such as “a woman guilty of adultery” (apparently adulterous men were not included).

This kind of thinking is unacceptable today and more in line with the philosophy of ISIS and other such enemies of the human race.

Our Lord never condemned homosexuality, instead he said: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I certainly would not want to be treated the way homosexuals are; being told that they are an abomination, in some countries criminalised, tortured or put to death.

The Church will have to change in the same way it accepted the theory of evolution, Galileo’s theories about the nature of the universe, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s advanced thinking and writing.

In the meantime, our gay brothers and sisters continue to suffer. To my mind, that is an abomination, not homosexuality.

June Boyer, Johannesburg

The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

PERSPECTIVES

Let’s talk language ‘P

ROMPT our actions with your inspiration, we pray, O Lord, and further them with your constant help, that all we do may always begin from you and by you be brought to completion” (Collect Thursday after Ash Wednesday; 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal).

After a few years of using the new edition of the Roman Missal in English and the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition for the Lectionary (readings at Mass) can we please have a “midterm review”?

After all the hype and considerable vitriol that accompanied the new English translation and its introduction, I think we—the Church that speaks to God in English—need to be heard once more.

The missal translation is weak. There.

I’ve said it. I’m no Latin scholar, and I don’t have to be. I speak to God in English and I speak as a Latin-rite Catholic. I trust that there are people who both speak to God in Latin and English and I trust their skills.

But the law of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi— ”the law of praying [is] the law of believing”—applies even in English. As the Church prays, so is her belief—and we’re praying badly.

My conviction as a parish priest and as one who was involved in the roll-out of the new missal in English is that the entire process was flawed. I think we as a Church have made a fundamental error in the way that we translated the Roman missal for speakers and readers—and not for hearers.

There has been the argument that the Latin-to-English translation mirrors the high register of the Latin and that it is a fine translation according to a clear voicing. Yes. The presider needs to prepare the voicing of the prayers beforehand…

Yet after a few years, these prayers are not becoming familiar. They jolt and jar and are unfamiliar. And that was never meant to be the case. I doubt there are many who on hearing the presidential prayers at Mass go home remembering

them. From where I stand and look—when I can look up from the concentration needed to make some sense of some of the prayers—the prayers are by no means “Collects” but are just about as relevant as the few words a priest says before the liturgy of the Word—no one really remembers.

The inconsistency of translation and voicing might well expose the inconsistency in Latin. But I think that we also see that the translation committee had different people with different ideas and that a time-line for a new translation was the key determinant for the quality.

The translation became political and I think our liturgy and prayer has suffered as a result.

T

he bishops who lived through the process will break out in a cold sweat at the thought of living through this process again. It was tedious. But even if it goes nowhere, we do need to have a chance to review, as in everything in ministry, and ask if this direction of translation for speaker and reader has not lost the listener.

I was recently criticised for changing the “thy” in the Our Father. It’s a personal thing and I don’t advocate it. I just pray the “Our Father” in my English. Not some pidgin or slang, but in acknowledgment that English is a dynamic animal and has

a mid-term report may be needed on the new missal, argues Fr Chris Townsend.

(Photo: Mark Kisogloo)

Fr Chris Townsend

Pastor’s notebook

moved on since the 1611 King James Version of the Bible on which our unfortunate Our Father wording is based. I do not live in Jacobite England.

The argument to keep this translation— that it was the only acceptable ecumenical translation—is spurious. The inconsistencies in the translation—for the speaker not the hearer—has us addressing God our Father as “thy” and the verb “art” in one part of the prayer, and then dropping it immediately in the following part of the prayer.

Let’s be consistent. And let’s honour the hearer/pray-er.

We also need to start asking questions of the lectionary translation. Of course, this won’t be a quick change, but the Revised Standard Version 2CE really isn’t the best.

It beats the Good News translation hands down, but is this really the best we could do? The politics of gender intervened in this one. Please, can we start talking about better translations?

I think a lot of this change has to do with the slow death of the missal culture which in its heyday saw Catholics having a missal to follow Mass when the priest was neither visible nor audible.

This translated into the Sunday and weekday missal of the previous generations who “heard” Mass. This culture is dying I think as more people have electronic access and their own bibles.

I actively discourage all but the hard of hearing to bring missals into Church.

Missals are for preparation at home… So we are a hearing culture.

I’d like to end with a prayer from the old translation in English of the Thursday after Ash Wednesday Collect. It’s a prayer I love and have on my table constantly.

“Lord, may everything we do begin with your inspiration, continue with your help and reach perfection under your guidance.

We’re far from perfect.”

Who’s who in the conflict zoo?

Judith Turner C ALL it organisational conflict, office politics, or just plain drama, but few of us enjoy disagreement or confrontation, at work or elsewhere. In fact, many of us spend a significant portion of our time and energy avoiding it.

“I don’t know how to handle the office politics,” many people say. “I don’t like politics, why can’t people just get on with the job? I don’t like all this conflict.”

Unfortunately, although we don’t like to hear this, none of us can or should avoid organisational or any other conflict.

We don’t have to play political games ourselves, but we should understand the conflict that leads people to play those games.

Conflict cannot be avoided, but it can be managed and resolved.

I have attended a couple of conflict resolution workshops over the years and one of the interesting things I came across was the use of animal characteristics to illustrate how we, as human beings, handle conflict (adapted from the late Anne Hope and Sally Timmel).

As I reflected over these conflict management styles, I can safely say that my dominant style is a mouse. Sometimes I will be the lion and fight, but that is easily given up when I discover people strongly disagree with my opinions—then I am ready to concede.

When others are unreasonable or too strongly opinionated to have an open mind, I just think: “What’s the point of arguing?” But when I am unshakeable in my principle, I will stay until the bitter end.

On the animal conflict styles, where do you fall?

Donkey: Very stubborn, and refuses to change his or her point of view. I have a

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Which animal are you in the conflict management menagerie? relative or two who fall into this category, and I can think of a few other acquaintances as well.

Elephant: Blocks the way, and stubbornly prevents the group from continuing along the road they desire to go. This helps nobody, because no one is moving.

Lion: Gets in and fights whenever others disagree with their plans or interferes with their desires.

Rabbit: Runs away as soon as it senses tension, conflict or any unpleasant job.

This sometimes may mean switching quickly to another topic.

Ostrich: Buries its head in the sand and refuses to face reality or admit there is any problem at all. I can think of some of our politicians who really are like ostriches at this time.

Chameleon: Changes colour according

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to the people he or she is with. Will say one thing to this group and something else to another. Very common with politicians standing for election!

Owl: Looks very solemn and pretends to be very wise, always talking in long words and complicated sentences.

Mouse: Timid and does not always speak up.

Monkey: Fools around, chatters, and prevents the group from concentrating on serious business. Tries to bring some lightness to the day, but also gets the group nowhere.

Giraffe: Holds the head up high and says: “This is far beneath me…”

Sometimes conflict is about egos and personalities. That is lamentable and a reason why most people do not want to get involved.

But when conflict is about real business or organisational issues, it deserves our attention. At those times it is really helpful to understand the different styles of handling conflict—and for us to understand what’s our dominant style, or styles.

Which style would be the most appropriate to use? Sometimes more than one style needs to be used as the conflict unfolds and a resolve is being worked out.

I hope that you are ready for whatever conflict is coming your way—but I hope not too soon.

7

Michael Shackleton

Open door

Why the Passion on Palm Sunday?

Why do we read the Passion of the Lord at the Palm Sunday Mass. I can understand the reason for reading it on Good Friday but Palm Sunday is a reading with a celebratory connotation, so I feel the Passion of the Lord should be read only on the appropriate day, which is Good Friday. Please inform me of the reason because even some priests are confused about it.

Lou Corbitt

F

ROM the third century, the liturgy during Lent strongly stressed the theme of sorrow for sin and the desire to unite Lenten sacrifices made by the faithful with Christ’s sacrificial passion and death.

The funereal colour purple dominates the liturgy and the chants and hymns are in keeping with the sentiment of sharing in Christ’s passion and death in acts of worship.

The first four weeks of Lent gradually build up this penitential ethos and then the fifth and sixth weeks fix our attention on the passion of Christ itself.

The fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Laetare (Rejoice) Sunday, from the Latin word of the Introit, which began, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and celebrate all you who love her”. Rose-coloured vestments are worn instead of purple to suggest that in spite of the hard slog of showing repentance for sin, there is the certainty of the approaching Resurrection. In the past there was also now a slight relaxation in the fasting and abstinence.

All of this is to get the faithful ready for what was earlier known as Passiontide, the time of the Passion, which begins on the fifth Sunday of Lent (Passion Sunday). This was a period of an even more solemn liturgy with its focus on Christ disclosing his divinity to the Jews and preparing for his death in Jerusalem.

The climax of Passiontide starts on Palm Sunday, Holy Week, with the stress now firmly laid on the sufferings of the Son of God. The gospel of the Mass is the Passion of Christ as told by Matthew. Before the 1969 revision of the calendar, the account of the Passion as told by Mark was read at the Tuesday Mass and that of Luke at the Wednesday Mass in the same week.

The high point of the Passion, of course, is Good Friday. The reading of the Passion is taken from John’s gospel, and the liturgical drama commemorating its graphic description is played out in a moving ritual.

The outward liturgy has developed down the years but remains essentially the same. Holy Week continues to concentrate our minds and hearts on the Passion of Christ. And that is why it begins on Palm Sunday with Matthew’s version and closes with John’s on Good Friday.

The Church seems determined to remind us that Palm Sunday’s celebratory connotation is inextricably linked to Christ’s sufferings and death for our sake.

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8

The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

COMMUNITY

Sr Marie Thérèse Funge iBVM (right) attended the blessing of the new Mary Ward Catechetical Centre in Strand, Cape Town. a gratitude plaque to Sr Thérèse was donated by the Mary Ward Committee. Sr Thérèse is picured with Sr Jacinta Bannon and parish priest Fr Martin Pender of St Peter’s parish in Strand.

The annual Hope Ball in Cape Town was held at the Westin Hotel. Musical entertainment was led by musical director adolf Thelen (on keyboard) with singers nevio Passaro, who flew in from Germany, TV presenter Katlego Maboe and vocalist lezanne augustin.

The children of Holy Cross Primary in Brooklyn, seated in front of the stage, charmed the guests with their performance.

The St Vincent de Paul Society in durban had a spritual retreat at ngome in KwaZulu-natal as part of their 160th celebration. They are pictured with chaplain of the shrine, Fr Wayne Weldschidt OMi (second from right).

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The Salesian youth Movement (SyM) Johannesburg team organised a social justice awareness workshop with the youth from Ennerdale, lawley and Finetown. The Church’s teachings on social justice were highlighted.

Salesian Brother Clarence Watts is pictured with the group (front left).

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Carmelite Father Peter Rebello, of Our lady of loreto parish in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, buried a medal of St Joseph and the brown Scapular of Carmel into the initial foundation for the extension of the church building.

assumption Sister Janine Coleman blessed and dedicated the new water feature and benches in the grotto of Our lady at assumption Convent School in Johannesburg. Garden benches were dedicated to the memory of Sr Eileen, who was principal of the school from 1962-68, and to the memory of Micky Johnson, a grandmother and special friend of assumption Convent. Sisters, family, friends and members of school management were in attendance and brass plaques commemorate this event.

de la Salle Holy Cross College in Victory Park, Johannesburg, held their Matric dance with the theme “autumn in Venice”.

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INTERVIEW

The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

9

New nuncio: I’m happy to be here The papal nuncio to Southern Africa has now settled in Pretoria. Father RuSSEll POlliTT SJ interviewed Archbishop Peter Wells about his first impressions.

A

RCHBISHOP Peter Wells recently arrived in South Africa to take up his role as apostolic nuncio—the pope’s representative— to South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Namibia.

He was appointed on February 6, and ordained an archbishop on March 19 this year by Pope Francis in St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican.

Archbishop Wells, who was born on May 12, 1963 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has ministered in the Vatican’s diplomatic service since 1999.

In 2009 Pope Benedict named him assessor for general affairs, a position in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State which is similar to deputy chief of staff.

archbishop Peter Wells during his ordination to the episcopate by Pope Francis in St Peter’s basilica at the Vatican in March. The new papal nuncio to South africa, Botswana, lesotho and namibia has been impressed with the welcome he has received in the region. (Photo: Paul Haring/CnS)

Archbishop, thank you for your Well, it is and it isn’t. I think it’s all time and welcome to South Africa! one’s perspective.

I think the real centre of the You were on the ground not very long, in fact hours, when you at- Church is here. Rome, or “head oftended the ordination of the new fice”, as Pope Francis reminded us auxiliary bishop of Johannesburg, many times, is there to serve. The Duncan Tsoke. What were your Roman curia [the central administration of the Catholic Church] is at the first impressions of South Africa?

Extraordinary, a wonderful experi- service of the local Church.

We are there to serve the local ence. One of the things I notice immediately here is the welcoming bishops and, in a sense, that means atmosphere, the lack of pretension, that the curia is on the periphery.

What is going on here every day, and a real familial sense.

It is so beautiful being Catholic what is going on in this diocese, because no matter where you go, what is going on in this country, you never feel like a stranger. You are what is going on in all of the diocealways accepted as a member of the ses of the world, is the centre of the family—at the end of the day we are Church. That is where the Church is alive and active and breathing. just one big family.

The point of the Roman curia is It was interesting because when I left the Secretariat of State, even after to serve and, by doing so, help foster so many years, one of the things I a more active pastoral and spiritual said to them was that I had no trepi- life on the part of the local churches.

It is different though. dation because I was just The work is different. I going from one part of think anybody who is my family to another It is so working in the curia part of my family. must remember first and That is what I en- beautiful being foremost that it’s a mincountered when I was in istry. I always used to say Catholic Nigeria too. That is what to co-workers that the I loved most about because no minute you feel you are being present for the orhere to do bureaucratic matter where work, dination [of Bishop that’s the minute Tsoke]. You walk into a you go, you you need to get out! room, you are a newAs priests, and even comer, but everyone never feel like the lay people, our job is treats you as if you are apostolic ministry. This supposed to be there a stranger. means that we assist the and as if you have alHoly Father in his uniways been there. versal ministry. It is an I also very much appreciated the indirect ministry on my part as a liturgy, the vitality that you see in priest. It is not as direct as giving first African liturgy. I experienced that in Communion to children, but it is a Nigeria, and it is wonderful to be ministry, one must always keep that back with that same experience first and foremost in your mind. again,with people who truly live the What has happened for me is liturgy. that I am no longer doing an indiThe liturgy here, I think, is a true rect ministry. I have been able to expression of people’s life. It’s not a come out and do direct ministry separate moment, it’s an expression again. I am really happy to be able to of everyday life and that is where I have this opportunity because every think the vitality comes from. It was priest needs this. a beautiful liturgy—the two-and-aA lot of the administrative parts half hours went by very quickly. of our work can be indirect ministry, Some episcopal ordinations can be but at the end of the day it’s all min5-6 hours long! istry. Why? Because all we do should For the last 14 years you had be about the salvation of souls. worked in Rome, the so-called You have arrived in a country that “centre” of the Church. Now you is politically charged at the mohave come to, perhaps, one of the ment for many reasons—it’s also peripheries of the Church on the an election year. We have an oppotip of Southern Africa. This must sition party who recently threatbe quite a change for you? ened the president that he would

the nuncio to be seen as the person who is sent by the Holy Father to assist local churches, to make sure that we’re all moving towards Christ in the same general way.

You have been close to Pope Francis himself, working as Assessor in the Secretariat of State. What is your sense of the Holy Father, your experience of him?

He is a remarkable man! One of the things that is beautiful about this pontificate is that I don’t think there is a Catholic, I don’t think there is a Christian, I don’t think there is a man or woman of goodwill in the world who has actually listened to his message and who can’t say that they do things a little differently now. They think about other people differently.

When you see, for example, a poor person on the side of the road, when you see someone who is suffering from illness, from HIV/Aids, you cannot comfortably ignore them. We may have in the past, but we cannot now. It’s impossible, if you listen to Francis’s message, not to be aware of others and their plight.

He has raised the level of our sensitivity for all people. That’s why I think he is so pertinent for government leaders today. I think they also see him as a voice that everyone is listening to.

How difficult has the transition been between the papacies of Pope Benedict and Pope Francis for the Vatican?

Transition is always difficult.

Change is always difficult. You always hear about books and seminars which deal with changes or transitions in management.

It doesn’t matter if you are working for a major multinational corporation, if you are working for an NGO, or if you are working for the Church. When there is a change in management and a change in style it’s always going to be a challenge for some people to adapt.

But as far as the message that Pope Francis offers, his concerns, and his hopes, I think that across the board they are all largely shared and valued.

Does the nuncio have a message for the people of Southern Africa?

First of all, thank you for the welcome and hospitality that I have received thus far. It has been beautiful and very warm. I look forward to being with you, sharing life with you.

I plan on moving around a lot and being very present to the local churches. I look forward to meeting and ministering to the people of Southern Africa. I look forward to celebrating with you.

I am very happy to be here.

be removed through the “barrel of a gun” if he did not step down.

How do you see your role as an ambassador? How do you see the Holy See’s roles in this? Is it simply to observe or do you think there may be times for interventions?

I think the Vatican’s role is always one of trying to lead people to dialogue, reconciliation and peace— whatever character that takes in the process. At times it requires you to listen. At times it requires you to speak. At times it simply requires you to be available. I think that we want people to know that we are always available. We are available to help in any way we can so that we can facilitate dialogue, reconciliation and peace.

It is a tense moment right now and I am new so I am still trying to understand exactly what is going on in the country.

Each country has its own dynamics. But one of the things I do find comforting is that this is a young democracy, the rhetoric has been hot but the democratic process is working. I think that this is a very healthy sign because not all young democracies can say that they have had the same experience. Maybe the rhetoric is strong but people are still working peacefully. All the country’s democratic institutions seem to be working well.

How do you see your role in the local Church?

I am here to serve the local Church. I am here to help the bishops. I am here to Holy Family College wishes to receive applications for the post of Principal act, I like to think, in a way effective from 1 January 2017. that builds communion.

The nuncio is here to help build communion beHoly Family College is a well-established Catholic, co-educational school in tween the local Church Glenmore, Durban, having celebrated its 141st anniversary this year. The and his Holiness, Pope school has 520 learners from Grade 000 to Grade 12 and is built on the Francis. My role is to take traditions and values of the Holy Family Sisters. It is inclusive of all beliefs, the hopes, the concerns, seeking to promote the dignity, self-esteem and full development of each the aspirations and the sufferings of the local Church person. back to the pope and then to bring back, to the local Key Performance Requirements: Church, what the Holy Fa• Be a practicing Catholic or have a good understanding of the Catholic ethos ther has in mind for them: and a willingness to promote and implement the ideals of the school. his hopes, his aspirations, • Have strong leadership and interpersonal skills. his comfort and solidarity.

So [as a nuncio] you’re an • Have requisite academic and professional qualifications. “interlocutor”.

I think it’s important for

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10

The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

HISTORY

Nuns mapped the starry heavens When the Vatican joined the international effort of creating a celestial map in 1887, four nuns were tasked with the painstaking work of measuring and recording the stars positions. CaROl GlaTZ spoke to astronomer Fr Sabino Maffeo SJ who recently discovered the identities of these diligent nuns

O

F the many momentous or menial tasks women religious perform, one of the betterkept secrets has been the role of four Sisters of the Holy Child Mary who were part of a global effort to make a complete map and catalogue of the starry skies.

Up until recently, the women were no more than nameless nuns whose image has long been preserved in a black and white photograph that showed them wearing impeccably ironed habits and leaning over special microscopes and a ledger.

But now their identities have been pulled out of obscurity by Jesuit Father Sabino Maffeo, assistant to the director of the Vatican Observatory.

He stumbled onto their names as he was going through the observatory archives, “putting papers in order”.

Srs Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri, all born in the late 1800s and from the northern Lombardy region near Milan, helped map and catalogue nearly half a million stars for the Vatican’s part in an international survey of the night sky.

Top astronomers from around the world met in Paris in 1887 and again in 1889 to coordinate the creation of a photographic “Celestial Map” (“Carte du Ciel”) and an “astrographic” catalogue pinpointing the stars’ positions.

Italian astronomer and meteorologist, Barnabite Father Francesco Denza, easily convinced Pope Leo XIII to let the Holy See take part in the initiative, which assigned participating observatories a specific slice of the sky to photograph, map and

Members of the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary use microscopes to review glass plates as they measure star positions for a collaborative photography project the Vatican participated in to catalogue the stars and create a photographic map of the heavens. (all photos: Vatican Observatory/CnS) catalogue.

Fr Maffeo, an expert in the observatory’s history and its archivist, said Pope Leo saw the Vatican’s participation as a way to show the world that “the church supported science” and “was not just concerned with theology and religion”.

T

he Vatican was one of about 18 observatories that spent the next several decades taking thousands of glass-plate photographs with their telescopes and cataloguing data for the massive project.

But the project at the Vatican Observatory began to suffer after Fr Denza died in 1894.

When Pope Pius X found out the new director wasn’t up to the job, he called on Archbishop Pietro Maffi of Pisa to reorganise the observatory and search for the best replacement, Fr Maffeo said.

In 1906, the archbishop found his man at Georgetown University in Washington DC —Jesuit Father John Hagen who had been heading its observatory there since 1888 and was renowned for his research on “variable” stars, which have fluctuating brightness.

Though he had extensive experience in astronomy, Fr Hagen never did the kind of measurements and number crunching required for the

astrographic catalogue, Fr Maffeo said.

“So he went to Europe to see how they did it and saw that in some observatories there were women who read the star positions and wrote them in a book with precise coordinates,” the 93-year-old Jesuit priest said.

The astronomers told Fr Hagen that once the young women “were shown how to do it, they were very diligent”, Fr Maffeo said. At the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, for example, they even were referred to as “lady computers” because of the skill needed to calculate the coordinates according to set formulae.

When Fr Hagen wondered where he might be able to hire young women for the Vatican, “he immediately thought—nuns,” and contacted the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary, who were located nearby, Fr Maffeo said. Coincidentally, Mary is often symbolised in Catholic Church tradition by a star.

In a letter dated July 13, 1909, to the superior general, Mother Angela Ghezzi, Archbishop Maffi said the Vatican Observatory “needs two sisters with normal vision, patience and a predisposition for methodical and mechanical work”.

Fr Maffeo said the sisters’ general council was not enthused “about

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Oratorian Father Giuseppe lais (1845-1921), is pictured using the Carte du Ciel (Celestial Map) telescope in the leonine Tower at the Vatican.

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wasting two nuns on a job that had nothing to do with charity”. However, Mother Ghezzi was “used to seeing God’s will in every request”, he said, and she let two sisters go to the observatory.

Work for the sisters began in 1910, but soon required a third and later a fourth nun to join the team.

Two would sit in front of a microscope mounted on an inclined plane with a light shining under the plateglass photograph of one section of the night sky.

The plates were overlaid with numbered grids and the sisters would measure and read out loud each star’s location on two axes and another would register the coordinates in a ledger. They would also check enlarged versions of the images on paper.

T

he Vatican was one of about ten observatories to complete its assigned slice of the sky. From 1910 to 1921, the nuns surveyed the brightness and positions of 481 215 stars off hundreds of glass plates.

Their painstaking work did not go unnoticed at the time. Pope Benedict XV received them in a private audience in 1920 and gave them a gold chalice, Fr Maffeo said. Pope Pius XI also received the “measuring nuns” eight years later, awarding them a sil-

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The Vatican’s astrographic catalogue, which totaled ten volumes, gave special mention to the sisters, noting their “alacrity and diligence”, uninterrupted labours and “zeal greater than any eulogy” could express at a task “so foreign to their mission”.

The international project to catalogue star positions and build a celestial map ended in 1966 and recorded nearly 5 million stars. The catalogue consists of more than 200 volumes produced by 20 observatories and the unfinished map is made up of hundreds of sheets of paper—all work culled from more than 22 000 glass photographic plates of the sky.

Fr Maffeo said, “Never before had there been a presentation of the stars as vast as this.”

While the project was quickly eclipsed by huge technological developments in surveying stars, modernday scientists eventually discovered that comparing the star positions recorded a century earlier with current satellite positions provided valuable information about star motions for millions of stars.

The project showed that even in a new era of satellites and software, quaint glass-plate photographs and “lady computers” weren’t wholly obsolete.—CNS

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The Southern Cross, June 1 to June 7, 2016

CLASSIFIEDS

Br Mel Dolan CFC

C

HRISTIAN Brother Brother Mel Dolan died in Boksburg on May 3 at the age of 81, three years before reaching his 70th jubilee as a Christian Brother.

Born in New York and raised in the Bronx, Tommy (as he was known in his family) began his formation as a Christian Brother in his late teens.

At the age of 24, he volunteered to come to South Africa to teach at St Boniface’s High School in Kimberley for five years. He loved the people and the work so much that he stayed on and spent the rest of his life devoted to the young, mainly underprivileged, people of this country.

He was to spend a total of 16 years at St Boniface, including a spell as principal and the congregation’s community superior.

He also spent four years teaching at Mariasdal High School in Free State during the 1970s; two spells totalling seven years at St Bernard’s High School in Bochabela in Bloemfontein during the 1970s and ’80s, including another turn as principal; a year at CBC Kimberley; and finally 27 years at St Anthony’s Franciscan Matric Project in Reiger Park, Boksburg.

He served the latter both as a teacher and student counsellor and in his retirement years in a general assistance capacity. He cherished a special friendship with the founder of St Anthony’s, the late Fr Stan Brennan OFM. Br Mel loved teaching and

supporting young people. They in turn found him an excellent teacher. His past pupils speak with great affection and respect about not only his teaching and sports-coaching skills but also his sincere spirituality and the impression made by his enthusiastic religious lessons.

A number of his “Old Boys” from St Boniface’s travelled all the way from Kimberley to Boksburg to visit him in his last year, and again to attend his funeral in tribute to a teacher they never forgot.

He developed a custom of making Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards for his students, and every Christmas and Easter all his fellow Christian Brothers received a home-made card, the Christmas one accompanied by a suitable story he had chosen.

As he grew older, when those around him embraced new technology and new spirituality and ministries, he was comfortable with this but had little time for new-fangled things himself. He stuck to what he knew: the oldfashioned dialling telephone, the photocopier, and a Helooks-at-me-and–I-talk-withhim way of praying. But he continued to grow both in prayer and in reflective wisdom.

In his later years he became increasingly frail, and his health started to break down completely about a year before he died. As he needed more professional nursing than the community was able to offer, he moved into Marian House, a nearby frail-care community of Newcas-

What St Catherine would tell the pope Continued from Page 2 Its drawcard was the holy life, offering also a greater freedom than did the other options open to women. Characteristically Beguines cared for the sick and lepers, and practised a piety centred on the Eucharist and the humanity of Christ, and on prayers for the deceased, Sr Coyle explained.

Some had heretical leanings, some were mystics.

They wrote and taught in the vernacular, and turned to the Dominican friars who in turn consulted them and wrote about them.

All too often today, and in the time since Vatican II, we take so much of our wealth for granted, but are reminded by the lives of the Beguines and of Catherine of Siena to hold as treasures of our faith Scripture, tradition and the mystical.

Newcastle Dominican Sister Felicity Cunningham preached at the celebration of the Eucharist, presided over by Fr Stan Muyebe, provincial of the friars.

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tle Dominican Sisters, where he had the back-up of 24/7 nursing. Here he was cared for lovingly and patiently by both the staff and the sisters of the community for his last seven months, as his grip on life progressively weakened.

He died in his bedroom there in the presence of a number of the sisters and one of his own Brothers, Clement Sindazi, current deputy-provincial for Africa.

His funeral Mass was celebrated at the overflowing Marian House Chapel on May 7, and he was accorded the privilege of being buried in the sisters’ graveyard behind the house.

Br Mel is survived by five of his six siblings and by the 70 Christian Brothers of Southern Africa.

The message sent by his family to be read out at the funeral, ended: “Although our hearts are saddened by Tommy’s passing, we are finding joy in knowing that his journey here on earth has finally brought him to his final resting place and he is now enjoying his Eternal Home.”

Michael Burke CFC

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Our bishops’ anniversaries

This week we congratulate: June 7: Bishop Frank Nabuasah of Francistown on his 67th birthday June 7: Bishop Xolelo Thaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe on the 8th anniversary of his episcopal ordination

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

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.

Thank you for prayers answered.

HOLY SPiriT you make me see everything and show me the way to reach my ideals. you give me the divine gift to forgive and forget. in all instances of my life you are with me,

O HOLY VIRGIN, in the midst of your days of glory, do not forget the sorrows of this earth. Cast a merciful glance upon those who are suffering, struggling against difficulties, with their lips constant pressed against life’s bitter cup.

Have pity on those who love each other and are separated.

Have pity on our rebellious hearts.

Have pity on our weak faith.

Have pity on those we love.

Have pity on those who weep, on those who pray on those who fear.

Grant hope and peace to all.

AMEN

ALMigHTY gOD, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed, kindle in the hearts of all men the true love of peace, and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom those who make decisions for the nations of the earth; that in tranquility your kingdom may go forward, till the earth be filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our lord. amen.

THAnKS

O HOLY SPiriT, in thanksgiving for favours granted.

Chris H ST JuDE, in thanksgiving for favours granted. Chris H.

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Liturgical Calendar Sunday June 5 1 Kings 17:17-24, Psalms 30:2, 4-6, 11-13, Galatians 1:11-19, Luke 7:11-17 Monday June 6, St Norbert 1 Kings 17:1-6, Psalms 121:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12 Tuesday June 7 1 Kings 17:7-16, Psalms 4:2-5, 7-8, Matthew 5:13-16 Wednesday June 8 1 Kings 18:20-39, Psalms 16:1-2, 4-5, 8, 11, Matthew 5:17-19 Thursday June 9, St Ephrem 1 Kings 18:41-46, Psalms 65:10-13, Matthew 5:20-26 Friday June 10 1 Kings 19:9, 11-16, Psalms 27:7-9, 13-14, Matthew 5:27-32 Saturday June 11, St Barnabus Acts 11:21-26; 13:1-3, Psalms 98:1-6, Matthew 10:7-13 Sunday June 12 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13, Psalms 32:1-2, 5, 7, 11, Galatians 2:16, 19-21, Luke 7:36--8:3

protecting me and opening for me a way where there is no way. i thank you for everything, and confirm once more that i never want to be separated from you, no matter how great the material desires. i want to be with you and my loved ones in your perpetual glory. amen. Thank you for prayers answered.

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PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF LOURDES

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11

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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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11th Sunday: June 12 Readings: 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13, Psalm 32:12, 5-7, 11, Galatians 2:16, 19-21, Luke 7:368:3

S outher n C ross

God copes with our sin

W

HAT are we to do about sin? Well, for one thing, we have to take it seriously. But, for another, we have to know that God can cope with the reality of our sinfulness.

That is what we have in the readings for next Sunday. In the first reading, David is brought abruptly face to face with the reality of the horrible thing he has done, in taking another man’s wife, and murdering that loyal foreigner whom we know as Uriah the Hittite.

In the reading we watch with some admiration as the prophet Nathan does not shrink from the tricky task of challenging his king: “you are the man”, he says, after telling him a little parable by way of illustration, reminding him of all that God has done for him, giving him the kingship over Israel and Judah, deliverance from the hand of Saul.

Then we wait for David’s response, and when it comes, it is deeply impressive: “I have sinned against the Lord”, and then we hear the words that we long to have spoken to us: “The Lord has also forgiven your sin; you shall not die.” There will be punishment to come, but David knows that he deserves it, and it does not seem so bad.

Rule One, then, is to admit our sinfulness, and that is what next Sunday’s psalm confidently does: “My sin I made known to you”, the poet sings, “and I did not hide my guilt; I said, ‘I shall confess my sins to the Lord’, and you took away my sin”.

Then the poem comes to an exultant ending: “Rejoice in the Lord and exult, O you just, exult, all you upright of heart.” All of us have sinned, and we shall not find reality, or the sanity that goes with it, unless we recognise the fact, and hand it over to God. In the second reading, Paul is starting on his very difficult argument, which is destined to demonstrate that what counts is not “doing what the Law prescribes”, but “the faith of Jesus Christ”.

Sin is a reality, but what gets us off is: “I should live to God; I am crucified with Christ.” So it is God who looks after the deep mystery of our sinfulness.

That is what next Sunday’s Gospel is dealing with. It starts, to our astonishment, with a dinner invitation from a Pharisee. Equally astonishing is the sudden arrival of “A woman, who was a sinner in the city”.

Then, in an extraordinary display of inti-

macy, she “stood behind, by his feet, carrying an alabaster jar, and wept; and with her tears she began to wet his feet with tears, and with the hair of her head, she started to wipe them; and she was kissing his feet, and anointing with myrrh”.

The Pharisee is very properly shocked at this unconventional behaviour, and concludes that Jesus cannot possibly be a prophet, otherwise “he would know who and what kind of a woman it is who is touching him—because she is a sinner”.

Jesus reaches him in his righteous rage, by telling him a little parable about two people who had been in debt, one owing five hundred denarii, and the other owing fifty; and the creditor let them both off. “Which of them is going to love him more?”

Simon gives the expected answer: “I suppose the one whom he let off more.” Of course, it does not work like that, but, like David in our first reading, the Pharisee needs to be challenged on his own terms: “I came into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet. But she with her tears has wet my feet and with her hair has wiped them. You did not give me a kiss, but ever since I came

The secrets of faith and fear ‘A

Conrad

COMMON soldier dies without fear, yet Jesus died afraid.” Iris Murdoch wrote this and that truth can be somewhat disconcerting. Why? If someone dies with deep faith, shouldn’t he or she die within a certain calm and trust drawn from that faith? Wouldn’t the opposite seem more logical, that is, if someone dies without faith shouldn’t he or she die with more fear?

And perhaps the most confusing of all: Why did Jesus, the paragon of faith, die afraid, crying out in a pain that can seem like a loss of faith?

The problem lies in our understanding.

Sometimes we can be very naïve about faith and its dynamics, thinking that faith in God is a ticket to earthly peace and joy.

But faith isn’t a path to easy calm, nor does it assure us that we will exit this life in calm—and that can be pretty unsettling and perplexing at times.

Here’s an example: The renowned spiritual writer Fr Henri Nouwen, in a book entitled In Memoriam, shares the following story around his mother’s death.

Nouwen, who was Dutch, was teaching in the USA when he received a call that his mother was dying back home in the Netherlands. On his flight home from New York to Amsterdam, he reflected on his mother’s faith and virtue and concluded that she was the most Christian woman he had ever known.

With that as a wonderfully consoling thought, he imagined about how she would die, how her last hours would be

filled with faith and calm, and how that faith and calm would be her final, faithfilled witness to her family.

But that’s not the way it played out. Far from being calm and unafraid, his mother, in the final hours leading up to her death, was seemingly in the grip of some inexplicable darkness, of some deep inner disquiet, and of something that looked like the antithesis of faith. For Nouwen this was very disconcerting. Why would his mother be undergoing this disquiet when for all her life she had been a woman of such strong faith?

Initially this unsettled him deeply, until a deeper understanding of faith broke through. His mother had been a woman who every day of her adult life had prayed to Jesus, asking him to empower her to live as he lived and to die as he died. Well, seemingly, her prayer was heard.

She did die like Jesus who, though having a rock-solid faith, sweated blood while contemplating his own death and then cried out on the cross, anguished with the feeling that God had forsaken him.

I

n brief, her prayer had been answered.

She had asked Jesus to let her die as he did and, given her openness to it, her prayer was granted, to the confusion of her family and friends who had expected a very different scene.

That is also true for the manner of Jesus’ death and the reaction of his family and disciples. This isn’t the way anyone naturally imagines the death of a faith-filled person.

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil; but she anointed my feet with myrrh.”

And the point of this? It is that love deals with sin: “Therefore I am telling you, her sins (which are many) are forgiven, because she loved a great deal.”

This is a charming picture, but we should not expect that it will commend itself to everyone: “Who is this”, they mutter, “that he even forgives sins?” But Jesus does something far deeper, turning to the woman and saying: “Your faith has saved you: go in peace.”

And with a touch of genius, the compilers of the lectionary have added the next verses in Luke, which have the “women who had been cured from unclean spirits and sickness” gratefully looking after Jesus and “serving them from their own possessions”, and if that leads you to say “typical men, exploiting the generosity of women”, then you have not grasped the generosity of God; service is a positive value in the Christian dispensation.

Southern Crossword #709

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

But a deeper understanding of faith reverses that logic: Looking at the death of Nouwen’s mother, the question is not, how could this happen to her? The question is rather: Why wouldn’t this happen to her?

It’s what she asked for and, being a spiritual athlete who asked God to send her the ultimate test, why wouldn’t God oblige?

There’s a certain parallel to this in the seeming doubts suffered by Mother Teresa.

When her diaries were published and revealed her dark night of the soul, many people were shocked and asked: “How could this happen to her?”

A deeper understanding of faith would, I believe, ask instead: “Why wouldn’t this happen to her, given her faith and her openness to enter into Jesus’ full experience?

But this has still a further complication.

Sometimes for a person of deep faith it doesn’t happen this way and instead he or she dies calm and unafraid, buoyed up by faith like a safe ship on stormy waters.

Why does this happen to some and not to others? We have no answer.

Faith doesn’t put us all on to the same conveyor-belt where one dynamic fits all.

Sometimes people with deep faith die, as Jesus did, in darkness and fear; and sometimes people with deep faith die in calm and peace.

The late Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, a SwissAmerican psychiatrist and a pioneer in near-death studies, submits that each of us goes through five clear stages in dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Psychologist Kathleen Dowling Singh suggests that what Kübler-Ross defines as “acceptance” needs some further nuance.

According to Singh, the toughest part of that “acceptance” is “full surrender” and, prior to that surrender, some people, though not everyone, will undergo a deep interior darkness that, on the surface, can look like despair. Only after that, do they experience joy and ecstasy.

All of us need to learn the lesson which Nouwen learned at his mother’s deathbed: Faith, like love, admits of various modalities and may not be judged simplistically from the outside.

ACROSS

1. One of the Apostles (Mt 10) (6) 4. Mighty hunter (Gn 10) (6) 9. Igniting (7,6) 10. Leg Borg broke, having a website (7) 11. Do not stand for such a protest (3-2) 12. Epics about ginger, for example (5) 14. Like a fool I do it (5) 18. You’ll find the Ghanaian church here (5) 19. Holy Land waters of rest? (4,3) 21. Not endowed with the faculty of reason (13) 22. Something you can hold on to (6) 23. A forbidding official (6)

DOWN

1. Go beyond SAB spy (4,2) 2. Examination of your conscience? (13) 3. Does it make the wedding cake too cold? (5) 5. Treated badly (3-4) 6. Our sight sense may give us holiness (13) 7. Showing excessive love for tin god (6) 8. Market place in old Greece (5) 13. Let chat go on about property (7) 15. Son of Neriah (Jer 32) (6) 16. Dilly sort of poem (5) 17. One who stops the leash? (6) 20. ... With Me (hymn) (5)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE priest met the new parish youth leader. “So, Kevin, where are you from?”

“Rustenburg, Father,” Kevin responded.

Discussing youth leadership, Kevin asked: “Father, what would you say is the most important part of spiritual direction?”

“That’s easy, Kevin. It’s listening. One has to be a good listener,” the priest answered.

“Thanks, Father,” Kevin said.

Next the priest asked: “So, Kevin, where are you from?”

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