Our prayers for 2009

by Editor · Published December 31, 2008 · Updated March 6, 2012

As we leave behind the year 2008 and enter 2009, we reflect on a year of political and social trauma in Southern Africa, an economic crisis, and a momentous opportunity for the United States and the world as Barack Obama assumes the US presidency.

We pray that the political leaders in South Africa will fight a fair and peaceful election campaign. So far the bitterness that accompanied the schism in the African National Congress, giving rise to the founding of the Congress of the People, has not produced widespread violence. As the election campaign intensifies, there is a reasonable anxiety that acrimony between the supporters of these parties might find expression in violence � perhaps even more so as election results produce disappointments. We pray that the leaders of all parties � nationally, regionally and locally � will exert control over their supporters who might want to express their agitation by violent means.

We echo Cardinal Wilfrid Napier�s call on South Africa�s government to force a resolution to the political impasse in Zimbabwe. Few South Africans require persuasion that Robert Mugabe must go, to reverse the country�s slide into the abyss. At the same time, it is not clear that the opposition is invariably providing the prudent and competent leadership Zimbabwe needs.

We pray that in 2009 responsible and capable leadership will return to Zimbabwe, setting the scene for a correspondingly rapid recovery. Likewise we pray that the leaders in Swaziland will acknowledge that the country�s absolute monarchy is an objectionable anachronism, and introduce truly democratic reforms.

Africans often complain that only bad news from the continent is covered in the international media. Alas, the international community tends to be slow to respond to distressing crises. The escalation of conflict in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo proves that point.

We pray that the requisite international political will may be mustered to respond vigorously to existing crises in Africa, and react timeously to the conflicts that are brewing.

Likewise, we pray that in 2009 the scene will be set for the resolution of various crises in Asia. Many of these are a product of Western misjudgments, some of them rooted in arrogance and ignorance.

We pray that the new US administration will have the wisdom to correct eight years � indeed, more than that � of asinine American foreign policy and war-mongering. At the same time, we pray that Mr Obama will be judicious in his domestic policies, especially on issues such as social justice and bio-ethics.

Mr Obama is inheriting a battered US economy which has already infected much of the rest of the world. In South Africa we have yet to experience the full effect of the crisis, in great part thanks to the government�s policies and our financial infrastructure.

We pray that in our region and elsewhere the economic crisis will not hit the poorest as ferociously as we may fear. We also pray that governments will take note of the clear-sighted statements made by Pope Benedict and other Church leaders on the subject, and reform international economics accordingly.

The new year will offer the Holy Father new opportunities to communicate the Gospel and the Church�s vision. His mooted visit to the Holy Land in particular promises a tapestry rich in symbolic and concrete gestures.

May God grant Pope Benedict the health and strength to continue his ministry with vitality that belies his age.

And we pray that the readers, Associates, friends and supporters of The Southern Cross may experience a blessed and peaceful 2009.