From Fr Johan Strydom, Plettenberg Bay:
They say that St Christopher is no more. As the parish priest of St Christopher parish in Plettenberg Bay, I have to say that St Christopher has always been alive and well. We know he was a martyr in Asia Minor in the 3rd century, and his feast day is July 25. But that is all we know.
St Christopher has been removed from the universal calendar of saints because all the stories that surround him are not historical but pious and beautiful legends. To celebrate a saint universally when people today ask for historical evidence may create the impression that we take the legends literally.
The legends have a powerful message, however, such as that we are all called to be St Christophers – that is Holy Christ-bearers – but they must be seen as stories and not factual. His feast may be celebrated locally, as many churches throughout the world are dedicated to him, and he can still be invoked as patron of travellers.
I also liked what Mphuthumi Ntabeni said in his column of January 6. Indeed the sound of one clerical tree falling makes more noise than the sound of the entire forest growing! He states correctly that we lack progress towards moral truth.
In South Africa we also have to remember that since liberation from slavery in Egypt in 1994, if we try to by-pass Mt Sinai where the moral Ten Commandments were given, we will not reach the Promised Land of Canaan but end up in godless Babylon.
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