R5,50 (incl VAT RSA)July 20 to July 26, 2011 www.scross.co.zaReg No. 1920/002058/06 No 4735

Why fathersmust pass onon the faith

Page 7

Vatican praisesvalues in

Harry Potter Page 4

Colonel: I wantto promoteHurley’s legacy

By CLAiRe MATHieSoN

THE South African Defence Force and thelate Archbishop Denis Hurley did nothave a cordial relationship, but today an

army colonel is actively engaged in raisingfunds for the centre that promotes the legacyof Durban’s late archbishop.

Colonel Martin Potlaki, acting officer com-manding of the Regional Works Unit of theSouth African National Defence Force(SANDF) in KwaZulu-Natal, says that his rela-tionship with Archbishop Hurley is motivat-ing him to raise funds for the centre dedicat-ed to the archbishop.

Paddy Kearney, coordinator of the DenisHurley Centre in Durban and ArchbishopHurley’s biographer, said that during theapartheid era the late archbishop was regard-ed with “hostility and suspicion because ofhis support for conscientious objection” tocompulsory military service by white maleSouth Africans. PW Botha, then minister ofdefence and later president of the republic,called Archbishop Hurley “a lackey of com-munism” and “a liar” for his opposition tothe border war.

But today, according to Mr Kearney, theinteraction between the SANDF and the lega-cy of Archbishop Hurley is quite different.

Col Potlaki is an enthusiastic Eucharisticminister and member of the Catholic Men’sOrganisation (CMO), and his relationshipwith Archbishop Hurley goes back to the mid-1980s, “when he met the archbishop for thefirst time and was surprised to find that hewas ‘always ready to give you his time’,” MrKearney noted.

“This encouraged him to approach Arch-bishop Hurley for a bursary to study law atthe University of Durban-Westville. The arch-bishop did not disappoint,” Mr Kearney said.

However, before he could make use of thatbursary, Col Potlaki, who was working under-ground for the then banned African NationalCongress, was forced to flee the country. Heundertook military training in various partsof Africa and overseas.

“When Martin returned to South Africa inthe late 1980s with no money or job and awife and baby to support, Archbishop Hurleywas one of the first people he met,” Mr Kear-ney said. “The archbishop was delighted tosee him and invited him to sit down andrecount his experiences outside SouthAfrica.”

Col Potlaki said the archbishop gave himblessings and advice.

By the time of their next meeting, ColPotlaki was serving in the newly reconstitut-ed defence force, and Archbishop Hurley hadretired to Sabon House, the retirement homeof the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Dur-ban. The archbishop told Col Potlaki toremember that “you are now a colonel in thenational defence force and must serve all thepeople of this country. Respect yourself, thepeople you command and those you will beprotecting. And, above all, never forget topray.”

Reflecting on these interactions with hisfamous episcopal friend, Col Potlaki said: “Heis like a saint for me. His advice and help havemade me what I am today. I have a picture ofhim at home and another at work. WheneverI have a difficulty I pray to him to ask God tohelp me—and I am always helped.”

Col Potlaki said he feels very fortunate tohave known the archbishop and will dowhatever he can to help the Denis HurleyCentre (www.denishurleycentre.co.za) become areality. “I’m ready to travel the length andbreadth of South Africa to raise funds for thisproject,” he said.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, archbishop of Durban, turned into a rock star during a visit to BlessedSacrament parish in Virginia-Umhlanga to celebrate its 50th anniversary. For the occasion,parish priests Frs Joe Money and Donovan Wheatley put together a tridiuum with two visitingpriests, Frs Chris Neville and Sylvester Davids. After an evening Mass and reception, CardinalNapier posed for some photos with the parish’s youth band. He is with adoring fans (from left)Robyn Carrington, Andre de Sylva, Chandre Busschau and Khethelo Zungu. The shoot was setup by Ms Busschau.

By CiNDy WooDeN

FOR the second year running, PopeBenedict is spending his summer holi-days in the papal villa in the hilltop

town of Castel Gandolfo, about 20km southof Rome.

“One can find everything here: moun-tains, the lake, the sea, a beautiful churchwith a restored façade and good people,”the pope said as soon as he arrived. “I amhappy to be here. Let’s hope that the Lordwill give us a good vacation,” he said.

Pope Benedict has again declined invita-tions to spend a couple of weeks of the sum-mer in the Italian Alps. He will be based atCastel Gandolfo until the end of September,said Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombar-di SJ.

The pope has suspended his Wednesdaygeneral audiences, but he will pray theAngelus each Sunday with several thousandpeople who gather in the courtyard of thevilla at Castel Gandolfo.

Fr Lombardi told Vatican Radio that skip-ping an Alpine vacation means reducingorganisational and security headaches and

costs for both the Vatican and the Italiangovernment.

In addition, he said, Castel Gandolfo has“the advantage of being a familiar location,prepared and equipped for the presence ofthe Holy Father, a quiet place, where eventhe altitude is suitable—cooler than Rome,but not particularly high—it has gardens towalk in” and is conducive to prayer and thepope’s cultural work, “both particularly dearto him”.

The spokesman said the pope plans toprepare his speeches for World Youth Dayin Madrid in August and for a trip to Ger-many in September. He also wants to con-tinue working on the third and final volumeof his Jesus of Nazareth series.

The first volume was published in 2007and the second came out in March this year.

Fr Lombardi said the pope, who hasalready begun writing the third volume,expects it to be shorter than the first twoand “a bit different in nature and approach”since it will cover Jesus’ infancy and child-hood, for which there is very little informa-tion in the gospels.—CNS

Colonel Martin Potlaki is a keen supporter of the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban. (Photo: JM Ntamubano)

Pope to write on holiday

South Sudan

and the

Catholic ChurchPage 9

LOCAL2 The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011

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Bishop Peter Holiday at his episcopal ordination in Kroonstad with Arch-bishops Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg and Jabulani Nxumalo of Bloem-fontein.

By CLAiRe MATHieSoN

CATHOLIC Welfare andDevelopment (CWD) havere-launched its Bonne Esper-

ance Refugee Shelter for Womenand Children in Cape Town.

Aside from providing a tempo-rary safe shelter for some 40refugee women and children,efforts are made to integraterefugee and asylum seekers intoSouth African society by equippingthe refugee women with the skillsto make them self-confident inde-pendent human beings in theirnew home environment.

According to CWD communica-tion manager Michail Rassool, theprogramme also facilitates educa-tion and training to counterracism, xenophobia, war andsocial violence, and to increaserefugees’ participation andstrengthen the voice in the sur-rounding communities in order toincrease service delivery.

The re-launch was celebrated asa special post-Refugee Day com-memoration attended by formerresidents and other role-players inthe refugee service network.

CWD director Lungisa Hunasaid the event must be seen as acelebration of humanity and ahuman response to a human situa-tion.

Bonne Esperance was one of thefirst facilities addressing the issueof refugees in the 1990s. Ms Hunasaid the refugee men whom sheand others were working with atthe time spoke of the need for ashelter for women and children.

“The doors of Bonne Esperancefirst opened in 1996, and sincethen the shelter has been a six-month transit point for refugeeand asylum-seeking women andchildren newly arrived from con-flict-ridden or other desperate situ-ations in other African countries,”

said Mr Rassool. Many refugees are referred to

the shelter from other stakeholdersin the field, and many of themhave themselves gone on to workfor Bonne Esperance.

Ms Huna said the organisationaims to focus on vulnerablewomen and children in the future.Bonne Esperance and anotherCWD programme, Women InNeed (WIN), are clustered and willstrive towards helping this groupof refugees. WIN deals withwomen who once lived on thestreets and in shelters, and similar-ly journeys with them to a newlife.

The re-launch event also includ-ed representatives from the UnitedNations High Commission forRefugees (UNHCR) speaking onthe international legal situationconcerning refugees and why therole of facilities like Bonne Esper-

ance are crucial to the local refugeeresponse.

The representatives also spokeon the UNHCR’s “lobbying andadvocacy role, particularly in high-lighting ongoing problems in thestate system of processing asylumapplications. Bonne Esperance hasalso assisted with addressing back-logs,” said Mr Rassool.

“Former Bonne Esperance resi-dents, who have become integrat-ed into South African life, havingsurvived the trauma of conflictand displacement from their homecountries, spoke of the shelterbeing a ‘home from home’,” saidMr Rassool.

Others, he said, described howBonne Esperance provided themwith a sense of security after thetrauma of persecution and flight. n For more information on the pro-gramme visit www.cwd.org.za ortelephone 021 425 2095

Cape Town refugee shelter celebrates 15 years

A former resident of Bonne esperance, Joseph Misekabu, spoke at the re-launch of the refugee shelter on his experience after he and his motherarrived at the shelter 12 years ago from the DRC.

By THANDi BoSMAN

THE Saints, the youth group ofMaryvale parish in Johannes-burg, made sandwiches from

100 loaves of bread for the poor aspart of the Soul Food project.

They collected bread, jam,peanut butter and butter fromtheir parish and after their 18:00Mass on Sunday evening they gottogether and started making thesandwiches.

Margaret Hill, coordinator ofThe Saints, said that the youthgroup was not the first to partici-pate in this project. Those of Rivo-nia and Rosebank parishes hadpreviously done so.

Mrs Hill explained that SoulFood was started by an organisa-tion called Soul Provider. Its vol-unteers collect left-over food not

sold or used from hotels, restau-rants, casinos and other entertain-ment places.

The food is then distributed toshelters, orphanages, feedingschemes and schools.

Soul Food is currently runningin Johannesburg, but aims toexpand as resources increase.

Mrs Hill said that Roger Hein,manager of Soul Provider, collect-ed the sandwiches from Maryvaleparish to be distributed to shelters.

Mrs Hill said that The Saintsyouth group is very active in theparish. They are involved with thesacrament of confirmation, the StVincent de Paul Society and go onmany camps.

After raising funds, four youthsfrom the parish will take part inWorld Youth Day in Madrid nextmonth.

Johannesburg ‘saints’provide soul food

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THE Missionary Sisters of thePrecious Blood in the EasternCape celebrated the 125th

anniversary of their foundation byAbbot Francis Pfanner in 1885.

Led by majorettes from St Paul’sparish, the sisters walked in pro-cession to an open tent at GlenAvent convent in Mthatha wherethe Eucharist was concelebrated byBishop Sithembele Sipuka of

Mthatha, fellow bishops, Mari-annhill Missionaries and diocesanclergy.

Many local religious communi-ties, friends and benefactors joinedthe sisters in praise and thanksgiv-ing to God for the graces upon themissionaries over the past 125years.

The Precious Blood Sisterspresently work in 20 countries inthe fields of education, health-care

and a range of pastoral ministries.They reach out to the poor, sick,marginalised and disadvantaged,especially women and children, inan attempt to share the love andcompassion of the redeeming loveof Christ.

The day concluded with prayersfor continued blessings from Godto fulfill the sisters mandate tospread his love to others in theChurch and through the world.

LOCAL The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011 3

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Effective Education Today for a Successful TomorrowSt Thomas Aquinas School in Witbank seeks to appoint a dynamic

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL – HIGH SCHOOLJANUARY 2012

This senior position requires a suitably qualified educator who is:• An innovative thinker with proven leadership, management and administrative skills• Knowledge about the FET curriculum and its requirements• Able to interact confidently with staff, learners and parents, a ‘people person’• To be willing to contribute to the whole school ethos and accept the Catholic

traditions of the school• Committed and available for all school functions and events

Please send your CV with your SACE registration and the names and contact details of two referees to: head@stthomasaquinas.co.za by 19 August 2011.

The school reserves the right not to make an appointment. Submission of an application doesnot in itself entitle the applicant to an interview.

Staying True to our Values

Precious Blood Sisters celebrate 125 years

By CLAiRe MATHieSoN

THE new Children’s Act hasbeen operational for the pastyear. However, despite being

revised multiple times, the morethan 300 page document is stillconsidered “a work in progress”.

At a round table discussionhosted by the Catholic Parliamen-tary Liaison Office (CPLO), a bodyof the Southern African CatholicBishops Conference, early childdevelopment role players discussedthe reasons why the Departmentof Social Development has invitedsubmissions on the regulations tothe act and ways to improve theact.

Round table presenter LucyJamieson—senior advocacy coordi-nator at the Children’s Institute, aresearch and advocacy organisa-tion operating through the Univer-sity of Cape Town—said the Chil-dren’s Act was one of the mostcomplicated pieces of legislationcurrently in use in the countrytoday, and there is a long way togo before a practical and appropri-ate document can be produced.

Lois Law, researcher for theCPLO, said not only do youngchildren deserve the best in theprovision of services and pro-grammes, they are “entitled tothem in terms of section 28 of theConstitution, and by virtue ofSouth Africa’s endorsement ofboth the UN convention on theRights of the Child and the AfricanCharter on the Rights and Welfareof the Child and our stated com-mitment to the Millennium Devel-opment Goals”.

Ms Law said the act and itsamendment provide the legislativeframework within which thevision, policies, hopes and aspira-tions for the protection and devel-opment of children can take place.

But while in theory many of thelegislation’s concepts were appro-priate, Ms Jamieson said, there arevarious reasons why these werenot always effective.

“The Children’s Act promotesthe preservation and strengthen-ing of families, ensures constitu-tional rights of children, overseesstructures and services that protectand help develop the child and

recognises children with specialneeds,” said Ms Jamieson.

The very principle of the actand all its services puts the bestinterests of the child first. Butbecause the act is so encompass-ing, some of its intentions havenot been achieved in practice, MsJamieson explained. Thus the callfor submissions for potential revi-sions has been made by theDepartment of Social Develop-ment.

In addition, Ms Jamieson said,South Africa has changed drastical-ly from the time the Children’s Actwas first conceived. “In 1997,there were 47 000 children in fos-ter care. Today, there are morethan 500 000.” The effects ofHIV/Aids have also impacted onthe legislation that governs it, shesaid. Today only 32% of the coun-try’s children live in traditionaltwo-parent households.

The norms and standards thatthe legislation has put in place arevery high, so even role players thatwere attempting to assist childrenwith the right intentions were notsucceeding.

“While high standards areimportant, threatening the closureof a child care facility, for exam-ple, because it does not meet a par-ticular standard is not necessarilyin the best interest of the childrenthat are cared for by the care facili-ty,” Ms Jamieson said.

Instead of threats, she said, thefacility would be better off receiv-ing help and support or “condi-tional registration” whereby thefacility can achieve funding if cer-tain standards are met as opposedto out-right closing them down.

“The norms and standards alsoneed to be contextualised. A facili-ty that has no running watershould not be expected to havethe same ablution facilities as onethat does have. These facilitiesshouldn’t be closed, rather shouldbe required to have ‘adequate’ablutions—and this is entirely con-textual,” Ms Jamieson said.

Such decisions have to be madeby social workers but there aresimply not enough social workersin the country. “South Africa isgood with handing out grants.Money is not our problem. Our

problem is that there are notenough social workers withenough time to ensure the moneyis correctly spent and the situationa child is in improves.”

Currently the country is in needof 66 000 social workers but thenumber of registrations hasdropped “simply because the con-ditions a social worker will work inare appalling”.

The act currently stipulates thata social worker needs to beinvolved in the placement, moni-toring and counselling of childrenin need and child-care facilities.“Poor decisions are being madebecause social workers simplydon’t have the time to monitorand follow up on cases, not tomention handle new cases,” MsJamieson said.

The Children’s act has the bestinterests of a child in mind, butpractically the act has not beeneffective. The amendments, whilethey intend on improving the gov-ernance and protection of chil-dren, are only likely to be in placeby 2014 and will continue to be a“work in progress”.

Children’s Act is a ‘work in progress’

The Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood, led by majorettes, walk in pro-cession to an open tent where they celebrated their 125th anniversary.

INTERNATIONAL4 The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011

Pope meets familiesof piracy victims

MARKING World Maritime Day, PopeBenedict met with a dozen people whohave family members being held cap-

tive by pirates.At the end of his recitation of the Angelus

prayer, the pope offered prayers for seafarers,“who unfortunately have been kidnapped dur-ing acts of piracy.”

“I hope they are being treated with respectand humanity, and I pray for their families sothat they will be strong in their faith and notlose the hope of being reunited soon with theirdear ones,” he told thousands of people gath-ered in the courtyard of his summer villa atCastel Gandolfo.

As the crowds were leaving the papal villa,the pope met privately with an internationalgroup of family members of piracy victims,“giving them serenity” and assuring them ofhis prayers, said Fr Giacomo Martino, directorof the Apostolate of the Sea for the Italian bish-ops’ conference.

Fr Martino accompanied the family delega-tion to Castel Gandolfo for the encounter,which, he said, brought them “heart to heartwith the heart of the Church through the HolyFather”.

In late May, the Pontifical Council forMigrants and Travellers issued an appeal togovernments, shipbuilders and owners to domore to help the families of piracy victims inaddition to stepping up efforts to prevent pira-cy in the first place.

The pontifical council said that in the firstfive months of 2011 there had been 214 newepisodes with 26 ships and 522 sailors still heldhostage by pirates.

The British website Save Our Seafarers(www.saveourseafarers.com) estimates there aresome 800 sailors currently being held by Somalipirates alone.—CNS

Vatican paper: Harry Potter champions values By CiNDy WooDeN

THE last battle of the almost-grownup Harry Potter maybe too scary for young view-

ers, but it champions the values offriendship and sacrifice, the Vati-can newspaper has said.

“The atmosphere of the last fewepisodes, which had becomeincreasingly dark and ominous,reaches its pinnacle,” said one oftwo reviews of Harry Potter and theDeathly Hallows Part 2 printed inthe Vatican newspaper, L’Osserva-tore Romano.

The darkness “may disturbyounger audiences”, said reviewerGaetano Vallini. “Death, whichwas a rare occurrence [in the pre-vious Harry Potter films] is theprotagonist here”, which is anoth-er reason the film may not beappropriate for everyone, he said.

“As for the content, evil isnever presented as fascinating orattractive in the saga, but the val-ues of friendship and of sacrificeare highlighted. In a unique andlong story of formation, throughpainful passages of dealing withdeath and loss, the hero and hiscompanions mature from thelightheartedness of infancy to the

complex reality of adulthood.” Young people introduced to

Harry Potter through the sevenbooks by J K Rowling and the filmsbased on them have grown withPotter and his friends, Mr Vallinisaid, “and they certainly haveunderstood that magic is only anarrative pretext useful in the bat-tle against an unrealistic search forimmortality”.

In the second review, AntonioCarriero reaffirmed one point Vat-ican reviewers have made sincethe Harry Potter books firstappeared in Italian: The story cap-tured the imagination of millionsof children around the world andgot them reading books.

And, he said, the saga champi-oned values that Christians andnon-Christians share and provid-ed opportunities for Christian par-ents to talk to their children abouthow those values are presented ina special way in the Bible.

Potter’s archenemy, LordVoldemort, “does not representSatan, as it would be easy to think,but is a man who has made badchoices in his life”, Mr Carrierosaid.

Voldemort has chosen not tolove others and sees himself as the

centre of the universe, he said.Mr Carriero said Voldemort is

like many modern men andwomen who think they can dowithout God and without others,they don’t believe in heaven, andyet they are the most frightenedof dying.

“Eternal life is reached throughdeath, not without it. And HarryPotter, although he never declaredhimself a Christian, calls on thedark magician to mend his ways,repent for what he has done andrecognise the primacy of love overeverything so he will not bedamned for eternity,” he wrote.The Deathly Hallows demon-

strates that “from the pure ofheart like the young Harry, readyto die for his friends”, come biglessons, Mr Carriero wrote.

The film also teaches that “it’spossible to change the world. It isHarry, with his inseparablefriends, who demonstrates that itis possible to vanquish evil andestablish peace,” the review said.

“Power, success and an easy lifedo not bring the truest and deep-est joys. For that we need friend-ship, self-giving, sacrifice andattachment to a truth that is notformed in man’s image.”—CNS

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in the final instalment of the film series. Tworeviews of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in the Vatican’s dailynewspaper praised the film saying the saga championed values that Chris-tians and non-Christians share. The film opened in South African cinemas onJuly 13. (Photo from Warner Bros)

Cardinal plans talks with priests calling for disobedienceBy CiNDy WooDeN

AUSTRIAN bishops have criti-cised an effort by a group ofpriests calling for reforms in

Church practice, including open-ing the priesthood to women andmarried men, but the bishopshave not taken or threatened dis-ciplinary action.

Michael Prüller, spokesman forCardinal Christoph Schönborn ofVienna, said the cardinal (picturedright) plans to meet in late Augustor September with the Viennesepriests who are among the leadersof the “Initiative of Parish Priests”,which launched a “Call to Disobe-dience” in June.

The initiative, which says it hasjust more than 300 members, sug-gested saying a public prayer atevery Mass for Church reform;giving Communion to everyone

who approaches the altar in goodfaith, including divorcedCatholics who have remarriedwithout an annulment; allowingwomen to preach at Mass; andsupporting the ordination ofwomen and married men.

In a telephone interview fromVienna Mr Prüller said that as faras he knew, the Austrian bishopshave not discussed a commonresponse to the priests.

“No bishop has threatened dis-ciplinary actions, but at the end ofthe day if a priest leads his parishaway from what the Churchteaches, action would have to betaken,” Mr Prüller said.

The “Call to Disobedience” saidthe priests felt forced to followtheir consciences for the good ofthe Church in Austria because thebishops have refused to act.

Cardinal Schönbornin a statement issuedon June 22 said hewaited three days torespond because he didnot want to react “outof the anger and sor-row” the priests’ initia-tive caused him.

“The open call todisobedience shockedme,” he said.

The cardinal saidnone of the priests wasordained by force andall of them vowed obe-dience as they strive to do God’swill.

Cardinal Schönborn said right-eous human beings must followtheir conscience, and if the priestsreally believe they have such anextreme conflict of conscience

with the Church,they probably shouldconsider whetherthey still belong inthe Church.

“I believe andhope, however, thatthis extreme casedoes not occur here,”he wrote. But ulti-mately, “we all decidewhether we want towalk the path withthe pope, the bishopsand the universalChurch or not”.

Bishop Egon Kapellari of Graz,vice-president of the Austrianbishops’ conference, in a state-ment said the priests’ proposals“seriously threaten the identityand unity of the CatholicChurch”.

While pastors are right to beconcerned about providing moreand better pastoral care toCatholics in the country, the situ-ation in Austria is not so drasticthat it would require priests to actoutside communion with the uni-versal Church, he said.

It is one thing to call publicattention to the needs of theChurch, Bishop Kapellari said,and it is another to encouragepeople to disobey Church teach-ing and practice.

Bishop Kapellari said thatwhile personal conscience is a“highly respected value” in theChurch, it is wrong to imply thatthe pope and bishops are not act-ing out of their own good con-science when promoting theunity and tradition of theChurch.—CNS

INTERNATIONAL The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011 5

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A religious image of Mary is part of a creation by Colombian fashiondesigner Diego Bohorquez during a fashion show in Bucaramanga,Colombia. (Photo: Fredy Builes, Reuters/CNS)

Hindu militants storm Catholicconvent school, mistreat Sisters

ABOUT 50 Hindu extremistsburst into a Catholic schoolin southern India, demand-

ing enrolment for two children,the Vatican missionary newsagency Fides reported.

The episode underscored the“schizophrenia” of Hindu radicalsin India, who attack Christians yetrecognise the excellent educationprovided by Church-run schools, alocal source told Fides.

The incident occurred in Bel-gaum in south-western India, at StJoseph’s Convent School run byCanossian Sisters.

The extremists forcibly enteredthe school premises and threat-ened and mistreated the sistersand some of the teachers, Fidessaid. The sisters called the police,who were able to calm the situa-tion.

Guiding the group was a manclaiming to be a leading memberof a nationalist Hindu party, theBharatiya Janata Party. Hedemanded the enrolment of afriend’s two children.

After the incident, the schoolrequested police protection toguarantee the safety of studentsand staff in coming weeks.

Irish diocese mishandled abuseallegations as recently as 2008

By MiCHAeL KeLLy

AJUDICIAL report into thehandling of allegations ofchild sexual abuse against

clerics in the Irish diocese ofCloyne has concluded that theChurch’s own guidelines were “notfully or consistently implemented”in the diocese as recently as 2008.

The report, released by JudgeYvonne Murphy, also said CloyneBishop John Magee admitted towhat has been described as inap-propriate behaviour with a youngaspirant for the priesthood. It saidthe bishop embraced and kissedhim.

The 400-page report also recordsfor the first time stark disagree-ment among Irish bishops overwhether Bishop Magee—a formersecretary to three popes—shouldquit as bishop of Cloyne afterDecember 2008, when the NationalBoard for Safeguarding Children inthe Catholic Church said he wasusing child safeguarding policiesthat were “inadequate and, insome respects, dangerous”.

At an emergency meeting of theIrish bishops' conference in Janu-ary 2009, just weeks after thereport critical of Bishop Magee,“there were strong opinions onboth sides” as to whether the bish-op should quit.

The Vatican announced inMarch 2010 that Pope Benedicthad accepted Bishop Magee’s resig-nation.

The commission was chargedwith investigating the handling ofallegations made against 19 priestsfrom 1996—when the Church inIreland first implemented childprotection procedures—to 2009.The commission found that “theprimary responsibility for the fail-ure to implement the agreed proce-dures lies with Bishop Magee”.

“It is a remarkable fact,” thereport notes, “that Bishop Mageetook little or no active interest inthe management of clerical childsexual abuse cases until 2008.”

The commission accuses theVatican of being “entirely unhelp-ful” to bishops who wanted to fullyimplement the agreed guidelines.

The report is highly critical ofthe Cloyne vicar-general, MgrDenis O’Callaghan, who “did notapprove of the requirement toreport [allegations] to the civilauthorities”.

The report says allegations ofabuse and concerns about inappro-priate behaviour were raisedagainst nearly 8% of priests servingin the diocese. One priest of thediocese has been convicted whileanother was successful in havinghis trial halted because of his age.

On a positive note, the commis-sion concludes that "there was nocase in which the Diocese ofCloyne moved priests againstwhom allegations had been madeto another parish or out of the dio-cese altogether."

Three of Ireland’s 26 Catholicdioceses have now been subject tojudicial inquiries that have severelycriticised Church leaders andfound that the reputation of priestsand the Church and the avoidanceof scandal were put ahead of therights of children to be protectedfrom abuse.—CNS

Greek Catholics fear looming disasterBy JoNATHAN LUxMooRe

GREECE’S Catholic Churchfaces disaster because thecurrent economic crisis is

forcing it to end vital social andcharitable projects, said Archbish-op Nikolaos Foskolos of Athens.

“This crisis could be the worst inour history,” Archbishop Foskolossaid. “There’s corruption every-where, especially among our politi-cians. We get no help from thestate or other Western churches,and our faithful can’t give anymore. Our parishes and diocesesare in deep trouble, and in a fewmonths we won’t be able to sup-port our staffers and employees.”

The archbishop voiced the con-cerns as European Union financeministers released emergency fund-ing to rescue the faltering Greekeconomy. Amid violent streetprotests the Greek legislatureapproved tough austerity measuresand tax increases on June 29,paving the way for the EU action.

The archbishop said the highertaxes would have more impact onthe Catholic Church than on thecountry’s predominant state-sup-

ported Orthodox Church. But theOrthodox Church still faced “seri-ous problems” after being told itsclergy’s state-paid salaries would becut by half, he said.

“We’re only a small minority,with few properties and resources,and we’ve been burdened in recentyears by many Catholics cominghere from poor countries in searchof a better life, using Greece asEurope’s eastern gateway,” Arch-bishop Foskolos said.

“Since we joined the EU in1981, we haven’t received any helpfrom other Western churches,

since we’re considered a rich coun-try ourselves and they can aid onlythe Third World,” he added. “Butwe have parts of the Third Worldhere in Greece, and it’s creatinggreat pastoral and social hard-ships.”

In addition to spending cuts, theeconomic plan passed by the Greekparliament calls for tax increases, a“solidarity levy” on households,sweeping privatisation, school clo-sures and sharp state sector staffand wage reductions.

Archbishop Foskolos said thecrisis has forced Caritas Greece, theChurch’s aid and developmentagency, and the Sisters of Charityto reduce assistance to refugees andasylum seekers. The Catholic-runhospice and two soup kitchens inAthens also planned to close by theend of 2011 because they did nothave the resources to keep themrunning.

“Many people are suffering realpoverty in Greece. Though we aredoing what we can, the situationcan’t continue,” said the archbish-op, who oversees a Church num-bering 200 000 Greek and foreignmembers in four dioceses.—CNS

A man stands between discountadvertisements at the entrance of hisshop in Athens. (Photo: yiorgosKarahalis, Reuters/CNS)

Help needed

THE Servants of the ImmaculateHeart of Mary, also known as the

Good Shepherd Sisters, were found-ed in Quebec in 1850. It is non-profit organisation founded for therehabilitation of women out ofprison, youth in difficulties andunwed mothers and their children.

The congregation came to workin Lesotho in 1935. They are dedi-cated in a particular way to theworks of mercy and faith educationin social services and teaching inremote areas among the poor andthe needy.

They are also engaged in healthservices whereby they work inhealth centres among people of dif-ferent illnesses, especially those suf-fering from HIV/Aids.

One of the convents in themountains, St John the Baptist con-vent in Marakabei, was blown awayby heavy winds, part of the roofsheeting was blown away, andmany windows were broken. As aresult when there are heavy rains,the damage increases as the ceilingis damaged by rain

Since the congregation could notafford to renovate that building, wehumbly request financial help withwhatever you could, so that we maybe able to buy material for renovat-ing and continue the work of mercyin that area.

Sr Maria Goretti Montle, PO Box 14258, Maseru 100,

Lesotho

A fallible opinion

PROFESSOR Brian Gaybba’s opin-ion (June 22), is that, if the

Church’s teaching regarding a par-ticular belief is not unanimouslyaccepted by God’s people, then thatissue is not part of the Church’sinfallible teaching. This means that

the Church’s teaching against abor-tion would not be accepted if therewere an absence of unanimityamong God’s people on this issue.

The issues of Humanae Vitae andwomen’s ordination, advanced byProf Gabbya as examples of his falli-ble opinion, are indeed infallibleteachings according to Vatican II(Lumen Gentium 25) because theyhave been taught constantly anddefinitively, over a long period, bypopes and bishops around theworld.

This is one of the three ways inwhich infallible doctrinal teachingcan be presented by the magisteri-um of the Church.

Dissent from Humanae Vitae is avery serious matter. It may result ingiving encouragement for the use ofthe contraceptive pill which has anabortifacient action. Our Lord gavehis mandate to the Catholic Churchto teach the moral law. The spiritualconsequences of dissent from hislaws, as presented by the Church,are too grave to be risked.

Regarding women’s ordination,Pope John Paul II confirmed thatthe Church does not have theauthority to ordain women. He fur-ther stated that no support, orencouragement of any kind, mustbe given to any individual, group,movement and so on campaigningfor the ordination of women to thepriesthood.

These infallible teachings of theChurch will not change.

Franko Sokolic, Cape Town

SACBC needs totake laity seriously

REFERRING to the SouthernAfrican Catholic Bishops’ Con-

ference Foundation, “to support ourlocal Church ourselves” is a step inthe right direction. To amass capitaland use only the generated interestis wise, and to build up a trust andregister it as a non-profit organisa-tion is good.

The trust will nominate an exec-utive committee to allocate everyyear a certain amount to the differ-ent departments and works of theconference.

But it is a big mistake to choosethe archbishops as trustees and notlay people trained in money mat-ters. With this set-up the wholeexercise lacks credibility.

The SACBC has missed a chanceto show that the Church takes thelaity seriously.

Fr Hans Leu, Otjiwarongo,Namibia

Crooning cleric

I WONDER whether the MassMonica Heymericks attended

(June 29), where “Happy Birthday”was sung, is in the same parish asmine?

Our priest, who has a fixation onthe “Extraordinary” (Tridentine)rite, sees himself as the “new EddieFisher”, for he launched forth into“O mein Papa” on Father’s Day dur-ing Mass recently, scooping andcrooning his way, off-key, to the“delight” of the congregation whoerupted into applause every nowand then. Doesn’t he know thatapplause during Mass is a “no-no”with Pope Benedict?

What next? “Mother Machree”on Mother’s Day?

Mary Gladwin, Johannesburg

LEADER PAGE6 The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011

WHILE praying outside a placeof abortion recently, I talked

to employees of the clinic who hadjust given a talk to one of the presti-gious schools in the southern sub-urbs of Cape Town.

I was shocked that one of thebest schools in the Cape actuallyinvited a speaker from an abortionclinic to speak to the parents! Areother schools doing this too in theinterest of “education”?

The speaker from an abortionclinic is, at the end of the day, amarketer, and the product is abor-tion. The language is soft andlulling: “We only ‘terminate’ a ‘foe-tus’.” Not a baby, though science isclear that once an egg is fertilised,life has begun.

There is only a “procedure room”for what are simply “procedures”,she says. An abortuary I say. Not a

“butchery”, the promoter of abor-tion says.

The way the private abortionclinics market to the youth isthrough contraception. The schoolsinvite them in and through guid-ance class discussion is held. Sexualactivity amongst the youth isencouraged, awareness is made ofthe inexpensive contraceptivesavailable at the abortion clinic, and,well, if the contraceptives fail, thenthe youth is already familiar withthe clinic and it becomes the placeto return to.

So what can we do as parentswho love our children and wholove and respect life in the womb?

• If there is a speaker at yourchild’s school, ask what organisa-tion they are representing. If theyrepresent an abortion clinic, rallyother parents and get the talkstopped. If it has happened alreadymake the principal aware that youwill not tolerate speeches from

these organisations in the future. • Raise your need for organisa-

tions that love life to be representedat your school. Speak out at publicmeetings, such as AGMs, at yourschool or raise it with the governingbody of the school. Be courageous!

• Talk about pregnancy and letyour daughter know that in theevent of an unplanned pregnancy,you would be there for her, lovingand supporting her. At the sametime you need to explain to yourmale and female children that sexu-al activities belong in the context ofmarriage. We can do this even if wehave made mistakes ourselves.

• Join or start prayer vigils for theprotection of life in your town orcity. Do these exist already? Findout where they are happening.

Let us stand up against forceswhich threaten to destroy our fami-lies and in love support and nurtureour unborn children.

Annabel Horn, Cape Town

The Editor reserves the right to shorten or edit published letters. Letters below 300 words receivepreference. Pseudonyms are acceptable only under special circumstances and at the Editor’s discre-tion. Name and address of the writer must be supplied. No anonymous letter will be considered.

LETTERS TOTHE EDITOR

Harry Potter and theChristian connection

THE release this month ofthe final movie in theHarry Potter franchise has

revived the inevitable debateabout whether adventures of theyoung wizard encourage youngviewers or readers of the JKRowling story to experimentwith the occult.

Invariably, the critics of thePotter series bring up an old cor-respondence in which CardinalJoseph Ratzinger, then prefect ofthe Congregation for the Doc-trine of Faith and now PopeBenedict XVI, appears to enter-tain misgivings presented tohim in a letter.

There is no record of CardinalRatzinger actually having readthe Potter books. In any case,the future pope redirected hiscorrespondent to an official ofthe Pontifical Council for Cul-ture, who had read the booksand took a benign view of them.

As we read this week, the Vat-ican newspaper L’OsservatoreRomano shares the positive viewof the Potter franchise in tworeviews of the latest film, HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows:Part 2. The reviewers see valuesin the Potter stories that areessentially Christian: the quali-ties of love, friendship, courageand self-sacrifice.

In its culmination, the Pottersaga treats even more profoundthemes of penitence and deathas Potter, who embodies right-eousness, calls on the malevo-lent Voldemort “to mend hisways, repent for what he hasdone and recognise the primacyof love over everything so hewill not be damned for eterni-ty,” as one reviewer put it.

This should resonate pro-foundly with Catholics whoplace the possibility of salvationfor all at the centre of theirfaith.

Rowling’s story presents amoral vision in which virtue tri-umphs over evil by the exerciseof one’s own (not necessarilymagical) powers to do good.

Potter critics do not disputethis, but argue that the Pottersaga propagates witchcraft, withthe potential to seduce readersto experiment with the occultand separate young Christiansfrom God.

Many objections originatefrom people who have hadexperiences with occultism,

either as practitioners, counsel-lors or exorcists. Their insightsare valuable in assessing thenature of the wizardry of thePotter stories in relation to indi-viduals prone to experimentwith the occult.

But more is needed than sus-picion and conjecture. The crit-ics have produced no empiricalevidence which might supporttheir doubtless well-intentionedconcerns.

Indeed, it is reasonable topresume that young individualswho are prone to dabbling inthe occult draw their inspirationnot from Ms Rowling’s fictionbut from various New Age fads,abuses of astrology, and lack ofproper adult guidance.

Only those who are detachedfrom reality would understandthe Potter story as an introduc-tion to witchcraft. Harry Potteris a fantasy and can be danger-ous only to those who have dif-ficulty distinguishing fantasyfrom reality.

In any case, readers of thebook and viewers of the filmswill readily appreciate that thewizardry serves as a narrativedevice. At least by the end ofthe series it becomes clear thatthe significance of the Pottertale resides not in magic spellsbut in a meditation on theperennial battle between goodand evil. The climax in particu-lar can be understood as an alle-gory on salvation—even if Rowl-ing had no such theologicalintent.

The Potter series provides anexcellent catechetical opportu-nity. It creates a premise forfruitful discussion with youngpeople on subjects such as theoccult and the dangers it pre-sents, the battle between goodand evil, the virtues of sacrificeand loyalty, the ways ofredemption and so on.

The L’Osservatore reviewercondensed the final message ofthe Potter series in terms thatChristians should welcome:“Power, success and an easy lifedo not bring the truest anddeepest joys. For that we needfriendship, self-giving, sacrificeand attachment to a truth thatis not formed in man’s image.”

Editor: Günther Simmermacher Sex marketing?

opinions expressed in The SouthernCross, especially in Letters to the editor,do not necessarily reflect the views of theeditor or staff of the newspaper, or of theCatholic hierarchy. The letters page in par-ticular is a forum in which readers mayexchange opinions on matters of debate.Letters must not be understood to neces-sarily reflect the teachings, disciplines orpolicies of the Church accurately.

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PERSPECTIVES The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011 7

THERE is a lovely story in a devo-tional booklet called Our DailyBread about a convert to Christiani-

ty who was so perplexed by what shesaw in Christians that she told a friendshe wanted to read a book on Churchhistory.

When the friend asked why, the newChristian responded: “I’m curious. I’vebeen wondering when Christians startedto become so unlike Christ.”

The story may sound like a joke, butin reality it is a disturbing story.

It is disturbing for at least two reasons.First, the generality of Christians of ourtime do not even realise that there is aserious malady—that Christians are notwhat they are supposed to be.

Secondly, because we are not what weshould be, we are no longer clear aboutthe mission and purpose of the Churchin the world.

Indeed, I can go so far as to suggestthat if the apostles Peter and Paul were tocome back to compare the kind ofChurch they helped to build and theChurch of our time, they would be sosurprised they would shed tears to seewhat we have become compared to theirvision of the Christian community.

Some readers might think I am fussingabout nothing when, like the new Christ-ian in the story above, I suggest thatChristians have lost it and are not whatthey should be.

But Paul would certainly be alarmed tosee self-confessed practising gay bishopsin some churches and to see Christianmen who are married to men and womenmarried to women. Peter would open his

eyes in disbelief to see the rapid develop-ment of churches whose pastors openlyproclaim that you become wealthy bybecoming a Christian.

An American pastor called RobertTilton has gone so far as to despiseJerusalem as a dusty place in which tofollow Jesus. He would rather find theLord in a beautiful place like Hawaii. Heis quoted as saying: “If I’m going to go tothe cross, I’m going to go in a prettyplace. Not some dusty place likeJerusalem.” And yet Jesus was born in astable!

The likely response to the examples Ihave cited so far is that these are prob-lems of minority groups and do notreflect the teaching of the majority ofmainline churches. Let me therefore turnto other aspects of Christianity which wereadily accept but would shock faithfulmembers of the early Christian church.

Take, for example, the extent to whichChristians have been divided since

the great schism of 1054. To Paul ourdivisions would be tantamount to Christhimself being divided.

And one wonders how Jesus himselfviews these divisions. If there is anythingfor which Jesus prayed with passion, itwas the unity of his followers. In theprayer (Jn 17) Jesus suggests that withoutChristian unity the world will not believethat God sent him.

Despite this, many Christians seem tobelieve that unity is “a nice to have”, butnot an essential feature of Christian wit-ness. Thanks to the World Council ofChurches and Vatican II, ecumenism isgathering some momentum.

There are many other characteristics ofthe Christians of today that must bemaking believers from the apostolic timesturn in their graves, but let me end byciting this one: Unlike the early Chris-tians, we have no visible identity as fol-lowers of Christ.

Our only significant distinguishingfeature is that we go to church on Sun-day, but what is that? Muslims go to themosque on Friday; so how different arewe?

We are just as corrupt and worldly asother people. Our values are not distin-guishable from the values of the world;those in positions of influence practisethe leadership of domination contrary towhat Jesus taught about leadership. Weeven have Christian political parties, butone struggles to see any differencebetween such parties and those like theAfrican National Congress, Cope or theDemocratic Alliance.

Small wonder many people, someyoung Christians included, now believethat every religion is as good as anyother!

The followers of Jesus have little, ifanything, to show that they are “the saltof the earth” and “the light of theworld”. So, where did things begin to gowrong? Has Christ failed us or have wefailed Christ?

St Peter would weep at Church today

MOST us have special memories ofour fathers (at least I hope so). Iespecially treasure the memories

of my own father, who died when I wasjust 16 years old.

Even though he had a busy job as ateacher, my dad always spent time withme and my sister. I can remember whenhe got down on the floor and played jackswith us. That was at a time when notmany fathers played with their children!

My dad was very reluctant to buy atelevision, because he and my mother sawthe importance of children spending theirfree time doing such things as reading,getting exercise outside, and playing withother children. We also helped withhousehold chores.

We were probably one of the last fami-lies to get a television—I believe when Iwas in the fifth grade. I can thank my dad(and my mother) for giving me a love ofreading that lasts to this day. I still wouldmuch rather read than watch TV.

Another thing my dad emphasised wasdoing well in school. Education was veryimportant to him. His own father support-ed seven children by being a drayman(carrying ice and water, primarily). Mygrandfather encouraged his children,including my father, to get a college edu-cation. Most of them did, with the majori-ty becoming teachers.

My father also had a strong Catholicfaith. He always had a rosary in his pocketand I could often see him fingering thebeads. He made sure we attended Massevery Sunday and we often went tochurch during the week for such things asthe novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.Although he was a public school teacher,

he wanted us to attend Catholic schoolsfor elementary and high school education.My dad always encouraged prayers beforemeals and bedtime. It was just part andparcel of our life as a Catholic family.

Although my father died too soon, hedid leave a strong legacy behind in ourfamily. I think my husband is very muchlike my father in how he has played animportant role in the lives of our children(and now our grandchildren). My hus-band was involved in helping bring upour children in an active way. Our son iscarrying on that tradition in his involve-ment with his two daughters.

Fathers play a key role in their chil-dren’s practice of their faith. I found infor-mation on Swiss research on church atten-dance which highlighted the vital roleplayed by fathers in their children’s prac-tice of religion.

Rev Robbie Low, who analysed thisresearch, is a Church of England clergy-

man and member of the editorial board ofthe magazine New Directions.

Rev Low explains that the Swiss surveywanted to determine whether a person’sreligion carried through to the next gener-ation, and if so, why, or if not, why not.There is one critical finding: it is the reli-gious practice of the father of the familythat, above all, determines the futureattendance at or absence from church ofthe children.

If both father and mother attend regu-larly, 33% of their children will end up asregular churchgoers, and 41% will end upattending irregularly. Only a quarter oftheir children will end up not practising atall.

If the father is irregular and mother reg-ular, only 3% of the children will subse-quently become regulars themselves,while a further 59% will become irregu-lars, and 38% will be lost.

If the father is non-practising andmother regular, only 2% of children willbecome regular worshippers, and 37% willattend irregularly. More than 60% of theirchildren will be lost completely to thechurch.

This research confirms the importantrole of the father in passing on the faith tohis children. Of course, the mother influ-ences her children, too, but the father canmake or break his children's ties to theirfaith. n Mary Uhler is the editor of The CatholicHerald, newspaper of the diocese of Madison,Wisconsin, in which this article firstappeared.

The important role of fathers Mary Uhler

Point of Faith

on DStv audiochannel 170also streamed onradioveritas.co.za

Listen on iPhone orBlackberry:

http://listenlive-c2p1.ndstream.net:8030

Why pre-maritalsex is wrong

Young Catholics have little problem acceptingthat extra-marital sex is wrong because it is aviolation of the permanent covenant madebetween husband, wife and God. But influencedby their peers, they are finding it hard to under-stand why pre-marital sex is condemned by theChurch as immoral. Your comments?

PRE-MARITAL sex, or sexual intercoursebetween two unmarried persons—usuallyreferred to as fornication—can be casual with

one or more partners, or in a more stable waywhen a couple live together for months or years.The latter is almost the norm in modern Westernsociety, and the former is as old as society itself.

Commonplace these may be, but the Churchhas to uphold and teach the contrary because itsteaching comes from Christ and his Apostles.

Christ considered fornication on the same levelas adultery (Mk 7:21). Paul writes bluntly to theCorinthians: “Keep away from fornication...it is asin against your own body” (1 Cor 6:18).

Paul frequently, such as in Romans 12:2, insiststhat Christians must not be conformed to theworld but to Christ. This means they must take thepractice of their faith seriously, and so personaliseit that it becomes a matter of their own integrity,informing their conscience, giving them a moralawareness of what is right and what is wrong.

Many Catholics are reluctant to condemn pre-marital sex when it is commonly accepted. In thisatmosphere of tolerance, they feel no obligation tofollow the Church’s intolerant stance.

It is not easy to penetrate today’s resistant wallof indifference to the teaching that sex within law-ful marriage is the only moral way. A thoroughgrasp of how the Church understands marriage asGod’s will for the well-being of humanity must bethe basis for any discussion on sex before or out-side of marriage.

Scripture gives us guidance, in particular in 1Cor 6:12-20, but also in Genesis 2:18-25, Matthew19:3-6 and Ephesians 5:21-33.

Any indifference or tolerance in respect of pre-marital sex is not the way to have a clear con-science on the matter. Through the author of Reve-lation, Christ tells the church of Laodicea: “You areneither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or theother, but since you are neither, but only luke-warm, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Rev 3:15-16).

We can gather, then, that he will not toleratethose who accept his teaching half-heartedly.

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

Michael Shackleton

open Door

Emmanuel Ngara

Christian Leadership

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COMMUNITY8 The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011

Send photographs, with sender’s name and address on the back,and a SASE to: The Southern Cross, Community Pics, Box 2372, Cape

Town, 8000 or email them to: pics@scross.co.za

IINN FF OOCCUU SS

Edited by: Lara Moses

young people that form part of the Salesian youth Movement fromparishes in ennerdale and Finetown, Johannesburg, had a day ofrecollection at the Salesian Sisters’ community in Clonlea. FrJonathan Daniels SDB who celebrated the Mass. (Submitted byClarence Watts)

Bishop Michael Coleman of Port elizabeth with FrThembalethu Mana at the consecration of the altar cer-emony at Maria Hilf church in Woodlands near KingWilliam’s Town. (Submitted by Pumla Madliwa)

Parishioners fromSt Joseph’s ineersterust, Preto-ria, joined a proces-sion organised bythe oblate Brothersof St Francis deSales. (Submittedby Faried Abrams)

The edge Core team fromBlessed Sacrament parishin Durban at their week-end retreat on the Bluffwith Fr Donovan Wheat-ley. (Submitted by MaggieFuller)

Couples for Christ (CFC)from Durban, Pietermar-

itzburg, escourt, Kokstadand Cape Town with CFC

spiritual director Fr MaxKolbe Jacobs oSB. (Sub-

mitted by Rachel Volkwyn)

APPLICATIONS ARE INVITED FOR THE POST OF

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (HOD)TERM 1 2012

The incumbent will be expected to have:

• the requisite academic and professional qualifications and SACE registration.

• a strong personal commitment to the objectives and ethos of Catholic education

• experience in a Catholic educational environment

• a successful teaching record and involvement in extramural activities

• a good understanding of current educational practice

The incumbent will be expected to:

• be a practising Catholic

• co-ordinate and lead the Religious Education programme of the College

• teach Religious Education from Grade 8 to 12

• to be part of Ethos Committee of the Board of Governors

• in addition to teach Life Orientation in accordance with qualifications in the High School

section of the College

• participate in extramural activities

Applications should be addressed to the Principal and should include certified copies of all

relevant certificates as well as a motivation and names of two contactable references, which should

include one from a Catholic priest. Applications should reach the College on or before the 31 July

2011, delivered by hand to the College or emailed to prross@cbcpretoria.co.za

The College reserves the right not to proceed with filling the post. An application will not in itself

entitle the applicant to an interview or appointment and failure to meet the requirements of the

post will result in the applicants automatically disqualifying themselves for consideration.

Candidates not contacted before 5th August 2011 should consider their application unsuccessful.

Christian Brothers’ College is a Catholic Independent Day School for girls and

boys from Grade RRR to Grade 12 and committed to the ideas of a Gospel inspired

education in the traditions of Edmund Rice.

Mount Edmund

CHRiSTiAN BRoTHeRS’ CoLLege

PReToRiAPO Box 912-487 Silverton 0127•Tel: School (012) 804-1801, 804-1792, 804-8461• Fax: (021) 804-8781

WHEN the Southern AfricanCatholic Bishops’ Confer-ence (SACBC) started

working with their counterparts inSudan there were 53 countries inAfrica. After more than a decade ofwork, it is possible to see theimportant work the Church hasdone as a new nation, SouthSudan, was born.

The Southern African bishopshave been involved with theSudan Catholic Bishops’ Confer-ence and the ecumenical move-ment in Sudan since the mid-1990s. According to John Ash-worth, Sudan advisor to theCatholic Church and of the DenisHurley Peace Institute in Pretoria,there have been many solidarityvisits in both directions, and “theSACBC has expressed its support inconcrete ways, particularlythrough its Denis Hurley PeaceInstitute”.

While a new country has beenestablished with a new flag flyingand a new currency planned,Catholic News Services (CNS)reported that Catholic officialshave highlighted the need forpatience and a focus on what thepeople of South Sudan haveachieved.

In “achieving their right to self-determination”, marked by theJuly 9 independence ceremony inthe capital, Juba, the people ofSouth Sudan have “what the bet-ter-educated and better-fed peopleof Libya, Yemen and many othercountries are looking for,” DanGriffin, adviser on Sudan to the USbishops’ Catholic Relief Services,told CNS’ Bronwen Dachs.

“Their potential and hope givethem a tremendous advantage,” hesaid, noting that the 8 million citi-zens of South Sudan “may nothave phones, banks or roads butthey do have rights and dignityand a government of their con-sent”.

Mr Ashworth confirmed thissentiment. “The Catholic Churchin South Sudan will continue toplay an important role in publiclife. It will encourage, advise andguide the government of the newcountry, learning lessons from theexperience of the Church in SouthAfrica.”

SACBC’s Chris Townsend fromthe Office of Communication andMedia was a part of the SouthAfrican delegation, which alsoincluded Cardinal Wilfrid Napierof Durban, that travelled to Juba tooversee the referendum in which99% of the region’s voters voted infavour of the south seceding fromthe north. Various local Churchrepresentatives have been visitingover the years, most notably Arch-

bishop Stephen Brislin of CapeTown and Bishop Kevin Dowlingof Rustenburg.

Fr Townsend was also presenton July 9, the country’s officialindependence day. “The Jubilationof seeing the flag raised, the quietconfidence of a new constitutionand country was only outdone, forme, by the ‘hand of god’ momentwhen the power failed before[president of Sudan] Omar Al-Bashir could start speaking. Whenhe eventually finished, the crowdgave him a very polite, almostEnglish, clap and then sponta-neously stood up and waved himoff,” said Fr Townsend.

The priest said South Sudan hascommitted to reverse the ten-

dencies of the former Sudan of“centralisation, coercive religiouscompliance and a single Arab iden-tity by publically committing to amulticultural, diverse and secularstate.”

South Sudan’s first president,Salva Kiir Mayardit, is himself theCatholic father of a Muslim sonand has stated that South Sudanwould be a nation which respectsthe freedom of religion.

However, Fr Townsend pointedout that the world’s newest coun-try has a long way to go. Hedescribed the lack of developmentand infrastructure as “chronic”where there are fewer schools andless opportunity.

Vincent Bolt, Sudan countryrepresentative for the CatholicAgency for Overseas Development(Cafod), the official aid agency ofthe English and Welsh bishops,told CNS that 800 000 people areexpected to return from the northto South Sudan. Since October,“350 000 people have alreadymade their way home”.

He added it was a challenge toreintegrate the returnees into rurallife, noting that many had lived incities such as Sudan's capital, Khar-toum, in the 20 years they wereaway. They had moved north insearch of peace and work.

But there is hope and greatexpectation for the new country.Fr Townsend contrasted “arrivingat the very little airport of Juba” inJanuary with what he called a“great energy…for explosivegrowth” six months later.

“South Sudan is a country ofenormous potential,” the priestsaid. “As the Catholic archbishopof Juba, Paulinus Loro, said onwelcoming his guests to a certainchaos before the celebrations: ‘wehave never been a countrybefore’.”

Fr Townsend said extensive pro-grammes will continue to run inthe new country—mostly at therequest of the local Church.

He added that while indepen-dence was just the start of the newcountry’s journey, the greatestwealth South Sudan possesses is“the generosity and commitmentof the people. In this they havemore wealth than all the oil andgold in the region”.

“There is an amazing sense ofgoodwill in the country and thatwill carry South Sudan.”

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The Catholic role in South Sudan

A man waves South Sudan’s national flag as he attends the independence Day celebrations in Juba. Hundreds ofthousands of people celebrated independence after decades of civil war. (Photo: Thomas Mukoya, Reuters/CNS)

AFRICA The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011 9

By BRoNWeN DACHS

SUDAN and South Sudan needto finalise their borders so thatpeople in the world’s newest

country can get to work growingcrops in the lush fertile region,according to Fr Peter Othow, coor-dinator of development and aid forSouth Sudan’s Malakal diocese.

“People who live in the borderarea are tense,” Fr Othow said in atelephone interview from Malakal,which is seen as one of the poten-tial flashpoints along the 2 000kmborder with Sudan.

“They can’t settle, because theyfeel that anything could happen,”he said, noting that during a surgeof violence in May people fled fromsurrounding rural areas to Malakaland are afraid to go back.

Some have moved 1,5km southof “where they think the borderwill be, so that they are free to cul-tivate” the land, he said.

With “good security, everythingcan be achieved”, said Fr Othow,who was born and raised in SouthSudan.

He said Church programmesaim to help communities to be

“food secure without depending onthe North or neighbouring coun-tries”.

For instance, a diocesan pro-gramme will provide seeds andtools to people along with lessonson how to plant crops and vegeta-bles effectively.

Soldiers from both countriespatrol the contentious border out-side Malakal “on opposite sides of acanal, which really is a big ditch”,Fr Othow said.

Sudan lost almost a third of itsterritory and about three-quartersof its oil reserves with the split thatfollowed a January referendum inwhich almost all of the residents ofthe South voted to secede.

There are political differencesamong the people of Malakal and“a struggle for power which, if notcarefully handled, could lead tomore conflict”, Fr Othow warned.

“People need to learn to negoti-ate for power-sharing in govern-ment,” he said, noting that a “cul-ture of negotiating” has yet to bedeveloped in South Sudan, where“people often think that violenceand threats of renewed tribal con-flict speak louder” than debates

with political opponents.There are “high hopes that, with

independence, there will be amuch-needed focus on education”,Fr Othow said, noting that teacherswho are able to teach in English,South Sudan’s official language, are“desperately needed”.

South Sudan is one of the least-developed regions in the world. Anestimated 85% of its population ofaround 8 million is illiterate.

Until 2005, all subjects atschools in the non-Muslim Southwere taught in Arabic, said FrOthow. Now, “subjects are taughtin English and Arabic is taught as alanguage”.

Health services are another“urgent priority” in the newly inde-pendent state, Fr Othow said, not-ing that while there is one govern-ment hospital in Malakal, a Com-boni sister runs a clinic outside thetown, “serving people who other-wise would have no access tohealth services”.

According to Doctors WithoutBorders, 75% of people in SouthSudan do not have access to basichealth services.—CNS

Finalise borders so we can grow crops

The Catholic Church, including

South Africans, have played a

key role in bringing Africa’s

newest nation, South Sudan,

into existence. Amid the joy,

Catholics also noted that much

work remains to be done, as

CLAiRe MATHieSoN reports.

Left: A child attends Mass at St Teresa cathedral in Juba. Right: Sudanese women carry crosses as they rehearse for an indepen-dence Day ceremony in Juba. (Photos: Reuters/CNS)

CHURCH10 The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011

THE small parish of St Mary’scathedral in the diocese of DeAar is bound together by its

members’ differences, the strongrelationships among parishionersand everyone helping in churchactivities.

De Aar is in the Northern Capein the Pixley ka Seme district. It isabout 320km from Kimberley witha population of about 45 800 peo-ple.

St Mary’s has about 160 parish-ioners, and for the past ten yearsthe parish numbers have beengrowing, especially since the areahas seen the influx of many immi-grants from the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo, Zambia,Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Cuba.

The cathedral was built by twoGerman brothers and consecratedto Our Lady of the Assumption on

August 15, 1929.The first parish priest of St

Mary’s was a German, Fr Hauer.The church was blessed by Arch-bishop Gijlswijk, the apostolic del-egate of South Africa.

Before the cathedral was built,De Aar’s Catholics celebrated Massonce a month with a visiting priestfrom Port Elizabeth.

The first bishop at St Mary’s wasBishop Joseph De Palma, an Amer-ican who headed De Aar diocesefrom 1967-91. Bishop JosephPotocnak, also an American, was

appointed in 1992. Since 2009 thediocese has been headed by BishopAdam Musialek.

Until 1972, Holy Cross Sistersran a school for about 350 chil-dren, but the convent closed dueto lack of funding.

The biggest achievement for StMary’s this year was the renova-tion of their cathedral. Their sanc-tuary in now lined with whitemarble. But parishioners agreedthat there is still work to be donein improving the cathedral.

Parish administrator Fr DouglasSumaili is responsible for work inthe parish and the running of StMary’s. It is the first time that StMary’s has had a full-time admin-istrator.

Fr Sumaili makes it a point tovisit the old age home, SonderSorge, on Saturdays, assisted by alay person, to distribute Commu-nion to the sick and frail who areunable to make it to Mass.

Parishioners of St Mary’s try toget involved in their church’sactivities. They have a monthlysocial gathering in their churchhall to foster community. Theyalso have a choir which practiseson Fridays and Saturday after-noons.

One of their challenges lies withthe youth. They do not have avery big youth section becausewhen the young people leaveschool they leave De Aar for their

tertiary education elsewhere. St Mary’s also struggles with

Catholics who do not come tochurch, even though they are visit-ed on a regular basis. The parishtries to uplift their youth by cele-brating a monthly youth Mass forwhich young Catholics prepare theliturgy, choose hymns and take upthe offering. The Southern Cross was popular

at St Mary’s, but over the pastthree years sales declined. To over-come this, parish leaders activelyurge their parishioners to subscribeto the newspaper. It is promotedby word-of-mouth, and by thosewho receive The Southern Cross andpass it on to others in the parish.

The biggest fundraising event at

St Mary’s is the annual CentralKaroo Show.

For three days in January theparish has a stall at the eventwhere they sell pregos, cool drinks,hotdogs, pancakes and Russians.They have been doing this for thepast eight years.

Parish secretary Carol Smithcommented on the unity of theparish and its diversity: “St Mary’sis a parish where every one of uspartakes in activities. We all have awonderful relationship; maybe it’sbecause—even though we comefrom different cultures, back-grounds, and different countriesand have different languages—weare all one big family,” said MsSmith.

ST MARY’S, DE AAR

Small parish united by diversity

St Mary’s cathedral in the diocese of De Aar has come a long way with itsbiggest achievement this year being its renovation.

The small cathedral parish of

Our Lady of the Assumption in

the Karoo town of De Aar has

remained a close-knit

community even as it has

become more international, as

THANDi BoSMAN reports.

Parish administrator Fr DouglasSumaili is responsible for the runningof St Mary’s cathedral.

OAKFORD Domini-can SisterEmmanuel Bosch

died on May 15 at VillaAssumpta in Pietermar-itzburg.

Sr Emmanuel wasborn in, 1924 in Durbanand made her first pro-fession at the OakfordDominican Congrega-tion in 1948.

Sr Emmanuel wasassigned to many con-vents in South Africa aswell as in England andRome.

Her longest stint wasin Empangeni, from1980 until she becametoo frail and moved toVilla Assumpta lastDecember.

In her younger years,she taught religion

before getting involvedin working for the poorin and around Empan-geni.

For many years sheworked for Lifeline aswell as being involved inhospice work. She assist-ed many Aids orphanswith funding which shereceived from manysources, both local andoverseas. For many shewas something of a“Mother Teresa ofEmpangeni”.

Sr Emmanuel was agreat story-teller. Her lifestory and her many ways

of reaching out to andhelping the poor in thearea around Empangenihas been collected in alittle book titled SrEmmanuel of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Sr Emmanuel Bosch OP

IN MEMORIAM

LINDSELL—Richard diedJuly 21, 2004. our dearestson and brother will alwaysbe remembered in ourprayers. Rest in peace.John, Patricia and family.

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PRAYERSHOLY St Jude, apostle andmartyr, great in virtue andrich in miracles, kinsman ofJesus Christ, faithful inter-cessor of all who invokeyou, special patron in timeof need. To you i haverecourse from the depth ofmy heart and humbly begyou to come to my assis-tance. Help me now in myurgent need and grant mypetitions. in return ipromise to make yourname known and publishthis prayer. Amen. SRB.

HOLY SPIRIT you whomakes me see everything.you showed me the way toreach my ideal. you whogive me the divine gift toforgive and forget all that isdone to me and you are inall the instincts of my lifewith me. i want to thankyou for everything and con-firm once more that i neverwant to be separated fromyou no matter how greatthe desires may be. i wantto be with you and myloved ones in your perpetu-al glory. This prayer shouldbe said on 3 consecutivedays, after the 3rd day, therequest will be granted, nomatter how difficult it maybe. Promise to publish theentire dialogue with thecondition of having yourrequest granted. RM

HOLY Spirit beloved of mysoul, you who solves allproblems, lights all roadsso that i can obtain mygoal. you who gave me thedivine gift to forgive and for-get all evil against me andthat in all instances of mylife, you are with me. i wantthis prayer to thank you for

all things as you confirmonce and again that i neverwant to be separated fromyou ever in spite of allmaterial illusion. i wish tobe with you in eternity.Thank you for your mercytowards me and mine.Amen. VC (name request)then 3 our fathers, 3 HailMary’s, 3 glory be’s. Saythis prayer for three con-secutive days after whichthe prayer will be granted,even if it may be difficult.QNM

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Southern CrossWord solutions

CLASSIFIEDSBirths • First Communion • Confirmation • engagement/Marriage • Weddinganniversary • ordination jubilee • Congratulations • Deaths • in memoriam •Thanks • Prayers • Accommodation • Holiday Accommodation • Personal •

Services • employment • Property • others

Please include payment (R1,15 a word) with small advertisements for promptest publication.

Word of the Week

Family Reflections

July 22 St Mary Magdalene. There are differentstories about her but all we really know from thegospels is that she was a sinner who repented,asked Jesus for forgiveness and became one of hismost faithful followers. As peace matures in us,especially in us older people, can the love of Jesusmake us open to be peacemakers?

Liturgical CalendarYear A

Sunday, July 24, 17th Sunday 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12, Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130,Romans 8:28-30, Matthew 13:44-52 or Matthew 13:44-46Monday, July 25, St James, Apostle 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, Psalm 126:1-6, Matthew 20:20-28Tuesday, July 26, Ss Joachim and Anne Sirach 44:1, 10-15, Psalm 132:11, 13-14, 17-18, Matthew13:16-17Wednesday, July 27, feriaExodus 34:29-35, Psalm 99:5-7, 9, Matthew 13:44-46Thursday, July 28, St VictorExodus 40:16-21, 34-38, Psalm 84:3-6, 8, 11, Matthew13:47-53Friday, July 29, St Martha Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34-37, Psalm 81:3-6, 10-11,John 11:19-27 or Luke 10:38-42Saturday, July 30, St Peter ChrysologusLeviticus 25:1, 8-17, Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 7-8, Matthew 14:1-12Sunday, July 31, 18th Sunday Isaiah 55:1-3, Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18, Romans 8:35:37-39,Matthew 14:13-21

The Southern Cross, July 20 to July 26, 2011 11

Editor: günther Simmermacher(editor@scross.co.za)

Advisory Editor: Michael Shackleton

Editorial staff: Claire Mathieson(c.mathieson@scross.co.za)

Claire Allen(c.allen@scross.co.za)

Lara Moses(l.moses@scross.co.za)

Thandi Bosman(t.bosman@scross.co.za)

Manager: Pamela Davids(admin@scross.co.za)

Advertising: elizabeth Hutton(advertising@scross.co.za)

Subscriptions: Avril Hanslo(subscriptions@scross.co.za)

Dispatch: Joan King(dispatch@scross.co.za)

Accounts: Desirée Chanquin(accounts@scross.co.za)

Published independently by theCatholic Newspaper & Publishing

Company Ltd, Cape Town

Opinions expressed in this newspaper donot necessarily reflect those of the editor,staff or directors of The Southern Cross.

Po Box 2372, CAPe ToWN, 8000Tel: (021) 465 5007 Fax: (021) 465 3850

www.scross.co.za

The Southern Cross is amember of the AuditBureau of Circulations ofSouth Africa. Printed byPaarl Post, 8 Jan vanRiebeeck Drive, Paarl.Published by the propri-etors, The CatholicNewspaper & Publishing

Co Ltd, at the company’s registered office,10 Tuin Plein, Cape Town, 8001.

BETHLEHEM:

Shrine of Our Lady of Beth-lehem at Tsheseng, Malutimountains; Thursdays 09:30,Mass, then exposition of theBlessed Sacrament. 058721 0532.

CAPE TOWN:

Good Shepherd, Bothasig.Perpetual eucharistic Adora-tion in our chapel. All hours.All welcome.

Day of Prayer held at Spring-field Convent starting at10:00 ending 15:30 last Sat-urday of every month—allwelcome. For more informa-tion contact Jane Hulley 021790 1668 or 082 783 0331.

DURBAN:

St Anthony’s, Durban Cen-tral: Tuesday 09:00 Masswith novena to St Anthony.First Friday 17:30 Mass—

Divine Mercy novena prayers.Tel: 031 309 3496.

JOHANNESBURG:

Exposition of the BlessedSacrament: first Friday of themonth at 09:20 followed byHoly Mass at 10:30. HolyHour: first Saturday of eachmonth at 15:00. At our Ladyof the Angels, Little eden,edenvale. Tel: 011 609 7246.

“Nite Fever” ’70s disco toraise funds for St Francis’Care Centre, Boksburg. July27 at The Barnyard, Boks-burg. Tickets R100pp. Tobook contact: Cynthia 0829036914 or development@stfranciscarecentre.co.za

PRETORIA:

First Saturday: Devotion toDivine Mercy. St Martin dePorres, Sunnyside, 16:30. TelShirley-Anne 012 361 4545.

Community Calendar

To place your event, call Claire Allen at 021 465 5007 or e-mail c.allen@scross.co.za, (publication subject to space)

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ST GERARD’S HOLY TOURS

Dominican FatherPeter “Nkululeko”Hortop died on

May 22 at the age of 82.Born in Kimberley in

1929, he grew up inSprings where his devoutCatholic family prayedthe daily rosary andattended daily Mass.

Peter and his brotherEric entered the Domini-can Order. He was pro-fessed in 1952 andordained to the priest-hood on November 30,1957.

A great sportsman

throughout his life,excelling especially infootball, Fr Peter ran theComrades marathon forthe first time at the ageof 50.

After serving as apriest in Hinckley inEngland for a few yearshe left the Dominicanorder, but returned in1981 to serve the poorand oppressed.

Fr Peter was a fearlesscampaigner for justiceand peace in theapartheid which resultedin him spending almost

nine months in prison. As a Dominican he

worked in Stellenbosch,Lesotho, KwaThema,Tokoza, Meadowlandsand Payneville, and wasthen a popular prisonchaplain for a number ofyears.

Fr Peter was generousand could never say noto anyone in need. Helived a simple life andwas satisfied with verylittle.

His last years werespent praying for thebrothers in his commu-

nity—his way of partici-pating in their aposto-lates.

Emil Blaser OP

IHAVE two stories to tell you today. Theycome from a Southern Cross reader whois as good at lifting things off the Inter-

net as I am. The first story took place when Al

Capone virtually owned Chicago. Caponewasn’t famous for anything heroic. He wasnotorious for everything from bootleggedbooze and prostitution to murder. Caponehad a lawyer nicknamed “Easy Eddie”.

Eddie was very good. In fact, Eddie’sskill kept Big Al out of jail for a long time.To show his appreciation, Capone paidhim well. Eddie got special dividends aswell. He and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of theconveniences of the day. The estate was solarge that it filled an entire Chicago Cityblock.

Eddie lived the high life of a Chicagomobster and gave little consideration tothe atrocity that went on around him.

He did have one soft spot, however. Hehad a son that he loved dearly.

And, in spite of his involvement withorganised crime, Eddie tried to teach himright from wrong. Eddie wanted his son tobe a better man than he was. Yet, with allhis wealth and influence, there were twothings he couldn’t give his son: he couldn’tpass on a good name or a good example.

One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficultdecision. He wanted to rectify wrongs hehad done.

He decided he would go to the authori-ties and tell the truth about Al “Scarface”Capone, clean up his tarnished name andoffer his son some semblance of integrity.

To do this, he would have to testify againstThe Mob, and he knew that the cost wouldbe great. So he testified.

Within the year, Easy Eddie’s life endedin a blaze of gunfire on a lonely ChicagoStreet. But in his eyes, he had given his sonthe greatest gift he had to offer at the great-est price he could ever pay. Police removedfrom his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a reli-gious medallion and a poem clipped froma magazine.

The poem read: “The clock of life iswound but once, and no man has thepower to tell just when the hands will stop,at late or early hour. Now is the only timeyou own. Live, love, toil with a will. Placeno faith in time. For the clock may soon bestill.”

The second story took place duringWorld War II and is about heroes. Onesuch man was Lieutenant CommanderButch O’Hare, (pictured above) a fighterpilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexing-ton in the South Pacific.

One day, his entire squadron was senton a mission. After he was airborne, helooked at his fuel gauge and realised thatsomeone had forgotten to top off his fueltank. As he was returning to the mothership, he saw something that turned his

blood cold; a squadron of Japanese aircraftwas speeding its way toward the Americanfleet.

The other American fighters were longgone and the fleet defenceless. He couldn’treach his squadron and bring them back intime to save the fleet, nor could he warnthe fleet of the approaching danger. Therewas only one thing to do. He must some-how divert them from the fleet.

Laying aside all thoughts of personalsafety, he dived into the formation ofJapanese planes. Wing-mounted 50 calibresblazed as he charged in, attacking one sur-prised enemy plane and then another.Butch wove in and out of the now brokenformation and fired at as many planes aspossible until all his ammunition was final-ly spent.

Undaunted, he continued the assault.He dived at the planes, trying to clip awing or tail in hopes of damaging as manyenemy planes as possible, rendering themunfit to fly.

Finally, the exasperated Japanesesquadron took off in another direction.Deeply relieved, Butch O’Hare and his tat-tered fighter limped back to the carrier.

He reported in and related the eventsurrounding his return. The film from thegun-camera mounted on his plane told thetale. It showed the extent of Butch’s daringattempt to protect his fleet. He had, in fact,destroyed five enemy aircraft. This tookplace on February 20, 1942, and for thataction, Butch became the US Navy’s firstAce of WW II, and the first naval aviator towin the Medal of Honour.

A year later, Butch was killed in aerialcombat at the age of 29. His home towndid not allow the memory of their hero tofade and today O’Hare Airport in Chicagois named in tribute to the courage of thisgreat man.

Oh, and by the way, Butch O’Hare wasEasy Eddie’s son.

The moral of these stories? You don’tget airports named after you if you goaround calling yourself “Easy Eddie”.

As with most good stories, this one ben-efits from embellishment—but you get thegeneral gist of it.

CHURCH CHUCKLE

Send us your favourite Catholic joke, preferably clean and brief, to The Southern Cross, Church Chuckle, Po Box 2372, Cape Town, 8000.

18th Sunday: July 31Readings: Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 145:8-9, 15-18; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21

AT the very heart of our existence is theunconditional generosity of God; wewould not even be, had not God

already created us, for no merit of ours. Andtherefore we are most like ourselves whenwe reflect in our lives that divine generosity.That is the message that comes to us fromnext Sunday’s readings.

The first reading is a lovely and well-loved passage, addressed to all of us (“allyou who are thirsty”), and offering thatwhat we really want we shall certainly begiven by this generous God “at no charge; atno price, wine and milk”. The challenge isto recognise what we are doing if we refuseGod’s generosity, “why spend money onwhat is not bread...that does not satisfy?”The secret, always, is God’s unfailing lovefor us, “I shall make with you a covenant forall time, the enduring loyalty promised toDavid”.

The psalmist knows this, of course: “TheLord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,and great in love.” Then, in the phrase usedin grace before meals all down the centuries,we hear (and must learn to accept): “Theeyes of all are waiting upon you, and yougive them their food at the right time.”

Only of God can we say: “The Lord is justin all his ways, and loving in all his deeds.”But best of all, and this even though it may

not feel like it, “the Lord is close to all whocall upon him, to those who call on himwith integrity”. Generosity on this scaleunnerves us a bit, perhaps.

In the second reading we hear Paul inone of his most glorious purple passages, theclimax of the four chapters in which heexplains to the Romans why they can haveconfidence in what God has done for us.“Who can separate us”, he clamours, “fromthe love of Christ?”

Then he offers a list of possible separatingfactors: “oppression, or being in a tight cor-ner, or persecution or having nothing to eator wear, or danger or guns?” Then he dis-misses all of these as though they werenothing (as indeed, of course, they are,under the providence of God), “with all ofthese things we conquer—and more thanconquer—through the one who loved us”.

Then he presents us with another list:“Death, life, angels, rules, things present,things to come, powers, height, depth, or

any other created thing.” We can hardly follow this, but get the

gist, as he triumphantly concludes thatnone of these “is going to be able to sepa-rate us from the love of God which is inChrist Jesus our Lord”. Whatever preciselythis means, we can certainly pick up thehigh levels of emotion in these lines that sopowerfully celebrate God’s generosity.

In the gospel for next Sunday we see thisgenerosity in action. It starts with an unsuc-cessful attempt on the part of Jesus and hisdisciples at getting a bit of privacy; but Jesusspoils it all, because “he saw a great crowdand was compassionate upon them, andhealed their sick ones”. Then the disciplesget into the act; but their generosity is onlya pretence: “This place is deserted, and thehour has gone by. Get rid of the crowds,then they can go to the villages and buyfood for themselves.”

Like many such suggestions that you andI have made, it wears the clothes of generos-ity, this suggestion, but is nothing of thekind, as Jesus points out. “They have noneed to go away—give them something toeat yourselves”.

They do a quick audit and come up withthe response that: “We’ve only got fiveloaves and two fish,” breathing a sigh ofrelief, no doubt, that they don’t have to do

anything too demanding. Jesus makes nocomment on what is going on, except toinsist on their generosity: “Bring them hereto me.” (So there went their supper!).

We watch in astonishment as the crowdsare made to sit down on the grass, whileJesus “took the five loaves and the two fish,looked up to Heaven, and blessed the loavesand broke and gave them to the disciples,and the disciples gave them to the crowds”(so they had, after all, done what he hadtold them to do, and shared in the generosi-ty of God). Nor does it stop there, for,instead of everyone getting half a crumbeach, “they all ate and were satisfied, andthey took up the surplus, twelve baskets offragments!”

And, just in case you were thinking thatthere were only three and a half peoplethere, we learn that in the generosity ofGod, “those who ate were about five thou-sand males, quite apart from the womenand children”.

The point is, you see, that we simplyhave no idea what God’s generosity canachieve; but we shall certainly find that ifwe try to overcome our woefully ungener-ous instincts, we actually are more fully our-selves than we should have thought possi-ble. How do you think those disciples felt atthe end of all that?

Do not refuse God’s unfailing generosity

A tale of two peopleChris Moerdyk

The Last Word

Nicholas King SJ

Sunday Reflections

Southern Crossword #454

DOWN1. Assuming with no proof (9)2. Booze to cool the devil’stongue? (9)4. Heinously conceals practicalintelligence (4)5. Roughly cuts the tired jour-nalists (5)6. One over the eight for dailyprayer (6)7. Swallows the food (4)9. Musical note going back andforth (5)11. Take by force (5)12. Serious position during theburial (9)13. Old rite of the church ofMilan (9)17. Urged to go on by the hen?(5)19. Soothing sound of theorgan (6)22. Not suitable to be of poorhealth (5)23. Accurate (4)24. Tenth of a prayerful decade(4)

ACROSS3. Charmed by the plainsong?(9)8. Individual thing (4)9. Capitalist member of theRussian Church? (9)10. Summary that is one shortof precise (6)11. Employing what’s amusing,with the morning hours gone(5)14. Hindu holy man (5)15. Kind of lily like a drink (4)16. Pale purple liturgical colour(5)18. Necessity (4)20. God is said to love a cheer-ful one (5)21. Rising period before aparish event (3-2)24. He was with the wild ...(Mk 1) (6)25. Executed like Jesus (9)26. Not quite perfect notion (4)27. A blessing from Jesus' ser-mon (Mt 5) (9)

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