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The

S outher n C ross

November 30 to December 6, 2016

Reg No. 1920/002058/06

No 5009

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Pope Francis: Church isn’t a soccer club

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R8,00 (incl VAT RSA)

Five great tips for a fruitful Advent season

Why Mary had to be born without sin

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Drug rehab: Durban shows way forward

BY MANDLA ZIBI

Children at the Johannesburg launch of the Jesuit Institute’s Advent book for children, Journey to Jesus’ Birthday. Writer Paulina French and the translator of the Zulu version, Moira Mazambar, answered questions posed by the children who attended. Each child was given a party pack box with a star or angel for their Christmas tree as a way of associating it with the book and Christ’s birth. Journey to Jesus’ Birthday is available for R60 plus p&p from admin@jesuitinstitute.org.za or as an eBook on Amazon.

Ex-Kimberley bishop dies at 83

BY MANDLA ZIBI

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HE bishop who led Kimberley diocese for 36 years has died in Germany at the age of 83.

Bishop Erwin Hecht OMI, who died on November 19, led Kimberley diocese from May 11, 1972, when he was ordained as its auxiliary, until December 15, 2009, when he retired.

Born at Burgrieden in south-western Germany on October 13, 1933, he was ordained a priest for the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Rottenburg in July 1959. Fr Hecht arrived in South Africa as a missionary on November 9, 1961, and was assigned to St Boniface parish, in the Kimberley township of Galeshewe.

When he was ordained as the auxiliary bishop of Kimberley on May 11, 1972, he effectively took over the running of the diocese.

He took over the governance of the diocese of Kimberley on July 1, 1974, having also served as the provincial of the Oblates in Kimberley.

In a 2010 Southern Cross article Bishop Hecht described his decision to become a priest as that of a “naughty boy”, but in reality, the bishop viewed his vocation as a gift from God. He voiced his concern at how vocations were progressively falling under the worldly spell of “rampant materialism and a culture of opportunism”, resulting in a growing lack of pastoral responsibility among young people.

The main challenge for priests in South Africa, Bishop Hecht believed, was to bring the

races together, and as bishop, he saw his role as mediator and unifier of all people of goodwill in this country.

Bishop Hecht returned to Germany after his retirement.

“He had the heavy burden of taking over the governance of Kimberley diocese at a very difficult period, said his successor, Bishop Abel Gabuza.

“The diocese had numerous challenges, materially and spiritually, but with the assistance of so many priests, religious and laity, Bishop Hecht left the diocese in a healthy state.”

Bishop Gabuza described his predecessor as a “zealous and tenacious missionary” who served the people of Kimberley with selflessness.

“We are eternally grateful to him for sharing with us the many faces of courage, commitment, faith, hope and love. He challenged all of us in Kimberley—priests, religious and laity—to adopt a progressive paradigm of ownership and embrace a life of consciousness and responsibility,” Bishop Gabuza said.

Bishop Hecht’s funeral Mass was held at St. Bonifatiuskloster in Hünfeld, central Germany on November 24.

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HE archdiocese of Durban is set to strike a major blow against drug addiction in the region with the launch early next year of a state of the art drug treatment and rehabilitation centre.

The Napier Centre for Healing, named after Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban for his energetic efforts against the scourge, is expected to open its doors to all drug addicts and alcoholics, irrespective of religious denomination, and is aimed primarily at “street level” abusers, meaning the poor and homeless.

The archdiocese has commenced the establishment of the centre at Ekukhanyeni, north of Durban.

“The centre will provide residential rehabilitation for those struggling with addiction to drugs and alcohol. It will demonstrate a practical, affordable and accessible model to address the crisis afflicting South Africa,” said Fr Stephen Tully.

The project gives “expression to Pope Francis’ call for practical actions that carry forward the message of the Year of Mercy”, he said.

“The centre will have a faith-based ethos but will be open to anyone. It will follow a wholeperson approach to healing, implemented through a programme that will run over 12 months,” the priest explained.

The archdiocese has allocated land and disused buildings to house the institution. Refurbishment of the buildings has already started, courtesy of an anonymous donor, and the centre should be opening within half a year.

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he costs for the initial phases of construction are projected at R8-9 million. Among other costs, about R9 000 a month will be spent on each resident.

“We can only be guided by our Lord Jesus who cared for the voiceless and those most in need. It is when the miracles of care happen from unexpected donors, and especially the little efforts of the poor that one can only but feel God is in control as he cares for his lost sheep,” Fr Tully said.

The Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) in Durban will assist the Napier Centre, said DHC director

Raymond Perrier.

“The cardinal has shown a great heart for the plight of drug users in Durban, especially those who are on the streets and have little chance of receiving help,” Mr Perrier said.

“With staff from the DHC, he has visited some of the most difficult areas where homeless drug users are to be found and where the DHC provides healthcare through its outreach clinic,” he said.

Mr Perrier said the DHC would be deeply involved with the Napier Centre in various ways, including helping in the selection of residents and other issues such as the staff component, which is expected to comprise a “healthy mix” of recovering addicts and trained personnel.

E

arlier this year, as part of a campaign titled “Support, Don’t Punish”, Cardinal Napier and Mr Perrier joined the Durban University of Technology for a rally, challenging government authorities to come up with a more creative response to drugs instead of the punishmentbased model that some experts have criticised as not working.

Cardinal Napier also dedicated a Clergy Study Day to the subject of addiction to equip priests to be able to talk confidently about the subject and know where to turn when seeking help for affected families.

“It is therefore very fitting that the cardinal has agreed that his name be used for this legacy project,” said Mr Perrier.

“The intention is to create a residential centre that is on a par with expensive private clinics but is accessible to people living on the streets. While driven by a Catholic ethos, it will also work collaboratively and learn from the initiative of other faith groups,” he said.

“The Napier Centre is a modern–day version of the response of the Church in former years to the plight of education for the poor, providing a quality response that was accessible for all: a response by the Catholic community for the whole community,” Mr Perrier said.

Cardinal Napier is expected to formally announce the project on the archdiocese’s patronal feast, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, on December 8.

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The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

LOCAL

Stigma keeps HIV patients from testing

BY BRONWEN DACHS

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ACH week in South Africa, 2 000 women in the age group of 15-24 are infected with HIV. In poor communities, young women are mostly infected through sex with older men who provide for them and, while testing is easy and readily available, few men get tested until they are seriously ill.

“Men have told me that the reason for this is that the clinics are mostly staffed by women and that women talk too much,” said Dr Ana Houston, who works for HOPE Cape Town, an HIV outreach project founded by the German-speaking Catholic parish in the Cape peninsula under the guidance of Fr Stefan Hippler.

Dr Houston works at a paediatric HIV clinic in Delft, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Unless HIV-positive women and girls are taking antiretroviral drugs, if they contract HIV while breastfeeding they can pass on the virus to their babies, Dr Houston said.

She sees an “urgent need to persuade breastfeeding women to come for testing every three months”.

In trying to get HIV-positive men to get treatment, Doctors Without Borders and other organisations have begun setting up HIV clinics primarily for men.

Pauline Jooste, who oversees HOPE’s community outreach projects, said being HIV-positive still carries a lot of stigma for men and

women. She said some mothers will not tell their children that they, too, are infected.

In an interview at HOPE’s office in Blikkiesdorp, a temporary settlement area within Delft where 15 000 people live in corrugated tin shacks, Ms Jooste said that to understand the reluctance to talk about being infected, “you need to bring it home”.

When health officials ask women when they plan to tell their children they have HIV, “when he or she is ‘old enough’ is the answer you hear”, Ms Jooste said.

“Imagine how difficult it must be to tell a teenager she is HIV-positive and wait for her to ask, ‘So how did you get HIV, Mom?’” she said.

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t Delft clinic, “we try to initiate conversations” between mothers and their HIV-positive children, Dr Houston said, noting that children should know their HIV status by the time they are 10 or 11 years old.

“Often, the mother is battling with anger or shame and needs someone to talk to,” she said. “We give mothers and children books that they can read together that can help children understand what HIV is and how to live with it.

“Sometimes the children know, but they don’t tell that they know, which creates an unhealthy dynamic in the family,” she said.

South Africa’s HIV epidemic is among the most severe in the

Gerald Flagg, a community worker for HOPE Cape Town, prepares to check in on a family affected by HIV in the township of Blikkiesdorp.

(Photo: Bronwen Dachs) world. According to United Nations estimates, 6.4 million people—or 12,2% of South Africa’s population—are HIV-positive.

Dominican Sister Alison Munro, director of the Aids Office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said about 3,4 million people are on antiretroviral drugs.

The risk of HIV transmission is enormously reduced when those infected take antiretroviral drugs regularly, Sr Munro said.

Orphans and other vulnerable children are the main focus group of the Aids Office, and “we are working on getting as many tested and on treatment” as possible, she said.

Sr Munro said South Africa has 41 orphan programmes funded by PEPFAR, the US government initiative to provide Aids relief, and there are more than 100 other programmes in dioceses and parishes across the country.

The drive to have everyone who

tests HIV-positive on medication brings with it the danger of developing drug resistance, said Dr Houston, noting that in the past treatment was provided to HIV-positive patients only when they became at risk of developing Aids.

“There’s no coming back from drug resistance,” Dr Houston said, noting that the Church’s and other programmes work hard to ensure that people adhere to their treatment regimen.

Avoiding drug resistance “is our biggest challenge now, and we can’t leave children in a situation where they take drugs on an ad hoc basis”, she said.

HOPE project staff sometimes move children into temporary care so that their HIV treatment can be managed while the project works to bring stability to their home environments, Dr Houston said.

Ms Jooste said HOPE serves up to 40 000 people a month. She said HIV-positive patients in Blikkiesdorp and other areas are given reference letters for health centres, shown where to go and “told to look out for our health workers wearing red shirts that say HOPE”.

The project’s community workers check that patients comply with medication needs and even accompany those with no income to government offices, to apply for social grants, Ms Jooste said.

“A lot can be achieved when you have someone speaking on your behalf,” she said.—CNS

SPREDing love for the intellectually disabled

R Auxiliary Bishop Duncan Tsoke with the confirmation class at Rivonia parish. Angel-Leigh Timothy is at the centre in the front row

IVONIA parish in Johannesburg was proud of Angel-Leigh Timothy whern shed made her confirmation with the class of 2016.

Angel, who has an intellectual disabiliy, has been attending SPRED—an acronym for Special Religious Development—since 2011 when the group started in Rivonia. She has made her first confession, First Communion and now her confirmation with them.

Auxiliary Bishop Duncan Tsoke and parish priest Fr Peter Doherty concelebrated the confirmationMass.

SPRED supports the religious, spiritual, social and emotional development of people with an intellectual disability.

The organisation stands for accepting the challenge of aiding persons with an intellectual disability so that they can participate fully in the liturgical life of their parish.

SPRED consists of a group of volunteers who commit to forming small faith communities to support the faith development of people with an intellectual disability by developing relationships of love, acceptance and welcome. n If you have a family member or friend who you think would like to join the SPRED Rivonia community, please contact Cherryl Brooke on 083 307 9453 or e-mail cherbrooke@telkomsa.net

www.catholic-pe.co.za/stpius

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The Association of Catholic Tertiary Students (ACTS) of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Edgewood campus was joined by fellow Catholic students from the different campuses of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Mangosotho University of Technology and Durban University of Technology for a closing of the year Mass celebrated by chaplain Fr Mbhele.

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We review the pope’s Year of Mercy

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Advent: A season of feasts

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SA bishops to have a service with Lutherans and Methodists

BY MANDLA ZIBI

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S outhern Cross

November 23 to November 29, 2016

HEN Lutherans and Methodists celebrate a historic joint service together with Catholics in January next year, a milestone in ecumenical history in Southern Africa will have been reached.

The joint ecumenical service will be the local high point of a programme jointly planned by the local Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist Churches to mark 500 years of the Protestant Reformation in 2017.

A committee comprising Bishop Victor Phalana of Klerksdorp, Bishop Horst Müller, the head of the Lutheran Church in South Africa, and Methodist Bishop Zipho Siwa, is in the final stages of preparing a common programme to mark the half-millennium of Protestantism.

“And what more natural setting could this ecumenical milestone be performed in than during the next plenary of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) in January 2017 in Tshwane,” Bishop Phalana told The Southern Cross.

“We are all in agreement that this would be a great and historic gesture in demonstration of how far we have come on the journey to reconciliation in our region,” the bishop said.

His remarks came in the wake of a call by Pope Francis that all Catholics should participate in events to mark the event 500 years ago since the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a German church door on October 30, 1517, thus beginning the Reformation and schism from the Catholic Church.

Bishop Phalana said all interaction between the local denominations continues to be guided by the historic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification of 1999 in Augsburg, Germany, when the Catholic and Lutheran leaders committed themselves to

reconciliation and pronounced a common position on the doctrine of justification, which had been a stumbling block to dialogue before then.

The declaration acknowledged that both Churches now share “a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ”. This settled a conflict that had been at the root of the Protestant Reformation.

The World Methodist Council voted in 2006 to accept the declaration.

“The declaration paved the way to a closer relationship with the Lutherans in particular, and Protestants in general. Now we realise how much more we have in common than that which divides us,” Bishop Phalana said.

“The Catholic Church now recognises their baptism, we share with them one Lord, one Trinity, one Creed and a lot of other sacraments,” he said.

A number of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches in South Africa are also “very interested” in working with Bishop Phalana and his counterparts on issues of ecumenism in the light of next year’s commemoration programme.

“We encourage as many people as possible, especially Catholics, to participate fully in this great quest. It is time to address the pain of our separation and give visible expression to Christ’s injunction that ‘May we be one’,” Bishop Phalana urged.

“As a starting point, the planned joint service in January and other events throughout next year are a good way of ultimately getting our parishes across our region to come together with the Lutheran, Methodist and other denominations—to pray, eat, play, work and study together in a concrete way from this point onward,” he said.

The exact time and venue for the ecumenical service will be announced closer to the time.

or KwaZulu-Natal deputy provincial commissioner Major-General Phindile Radebe lights a candle during a prayer service and commemoration of police personnel who have been killed in the line of duty, held in Emmanuel cathedral in Durban. Chaplain Fr David Sithole is looking on.

The service was presided over by Bishop Barry Wood, auxiliary in Durban.

Cathedral service honours police killed in line of duty STAFF REPORTER

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HE archdiocese of Durban held a prayer service for police and commemoration of police personnel who were killed in the line of duty.

The service in Emmanuel cathedral was presided over by Bishop Barry Wood, the auxiliary in Durban, with Fr David Sithole of Tongaat, the chaplain for police, delivering the homily.

South African police personnel are at a high risk of being shot at. In KwaZulu-Natal alone, 22 police members were shot dead between April 2015 and January 2016.

“At times, you put your lives at risk, just to ensure the safety of our people. For that we thank you. We value the time and effort you put in bringing about order, stability and security in our families and communities,” Fr Sithole told the police and other security personnel at the service.

“We entrust our lives to your care and your protection, knowing that you are not Superman or robots.”

The priest called on the police not to seek glory.

“Work hard not to be noticed by people, for your reward will be great in heaven. In our gospel reading today we hear Christ saying: ‘If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest’,” Fr Sithole said, adding: “In the gospels, service is a personal act; its origin and goal is love.”

He reminded the police that their actions have consequences. “Bear in mind that what you do—good or bad—paints the picture about the [police] at large. Let’s do away with bad publicity. Shine wherever you are, and as members of the community we want to feel comfortable and safe around you,” the priest said.

“As we approach the festive season, put on the whole armour of God: clothe yourself with humility, with love and compassion, with kindness and gentleness, with patience and self-control, with holiness and purity and with forgiveness,” Fr Sithole said.

As police and all in the security cluster, “you need God above everything”, Fr Sithole told the congregation. “You are here today to seek his strength and guidance, protection and nourishment as to serve our people with prosperity.”

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HE Divine Mercy group of Our Lady of Mount Carmel church in Benoni North, Gauteng, ended the Year of Mercy by extending mercy and compassion to the less fortunate, with members visiting Mary Moodley House.

Mary Moodley House is a government institution for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Most of the children in this facility are placed there by the South African courts.

Many parishioners donated toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, roll-on deodorants, toys, clothes, blankets, carpets, sweets, biscuits, cool drinks and crisps.

The children each received a goodies bag and were entertained with face-painting and a jumping castle.

In closing Fr Arwin Tauro blessed the children and care workers.

The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

LOCAL

3

Ex-SACBC leader dies at 86 STAFF REPORTER

A The annual Nativity play of Brescia House School in Johannesburg was performed by the Grades R to 3 girls. This year the performance had a South African theme: What if Jesus was born in Jozi? Music, costumes and the storyline all took on a distinctly African flavour.

Bishop Giuseppe Sandri of Witbank (centre) ordained ten permanent deacons for the diocese at the pastoral centre of Maria Trost in Lydenburg/Mashishing. Seen with Bishop Sandri are (from left) Deacons David Rapudi Phala (Mashabela), Lucky Petros (Phola-Ogies), Leonard Kope Malatsi (Luckau), Bongani Thwala (Elukwatini), Nthunzi Sehlabela (Bongani-Hazyview), Joseph Kuba Nkosi (Ackerville—Witbank/ eMalahleni), Boshoff Mahole, Frank Mokoena (both Burgersfort), Nicklaas Roderick (Schoongezicht), Jim Paulus Sekwane (Belfast).

FORMER secretary-general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) and rector of St Peter’s Seminary in Pretoria has died at the age of 86.

Dominican Father Dominic Scholten died in the Berchmanianum, a Jesuit retirement home in Nijmegen, Netherlands, on November 18.

Born as Arnold Scholten in the Netherlands on September 13, 1930, he joined the Dominican Order in 1949 in Huissen and, after studying philosophy and theology in Zwolle and Nijmegen respectively, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1957.

He was subsequently sent to the Dutch vicariate of South Africa. In 1962 he became the director of the Katolieke Afrikanersentrum (KAS), a Dominican centre of Afrikaans apostolate and of the Department of Afrikaans Affairs at the SACBC in Pretoria.

In 1971 he replaced his fellow Dominican, the popular Fr Oswin Magrath, as rector of St Peter Seminary, which trained black candidates for the priesthood.

This was a difficult time, with a fair amount of student unrest under the influence of the Black Consciousness Movement, and accusation of heavy-handedness against Fr Scholten. His term ended in 1975.

In 1977 he became the secretarygeneral of the SACBC. In April that year, shortly after taking up his office, he was briefly detained by the Security Police, allegedly for having possessed banned documents, and

Fr Dominic Scholten in 1977 his passport was confiscated.

When in 1977 the Catholic education system was under pressure from the apartheid government to reverse their admission of black pupils into schools that had been declared for whites only, Fr Scholten pledged that the Church would continue with integration regardless of the government’s actions.

“We are no longer free to tolerate a situation that fosters discrimination,” he said, adding: “The present situation in South Africa will not permit a move against the Church.”

“Fr Dominic will be forever remembered by those who were at the receiving end of his passion for education,” his confrere, Fr Emil Blaser, told The Southern Cross.

“He raised much money to help people develop themselves. In this, he expected responsibility, account-

ability and hard work,” said Fr Blaser.

“There are people today who came from poverty to becoming doctors and professors and who look back with gratefulness for what Fr Dominic did for them.”

Fr Blaser described Fr Scholten as a workaholic and a strict man.

“It was not comfortable to get on the wrong side of Fr Dominic! He was sharp and never afraid of speaking his mind succinctly.”

Fr Scholten remained at the SACBC until the early 1980s.

In subsequent years he served as parish priest in Payneville in Springs, and Groblersdal in Limpopo.

“There was something about Fr Dominic that endeared him to his people who gave him the name, Thabo—a name which indicates happiness,” Fr Blaser said.

Fr Scholten influenced many leading South African Catholics.

Businessman Vincent Maphai once told Mining Weekly that, next to his mother, the priest played the biggest influence in his life.

“Fr Scholten taught me that the human spirit is indomitable,” Dr Maphai said.

Fr Scholten was part of a team of regular confessors at the community at Santa Maria Maggiore during the Jubilee Year in Rome.

He continued the same ministry in Oosterhout, Northern Brabant, until 2011, when he retired for reasons of health to Nijmegen.

Fr Scholten “will be remembered by many for his fearless leadership and for what he did to help people develop their potential”, said Fr Blaser.

PE cathedral holds floral art show to celebrate 150 years

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ORT Elizabeth’s St Augustine’s cathedral marks its 150-year anniversary this year, and as part of the year-long celebrations, the cathedral held a floral art show, arranged by Gail Taverner.

The foundation stone of the cathedral was laid in 1861 and the building was completed in record time by 1866. But the construction was not without problems.

When the building was almost at roof level, the walls were blown down by a violent gale.

The walls were rebuilt through the generosity of the local community, both Catholic and non-Catholic. The foundations were strengthened and supporting pillars included.

As part of the flower show, these pillars were adorned with modern swags, made from fenced reeds, a few bright and cheerful gerbera.

Ms Taverner and her assistant created their own “stained glass window”; a little more abstract than the real ones. A variety of plant material is used and included, such as strips of wood representing the lead framework, panels of pinned eucalyptus leaves, reeds which have been fenced together, panels of

Parts of the floral art show at St Augustine’s cathedral in Port Elizabeth, in honour of the cathedral celebrating its 150-year anniversary.

colourful bougainvillea, panels of status flowers, a few gerbera, and green gladioli.

The “organ” was constructed from bamboo to depict the pipes of the organ, placed vertically to give praise to the Creator for the gift of music.

The circles and red balls of red

carnations represented the never- ending love of God—the branches are moving into the future, carrying his love with it, depicting a symbol of hope, God’s love including all people.

Other themes include the sacraments of marriage, baptism and ordination.

Contact us: Tel 041 373-0039 / Mobile 074 376-5833 / Email retreat@catholic-pe.co.za

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The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

YEAR OF MERCY

Pope: Church no soccer ‘Canon law is at team seeking fans the service of souls’

BY CINDY WOODEN

BY CAROL GLATZ

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HE Church is not a prop for one’s ego, a soapbox for ideas or a suit of armour protecting a sad life, Pope Francis said.

“The Church exists only as an instrument for communicating God’s merciful plan to the people,” he said in an interview published in of Avvenire, an Italian Catholic newspaper.

God doesn’t ask for grand gestures, just for the trustful abandon of a child in a father’s arms and for sharing that divine love and mercy with others, he said.

“Those who discover they are loved very much begin to emerge from terrible solitude, from the separation that leads to hating others and oneself,” he added.

While most of the lengthy interview’s questions touched on ecumenism and the meaning of the Year of Mercy, the pope’s responses revealed his vision of the Church and the “bad spirit” or psychological defects that foster division.

For example, he said, some reactions to his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, continue to reflect a lack of understanding about how the Holy Spirit has been working in the Church since the Second Vatican Council.

With Lumen Gentium, its dogmatic constitution on the Church, he said, the Church “returned to the source of her nature—the Gospel.

This shifted the axis of Christian understanding from a kind of legalism, which can be ideological, to the person of God, who became mercy in the incarnation of the son”.

Historians, however, say it takes a century for a council’s teachings to fully sink in, which means “we are at the halfway mark”, Pope Francis said.

“The cancer in the Church is giving glory to one another,” he said in response to an observation made by Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who said a worldly mentality within the Church was at the root of divisions among Christians.

Pope Francis closes the Holy Door of St Peter's basilica to mark the closing of the jubilee Year of Mercy at the Vatican. In an interview with an Italian Catholic newspaper, the pope said that the cancer in the Church is giving glory to itself and one another. (Photo: Tiziana Fabi, Reuters/CNS) Someone who has never heard of or encountered Christ can always come to know him someday, Pope Francis said.

But, he said, if someone is already “in the Church and moves within it because precisely in the world of the Church they cultivate and feed their hunger for domination and self-affirmation, then they have a spiritual disease; they believe the Church is a self-sufficient human reality where everything proceeds according to the logic of ambition and power”.

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here is a “sinful habit of the Church to look too much at itself as if it believed it had its own light”—what Bartholomew called an “ecclesial introversion”, the pope said. Divisions are born when the Church looks too much to itself and not to the real light of Christ, which the Church reflects like the moon does sunlight.

The guide for knowing the right path to take is always understanding

the importance of following the Holy Spirit, he said when asked about criticisms that his outreach to other Christian communities was a sign of “selling out" Catholic doctrine or “Protestant-ising” the Church.

He said he doesn’t “lose sleep” over such critiques because it’s important to see what kind of “spirit” is motivating such opinions.

It is walking behind Christ and doing his will by praying together, helping the needy and dying as martyrs together that will unite all Christians who already share the same baptism, the pope said.

Ecumenism is a process, a walking together, not carving out or “occupying spaces”, or setting aside and ignoring theological differences, he said.

The “grave sin” of proselytism, too, goes against the “dynamic” of authentically becoming and being Christian. “The Church is not a soccer team seeking fans,” the popesaid.—CNS

ISCERNING the best way to help a couple whose marriage has failed is not easy, Pope Francis told a group of bishops, but he said he was certain that with study and prayer they would find ways to help the people entrusted to their care.

As some very public debates swirled this month about the pastoral possibilities Pope Francis opened to bishops and priests for helping divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, he visited the offices of the Roman Rota, a marriage tribunal, but did not issue clear, blanket instructions.

The pope made his visit to speak with bishops who were at the Roman Rota for a course on implementing the rules Pope Francis published in September 2015 to reform the process for verifying the validity of a marriage.

Pope Francis told the bishops that “any impediment of a mundane character”—specifically cost or staffing—that makes it difficult for couples to get a timely judgment on the validity of their marriage must be eliminated.

Canon law, the pope said, is at the service of the salvation of souls and fulfils that service by promoting a “healthy relationship between justice and charity”.

After all, he said, the entire Code of Canon Law ends with the words, “The salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes.”

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o evangelise and help save a person, the pope said, the Church must know what they are experiencing.

“The Church of the Incarnate Word incarnates itself in the sad and painful events of the people, it bends down to the poor and those who are far from the Church community or who think they are outside it” because their marriage has failed, he said.

The divorced—whether or not

Addressing members of the Vatican tribunal for marriage, Pope Francis told members that the divorced— remarried or not—“are and remain incorporated into Christ by virtue of their baptism”. they remarry—“are and remain incorporated into Christ by virtue of their baptism”, the pope said.

By their ordination, the bishops have been charged by Christ and the Church with the responsibility of tending to those people.

“We are called not to exclude them from our pastoral concern, but to dedicate ourselves to them and their irregular and difficult situation with all concern and charity,” he said.

The pope quoted from the First Letter of Peter, “Tend the flock of God in your midst, overseeing not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock.”

Questions about exactly how to help different couples in different situations are not easy to answer, the pope said.

Bishops must “seek responses in the word of God and in the truth of the faith”, guided always by a recognition that the salvation of souls is always the “supreme good”.—CNS

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C

ARDINAL Vincent Nichols of Westminster, London, said some British media were stirring up xenophobic sentiments against migrants and refugees.

The cardinal suggested that some media were guilty of fostering a climate of fear of refugees ahead of the June 23 referendum that resulted in a surprise vote for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. He told a press conference that attitudes towards migrants had since hardened, making it harder for humane solutions to be found to the refugee crisis in the Middle East and the crisis of mass migration from Africa.

Speaking at a London press conference, he said: “We were concerned about the levels of intolerance, of attitudes hardening, of attitudes of exclusion.

“It is the fostering of a climate of fear that actually makes finding solutions more difficult,” said Cardinal Nichols, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

“I believe that the constant repetition of the dangers of the risks of refugees and the constant putting into the public sphere of fear actually masks a deeper level of compassion that exists within many people in this country,” he said.

The cardinal said the bishops collectively “expressed our regret of the emergence of harder attitudes towards people who have migrated to be in this country and our regret at the way those views are given such ample expression, particularly in parts of the media”.

Ahead of the Brexit referendum, most of the British national newspapers—including the bestselling tabloids and titles

Refugees and migrants walk towards the Croatian border in Belgrade, Serbia. English Cardinal Vincent Nichols said some British media have stirred up xenophobic sentiments against migrants and refugees. (Photo: Marko Djurica, Reuters/CNS) normally supportive of the ruling Conservative Party—were openly in favour of Brexit.

Cardinal Nichols added that inevitable economic consequences of Brexit—such as rising inflation, possible restrictions on trade with the European Union and the devaluation of the British currency—would be felt “most keenly at the bottom of the economic ladders”.

He insisted, however, that there had not been a significant number of attacks on European migrants despite the rising mood of xenophobia.—CNS

HE Catholic bishops of Rwanda have apologised for Christians’ role in the deadly 1994 geno-

cide.

“We apologise for all the wrongs the Church committed. We apologise on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that Church members violated their oath of allegiance to God’s commandments,” said Rwanda’s Conference of Catholic Bishops in a statement.

The statement, read at parishes across Rwanda, said that some Catholics planned, assisted, and executed the genocide. Hutu extremists killed over 800 000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Clergy members were included in the ranks of both perpetrators and victims.

In some cases, Hutu priests, bishops and religious helped to hide and protect Tutsis.

In other cases, they took up arms against them. They ushered victims into church buildings with false promises of security and then trapped and betrayed them, facilitating their massacre.

“Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn’t show that we are one family but instead killed each other,” the bishops said.

The genocide began on April 7, 1994 after controversy over the plane crash that killed the then-president of Rwanda, a Hutu.—CNA

INTERNATIONAL

The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

5

Pope to new cardinals: Be agents of unity

BY CINDY WOODEN

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HE Catholic Church’s 17 new cardinals must dedicate their lives to being ministers of forgiveness and reconciliation in a world—and sometimes a Church— often marked by hostility and division, Pope Francis said.

Even Catholics are not immune from “the virus of polarisation and animosity”, the pope told the new cardinals, and “we need to take care lest such attitudes find a place in our hearts”.

Creating 17 new cardinals from 14 nations , the pope said the College of Cardinals—and the Catholic Church itself—must be a sign for the world that differences of nationality, skin colour, language and social class do not make people enemies, but brothers and sisters with different gifts to offer.

Only 16 of the new cardinals were present for the ceremony. The Vatican said 87-year-old Cardinal Sebastian Koto Khoarai, the retired bishop of Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho, was created a cardinal although he was unable to travel to Rome.

After reciting the Creed and taking an oath of fidelity to Pope Francis and his successors, each cardinal went up to Pope Francis and knelt before him. The pope gave them each a cardinal’s ring, a three-cornered red hat and a scroll attesting to their appointment as cardinals and containing their “titular church” in Rome. The assignment of a church is a sign they now are members of the clergy of the pope’s diocese.

After the consistory, Pope Francis and the new cardinals hopped in vans for a short ride to visit retired Pope Benedict XVI in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, his residence in the Vatican gardens. The retired pope greeted each cardinal, thanked them for stopping by and assured them: “My prayers will accompany you always.”

Cardinal Mario Zenari, the pope’s ambassador to Syria, spoke on behalf of the new cardinals, promising Pope

Benedictine Abbot David Charlesworth of England’s Buckfast abbey looks the encased hairshirt worn by St Thomas More. The shirt is now on permanent display at the abbey. (Photo: Luke Michael Davies/Buckfast Abbey Media Studios/CNS)

Martyr Thomas More’s hairshirt now on display

Pope Francis and new cardinals visit with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the retired pope’s residence after the consistory at the Vatican at which Pope Francis created 17 new cardinals. (Photo: L’Osservatore Romano) Francis that they and the entire Church would continue to be envoys of God’s mercy, bending down to help those “left half dead on the side of the road, wounded in body and spirit”.

T

he Gospel reading at the consistory was St Luke’s version of Jesus’ discourse to his disciples: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

“They are four things we can easily do for our friends and for those more or less close to us, people we like, people whose tastes and habits are similar to our own,” Pope Francis said. But Jesus, not mincing his words, calls his followers to more.

“With people we consider our opponents or enemies,” the pope said, “our first instinctive reaction...is to dismiss, discredit or curse them.

Often we try to ‘demonise’ them, so as to have a ‘sacred’ justification for dismissing them.”

Just as God loves and forgives the pope and the cardinals for their sinfulness, he said, so they must love and forgive others, undergoing “the

BY SIMON CALDWELL

conversion of our pitiful hearts that tend to judge, divide, oppose and condemn”.

Looking around the modern world, Pope Francis said: “We see, for example, how quickly those among us with the status of a stranger, an immigrant or a refugee” are seen as threats, he said. They are presumed to be an enemy because they come from a different country, “because of the colour of their skin, their language or their social class. An enemy because they think differently or even have a different faith”, he said.

“We need to take care lest such attitudes find a place in our hearts, because this would be contrary to the richness and universality of the Church, which is tangibly evident in the College of Cardinals,” he said.

The cardinals come from different countries, “we think differently and we celebrate our faith in a variety of rites. None of this makes us enemies; instead, it is one of our greatest riches”.

At the end of the consistory, the College of Cardinals had 228 members, 121 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a pope.—CNS

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HE hairshirt worn by St Thomas More as he contemplated a martyr’s death in the Tower of London has been enshrined for public veneration.

The folded garment made from goat’s hair was encased above an altar in Buckfast Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in south-west England.

St Thomas, a former Lord Chancellor of England, wore the shirt while he was incarcerated in the Bell Tower of the Tower of London awaiting execution for opposing the Protestant reforms of King Henry VIII. He was beheaded on July 6, 1535, after telling a crowd gathered on London’s Tower Hill that he was “always the king’s good servant, but God’s first”.

Benedictine Abbot David Charlesworth said that the shirt had not been shown in public before.

He said that although the shirt was a secondary relic, he believed it was of greater significance than a body part, or primary relic, because it was directly linked to the religious convictions of the saint.

“What this relic represents is St Thomas More’s faith,” Abbot Charlesworth said. “This relic says

Year of Mercy provisions on abortion confession extended

BY CINDY WOODEN

‘M

ERCY cannot become a mere parenthesis in the life of the Church,” the pope wrote in an apostolic letter, Misericordia et Misera, (“Mercy and Misery”), which he signed at the end of the Year of Mercy.

In his letter, Pope Francis said he formally was giving all priests permanent permission to grant absolution to those who confess to having procured an abortion.

While many bishops around the world routinely grant that faculty to all their priests, Pope Francis had made it universal during the Holy Year.

According to canon law, procuring an abortion brings automatic excommunication to those who know of the penalty, but procure the abortion anyway. Without formal permission, priests had been required to refer the case to their bishops before the excommunication could be lifted and sacramental absolution could be granted to a woman who had an abortion or those directly involved in the procedure.

“I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life,” the pope wrote. “In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking

A mosaic of St Augustine’s sermon about Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery. (Photo: Tyler Orsburn/CNS) to be reconciled with the Father.”

Now that all priests have been given the faculty to lift the excommunication and grant absolution, the Code of Canon Law will have to be updated, said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, the office that organised events for the Year of Mercy.

The pope also formally extended the provision he made during the Year of Mercy of recognising as valid the sacramental absolution received by “those faithful who, for various

reasons, attend churches officiated by the priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X,” the traditionalist society founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

The title of Misericordia et Misera is taken from a sermon by St Augustine about Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery. After those who wanted to stone her slinked away, only Jesus and the woman—mercy and misery—remained.

In the letter, Pope Francis also asked dioceses that have not yet done so to consider joining the “24 Hours for the Lord” initiative. Near the fourth Sunday of Lent, dioceses choose a church or churches to stay open for 24 hours to offer the sacrament of reconciliation and eucharistic adoration.

Calling the Bible “the great story of the marvels of God’s mercy”, Pope Francis also asked every Catholic parish in the world to set aside at least one Sunday a year to promote reading, studying and praying with the Scriptures.

In another continuation of a Year of Mercy project, Pope Francis asked the more than 1 100 priests he commissioned as “missionaries of mercy” to continue leading retreats, missions, prayer services and offering confession in dioceses around the world.—CNS

something about who Thomas More was as a Christian...it is a major relic.

It is linked to his life of conversion and his identification with the sufferings of Christ.”

St Thomas married and fathered four children, but wore the shirt in private, sometimes beneath his robes of high office.

He gave up public office when King Henry asserted supremacy over the Church in England so he could annul his marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon and wed Anne Boleyn.

St Thomas was condemned for high treason after he refused to take an oath attached to the Act of Succession, which recognised any children of the marriage of Henry and Anne to be rightful heirs to the throne.

Bishop Mark O’Toole of Plymouth, the diocese in which Buckfast is situated, said he hoped the shrine would become an international pilgrimage destination. He said there was a huge cult dedicated to St Thomas in countries as diverse as Germany and South Korea, as well as global significance as the patron of statesmen and politicians, and as patron saint of lawyers.—CNS n See page 9 for more of St Thomas More’s life story.

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The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

LEADER PAGE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editor: Günther Simmermacher

Bigotry: Be the cure

T

HE year has seen the triumph of fear-based politics: the success of Donald Trump’s hate-based campaign, the Brexit vote, and Turkey’s surrender of civil liberties in the wake of a staged coup attempt.

Democratic politics in the West are changing as far-right groupings are emerging from the margins to enter the mainstream.

In France, National Front leader Marine Le Pen is currently leading polls for next year’s presidential election, benefiting in particular from a wave of Islamophobia. This is a win for the ISIS terrorists who have inflicted such trauma on France over the past couple of years, because the objectives of terrorism are to strike fear and division among those it victimises.

Countries often believed to be liberal, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, have seen far-right parties recording big political gains. Even Germany, a nation with a troubled history of hatebased politics, is witnessing overtly racist demonstrations and electoral gains for far-right parties.

In his campaign for the US presidency, Mr Trump appealed to the fears of mainly white Americans who perceive a threat to their particular way of life and values.

His narrow election victory served as a repudiation of the basic tenets of values which are often summed up in the terminology of “political correctness”.

Mr Trump’s election campaign, the Brexit vote in Britain, and the rise of the far-right in Western Europe are a reaction to secular values, even those that have their roots in Judeo-Christian ethics.

There are signs of political incorrectness gone mad. The bigots are feeling liberated from the restrictions imposed on them by those who say you may not be racist, xenophobic, homophobic or sexist.

Immediately after the Brexit referendum, there were many incidents of physical or verbal assaults on minorities and vandalism of their properties. The same took place after Mr Trump’s election win, with even black and Hispanic churches and Jewish graves being vandalised with white supremacist graffiti, some referring approvingly to Mr Trump.

This is no unhappy coincidence. When campaigns are won by feeding hatred for others, then the hatred will find concrete expression in society.

Mr Trump fought an astonishingly hateful campaign. He made clear his disposition towards racism, xenophobia, misogyny and homophobia, he trivialised sexual assault, mocked the disabled and the poor, asserted the primacy of greed, threatened his political opponents, vilified journalists, joked about gun violence, engaged in extravagant lies, acted with callous cruelty towards others, and exercised an excruciating level of bullying.

Whatever the obvious shortcomings of the opposition candidate and whether intended or not, every vote for Donald Trump helped to legitimise the racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia and so on that defined his candidacy.

Some South Africans cheered Mr Trump’s election victory. They surely have now yielded the moral high ground from which to criticise the similarly populist demagoguery of leaders such as Julius Malema.

Disturbingly, 60% of white Catholics voted for Mr Trump’s programme of hatred, though some might have done so on the single issue of abortion. What effect can the Year of Mercy have had on Catholics who voted for a platform that was so deliberately lacking in Gospel values?

People of decency must resist the normalisation of bigotry.

They must not allow racism, xenophobia, misogyny or homophobia to be regarded as normal and therefore socially tolerable.

Bigotry is not just a matter of opinion, and a lie is not just a matter of perspective. Both must be challenged vigorously.

The followers of Christ now have an enormous obligation to stand up to everything that contradicts Gospel values.

Taking our cue from Pope Francis, we must give counterwitness to those who preach the false Gospel of hatred, those who seek to exclude and marginalise, those who place greed above the common good, those who are aggressively indifferent to the suffering of others.

Pope Francis has called the polarisation of people—the “us versus them” worldview—a “contagious virus”.

Every Catholic now has the responsibility to be part of the cure, by witnessing with authentic compassion to the values that advocate for the common good and the dignity of all people.

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.

Are we making too much of ashes?

I

READ with sadness and amusement what Fr Chris Townsend wrote about scattering ashes (“Don’t ninja-dump granny over a wall”, November 16).

The Church’s guidelines on disposing ashes are wise and good.

Naturally I fully agree that human remains must be treated reverently.

My late father worked for a while at a crematorium and took me on a tour there. He explained that people are naive and ignorant about cremations.

They do not know that the ashes they are given are not all the ashes from one corpse. He said that

Kudos for climate change editorial

I

CONGRATULATE the Editorial Advisory Board on the “Leave it in the ground” editorial of November 16.

My hope is that you will continue to “spread the gospel” as often as possible.

The future of the human race is more and more uncertain as climate research is uncovering additional alarming evidence that the rate of temperature change is getting faster and faster.

This month, the UN Environmental Group at the COP 22 conference in Morocco reported that the CO2 emissions targets agreed to at COP 21 in Paris a year ago must be reduced by another 25% if the world minimum temperature increase of 20ºC is to be held by 2030.

I’m completely flabbergasted by the lack of interest in the international media, with no headlines about this dire news at all.

Does nobody, except the pope, the Greek Orthodox patriarch and the UN secretary-general, take this cataclysmic news deadly seriously?

All three of them have made strong appeals for immediate action.

In my 81 years on this planet, during which I have been passionate about the environment, supported by a scientific education and observation of nature, I have yet to understand how we can be so arrogant as to think that we can control the climate/weather.

We are but the equivalent of tiny microbes on the surface of this huge planet, which has been around for the last 3,7 billion years.

Make no mistake, we may wreck large parts of the surface of the planet, but the planet will just quietly carry on existing by readjusting all its interdependent ecosystems to a different stability level—which we know will not be conducive for human survival.

Furthermore, according to the respected Global Footprint Network, we will have used 1,6 earths’

sometimes a bone is ground down and placed in an urn. Most of the ashes are literally dumped in pits with all the other ashes. I saw this myself. Perhaps things have changed, but I doubt as much.

However, I see in my mind’s eye the scene where my sister and I knelt next to a daisy bush—a dying daisy bush, moreover—in a disused plot of land and sobbingly and furtively placed our mother’s ashes under it.

We had tried to get permission to bury her ashes in the church garden where she attended church for over 20 years, without success.

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

worth of the earth’s annually available renewable resources by the end of this year.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that on this basis, we are heading for disaster very quickly.

The world economy will just collapse, with the ensuing chaos and wars and conflicts as a result.

What to do about it? We, the ordinary people, need to immediately enforce our inalienable right to demand and coerce governments all over the world to ditch the current neoliberal, capitalistic economy of unlimited growth, with a new system of human values that respect each and every human being.

The ideal, of course, would be to have the involvement of the whole Church from the Vatican down, which I’m sure Papa Francesco would heartily endorse.

Such a movement would fit very neatly with the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace.

What do we have to do to drastically reduce emissions, starting right now?

The solution is very simple. The implementation is a problem only if we all deny what is to be done.

Changing minds and habits is the most difficult occupation in the whole world.

We must slow the world economy down, allowing only the production of goods and services that will be essential for the survival of all mankind.

This is dramatic action to take, but it is the only effective one to avoid a tsunami-sized disaster enveloping the human race.

At the same time, we would be

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bequeathing a peaceful and sustainable world to our children, grandchildren and all future generations.

This is not only my own personal view. It is supported by, among others, NASA scientists, one of whom appears towards the end of Leonardo di Caprio’s recently released excellent film Before the Flood, which can be downloaded for free, per kind permission of Mr di Caprio, who is keen that it is accessible to the whole world.

Let us pray: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

“And you shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit, we may be truly wise, and ever enjoy his consolations. Through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.”

Antonio Tonin, East London

Bringing up race may not be racist

I

WOULD like to give my view on “Why always bring up race?” as expressed by concerned reader Dave Hunter (November 9).

First, in the words of Abbot Francis Pfanner: “One has to show black people that they are as equal and valuable to God as we are.”

Fr Thulani Mbuyisa saw his recent election as vicar-general of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill as a “prophetic sign” of the world for which Christ prayed, that “all may be one”.

We always see the wish of Abbot Francis and the prayer of Jesus Christ being fulfilled when a black person comes up to serve the world, especially in a leadership capacity.

Putting it differently, the expression Mr Hunter is complaining of is meant to say thank you for serving us, but now we can be co-servers, now we’re one and the same.

Mwiria David, Port St Johns

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We had asked to bury her ashes in the garden at the retirement village where she had lived for 21 years, but it was not allowed, despite our promise to do so secretly.

Our family had decided that they did not want to have a niche in a wall where no one would visit or would seldom visit; or to have to think of mom as a niche in a wall.

In retrospect I realise that we were too emotional and hasty.

We have in our way expressed our sorrow about this. I do not think we need to ask forgiveness as the Church suggests.

Are we not making too much of ashes?

Glenda Beukes, Johannesburg

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PERSPECTIVES

Danger of fearfulness L OVE comes from God. Fear does not.

Of course, some fears are legitimate.

We place security around our homes to protect our families from crime. We pursue healthy lifestyles to reduce our chances of contracting life-threatening illnesses.

As a Church we introduce child safety policies to ensure that our children are safe when participating in religious activities. We all agree that these are good precautions to forestall evil.

That is very different from debilitating fear that robs us of the ability to love. This is the kind fear that Satan takes advantage of. This kind of fear hampers our ability to discern, driving us to make the poorer choice, the consequences of which allow evil to spread.

Many of us watched with shocked horror as Donald Trump was elected to be the next American president. How is it possible that good people voted for someone who belittled disabled people, said disrespectful things about women, made racist comments and showed little tolerance for other minority groups?

Mr Trump, as a good salesman, knew that his best chance of success was to speak to people’s fears. And he did just this: he touched a chord among those who fear their jobs will be taken away by immigrants. He spoke to those who fear that extremists will obliterate “our way of life”.

He tapped into fears that extending civil liberties to LGBTI people will destroy the fabric of society. He addressed fears that the granting of further reproductive rights to women will increase the abortion culture in America and around the world.

At the heart of it, it would seem that Trump was addressing legitimate fears. As Christians, we believe in the life-giving meaning of work, the freedom to practise our faith, the consequences of the breakdown of marriage and family life, the evil of abortion.

However, in the aftermath of the election, there have been an alarming number of hate crimes against minority groups

in what appears to be the rise of a neo-fascist culture.

We ask ourselves: How did this happen? It happened because the electorate heard only what they wanted to hear— the legitimisation of their fears.

But did these same voters hear the hatred that coated Mr Trump’s presidential campaign? They might have overlooked his sexist comments on grounds that he was the "lesser evil" of the two main candidates. But at no point in his many speeches did we hear anything that expressed mercy, compassion, tolerance, and love.

T

his is precisely the danger. When we respond only on the basis of fear, then we are incapable of reaching out beyond ourselves and looking at the world from the perspective of the other.

When we are looking only to protect ourselves and the values that we hold dear, we are unable to reach out to the margins of society with merciful love, as Pope Francis has called us to time and again during the Year of Mercy that has just drawn to a close.

I am not suggesting that Hillary Clinton might have been a better president.

But it concerns me deeply that voters who decided on the destiny of one of the most

Demonstrators protest in Los Angeles following Donald Trump’s election as US president. (Photo: Patrick T Fallon, Reuters/CNS)

Sarah-Leah Pimentel

The Mustard Seeds

powerful nations on earth are precisely those whose religious calling is to spread God’s love and mercy.

Of Catholic voters, 52% voted for Mr Trump (going up to 60% among white voters). Among white evangelical Christians, 81% voted for him, 61% of Mormons, and 58% of all mainline Protestants.

I am saddened that the overwhelming majority of Trump voters are white Catholic, Protestant and evangelical Christians. Some of my Catholic friends in the US voted for Mr Trump on one issue only: abortion.

As Christians, of course we must value the dignity of human life from conception to natural death. But how can we possibly say that the life of a black person or a gay person or an immigrant seeking a better life or a refugee fleeing from certain death is of less value than that of the unborn child?

As Christians, we are called to be coherent. If we say that we are pro-life, we need to stand in favour of all life, and we need to hold our leaders accountable to protecting all life, including the life of our planet.

It is easy to judge the actions of people who live far away. But as we close out 2016, let us reflect on our own country.

We also have seen fear, anger, and intolerance spill out on social media, in parliament and on the streets of our nation.

We have two years before we elect our next president. What can we learn from the American election? Will we vote on the basis of our fears or will we take the time between now and then to form our consciences, but also to listen to the messages of the political leaders who will stand as candidates in 2019?

Is it possible for us to vote on the basis of our Catholic values of love, mercy and compassion for all people, irrespective of race, creed or social status?

Why Mary had to be born without sin Fr Ralph T De Hahn HE figure of Mary, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, continues to provoke controversy and confusion among many of our Christian communities.

In the commentary on Luke’s gospel of the Annunciation in the popular King James version of the Bible, one reads the surprising statement that “although Mary is honoured above all women, it is vital to remember that she was born in sin”.

The author goes on to justify his belief by quoting two biblical texts, namely “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour (Luke 1:47)—indicating that Mary was a sinner and needed a saviour—and “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

However in the rest of the New Testament, this commentator clearly sees Jesus, the Son of Mary, as the sinless Messiah, the promised one, the Lamb of God who is to take away the sins of the world.

Surely, there is a contradiction. According to this author’s interpretation of the sacred scriptures, when God the Father wished to send his son as man to redeem the sins of the world, he would take his flesh and blood from a sinful creature. He is suggesting that the Son of God, himself equal in purity and power to the Father, should take his flesh and his precious blood from a tainted, sinful source.

But how is this even conceivable? How can sin conquer sin, or crush the curse of Satan on all mankind? Surely, if the Father willed his divine Son to take on a human

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Point of Reflection

A statue of Mary at the grotto of the apparition in Lourdes, where she introduced herself as “the Immaculate Conception”.

The Church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

(Photo: Günther Simmermacher) nature—and still forever remaining divine—then that human mother had to be sinless. She had to be immaculately conceived. She had to be “full of grace”, as proclaimed by the Archangel Gabriel.

And here again, we find the King James version reject that archangel’s greeting, “Hail, full of grace”, and replace it with “Hail, thou who art highly favoured”.

Only highly favoured, not full of grace because you are a sinful creature.

B

ut then the Holy Bible is packed with hundreds of heroes who were indeed “highly favoured”—Moses, Joshua,

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Samuel, David, Daniel, Joseph of Egypt, Elizabeth, Zachary, Peter and the apostles and the rest. Mary, however, was created with a unique purpose From all eternity the Father had planned the redemption of all mankind by sending his own Son as our Redeemer.

Mary indeed was redeemed and prepared for the tremendous privilege we call the Incarnation. She was chosen to be the mother of God’s own divine Son. She had to be the immaculately conceived. That is how she identified herself to St Bernadette at Lourdes in 1958: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

It is also interesting to recall that Eve, the wife of Adam, was also created without sin.

She was immaculate, but she sinned by pride and disobedience, and therefore could never be a mother to the sinless One. Mary stands on a highly privileged and majestic platform as the Immaculate Mother of God. And Catholics throughout the world honour her as such, and sing her Magnificat daily in the divine office: “Behold from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed, for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name…”

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The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

7

Michael Shackleton

Open Door

Can we trust the Gospels as fact?

From biblical studies I know that the evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke wrote their gospels perhaps between 30 and 50 years after Christ’s Ascension. This means that to write their texts they had to draw on material that was already current in the early Church’s preaching. This material is called the oral catechesis. Please explain this oral catechesis and how we can rely on its accuracy about the person and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Clint

L

UKE 1:2 gives us the first clue. He drew his material from Christians at the time who were “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word”, to give an orderly account of what happened in Christ’s life.

Among these there were the apostles themselves who had first-hand knowledge of Jesus and his teachings. They and other preachers did not necessarily recite episodes in the life of Jesus as they appear in the gospels. Rather, they were teaching the catechesis that Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour who rose from death to prepare a place for us in his eternal kingdom.

We get another clue from what Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, wrote in the second century. He said Mark was the one who carefully wrote down the things he remembered from Peter’s preaching, “but not in the order in which the Lord had said and done them”. He said Peter preached according to the needs of his hearers, much like any preacher today would do.

The Church’s teaching is that what the Bible tells us is free from error. This does not imply that everything is historical. In gathering and noting information from the oral preaching of their times, Matthew, Mark and Luke presented a contemporary understanding of that preaching, not the original preaching of Jesus himself.

Does this historical gap weaken the authenticity of the gospel writings? No, because the original preachers of the Good News were so much closer to the events they proclaimed. Some were eye-witnesses and others would be quick to spot something that did not agree with what was the accepted catechesis.

When the three evangelists began to write (we exclude John’s gospel because it was mostly based on his personal encounter with Jesus), the Church had already spread both inside and outside the Holy Land. Their object was to provide the historical background and content of what the Church was already preaching.

In this they were guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit who was already active in the oral preaching of the apostles and other disciples.

Christ promised this when he told the apostles: “The Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:26).

n Send your queries to Open Door, Box 2372, Cape Town,

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The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

COMMUNITY

A deacons’ retreat which was held at Schoenstatt in Cape Town, led by Fr Michael van Heerden (front, third from right).

Nine young people from Inkamana High School in Vryheid, KwaZuluNatal, received their First Communion at the Benedictine abbey’s church.

Chaplain Fr Boniface OSB and catechist Fr Dominic Michael OSB are shown with the students.

Divine Mercy parish in Walkerville, Johannesburg, held a 30km pilgrimage, with more than 120 people walking from the parish church to Our Lady of Lebanon, Mulbarton, as a way of marking the Marian jubilee during the Year of Mercy.

Fr Tom Segami OMI, of St Peter Claver parish in Pimville, Soweto, blessed parish youths about to write their 2016 matric exams.

(Photo: Sello Mokoka)

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Carmelite Sr Marie Thèrése Tibudan celebrated her 25th jubilee of profession at Carmel in Retreat, Cape Town.

Oudtshoorn diocese organised a retreat for extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at St John Bosco Youth Centre in Dysselsdorp. The group, who came from as far away as Plettenberg Bay, Worcester and Ceres, are shown together with Fr David Dettmer (centre left) and Bishop Frank de Gouveia (centre right).

Children from St John’s parish in Chatsworth, Durban, received their First Communion. With them is Fr Grant Emmanuel.

Grade 10 pupil Chrislin Nieuwoudt of Holy Rosary High School in Edenvale, Johannesburg, was one of five girls selected to represent South Africa in the Netherlands for the Protea Junior Lifesaving Team.

Two South African records were broken for the relays that Chrislin took part in.

The Eucharistic Crusaders of St Leo’s parish in Makhoathi, Lesotho, after their annual retreat at Auray Mission. (Far left) director Mamahlapane Nkobolo. (Photo: Ntate Nicholas Khojane)

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CHURCH

9

500 years since More’s Utopia December marks the 500th anniversary of the publication of St Thomas More’s classic book Utopia. FR VAUGHN FAYLE OFM finds that even after half a millennium, the book remains delightfully curious.

B

Y the time Yale University Press completed the updated entire set of St Thomas More’s works, many were amazed to see its length: 20 volumes.

Sir Thomas was well read, wrote well and extensively, and immersed himself in the humanistic model of life. His life was edified and educated by Classical Greek and Latin poets and thinkers, leading him to imitate their style in dealing with others and in his approach to theology and political philosophy.

Like his close and abiding Renaissance friend, Erasmus, Thomas More thought that sound theology should be based on sound reasoning and learning—especially a sound knowledge of Greek and Roman antiquity, in order to avoid both pious popularism and heresy in theology—on the one hand, and pompous clericalism on the other.

Once called the founder of English literature, his extensive writings, poems, translations, speeches, and personal correspondence bear witness to consummate balance, and reserve at a time when fearmongering and polemic was the order of the day.

Thomas More knew that a consistent life needed to balance a consistent view of death with a vision of the afterlife.

The popular play (and later film) A Man for All Seasons, which I remember seeing as a boy as performed by the Durban Catholic Players’ Guild, presented More as a man of determined honesty, a perfect model for lawyers and honest politicians; someone unafraid to stand up to religious and political authority rather than sell his soul to popular whims.

Venerated by both Anglicans and Catholics, some scholars argue that Thomas More was the very first to introduce the term “integrity” into the English language and to apply it directly not only to the spiritual life but also to the life of a good servant in political or religious office.

There is no doubt, looking at much political life and discourse around the world, including a “Donald Trump world”, that we desperately need the model and inspiration of Thomas More—the consistently thoughtful politician of impeccable service and integrity.

Yet, for all his heroism, this year Thomas More is being remembered not for the life of a leader or martyr, but rather for a curious book that is tucked away among the 20 volumes of his collected writings. That book, now famous in English and Catholic literature, is called Utopia, published 500 years ago in December.

Utopia has become a contribution to world literature and in a strange way is still relevant for us today.

An instant hit The text itself is in two parts: one written in England, the other in Flanders. It was finally published in Louvain, Belgium, in 1516 and became an immediate bestseller.

The book opens with a prelude of More weighing opinions for and against entering royal service, after he entered the administration of Henry VIII, who then was still a devout Catholic (Luther’s protest in Wittenberg and the arrival on the scene of Anne Boleyn were still in the future).

Sir Thomas begins by indicting the social ills in England before sketching out the superior world of the “Utopians”.

St Thomas More in a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1527, eight years before his martyrdom under Henry VIII. With the mind of a careful lawyer, everything is covered: euthanasia, divorce, housing, eugenics, clothing, education, war, government—with a strong sense of an almost communalistic or Benedictine sharing of space and goods, something which More really loved.

In Utopia, all these ideas and this way of life would be tested out in a kind of nursery (seminarium) for governance.

Reward and punishment in the country of Utopia is neither under the Church nor political figures, but rather under a just God who controls all mortality and immortality.

Some laws seem draconian and far sterner than Christendom, like women having to confess their sins to their men every week.

This is strange since in real life Sir Thomas championed and pioneered liberal education for all women in England at a time when it was not at all popular to do so.

We see that in his own life, in the excellent education he gave to his own daughters and his in-laws, schooling them well in the classics and liberal education.

Another surprise is that despite More’s dutiful persecution of heretics and later Protestants—because they disturbed the civic calm and order—in Utopia he seems rather to argue for religious tolerance of others and even insists on the liberty of other religions.

As entertaining as all this may be, in the end one is left asking: Who then is the real Thomas More?

With the name “Utopia”, is he just teasing us with a pun on ou-to-posin in Greek, meaning “no place”, and eu-toposin Greek, meaning “a really good old place”? We shall never know.

Making sense of More I was first introduced to Utopia in a course I was taking on the history of political writing, and although the professors took great time to go into the nuances of the text, I found it hard to understand and can therefore sympathise with those who have given up reading this book.

Part of the problem is More’s enigmatic and half invented language, the speech of the island Utopia. His references to obscure classical Greek and Latin speeches match his dry sense of ironic humour; in fact one wonders whether he ever intended for us to take his text seriously at all.

What helped me was to place Utopia in the style of humanist literature, called the “mirror of princes”.

Books, plays and poems written in this genre want to hold up a mir-

ror to religious and political leaders, almost saying: “Look at this new world, this better world, this more perfect state, and then compare it with your own politically corrupt, messy-looking world. Which one do you think is better?”

It was the hope of these “mirror of princes” writers, and it may have been the hope of Thomas More in writing Utopia, that it would stand as a mirror to an England and a Reformation and Counter-Reformation church that was based on political greed, nepotism and ambition.

Much like St Augustine’s City of God, Voltaire’s Candide, or even George Orwell’s 1984, these books force us to compare our reality with another world, what is called a dystopian view of life.

Thomas More seems to be saying to all readers, and especially to religious and political leaders, that the people in the strange land of Utopia, who use only honesty and sound reason, are creating a far better world than Christian Europe at that time, with its wars, pettiness, divisions and its posturing for power.

Why Utopia still matters Clearly Utopia is a fantasy of a perfect state, much like Plato’s Republic, but it would be wrong to treat it as yet another dry philosophical text.

It is also a book inspired by the actual historical interest of curious 15th century explorers in the new world of the Americas, which Amerigo Vespucci had then just named, and all voyages—scientific, intellectual or actual—that tried to point Christians, and therefore all humanity, towards a more prudent style of democratic government base on shared reason, the rule of just law, rather than on superstition and tribalism.

The new constitutions of South Africa and South Sudan, Africa’s newest country, likewise will struggle for a complete fulfilment of the spirit and letter of the text, since by necessity all dreams, all utopias and anticipated constitutions will eventually need revision and more careful implementation when they interact with the actual day-to-day realities within a democracy.

The style of More’s Utopia is also much like the dialogues of Socrates since it does not give a clear and concise summation, saying exactly what we need to do to attain this fantastic better world.

Thomas More seems far more interested in carefully presenting the right questions rather than just giving catechism-like answers. In a strange way, Utopia unsettles us and it remains, in its reading and composition, an unfinished text.

So, what is the final message of this 500-year-old book? Perhaps that depends on our own life and our own sense of mortality.

St Thomas More’s eventful life in brief S AINT Thomas More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist—and a steadfast Catholic, a faithfulness that would cost him his life.

Born in London on February 7, 1478, he was the son of a successful lawyer and later judge. After studying in Oxford, he joined his father in the legal profession.

According to his friend, the Dutch theologian Desiderius Erasmus, More seriously contemplated abandoning his legal career to become a Carthusian monk. He joined them in their spiritual exercises but remained a layman.

He stood for election to parliament in 1504 and married Jane Colt the following year. Believing in educating women, he tutored his younger wife, and ensured that their three daughters—Margaret, Elizabeth and Cicely—and subsequently his step-daughters would receive the same high level of education as son John did.

Jane died in 1511, and within a month, More married the rich widow Alice Harpur Middleton.

That marriage is believed to have been an economic rather than romantic union; it likely was never consummated.

More’s political career progressed rapidly. By 1523 he was the speaker of the House of Commons; two years later he was made chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, giving him executive and judicial responsibilities over much of northern England.

Upon the death of Cardinal Wolseley in 1529, King Henry VIII appointed him Lord High Chancellor of England, a position akin to prime minister.

In that role, he was very active in suppressing the Protestant Ref-

In a move of art anticipating life, More’s own body was thrown into the river Thames after his execution and decapitation, struggling to find a dignified final grave despite the fact that he had earlier built and designed his own burial chapel, complete with his own selected inscription. Fate and the dramatic change of circumstances determined that this was not to be More’s resting place.

Perhaps Sir Thomas’ most salient insight from Utopia is that power in the end, ecclesiastical or political, rapidly waxes and wanes. Perhaps it is the work of each of us as tempo-

ormation that had been launched

by Martin Luther in Germany. He denied rumours of having ordered Protestants tortured and executed, though during his chancellorship, six people were burned at the stake for heresy.

M

eanwhile the conflict over supremacy between the papacy and the king was coming to a breaking point.

More loyally supported the supremacy of the pope over that of the king of England. In 1530, he refused to sign a letter asking Pope Clement VII to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. His relationship with Henry soured, and in 1532 More resigned his chancellorship.

A year later More refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as queen of England. Though he had acknowledged her queenship in writing, the snub was seen as an act of treason. Various attempts to charge More with trumped up crimes failed, but when refused to take the oath of supremacy of the crown in the relationship between the kingdom and the church in England, his fate was sealed.

In kangaroo court trials in 1535, More and Bishop John Fisher of Rochester were convicted of treason and sentenced to death.

St Thomas was executed by beheading on July 6, 1535, two weeks after St John Fisher.

Pope Pius XI canonised More and Fisher in 1935 as martyrs. In 2000 Pope John Paul II declared him the “heavenly patron of statesmen and politicians”.

Interestingly, even the Church of England regards More and Fisher as saints and as Reformation martyrs.

rary citizens of this world, to be more self-governing, more communitarian and thoughtful of our common destiny, which after all, does not lie in this world but in the next.

Liturgically, at this time of Advent, perhaps for us Christians, maranatha, “Come Lord Jesus!” is the best ultimate refrain to More’s utopian vision. n Fr Vaughn Jerome Fayle OFM is assistant professor at the faculty of philosophy of the Pontifical Antonianum University in Rome, Italy, and is currently visiting lecturer at St Bonaventure’s University College, Lusaka in Zambia.

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10

The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

FAITH

Five ways to have a holy Advent season In the hustle and bustle of preparing for the holidays and Christmas, it is easy to lose sight of the important season of Advent.

JENNIFER UEBBING offers five ways in which to make the season leading up to Christmas meaningful and truly Christian.

A

DVENT is upon us. While the world seems to be in a frenzy of Christmas shopping, travelling, decorating and entertaining, the Church presents us with a unique traditional alternative: a season of reflection, preparation and penance as we anticipate the birth of Christ.

Contrary to popular practice and belief, Advent is more than a frantic countdown to Christmas.

Even some Catholics may not fully understand the penitential spirit of the pre-Christmas season, as a time of fasting, prayer and almsgiving meant to prepare the faithful for Christ’s birth.

These traditional Advent practices date back to the earliest days of the Church.

The more faithfully the season of Advent is observed, the more joyful the season of Christmas will be. Without a time of fasting and self-denial, the joy of Christmas becomes routine and loses its value as a sacred feast.

The Church encourages participation at weekday Masses during Advent, because in the Eucharist we find the source and goal of our Advent preparation: Christ himself, whose sacrifice reconciles us with God. The following are some further ideas and popular traditions for making Advent a time of anticipation and preparation for the joy and mystery of Christmas:

The Advent wreath This tradition, which has its roots in Germany, is probably the best-recognised Advent custom.

A wreath made of evergreens symbolises the many years from the time of Adam to the time of Christ, during which the world awaited its Redeemer. It also represents the years that the Church has continued to anticipate his second and final coming.

The wreath typically holds four candles. In some regions—especially in Europe—they are all red, in other traditions three purple ones are lit for the “penitential” Sundays, and one pink candle for Gaudete Sunday, the joyful third Sunday in Advent.

St Nicholas of Myrna is surrounded by (clockwise from top left) an Advent wreath, a Jesse tree, a Nativity Scene made of olive wood in Bethlehem, and a Christmas tree.

The empty manger Many families set out an incomplete Nativity Scene, leaving the manger empty in anticipation of the arrival of baby Jesus.

As the Advent season progresses, acts of charity and good deeds are rewarded with pieces of straw or paper with which children can line the empty manger, preparing a soft bed for the Christ child. The more good deeds and sacrifices they undertake, the softer and more comfortable the baby Jesus will be in his humble crib.

St Nicholas Day The feast of St Nicholas is on December 6. In many countries, on the evening of December 5, each child puts out an empty shoe

in the hope that the kind bishop— with his mitre, staff, and bag of gifts—will pay a visit.

The modern-day figure of Santa Claus is modelled after this reallife early Christian hero from the fourth century.

Many families give small gifts on both St Nicholas Day and Christmas Day.

The Jesse tree A custom that goes back to medieval times, the Jesse tree recalls Christ’s ancestry through symbols, relating Scripture to salvation history by showing the progress from creation to the birth of Christ.

The tree can be an actual dried branch or bundle of branches, or can be cut from paper or cardboard.

Each day of the Advent season is represented by a figure from Scrip-

NAZARETH HOUSE Johannesburg

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ture, as history advances toward the arrival of humanity’s Saviour.

Blessing the Christmas tree In blessing the tree which will be decorated and laden with gifts, we are reminded of the significance that the “tree” plays in our Catholic faith.

Point out to your children that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were forbidden from eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and that Christ paid the ultimate price for our redemption by hanging on a “tree”, the Cross, which is also referred to as the Tree of Life.

The legend of the Christmas tree has its roots in many cultures.

In the eighth century, St Boniface gave the balsam fir tree to the druids in place of the oak tree,

which was the symbol of a pagan idol.

“The fir tree is the wood of peace, the sign of an endless life with its evergreen branches,” the saint told them. “It points to heaven. It will never shelter deeds of blood, but rather be filled with loving gifts and rites of kindness.”

Other traditional explanations compare the evergreen tree, which never loses its leaves, to the eternal life and hope which is found in Christ.

However you choose to observe the season, remember: the patience and penance of Advent will open your heart to the joy of Christmas!—CNA n Jennifer Uebbing blogs on the Catholic News Agency site. Look out for more Advent articles by her next week and in the December 14 issue.

ST LUKE’S HOSPICE

Tree of Lights Ceremony, Kenilworth, 4 December

To support this special event you can purchase a number of different lights from the Main Star, Branches of Lights to Orbs and Halo’s and the lights will be added to the tree and lit up on the 4th December.

Please contact mwgoldsc@mweb.co.za or 021 797 5335 to support St Luke’s Hospice

CLASSIFIEDS

Bells ring after ISIS is driven from Nineveh towns

T

WO years after the sound of church bells was replaced by the sound of explosives in Bashiqa, just north of Mosul oin Iraq, Christians are again celebrating Mass after ISIS was forced out in 2014.

Christian liturgies are being celebrated again in the church of Mar Korkeis, after Bashiqa was taken back by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters this month.

Once the area had been taken

by ISIS two years ago, minorities such as Christians were forced to choose between persecution, conversion, or fleeing to autonomous Kurdish-controlled regions nearby.

After taking Mosul, one of the largest cities in Iraq, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a

“caliphate” within Iraq and Syria.

Christianity has been present in the Nineveh Plain in Iraq—where Mosul and Bashiqa are located—since the first century. However, since the ousting of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by the United States and its allies, Christians have been fleeing the region.

The ISIS takeover of Mosul drove Christians from the area for the first time in almost 2 000 years.

To celebrate the reclaiming of the city from ISIS, a new crucifix was installed in the Mar Korkeis church in order to replace one broken by ISIS forces, the Reuters news agency reported.

While ISIS fighters have been pushed back, explosives and

Your prayer to cut and collect

Advent Prayer God of Love, Your son, Jesus, is Your greatest gift to us.

He is a sign of Your love.

Help us walk in that love during the weeks of Advent, as we wait and prepare for His coming.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Saviour.

Amen.

mines still riddle the town, and Bashiqa remains unsafe for civilians, said Kurdish Peshmerga Brigadier-General Mahram Yasin.

“We want people to be patient and not to return here until we completely clear the area, as we want to ensure their safety,” he told Reuters.

Fr Afram, pastor of the parish, told Reuters that after the city returns to normal, he would like it to remain under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), rather than the Iraqi government.

He mentioned that the KRG is closer in proximity and has been much more involved in the protection of the region since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.—CNA

Liturgical Calendar Year A – Weekdays Cycle Year 3 Sunday December 4, 2nd Sunday of Advent Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalms 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:1-12 Monday December 5 Isaiah 35:1-10, Psalms 85:9-14, Luke 5:17-26 Tuesday December 6, St Nicholas Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalms 96:1-3, 10-13, Matthew 18:12-14 Wednesday December 7, St Ambrose Isaiah 40:25-31, Psalms 103:1-4, 8, 10, Matthew 11:28-30 Thursday December 8, Immaculate Conception of Our Lady Genesis 3:9-15, 20, Psalms 98:1-4, Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12, Luke 1:26-38 Friday December 9, St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin Isaiah 48:17-19, Psalms 1:1-4, 6, Matthew 11:1619 Saturday December 10 Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11, Psalms 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19, Matthew 17:9-13 Sunday December 11, 3rd Sunday of Advent Isaiah 35:1-6, 10, Psalms 146:6-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11

Southern CrossWord solutions

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

CAPE TOWN: Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Good Shepherd parish, Bothasig, welcomes all visitors. Open 24 hours a day. The parish is at 1 Goede Hoop St, Bothasig.

Phone 021 558 1412.

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

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

DURBAN: Holy Mass and Novena

to St Anthony at St Anthony’s parish every Tuesday at 9:00. Holy Mass and Divine Mercy Devotion at 17:30 on first Friday of every month.

Sunday Mass at 9:00.

Phone 031 309 3496 or 031 209 2536.

Overport rosary group.

At Emakhosini Hotel, 73 East Street every Wednesday at 18.30.

NELSPRUIT: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at St Peter’s parish every Tuesday from 8:00 to 16:45, followed by Rosary, Divine Mercy prayers, then a Mass/Communion service at 17:30.

SOLUTIONS TO 735. ACROSS: 1 Inch, 3 Chancery, 9 Barrier, 10 Wrack, 11 Birthday suit, 13 Rachel, 15 Shinto, 17 Brotherhoods, 20 Adieu, 21 Trustee, 22 Brethren, 23 Arts. DOWN: 1 Imbibers, 2 Carer, 4 Hurray, 5 Now is the hour, 6 Elation, 7 Yaks, 8 Lighter touch, 12 Roosters, 14 Carmine, 16 Gentle, 18 Outer, 19 Daub.

The Southern Cross, November 30 to December 6, 2016

CLASSIFIEDS

11

Births • First Communion • Confirmation • Engagement/Marriage • Wedding anniversary • Ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • In memoriam • Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal • Services • Employment • Property • Others Please include payment (R1,60 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

DEATHS

O’CONNELL—Sr M Perpetua. A Holy Cross Sister, Sr M Perpetua, aged 94 years, passed away at Holy Cross Home, Lady Selborne, Pretoria, on November 8. Lovingly remembered by the Holy Cross Sisters, the O’Connell family circle in Ballyhooly, County Cork, Ireland, and the people whom she served in South Africa. May she rest in peace!

O’CONNOR—Sr Catherine. A Holy Cross Sister, Sr Catherine, aged 82 years, passed away at Nazareth Care Village, Belfast, Northern Ireland, on September 6. Lovingly remembered by the Holy Cross Sisters, the O’Connor family circle in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and the people whom she served in South Africa and Northern Ireland.

May she rest in peace!

marriage, with the last two and a half years of leukaemia, which ended on November 30, 2015. But we thank you Lord for ending her suffering, so Catherine my beloved wife and our mother, till we meet again our prayers and Masses will be offered, with all our love. Billy and family Jennifer, Loretta, Bernadette, Belinda, David and their families. Thanks be to our precious God.

PRAYERS

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.

FATHER in heaven, everliving source of all that is good, keep me faithful in serving you. Help me to drink of Christ's truth, and fill my heart with his love so that I may serve you in faith and love and reach eternal

Word of the Week

Apostolic succession: The teaching that there is a direct line of descendents with its requisite authority that proceeds from the original apostles down the line of bishops in the Church.

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PERSONAL

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HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

IN MEMORIAM

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

CIOLLI—Mary-Anne (Dickie) née Dixon. She passed away on January 18, 2015, after a long illness, borne with dignity and great courage, deeply mourned, and will be forever remembered, with great love, by Remo, Catherine, Michael, David, Stephan and grandchildren.

RIP. MAHER—Herbert and Cicily Myrtle. Herbert died on December 6, 2002 and Cicely Myrtle on December 11, 2006. Dearly beloved parents of Joan, the late Michael, James and Sharon. Rest in peace.

NASH—Catherine Elizabeth. Thank you Lord for my beloved wife whom thou called after 53 years of

life. In the sacrament of the Eucharist you give me the joy of sharing your life.

Keep me in your presence.

Let me never be separated from you and help me to do your will.

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The

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the

3rd Sunday of Advent: December 11 Readings: Isaiah 35:1-6, 10, Psalm 146:6-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11

S

HOULD we be looking nervously or enthusiastically for the coming that is foreshadowed in this Advent season?

Next Sunday’s readings suggest that we should be quite happy about this “coming”; but that we must also be aware that it will bring elements of discomfort.

The first reading is quite clear about it all; there is to be rejoicing: “The desert and the dry land shall rejoice, and the wilderness shall rejoice and bloom.”

Then the poet thinks of the most beautiful and fertile parts of his beloved Palestine: “Lebanon…and the glory of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.” Not only that, but those who are excluded from the community are to be brought back: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be made open; the lame shall leap like a deer (!), and the tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy.”

Then comes a message for those who are in exile, utterly remote from home: “Those whom the Lord has ransomed shall return and come to Sion with rejoicing and permanent joy shall be on their heads.”

Enthusiasm is the watchword here.

S outher n C ross

When we come to the psalm for next Sunday, there is immense joy, mainly because the focus is all on God. He is described as “the one who keeps faith forever, who does justice for the oppressed” (so the joy is for the poor rather than for their oppressors) “and gives food to the hungry, who sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord who lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord who loves the just, the Lord who takes care of the immigrant, up holds the orphan and the widow”.

Enthusiasm, therefore, at least for those who are at the bottom of the pile, is the watchword, and the psalm ends with a cheerful “Hallelujah—praise the Lord.”

The second reading is from the Letter of James, and it suggests that we may be feeling a bit nervous, but advises us to “be patient… until the Lord’s coming”, indicating that this is how the farmer “receives his precious crop”.

We are to “strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming has drawn near”.

So far, therefore, we are to be enthusiastic; however, there are also indications of a possible nervousness, for we are not to “groan

against each other, that you may not be judged—for look! The judge stands before the gates”, and we are to expect the same treatment as “the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord”.

So nervousness may also be appropriate; and it seems that John the Baptist was not immune to nervousness about Jesus, despite the fact that they had that previous encounter when Jesus insisted on being baptised.

But the Gospel tells us he is now in prison; and things can look different from inside a cell. So he sends a message: “Are you the Coming One, or are we to wait for another?”

Jesus’ reply to John’s messengers is clearly intended to dispel nervousness and replace it with enthusiasm: “Off you go, and tell John what you hear and see.”

Then in an echo of our first reading and of the psalm we hear what is happening.

“The blind are recovering their sight; the lame are walking about; lepers are being made clean and the deaf are hearing, and the dead are being raised, and the poor are being given good news.”

Then Jesus invites the listening crowd to reflect on the significance of John himself,

Start the politics of love A

deeply our own principles.

Moreover, the issues on which they challenge us are not minor ones.

Secular culture, in its best expressions, is a powerful challenge to everyone in the world to be more sensitive and more moral in the face of economic inequality, human rights violations, war, racism, sexism, and the ravaging of Mother Nature for shortterm gain.

The voice of God is also inside secular culture. Christian prophecy must account for that. Secular culture is not the antiChrist. It ultimately comes out of JudeoChristian roots and has inextricably embedded within its core many central values of Judeo-Christianity.

We need then to be careful, as cultural warriors, to not blindly be fighting truth, justice, the poor, equality, and the integrity of creation. Too often, in a black-and-white approach, we end up having God fighting God.

A

prophet has to be characterised first of all by love, by empathy for the very persons he or she is challenging.

Moreover, as the theologian Fr Gustavo Gutierrez teaches, our words of challenge must come more out of our gratitude than out of our anger, no matter how justified the anger. Being angry, being in someone else’s face, shredding those who don’t agree with us with hate-filled rhetoric, and winning bitter arguments, admittedly, might be politically effective sometimes.

But all of these are counter-productive in the long-term because they harden

Conrad

PROPHET, the US peace activist Fr Daniel Berrigan wrote, “makes a vow of love, not of alienation”.

Those words need to be highlighted today when a lot of very sincere, committed, religious people self-define as cultural warriors, as prophets at war with secular culture.

This is the stance of many seminarians, clergy, bishops, and whole denominations of Christians today. It is a virtual mantra within the “Religious Right” and in many Catholic seminaries.

In this outlook, secular culture is seen as a negative force that’s threatening our faith, morals, religious liberties and churches. Secular culture is viewed as, for the main part, being anti-Christian, antiecclesial, and anti-clerical and its political correctness is seen to protect everyone except Christians.

More worrisome for these cultural warriors is what they see as the “slippery slope” wherein they see Western culture as sliding ever further away from our JudeoChristian roots. In the face of this, they believe, the churches must be highly vigilant, defensive, and in a warrior stance.

Partly they’re correct. There are voices and movements within secular culture that do threaten some essentials within our faith and moral lives, as is seen in the issue of abortion, and there is the danger of the “slippery slope”.

But the real picture is far more nuanced than this defensiveness merits. Secularity, for all its narcissism, false freedoms and superficiality, also carries many key Christian values that challenge to us to live more

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Joy and nervousness

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Sunday Reflections

and why they were drawn out into the desert to hear his preaching.

It was not (despite what the advertisements are telling you just now) “a man dressed in soft clothes”, or anything resembling a palace-dweller, but a prophet.

“Yes, I am telling you, and better than a prophet, the one of whom it was written, ‘Look I am sending my angel before your face’.”

So enthusiasm is once more our theme, and Jesus confirms this by continuing: “Amen, I’m telling you, there has not been raised up anyone greater than John the Baptist.” Then, however, the tone changes: “The least in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than John.”

Should we be nervous or enthusiastic to hear this, do you think?

Certainly as Advent goes on, we should be increasingly aware that God is bigger than we are, and the Coming that we wait for should leave us not only nervous but also very enthusiastic.

Southern Crossword #735

Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI

Final Reflection

hearts rather than soften them. True conversion can never come about by coercion, physical or intellectual. Hearts only change when they’re touched by love.

All of us know this from experience. We can only truly accept a strong challenge to clean up something in our lives if we first know that this challenge is coming to us because someone loves us, and loves us enough to care for us in this deep way.

This alone can soften our hearts. Every other kind of challenge only works to harden hearts.

So before we can effectively speak a prophetic challenge to our culture, we must first let the people we are trying to win over know that we love them, and love them enough to care about them in this deep way.

Too often this is not the case. Our culture doesn’t sense or believe that we love it, which, I believe, more than any other factor renders so much of our prophetic challenge useless and even counter-productive today.

Our prophecy must mirror that of Jesus: As he approached the city of Jerusalem shortly before his death, knowing that its inhabitants, in all good conscience, were going to kill him, he wept over it.

But his tears were not for himself, that he was right and they were wrong and that his death would make that clear. His tears were for them, for the very ones who opposed him, who would kill him and then fall flat on their faces. There was no glee that they would fall, only empathy, sadness, love, for them, not for himself.

Fr Larry Rosebaugh OMI, one of my Oblate confrères who spent his priesthood fighting for peace and justice and was shot dead in Guatemala, shared in his autobiography how on the night before his first arrest for civil disobedience he spent the entire night in prayer.

In the morning as he walked out to do the non-violent act that would lead to his arrest, he was told by Fr Berrigan: “If you can’t do this without getting angry at the people who oppose you, don’t do it! This has to be an act of love.”

Prophecy has to be an act of love; otherwise it’s merely alienation.

ACROSS 1. Begin chapter short distance in (4) 3. The archbishop’s office (8) 9. Obstacle to entering (7) 10. Torture (5) 11. You can barely wear it (8,4) 13. Daughter of Laban (Gn 29) (6) 15. Sin turns hot in Japanese religion (6) 17. Religious communities with relative head coverings (12) 20. Francophone goodbye (5) 21. Member of the fiduciary board (7) 22. Members of 17 ac (8) 23. Creative activities of rats (4)

DOWN 1. They like to drink (8) 2. A little loss in career for the nurse (5) 4. Shout of approval (6) 5. Throw in house about appointed time (3,2,3,4) 6. Feeling that may accompany 4 down (7) 7. Talks much like Tibetan beasts (4) 8. With it you play the piano less heavily (7,5) 12. Cocky birds (8) 14. Rice man might give cardinal his red hue (7) 16. Mild like a kind man (6) 18. Beyond earthly space (5) 19. Without directions paint Danube badly (4)

Solutions on page 11

CHURCH CHUCKLE

T

HE priest received an account for paint from a local hardware shop.

Since he wasn't aware of anyone having painted anything in the parish lately, he called the shop manager to point out the error.

The manager consulted his records and eventually said: “Well, Father, here I have a receipt signed for your church by someone named Christian.”

“Impossible,” the priest replied, “we have no Christians in our church!”

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