2004: Year of Hope

by Editor · Published December 24, 2003 · Updated March 6, 2012

As we reflect on the year 2003, and look towards 2004, we focus our hopes and prayers on many areas where the new year may bring brighter developments.

We hope that the Catholic community in Southern Africa will feel empowered to assert itself more forcefully in the secular arena, with wisdom and charity. There are times when Catholics must accept criticism, even satire. These, however, must not translate into hate speech. When the Church is subjected to undue attacks, Catholics must find ways to show a united front in objecting to denigration of the Church and the faith.

We hope that the secular media will focus not only on controversial issues facing the Church, but also on the immense good Catholics are accomplishing, especially in areas such as Aids care and poverty relief. We hope that when they do cover controversial issues, they will do so fairly and without prejudice�and that the leaders of the Church will respond to these with openness and sincerity.

We hope that the government of South Africa will find ways to make up for much lost ground in addressing the HIV/Aids crisis, especially in the provision of anti-retroviral drugs.

We hope that the government will reevaluate its enthusiasm for abortion, and that pro-life groups that offer alternatives to the killing of the unborn will receive wider support from the state and from citizens.

We hope that the relevant authorities will take note of Catholic numbers, and grant Radio Veritas a national and permanent broadcast licence. The Church, from bishops to the laity, must become united and pro-active in expressing their needs in such a way that the government and the broadcasting authorities cannot sweep Catholic demands aside any longer.

We hope that peace and prosperity will return to Zimbabwe, a country on the abyss of a civil war. We hope that the South African government will relinquish its failing policy of quiet diplomacy, and formally acknowledge that oppression of Zimbabweans is no more acceptable than oppression of South Africans.

We hope that the international community will exert its energy in finding peaceful resolutions in African conflicts�in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Liberia, Burundi, northern Uganda and elsewhere.

We hope that the militant leaders in Israel and Palestine will recognise the futility of steady escalation. We hope that the citizens in both territories will tell their leaders that enough blood has been shed. We hope that governments with influence in the region will persuade their clients that 2004 must be the year in which the conflict must end.

We hope that the US administration will conscientiously re-examine its recklessness in invading Iraq, without an international mandate, without a moral or legal justification, and without a post-war plan. We hope that in its occupation of Iraq, the United States will find equitable ways of producing a working infrastructure and a credible political leadership to that country.

We hope that our Holy Father will continue to bear his suffering with courage.

We hope and pray that 2004 will be a more Christian year than 2003.