Year-end Review 1996
January
Italian teenagers vote Pope John Paul top of a list of public figures with a positive image in a survey published by the weekly Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana.
Barbara McGregor of the Catholic Institute of Education warns that international funding would dry up by the end of next year, and affected communities should plan accordingly.
Former priest and Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide marries his secretary, Mildred Trouillot.
Zaïre’s interim parliament ousts its speaker, Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo of Kisingani.
Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, a charismatic and preacher to Pope John Paul, visits South Africa.
February
The Catholic Church’s one-hour programme on M-Net takes off, titled Light of the Nations and presented by Fr Emil Blaser OP.
Former Southern Cross editor Fr Bernard Connor is elected provincial superior of the male Dominicans, succeeding Fr Carel Spruyt.
The interdenominational chapel at Johannesburg airport opens, after a campaign co-started by The Southern Cross.
The Spitfire Grill, an independent movie produced by an order of priests, the Sacred Heart League, wins the coveted Audience Award at the prestigious Sundance Film Awards in Utah, and is bought by distribution giants Castle Rock.
March
The grandparents of Micaela Hunter, a Johannesburg baby who was abducted the day after her birth, credit Padre Pio’s intercession with the return of their granddaughter.
Daniel Comboni, founder of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, is beatified at a ceremony in Rome.
Catholic leaders in Spain express high hopes that new president José Maria Aznar will improve the state’s troubled relationship with the Church.
The Apostolic Delegate to South Africa, Archbishop Ambrose de Paoli, adds Namibia to his “see,” after the Vatican and Namibia establish formal diplomatic relations.
Fr Juan Edmundo Vecchi from Argentina becomes the first non-Italian superior of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
The Vatican denies Spanish newspaper reports that the pope is suffering from cancer.
Seven Trappist monks are kidnapped from their monastery in Algeria on March 27.
Susan Sarandon receives an Oscar for her portrayal of Sr Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking — the first actress portraying a nun to be honoured by the Academy.
April
The Polish bishops deplore an anti-Semitic protest at Auschwitz concentration camp, but stop short of condemning it, saying it was “not a concern of the Church.”
US President Bill Clinton vetoes legislation which would have banned partial abortion procedures.
An Italian advertising campaign for glassware “chosen” by the pope sparks a debate over the misuse of papal endorsements in advertising.
Archbishop Emeritus Denis Hurley of Durban receives an honorary doctorate from St Paul University in Ottawa, Canada.
May
In a write-in survey, Southern Cross readers choose Song of Bernadette, Casablanca and Citizen Kane as their all-time favourite films.
The archdiocese of Cape Town issues an appeal to pastoral councils to raise R3,5 million to restore St Mary’s cathedral.
Cardinal Thomas Williams, secretary of the New Zealand Bishops’ Conference, tours South Africa, addressing Catholic education representatives.
Argentina’s bishops apologise for not doing enough to stop human rights violations during that country’s “dirty wars” in the 1970s and 80s.
One of France’s best-loved men, Abbé Pierre, draws fire for defending author Roger Garaudy, an apologist for the Holocaust.
The seven kidnapped Trappist monks are found murdered in Algeria.
Nearly half a million people from around the world visit the German town of Trier to view a robe supposedly worn by Christ during his trial. The garment has been on public display only three times this century.
Cardinal Milioslav Vlk of Prague admits that a woman was ordained a Catholic priest by Bishop Felix Davidek in the underground Czech church. However, the ordination is invalid.
June
A US coalition of Catholic reform groups kick off a campaign to collect a million signatures to press for changes in the Church.
The Vatican announces that it has posted an R8 million surplus for 1995 — the third year running that expenses have been kept below the budget.
ANC MP and newly appointed deputy education minister Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa says in a Southern Cross interview that he would be guided by the teachings of the Church in the abortion debate. He also reveals that he met in a chance encounter a hit squad assassin who was instructed to kill him.
It is announced that Marymount maternity home in Johannesburg will soon close, because the 47-year-old home is no longer economically viable.
The Vatican formally discourages official pilgrimages to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina, because the authenticity of supposed Marian apparitions there are in dispute. The announcement is welcomed by the local bishop.
In the run-up to the Olympic Games in Atlanta, Bishop Curtis Guillory of Texas becomes the first Catholic prelate to carry the Olympic torch.
A streaker flashes across the pope’s path during his visit to Germany. Chancellor Helmut Kohl meanwhile appealed for a review of the Church’s stand on artificial contraception.
Pope John Paul approves a decree for the beatification of Antoine Frederic Ozanam, founder of the Society of St Vincent de Paul.
July
The South African cabinet approves a draft bill which would legalise abortion on demand.
Two Italian professors studying the Shroud of Turin claim that the imprint of a hitherto undetected coin would date the cloth to the time of Christ.
Poland’s Catholic Church rejects Jewish demands to remove crosses from the site of Auschwitz concentration camp, saying that Christians also died there.
English Labour Party leader Tony Blair denies rumours that he is about to convert to Catholicism, but admits that he regularly attends Catholic mass with his Catholic wife and children.
The new Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, Winston Ndungane, says in an interview with The Southern Cross that he wants to see the development of a “creative and engaging relationship” between the Anglican and Catholic churches.
A consortium of businessmen and doctors takes over the Marymount Hospital, a week before it it was to close its doors. However, the Dominican Sisters insist that the name must be changed.
According to new Vatican statistics, the number of vocations to the priesthood in Africa has quadrupled in the past 25 years. Worldwide numbers have grown slowly but steadily.
August
Archbishop Lawrence Henry of Cape Town says that the lynching of gangster Rashaad Staggie by members of the vigilante group Pagad was an indication of the profound breakdown of law and order in Cape Town.
Bishop Pierre Lucien Claverie, 58, is assassinated by Muslim fundamentalists in a bomb blast at his residence in Oran in Algeria.
Lay delegates at the SACBC’s plenary session vote in favour of more say in the life of the Church for the laity.
Fr Max Thurian, an early Taizé community member and ecumenical theologian, dies on August 15, aged 75.
Mother Teresa spends a week in hospital, suffering from a variety of ailments.
The British royal family says it is considering lifting the ban on future monarchs marrying Catholics.
About 10,000 people pack the basilica of Liége, Belgium, to mourn two girls found dead in a cellar after being held captive by a paedophile.
September
Gauteng’s education department announces a 30% subsidy cut, which would close six Catholic schools by the end of the year, and another ten the following year.
Fr Paul Mandlenkosi Khumalo, provincial of the Missionaries of Mariannhill, is elected vicar general of the congregation’s generalate in Rome.
Hutu rebels in Burundi murder Archbishop Joachim Ruhuna, a member of the Tutsi minority, and a Missionaries of Charity sister.
The pope invites all priests who were ordained in 1946 to celebrate the golden anniversary of his ordination in Rome in November.
The pope’s visit to France goes off, against expectations, without a hitch.
Bishop Hubert Patrick O’Connor, formerly of Prince George in Canada, is sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment for raping a woman in the 1960s.
Mother Teresa spends ten days in a nursing home after injuring her head in a fall.
The ANC announces that it would not permit its parliamentarians to vote according to their conscience in the abortion debate.
Prominent Dutch theologian Fr Henri Nouwen dies on September 21, aged 64.
October
Christian Brothers founder Edmund Rice is beatified in Rome. A group of 50 South Africans witness the ceremony.
A cartoon published in several South African daily newspapers, which crudely lampooned the bishops’ anti-abortion stand, creates an outcry among Catholics.
Speculation in the secular media about the pope’s health reaches fever pitch as John Paul’s appendix is removed.
Bishop Roderick Wright of Argyll and the Isles in Scotland resigns after admitting to fathering a child and pursuing a relationship with a 40-year-old divorcee.
Gauteng’s education department reduces the previously announced subsidy cuts of 30% to 10%.
A movie produced by the Paulist order about Catholic social activist Dorothy Day, titled Entertaining Angels, is released in the United States.
Of South Africa’s 400 Catholic schools, 300 nearly became extinct when a clause in the revised draft of the SA Schools Bill was unilaterally changed. Last minute protests forced the inclusion of a clause protecting religious schools.
During oral submissions to the parliamentary portfolio on abortion, a Catholic woman claims the Church paid for her abortion of the child she allegedly conceived with a priest. The Church denied having paid for any abortion. The woman, who may not be identified, has since sold her story to a magazine.
Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo of East Timor in Indonesia receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
Professor Cesar Viana, international president of the Society of St Vincent de Paul, visits South Africa.
Pope John Paul reportedly gives his blessing to the theory of evolution.
Archbishop Christophe Munzihirwa Mwene Ngabo of Bakavu, Zaïre, is killed in unclear circumstances as Zaïrian troops and rebels battle in Bakavu.
Parliament passes the Termination of Pregnancy bill with a large majority, despite last minute pleas from Pope John Paul and Mother Teresa. Several Catholic MPs vote for the bill, including Sr Bernard Ncube. Deputy Education Minister Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa is absent.
November
Two former policemen, Jack Cronje and Jacques Hechter, tell the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that in 1986 they had been ordered to assassinate Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, who was then the general-secretary of the SACBC. Two attempts on Fr Mkhatshwa’s life by the policemen failed.
Pope John Paul celebrates the 50th anniversary of his ordination, as speculation is rife that the pontiff suffers from Parkinson’s Disease.
Three Spanish Marist Brothers, who worked in a refugee camp in Bugobe, Zaïre, are murdered. Robbery or vengeance is believed to be the motive.
Poland’s government reverses its three-year near ban on abortion, allowing women now to abort up to 12 weeks of gestation.
Fr Paul Lautenschlager is elected provincial superior of the Natal Province of the Mariannhill Missionaries.
A promotions company apologises and withdraws a poster which portrayed Mother Teresa with sunglasses and a can of cola.
Pope John Paul is awarded the Esquipulas Peace Prize by leaders of six Central American congresses.
St Adalbert is named Europe’s fourth co-patron, joining St Benedict and Ss Cyril and Methodius.
December
Cuban leader Fidel Castro meets Pope John Paul at the Vatican. Insiders believe that the visit will result in greater freedom for the Church in Cuba.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 69, announces that he would reluctantly stay on as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when his third 5-year term expires at the end of the year.
Pope John Paul meets an Anglican delegation headed by Archbishop George Carey of Canterbury at the Vatican.
Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu is criticised by SACBC Aids office coordinator Linda Maepa for “oversimplifying’ Aids in a televised advertisement.
Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili, East Timor, receives his Nobel Peace Prize alongside co-winner José Ramos-Horta in Oslo, Norway.
The University of Natal awards an honourary law doctorate in absentia to Mother Teresa.
Pope John Paul beatifies two Austrian priests martyred by the Nazis – Frs Otto Neururer and Fr Jakob Gapp – and a French lay Dominican who saved priests during the French revolution, Catherine Jarrige.
Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland, pleads with the IRA to renew its ceasefire for the new year.
Eighty Catholic missionaries and a bishop are airlifted from a besieged town in civil war-torn Zaïre.
British pro-lifers say they hope to field as many as 50 parliamentary candidates during the 1997 British elections.
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