The other day I jumped on my bike to go for a ride around where I live. The golden leaves were starting to blow off the trees and the sun was lower than in summer. As I turned a corner the cold wind blew at my back and the analogy dawned on me: faith, or [...]
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Half a century later, still answering Fatima questions
By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service The feast of Our Lady of Fatima, May 13, is the occasion every year for millions of devotees to celebrate the apparition of Mary to three Portuguese peasant children in 1917 and to meditate on her call for repentance and conversion by the modern world. For a much [...]
Ancestors and faith
BY SIMANGALISO MAGUDULELA Before Christianity came to our land, Africans believed in the continuity of life after death and that is by moving into the spirit world. However, not everyone who is dead would qualify to be an ancestor (idlozi). According to Dominique Zahan, an ancestor “is first of all, a man who has reached [...]
Choose blessings not curses
The apostle Paul writes to the Romans: “Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them…Never pay back evil with evil…Never try to get revenge…If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink…Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good” (Rom 12:14-21).
May religious preach?
Persons conducting a communion service in the absence of a priest need to be trained for their ministry. Does a religious brother need to undergo training too? Is he allowed to preach? Gerti Hoff
Church and the workers
Responding to the “new” question of workers’ rights and organised trade unionism in the 19th century did not come easily for the Catholic Church. The papacy in particular was essentially a medieval monarchy in thinking, and up until 1870 it governed a chunk of what is now central Italy called the Papal States; this was [...]
He was conceived and born
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The highest consciousness of God that exist in the human is in Jesus, the Christ. In Christian language, he was the Word of God made flesh. In Yeshua, God enters the human history.
The rosary can transform society
BY BR DAMAZIO NGOMA In the second part of his reflections on the power of the rosary, Dominican Brother DAMAZIO NGOMA discusses how prayer can transform not only the individual, but also society. Visiting Naples in 2007, Pope Benedict said: “Prayer, not politics, is what transforms the world.” Prayer is indeed a most powerful means [...]
Every Christian has a role to play in the Church
Continuing with St Paul’s vision of the Church, this column in the series focuses on every Christian’s responsibility. Paul uses a number of symbols to describe the Church’s relationship to Christ, including that of the body or a building. In both 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, he refers to the various vocations and functions [...]
Africa, evangelise yourself
BY BR SIMEON BANDA FMS Earlier this year eight Sisters of the Immaculate Conception congregation made their profession in Matola in Lichinga diocese in Mozambique, where I am based. Their congregation was founded by Italian Consolata Father Oberto Abondio in 1948. Today it is the fast growing one in Mozambique. The Sisters are mainly engaged [...]
Pilgrimage 2013
The Digital Southern Cross
