160727

Page 1

The

S outher n C ross

July 27 to August 2, 2016

Reg no. 1920/002058/06

no 4991

www.scross.co.za

Migrant’s journey from car guard to doctor

Page 2

Is this small church SA’s ‘Sistine Chapel’?

Page 10

R8,00 (incl VAT RSA)

With God on the football pitch

Page 7

Poster of SA’s patron feast This month, on August 15, the Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption. This is also South Africa’s patronal feast, placing the country under the protection of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven. Particularly during this time of local elections and social and economic turmoil, we need the protection of Our Lady. That is why we have reproduced in poster format in the present edition this beautiful painting of the Assumption by the Italian baroque artist Guido Reni from 1617. May it remind us to prayerfully implore Our Lady’s protection for our beloved land whenever we look at it.

Fr Jean Yammine (in red vestment) holds relics of St Charbel Makhlouf during a procession on the Lebanese saint’s feast day at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite church in Mulbarton, Johannesburg. Participating in the procession were the Knights of Da Gama Council 2. St Charbel was a Maronite monk and priest from Lebanon who lived from 1828-98. He was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1977. The history of the Maronites—an Eastern rite of the Catholic Church—in South Africa goes back to the late 19th century, when the first immigrants arrived in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. The first Maronite priest to be sent to South Africa, Fr Emmanuel El-Fadle, arrived in 1905. He perished on his journey home in 1909 on board of the SS Waratah, which sank without a trace off the coast of East London. (Photo: Alexis Santana Callea)

Sisters stuck on road met a bunch of Good Samaritans STAFF REPORTER

B

EING stranded on an Eastern Cape road, a group of three sisters received the help of several Good Samaritans. The three Assumption Sisters stood helpless on the road between Butterworth and East London after their car broke down. They had just attended a retreat in Durban and were returning to their convent in Port Alfred. They remembered the priest of Butterworth’s Christ the King parish, in Queenstown diocese, as Fr Sonwabiso Zilindile, and gave him a call for help. In Jesus’ parable the priest is on the other side of the road—in this case he was on the other side of the country, said Assumption Sister Laurentia. “We contacted Fr Zilindile thinking he was still in Butterworth, only to discover he was at that time out of town.” The priest, currently pastor of St Thomas More parish in Tsomo in Queenstown diocese,

was not going to let physical distance stop him from helping the sisters. “He went to endless trouble phoning competent parishioners he knew in Butterworth to help us.” As a result of Fr Zilindile’s canvassing for help the manager of a local Caltex garage, whom Sr Laurentia identified as Shadji, came to the sisters’ aid by working on repairing the car until late in the evening. “Meanwhile his wife Anita provided us with a meal, and fellow parishioners Elmer and Satish arranged comfortable accommodation for us for the night,” Sr Laurentia said. “All the kindness we received was due to the untiring efforts and generosity of Fr Zilindile who did not rest until he was assured that the car was repaired and we were safely on our way again to Port Alfred,” she said. “Fr Zilindile and his friends from Christ the King parish in Butterworth exemplified the Good Samaritan story in a very real way for us,” Sr Laurentia said.

Why the local elections matter BY MAnDLA ZIBI

C

ATHOLICS have a social responsibility to vote in the August 3 local government elections in order to choose leaders for the “common good” and to promote justice, according to the bishop who chairs the Justice and Peace Commission at the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. “Although I do sympathise with those who have become disillusioned with the current political culture of our country, I urge them to come out and vote next month,” Bishop Abel Gabuza of Kimberley told The Southern Cross. “Yes, it is so sad to see people whom we respected and of whom we expected so much now are interested only in lining their individual pockets, but that is no reason to say ‘I will not vote’,” the bishop said. “So many died in South Africa for the right to vote. Although I cannot tell people whom to vote for, I would say: ‘Have a dialogue with yourself, look at the position of the different parties on the issues and decide honestly, with your conscience, which one accords with the values of the Church’,” he advised. Mike Pothier, head of research of the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) warned that it is pointless and misleading to make generalisations about the state of municipal government in South Africa. “Someone whose refuse is not collected, or whose streets are full of potholes, or who cannot get a response from their councillor, will perceive municipal performance as bad—no matter that other indicators, such as the number of councils that receive clean audits, are improving,” he said in a CPLO position paper. “Likewise, some councils that have come

Election posters hang on a pole outside St Mary’s cathedral in Cape Town. South Africans vote in the local elections on August 3. under scrutiny for alleged corruption or mismanagement nevertheless seem able to provide their residents with a decent standard of services,” he pointed out. Based on a Government Performance Index developed by Good Governance Africa (GGA), of the 20 best-performing local municipalities, 15 are in the Western Cape (eight Democratic Alliance-controlled, four African National Congress-controlled, and three Continued on page 2


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.