On October 16, 1920, The Southern Cross published its debut edition, featuring a photo and message of Pope Benedict XV on the front-page. This week, one week short of our 4 700th edition, we look back at 90 years of The Southern Cross—and also to the future.
Much has changed in the Church and the world since The Southern Cross first appeared. The newspaper has lived through economic crises, a world war, apartheid, and anti-Catholicism in South Africa. It has reported on eight popes, the first locally-born bishop and Vatican II. The Southern Cross evolved to reflect the Church of its times and adapted to keep up with technological advances.
The Southern Cross has been an integral part of the life of the Church for almost a century, providing a home for the Body of Christ throughout our vast territory. It will doubtless continue that mission.
Addressing Catholic communications specialists in Rome earlier this month, Pope Benedict noted the importance of Catholics making use of the New Media, but also emphasised that the printed Catholic press—such as the newspaper you are holding right now—remains essential for Church communities. Indirectly, Pope Benedict restates the call made by a succession of his predecessors: that every Catholic home should have a Catholic newspaper.
The pontifical expectation has not been fully realised in South Africa, where the Catholic media is not found in every Catholic home. Nonetheless, The Southern Cross celebrates its 90th anniversary in robust health. At a time when newspapers are struggling to survive, The Southern Cross has managed to hold its circulation steady.
This achievement has been recognised by South Africa’s Marketing Mix magazine, which earlier this year named The Southern Cross as one of the top performing newspapers in the country.
The credit for this is not due alone to the staff of the newspaper, nor to the committed board of directors of the Catholic Newspaper & Publishing Company Ltd, which publishes The Southern Cross. The achievement also belongs to those people in the parishes who distribute and promote The Southern Cross—the parishioners who receive the weekly parcels, the priests who mention the newspaper in the notices at Mass, and those who ensure that their fellow Catholics buy it, and to those who loyally buy and read the newspaper. And the biggest credit, of course, is due to Our Father, whose Holy Spirit we feel present in our work every day.
The Southern Cross is South Africa’s only nationally distributed Christian weekly newspaper. It is a notable distinction that, alone among the country’s denominations, Catholics manage to sustain a weekly newspaper—more so one that is financially entirely independent.
In compiling this week’s special 16-page supplement we were acutely aware that The Southern Cross is a community newspaper in the best sense of the word: we rely on friends and supporters to collaborate in the social communications apostolate: our friends and supporters, our generous Associates, our advertisers, and those who contribute towards the content.
Naturally we review the long history of the newspaper as well as look ahead to the future, and present the good wishes from advertisers whose kind support has made this special supplement possible.
We hope that our valued readers have enjoyed the company of The Southern Cross on their lives’ pilgrimage so far, and will continue to do so in the future.
Echoing your third paragraph I can vouch that The Southern Cross was an integral part of my parents’ home. As such, it aided greatly my “catching” their catholic faith. Needless to say, your newspaper has remained an integral part of my 67-year life. I remember well my late father, Anthony, speaking often of Fr Louis Stubbs, editor of The Southern Cross from 1948 to 1974. After arriving in Cape Town from Liverpool in 1935 he became a friend of Frs Louis and Vincent Stubbs. Ad multos annos to the wonderful instrument of evanglisation and reflection of church life your publication continues to be.
Congratulations on the 90 and just being what you have become: a work in progress. Blessings and courage for the future!
I cannot say that The Southern Cross has been an ‘integral’ part of my life but it certainly was promoted – even in my dysfunctional family- in place of the ‘Sunday Times’. The back page then was anathema…!
So, since school going age my siblings and I would do the crossword and read the children’s page. However, i am convince now at near 70 years of age it has done more to ‘evangelise’ me than any single entity! And I have learnt to discern what points towards God and what does not! And am still learning…
God willing, I may be alive to see the 100th birth year of our national Catholic weekly in 2010. And if so, I intend to celebrate it !
But no matter what, being 90 years old is grand… and congratulations to the present Editor and staff and also to those who were at the helm in the past.
History is going fast now, specially for our Holy Church. We are blessed to have such a good Pope whom we love very much. We wish him a few more years to serve the Church. In the next few years, more and more Catholics will discover the mass of all time, the Tridentine mass, which (it appears) the Bishops still do not want in South Africa. Nevertheless, the Motu Proprio of 2007 is there for all and Catholics should ask their priests for the possibility of having that mass as well as the novus ordo missae. In so doing, the Bishops would be merely obeying the Pope. If any priest or Bishop in Southern Africa wants a DVD on the mass of all time and how it is said, please contact me on 031 2081782. We do not have much time now….
The Holy Church cannot do without its Tradition, the Catholic Church has to be Traditional, Latin is the sacred language of the Church. I know the usual objections: we don’t understand a word of latin. But your missal has the latin on the left and the vernacular on the right. As easy as that. When you travel anywhere in the world, you are assured to have the exact same mass. I invite Catholics to think seriously about the richness of the old mass, what that mass represents, what it did in the past, for centuries, It is the mass of all time.
Priests : please consider seriously to start wearing the cassock again. You would then be recognized, admired, you will be respected, people will greet you as they would SEE a catholic priest. Remember, you are in the world but not of the world. A cassock will furthermore protect you against temptations and finally, it is a silent sermon…
May ” The Southern Cross” go from strength to strength to teach the true Catholic Faith and doctrine. The salvation of souls is the supreme law.
To form (mature opinion) and inform, those are the key functions of the Catholic media. There is no scope within the Catholic media for a supine policy of willy-nilly printing material submitted to it (in the form of letters and articles) reflecting the most disordered and divisive views circulating within certain quarters of the Church. Let us hope that the editorial team will adopt a more selective approach to what it prints from now on.
Certainly, a Catholic newspaper is indispensable and, by and large, the editorial team at “The Southern Cross” discharge their responsibilities diligently; what is needed is more prudence.
Martin has a great point and is courageous enough to state it. There are many examples that could be forwarded. Perhaps that would be spun as divisive.
My wife, her grandfather was a founding shareholder and do pray, the Southern Cross will always uphold Catholic Teaching.
Congratulations, and thank you for fulfilling so well the key functions that Martin spells out: forming and informing. Thank you, too, that your forming and informing function includes the publication of articles and letters which both Martin and I (for different reasons) consider disordered and divisive.
Regrettably, many of the generation who succeed us (i.e. Martin, Kevin, Rosemary, myself—I don’t know about Malcolm and P.R.) have abandoned the Church. Often this is because, as a matter of personal and intellectual integrity, they cannot bring themselves accept the “package deal” view of Catholic teaching advocated by Martin and others who sit in the front rows of the Church, so to speak. (P.R. your views, based on the rejection of Vatican II, do not attract them either!)
I suppose that in the eyes of these “watchmen on the walls of Zion”, the exodus of such people from the Church is to be counted as collateral damage in the war against Satan and heresy. Nevertheless, I hope that by publishing views that Martin considers disordered and divisive, you ameliorate the problem of disaffection from the Church.
You show that the monolithic package deal notion of truth is not universally accepted in the Church. You exemplify the fact that, despite appearances, there are no first and second class citizens in the Church. You give a voice to people who still seek Jesus in the Church, who hunger for its sacraments and for its renewal, despite a refusal by so many in the front rows to adapt in doctrine, style and practice to modernity. You manifest the fact that many who give their lives to Jesus in the Church—as ordinary lay people, as priests and nuns, even as bishops and as saints such as Cardinal Newman—many of these people long for the signs of the aggiornamento that was the hallmark of Vatican II, and that now seems to have been suppressed.
Dear Derrick, a small point in your second paragraph: “P.R. your views do not attract them either”. Of course, my views do not attract many of them. The reason is that, precisely, since 1965, they have been given a lot of freedom to do things , to innovate, improvise, to create a new mass, to give communion in the hand and standing, to drop the cassock, and are now reluctant to change anything.They were and are still enjoying a tail breeze.
Having said that, let me inform the readers that there are LOTS of Catholics whom I know personally and those who have approached me to tell me how dissatisfied they were in their parishes. In some countries overseas, as well, many people are coming back to Tradition as they are fed up with what they have in their churches. I personally know many influential people who are now supporting the great restoration which is now inevitable.
Again, one more time, I say sincerely that those who do not want change have nothing to fear : nothing will be forced on them this time around. All that they might be asked is to accept that Tradition is on the march worldwide, that the mass of all time will regain its rightful place, that the novus ordo missae is to stay, that the “market” will decide, again to be mercantile.
Another point : I have not rejected Vatican II but say that, in that pastoral council, Errors have infiltrated, many texts are ambiguous to say the least, and possibly some parts, some documents may have to be revised. I refer the readers to the doctrinal discussions which started exactly 12 months ago between Rome and the Priestly Society of St Pius X. Rome wanted to discuss doctrinal matters. That may be an indication that Rome itself realizes that attention should be given to some documents.
Finally, Derrick might be interested to know that I always sit(literally) in the last row in my church, the Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, in a very humble area in Gumtree Avenue, in central Durban ! ! Next saturday , by the way, we have the confirmations administered by H.E. Bishop Tissier de Mallerais. And we also have a street procession tomorrow sunday 31st( Christ the King). A procession in the street with the Blessed Sacrament?
Yes, dear fellow Catholics, we are proud of our Lord and Saviour, and we want Him to reign socially. We proclaim this. A.M.D.G.
Sounds like the geriatric club Derrick, which we all head for eventually, by the way my family and I plant ourselves near the back of church, have no real problem if the church is full, to walk down the middle isle to the front seat which for some reason is always vacated.
My eldest son who is in his second year of post matric studies has long hair, looks like he walked out the hippie era, his cloths are quite foreign, on his ear he has these things called studs, he is also a member of a rock band, where they do a lot of jumping around and shouting which they say is singing, he helps in creating and designing music and the graphics on there logo and music cover, they do their own recordings. His photo and band plus music is on the internet, which I won’t reveal, I think he would prefer anonymity at present.
As a Father I love him immensely, been with him from birth, toddler, play station, x box, cell phone, adolescents. Now I must admit those three material things I Know little about, although I have watched his thumb which seemed to grow extremely long and move with lightening speed doing the s m s exercise, which I presume has got something to do with his music playing.
Amongst his friends they speak a language I am not familiar with, punctuated with dude every few seconds with degrees of emphasis which they seem to know, his friends say, if people took him at first appearances would never guess he is a practicing Catholic.
He reads Thomas Aquinas, G K Chesterton, Paul Johnston and has a great knowledge of the world around him. When he studies, his rock music which he normally plays, I have also heard Handel’s Messiah, coming from his room in the early hours of the morning while he prepares his assignments, I know he does a decade of the rosary on the hour between his work, he says it refreshes his mind.
We talk about Catholicism practical every day, at present he is developing a great relation with Our Redeemer, long may it continue, hopefully when I pass on to the next world I will be resting in the arms of my Redeemer with my forefathers and waiting for my family to join me. The only way I know how to get there is to be submissive to the teachings that have been entrusted to the one Church, personal opinions and personalities there is no time for, been there done that.
Derrick makes (unintentionally, perhaps) a telling point when he laments
“a refusal by so many in the front rows to adapt in doctrine, style and practice to modernity”
It is the failure to distinguish between style and substance (and the failure to comprehend the radical demands of, e.g., Ro.12:2) which is at the heart of the current crisis.
Words of Blessed John XXIII in his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council are often quoted out of context and in a partial way, or are sketchily and imperfectly recalled and alluded to (at several removes, as, perhaps, in Derrick’s post). A fuller and continuous extract from that address therefore deserves a place on this thread:-
“This twenty-first Ecumenical Council can draw upon the most effective and valued assistance of experts in every branch of sacred science, in the practical sphere of the apostolate, and in administration. Its intention is to give to the world the whole of that doctrine which, notwithstanding every difficulty and contradiction, has become the common heritage of mankind—to transmit it in all its purity, undiluted, undistorted.
“It is a treasure of incalculable worth, not indeed coveted by all, but available to all men of good will. And our duty is not just to guard this treasure, as though it were some museum-piece and we the curators, but earnestly and fearlessly to dedicate ourselves to the work that needs to be done in this modern age of ours, pursuing the path which the Church has followed for almost twenty centuries.
“Nor are we here primarily to discuss certain fundamentals of Catholic doctrine, or to restate in greater detail the traditional teaching of the Fathers and of early and more recent theologians. We presume that these things are sufficiently well known and familiar to you all.
“What is needed, and what everyone imbued with a truly Christian, Catholic and apostolic spirit craves today, is that this doctrine shall be more widely known, more deeply understood, and more penetrating in its effects on men’s moral lives.
“What is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience, be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms. For this deposit of faith, or truths which are contained in our time-honored teaching is one thing; the manner in which these truths are set forth (with their meaning preserved intact) is something else.”
On a quite separate topic not directly related to the editorial, I am mystified by PR’s mention of Bishop Tissier de Mallerais imminently administering the sacrament of Confirmation in Durban. Although he is no longer excommunicated, Bishop de Mallerais remains suspended “de divinis” and is not permitted to administer the sacraments.
I cite this passage from the Note dated 4 February 2009 issued by the Secretariate of State clarifying the decree whereby there was revoked the excommunication incurred by the four bishops ordained without Papal mandate by the late Archbishop Lefebvre:-
” . . The four bishops, even though they have been released from excommunication, have no canonical function in the Church and do not licitly exercise any ministry within it . .”
This is a question put to Pope Benedict on flight to his recent trip to the British Isles.
The first paragraph is of interest to me, as the trap for many is to make the Church attractive for numbers, by watering down the Truth, replacing Divine truth with human wisdom of the age.
Here it is.
Father Lombardi: The United Kingdom, like many other Western countries – this is a theme that was already touched upon in the first response – is considered a secular nation, with a strong atheistic movement associated with cultural influences; however there are also signs that religious faith, in particular in Jesus Christ, is still vibrant at the personal level. What might this mean for Catholics and Anglicans? Can one do something to make the Church as an institution more credible and attractive to all?
The Holy Father: “One might say that a church which seeks above all to be attractive would already be on the wrong path, because the Church does not work for itself, does not work to increase its numbers so as to have more power. The Church is at the service of Another; it does not serve itself, seeking to be a strong body, but it strives to make the Gospel of Jesus Christ accessible, the great truths, the great powers of love and of reconciliation that appeared in this figure and that come always from the presence of Jesus Christ. In this sense, the Church does not seek to be attractive, but rather to make herself transparent for Jesus Christ. And in the measure in which the Church is not for herself, as a strong and powerful body in the world, that wishes to have power, but simply is herself the voice of Another, she becomes truly transparent to the great figure of Jesus Christ and the great truths that he has brought to humanity, the power of love; it is than when the Church is heard and accepted. She should not consider herself, but assist in considering the Other, and should herself see and speak of the Other and for the Other. In this sense it seems to me also that Anglicans and Catholics have the simple task, the same task, the same direction to take. If Anglicans and Catholics see that both are not there for themselves, but are rather instruments of Christ, ‘friends of the Bridegroom,’ as Saint John says; if both follow together the priority of Christ and not themselves, they draw closer together, because the priority of Christ brings them together, they are no longer in competition, each one seeking greater numbers, but are united in commitment to the truth of Christ who comes into this world, and so they find themselves also placed reciprocally in a true and fruitful ecumenism.”
A side issue: Rosemary, Vincent, Derrick, P.R, Martin, John, you all have great skills join me on this issue.
Go to the letter under Bill puts Southern Cross Under Threat. Lets see if we can make positive Change.
Malcolm thank you for the invitation. I also enjoyed the full response of our Pope to the question of ‘numbers’. However I have been thinking a lot about PR who has revealed elsewhere how he sees our leadership ‘working’ (or not). It was quite an eye opener to me who sees the opposite – seemingly to PR in particular. The following is my contribution:
If taking the writing attributed to St Paul as theologically sound, [Colossians 1:15-20 - which seems to be a prophetical, mystical hymn to the Christ)], we have to agree the pattern of all life began with Christ, and continues until all are reconciled to the Divine Son. This ‘all’ does not encompass human beings only but all things on earth and in heaven.
Therefore, I believe God ordained that life begins with a birthing process. God further ordained that before something new is brought into the world, the pains of birth have to be experienced. This is a pattern that cannot be avoided: the price for something new or better being brought forth is in the pain; in the birthpangs.
This is something women understand. Seemingly men try to avoid pain, women welcome it in order to give new life.
Both PR and myself want something different to what we have experienced since Vatican II. He wants to promote the re-birthing of something old. I want to promote, bring forth something I believe to be truly Christ-like.
God chose a people and made a covenant with them. Jesus came with the promise of a new covenant: an inclusive one. According to the mind of Jesus in the parable told in Luke (14:15-24) God will compel all people (by his Grace) to come to God’s eternal banquet. {Our Eucharist is our need to practice ‘eating’ God in order to become more like God, leading to our being with God eternally}.
So, I see the Christ as desiring unity and solidarity with everyone, and everything. PR wants exclusiveness around a ritual that he deifies. He deifies it because instead of Eucharist being our practice to take our place at the eternal banquet, he sees the ritual, especially the ritualistic motions (kneeling and receiving on the tongue, using also the right ‘sacred’ language) as making one worthy to receive Christ! Even though Christ has won supremely and gained our place for us anyway!
According to St Paul, people united, in solidarity with the Christ, bring forth life, light and truth for all the world to see. Such people are capable of surrender, sacrifice, forgiveness, generosity and compassion. People in solidarity with each other and with Christ are participating, thought, word and deed, in the work and mission, passion and resurrection of Christ.
People obsessed with a so-called sacred language and subservient motions are trapped in a time warp. They cannot move forward let alone bring something new and good and true to birth.
Finally, I don’t simply want the Church to ordain women. I want transformation of hearts that see women and men as equally sacred. I want leadership with a consciousness that rises above trying to separate what is sacred from the secular.
eh?
Martin, when you are 90 maybe you’ll get it. Heh! Heh!