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March 14 to March 20, 2018
Oscar Romero, Paul VI set for sainthood
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Pope Francis’ special way with words
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Township anger over water crisis BY BRONWEN DACHS
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ITH severe restrictions on water usage in drought-stricken Cape Town, poor communities feel a strong sense of injustice, which needs to be addressed, said a parish priest in one of the city’s oldest black townships. There is a “a lot of anger, with people in informal settlements saying, ‘We grew up using small bowls of water to wash ourselves; this is nothing new,’” said Jesuit Father Rampe Hlobo of St Mary’s church in Nyanga. Water restrictions in Cape Town, which has been battling to keep its taps flowing following a three-year drought, make it compulsory for the city’s 4 million residents to use no more than 50 litres per person per day. City officials estimate that informal settlements use just 5% of the city’s water. “The amount of water that the poor use is a fraction of that used by those in the suburbs who have washing machines, dishwashers and other appliances,” Fr Hlobo noted. In the black townships and informal settlements, “there is a feeling that ‘it is you rich people who have finished the water, and now you want us to share the consequences’”, he said. Cape Town have lived for months under the threat of a “Day Zero”, the supposed date on which the municipal taps would be switched off and residents would start lining up for their daily litre rations. Thousands of residents already line up every day to collect fresh water from a natural spring in the suburb of Newlands, to supplement their quotas. In preparation for Day Zero, which has now been postponed indefinitely, people in affluent areas of the city have been putting in rainwater tanks and stocking up on purchased water, but “poor families cannot afford to do this”, Fr Hlobo said. “I very rarely see anyone in a township drinking bottled water,” he said, noting that “Day Zero will bring with it the threat of street protests and violence” in this situation of inequality.
The
People queue to collect water from a spring in Newlands, Cape Town. With severe restrictions on water usage, poor communities feel a strong sense of injustice, which needs to be addressed, said a township parish priest. (Photo: Mike Hutchings, Reuters/CNS) The threat of running out of water has also led to an increased awareness, mostly among young people, of the need to care for the environment, Fr Hlobo said. He noted that about 200 people attended a February workshop he conducted at St Gabriel’s church in Gugulethu to help people understand Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home. “We are learning lessons the hard way as we live the consequences of not taking care of the environment,” the priest said. While car-washing businesses are still thriving in Cape Town’s informal settlements, where a few communal taps typically provide water for several hundred people, people in the townships who ran similar businesses from their own backyards have had to shut them down, Fr Hlobo said. “Many people’s livelihoods depend on water,” he said. Young people in his parish have told him how upsetting it is to “have their family’s income disappear through the consequences of climate change and to feel the pinch so directly”. “Young people are interested in the message of Laudato Si’ and in understanding Continued on page 3
Tolo Jele is seen reading the back page of The Southern Cross after an Academic Mass held at Sacred Heart cathedral in Pretoria. Fr Amos Masemola, administrator of the cathedral, said the Mass was dedicated to encouraging a culture of reading and learning. He said it is important for the Church to be actively involved in education and training. Guest speaker Prof Steve Mpedi Madue said the “Catholic Church must make education fashionable”. Parishioners who did well in the 2017 academic year were awarded certificates by the Cathedral parish community. (Photo: Mathibela Sebothoma)
How nurse saved pope’s life BY CINDY WOODEN
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EETING with thousands of nurses, Pope Francis paid tribute to a nurse who he believes saved his life. “When, at the age of 20, I was on the verge of death, she was the one who told the doctors, even arguing with them, ‘No, this isn’t working. You must give more’,” the pope recalled during a meeting with members of Italy’s national association of nursing professionals. With the removal of part of the infected lung and the antibiotics, “I survived,” Pope Francis said. “I thank her and I want you to know her name: Sister Cornelia Caraglio.” The Dominican nun from Italy was “a great woman, and courageous to the point of arguing with the doctors”, he said. Like Sr Caraglio, the pope told the Italian nurses, “you are there all day and you see what happens to the patient. Thank you for that!” In hospitals and rehabilitation centres, he said, nurses are at “the crossroads” of dozens of relationships, involving patients, their families, doctors and other staff. Nurses tend to spend much more time with
patients and family members than any other staff do, he said, so they usually have more information about a host of factors that must be considered when determining how best to care for the patient as a person. “The sensitivity you acquire by being in contact with patients all day,” the pope said, “makes you promoters of the life and dignity of persons.” Touch is an important factor for demonstrating respect for the dignity of the person, he said. When Jesus healed the leper, he said, he extended his hand and touched the man. “We must recognise the importance of this simple gesture,” Pope Francis said. “Mosaic law forbade touching lepers and banned them from approaching inhabited places. But Jesus went to the heart of the law, which is summarised in love for one’s neighbour.” Jesus drew near to the leper, he said, and showed that God was close to him, too. Never forget the “medicine of caresses”, Pope Francis told the nurses. “A caress, a smile, is full of meaning for one who is sick. It is a simple gesture, but encouraging, he or she feels accompanied, feels closer to being healed, feels like a person, not a number.”—CNA
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