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The mission for Africa
The Church of Africa told Pope Benedict about their concerns at the Second Synod of Bishops for Africa in October 2009. Three years later, the Holy Father came to Africa to present the continent with his apostolic exhortation Africae munus (“The Commitment of Africa”), which follows Pope John Paul II’s synodal exhortation of 1995, Ecclesia in Africa.
30 November – 6 December, 2011
Headlines
» Oblate: Murdered priest was ‘like my brother’
» Pope’s blueprint for Africa’s Church
» Shakespeare the Catholic
» What Vatican II tells us about AIDS
» In faith, don’t lose sight of the starfish
This Week’s Editorial
The mission
for Africa
The decline of ubuntu
Every time I pass that spot, the skeleton recalls the same story—a story that is just the opposite of that of the Good Samaritan. Indeed, it shows the extent of erosion of ubuntu in our cities. We shall return to the scene of the skeleton later.
In crisis, we activate our family love
‘The first thing that a person finds in life and the last to which he holds out his hand, and the most precious that he possess, even if he does not realise it, is family life.” These are the words of Bl Adolph Kolping (1813-65).
The priesthood of the laity
If one talked about the “priesthood of all believers” or indeed the “priesthood of the laity” before 1965, Catholics would look at you as if you were insane. After all, priests and people were different, weren’t they?
Catholics with more theological knowledge would have been able to say that in baptism every Catholic was in Christ priest, prophet and king. But in practice the Church followed the old medieval dictum, “Pray, Pay and Obey”, when it came to the laity. Read more…
Bishops, lets drop the pomp
From Dr John Straughan, Cape Town:
In September Pope Benedict addressed the clergy and laity of the Church in Germany and a special one-liner emerged: “It is time once again for the Church resolutely to set aside her worldliness”.
Battle the stigma
Amid all the political and economic turbulence of the last few years in South Africa, the crisis of HIV/Aids seems to have taken a back seat. World Aids Day, which is observed on December 1, is a good time for South Africans to return their focus on to the single biggest crisis the country is facing.
Simply put, we cannot allow ourselves to succumb to compassion fatigue nor to resignation in the face of what seems to be an insurmountable problem. In the absence of a magic bullet — a vaccination or a cure — our society must learn to live with Aids and adapt to it, just as those afflicted and affected by it must. Read more…
23 November – 29 November, 2011
Headlines
» What the Church is doing about AIDS
» Bishops: All have job in fixing climate crisis
» Study shows going to church can ward off depression
» A brief history of the Roman missal
» Fr Rolheiser: Who said love is easy?
This Week’s Editorial
Battle the stigma
Must Catholics have a funeral Mass?
Is it a requirement that deceased Catholics must have a Mass said at their funeral? I don’t like the idea of my many non-Catholic friends being told that they may not receive Communion at such a Mass, so when my time comes, I would prefer to have a simple memorial service instead.
Read more…
St Alphonsus and the New Translation
St Alphonsus Liguori, founder of the Redemptorist congregation, was a renowned teacher of prayer. He wrote a short book titled Praying to God as a Friend in which he instructs us to approach God with confidence and trust and to share with God as we would with our dearest friend.
But the new English translation of the liturgy, to be implemented in a few days, directs us to do the opposite as a worshipping community. We are to abase ourselves before God, address God as sinful suppliants unworthy to be in God’s presence. The emphasis in the theology of the translation is on the distance between God and humanity.
This theological approach contradicts the New Testament in significant ways. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who labour…for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mt 11:28-29). Jesus’ message is one of love (Jn 15:8-9) and the First Letter of John describes God as love, not as fear (1 Jn 4:16).
In a family, if a child hears messages of love, she or he will grow up confident of their own goodness. But if they repeatedly hear “Obey me or else” from their parents they will learn only fear.
As the theology of this new and much-contested translation penetrates the psyches of English-speaking Catholics around the world year after year, we will absorb a message of fear and distance in relation to God. Our collective image of God will be exactly the opposite of St Alphonsus’ understanding of God. I wonder whose negative images of God are being projected upon us through this translation.
So we need to pray that the Holy Spirit inspires enough people to say “No—this God is not the God of the New Testament, not the Abba of Jesus. The People of God are loved by God.” And hopefully a few bishops will also open their ears and realise that this translation is not Good News to the People of God.
