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March 31 to April 6, 2010
Headlines
» SA Church ready for World Cup
» Easter: We can live forever
» Pope’s letter to Ireland analysed
» The saints: A hotline for every problem
» Southern Cross launches digital edition
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Mind-blowing news
Without his resurrection from the dead, Jesus of Nazareth probably would have been a minor footnote in local Jerusalem history, one of many temporary would-be messiahs who came to an inglorious end.
Without the resurrection, there would have been no Church. After the execution of Jesus, the dispirited disciples had started to make plans to return to their old lives in Galilee (the only non-Galilean of the Twelve had by then committed suicide). Some, like Thomas, had already split, receiving the news that Christ was alive later, much to his incredulity. Read more…
A misplaced feast?
By Fr Allan Moss OMI
I wonder why the feast of the “Divine Mercy”, based on the revelations reported by the Polish nun St Faustina Kowalska, is placed within the octave of Easter, celebrated on the second Sunday of Easter.
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A pricey hotline
A feature of air travel is that it allows you at best to make new friends, or at worst an enemy or two.
Occasionally, of course, one can manage an entire ten-hour flight without saying a word to your fellow passenger, but that’s highly unlikely because the mere clashing of elbows on that tiny armrest will inevitably break the ice with: “I’m terribly sorry…no it really was my fault…no, I insist you use the armrest… really, I always sit with my arms folded under my chin while I turn the pages of my book with my knees…well, that’s kind of you thanks very much, yes I am going to Frankfurt as well…so you’re in the gas reticulation business, how interesting…five children, wow… no, I must confess I have never fished for bass with a pillowcase and a dead chicken” — and so on, until you know each other like lifelong bosom buddies. Read more…
Reflect, repent, rejoice
Botswana seems to consider itself rather an orphan child in the region of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and the diocese of Francistown most of all because it is the furthest away.
I happened to be in the vicariate to attend a workshop at Kanamo Centre, so when the bishop invited me to present a family workshop I was keen to experience the people and the situation there. Read more…
How Big are the Earthquakes?
Two earthquakes are shaking the Vatican these days. The first is Pope Benedict’s response—or lack of it—to the sexual abuse scandals in Europe. The second concerns his lack of action on sexual abuse cases as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, both as the Archbishop of Munich and as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Are these earthquakes 4? 6? 8? on the Richter scale of scandal?
The Irish abuse scandal has now cascaded into many countries in Europe, including the Pope’s native country, Germany. The Vatican can no longer deride the sexual abuse scandal as the result of American sexual liberalism. While it is true that the Pope has spoken strongly about the scandals, even apologizing to some American survivors in 2008, other factors make it clear that he does not yet “get it”. Why is Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, the archetype of a bishop who protected priests who abused young people, still the arch-priest of St Mary Major, one of the four major basilicas in Rome? Why is Law still a member of the Congregation of Bishops, helping to name bishops in the United States? Why hasn’t the Pope accepted the resignations of the three Irish bishops who were complicit in the Irish scandal?
Clericalism, an ideology and a structure of social sin, has infected the Church at all levels, from Rome to local parishes. Clericalism sets bishops, priests and deacons apart from religious and the laity and insulates them as special. The concept of servanthood is far from their horizons and life-styles.
While the Pope’s spin doctors have earnestly tried to distance him from the scandal in Munich when an abuser priest was coming into his diocese and he was transferred to another parish without any restrictions, the minutes of a meeting at which Cardinal Ratzinger was present tell us differently (New York Times, 26 March). In the 1990s, when several American bishops pleaded with Ratzinger to take action against a priest who had abused many boys at a school for the deaf, officials of the CDF which he headed said he should do penance, but took no canonical action against him.
In the Gospels, Jesus has some strong words to say against those who cause scandal. Reports of these huge scandals fill the media day after day. The Pope and the Church are derided in cartoons, editorials and blogs. And still the Vatican “doesn’t get it”.
But suppose one day Pope Benedict “woke up” to the scandals he and many other bishops have caused. What if he publicly apologized to the People of God not only for his omissions but for all the scandal? And what if he imposed a penance on himself, such as opening an issue such as celibacy for diocesan priests for discussion? Well, we can pray, can’t we?
Praise for Southern Cross sellers
From Loz Hayden, Hartebeespoort:
Your Parish of the Month feature features parishes that excel at selling of your excellent Catholic publication.
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Another Reformation needed?
From Denise Gordon-Brown, Randburg:
Has it reached the point that the world needs a second Reformation? The first was caused by the “selling” of indulgences by the Church. This second Reformation could well be as a result of the criminal paedophile action of so many ordained clergy in the United States, Ireland, Germany, Holland and now in South Africa, and the arrogant refusal of Church authorities overseas to strip the offenders of their office or even accept resignations where these have occasionally been offered.
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March 24 to March 30, 2010
Headlines
» Jo’burg marches against abortion
» Abuse: How to respond?
» Five years on, John Paul I remembered
» Homilies ‘eight minutes tops’
» Holy Week with Pope Benedict
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Why was Jesus killed?
Why was Jesus crucified? The short answer resides in the resentment and fear of the religious establishment of the day, which allowed no theological dissent to its jurisdiction or challenge to its authority. And it resides with the savage justice of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who condemned Jesus not only to death by crucifixion, but also to merciless torture before his execution in a bid to deter others from making proclamations that may threaten Rome’s political hegemony.
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