Our prayers for 2011

Poverty remains the greatest threat to peace in South Africa. The recent food riots in Mozambique, experts warn, could be replicated in South Africa, possibly fuelled by the on-going revelations of price-fixing collusion by producers of staple foods.

We must pray that such protests need not take place, and that, should they occur, they will remain peaceful.

South Africa is scheduled to hold its local elections between March and June 2011. While we are confident that the local elections will be free and fair, voters must be encouraged to elect candidates solely on the basis of their quality.

It is too much to ask that parties decline to field candidates where no suitable individuals can be identified, but we may pray that the voters will see through corrupt charlatans and elect officials who can deliver the services the people need.

On January 9, the people of South Sudan will decide in a referendum whether their region shall secede from the North. It is most probable that the predominantly Christian and animist South prefer independence from the mostly Muslim regime in Khartoum.

The long years of the civil war and the genocide in the north-western Darfur region serve as constant reminders that there is no guarantee that Khartoum will honour the results of the referendum, or even allow it to go ahead as scheduled. If these fears are realised, bloodshed will be inevitable, with the likelihood that the whole region will be destabilised.

It is our prayer that the interests of peace will prevail in South Sudan in the run-up to the referendum, on its scheduled date, and well beyond January 9.

Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe is clearly gearing up for an election in 2011, with a view to ending its uncomfortable partnership with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC opposes such elections, and members of civil society—including voices within the Catholic Church—have warned that without careful preparation no good can come from a prematurely held election.

The government of national unity is an acrimonious marriage which satisfies nobody. Nevertheless, under its administration a sense of peace and a measure of economic health, even if fragile, have returned to Zimbabwe.

Clearly, however, both President Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for different reasons are obstacles in the path towards the necessary reform of Zimbabwean politics.

We pray that new credible leaders may emerge in Zimbabwe; leaders with a vision that transcends ethnicity, old loyalties and social debts, and the chronic self-aggrandisation of Mr Mugabe’s cronies. And even in absence of such leadership, we must pray that elections, whenever they may be held, will be held in conditions of peace and freedom.

The Church is surfacing from a troubled year. The sex abuse scandal in particular has caused immense damage to the Church’s reputation. We pray, as ever, that those who were abused and those close to them may find healing, and that the Church will do everything to regain the trust that has been lost.

Misgivings about the new translations of the English missal, which will be introduced in most Anglophone churches in late November, will animate heated discussion. As we saw in South Africa two years ago, when the first phase of the revised missal was introduced, the changes are not universally popular.

While discussion may become lively, we must pray that it will take place in a spirit of charity, mindful that representatives of both sides of the debate have a genuine love of the liturgy.

The Church will have reasons to be joyful in August, when young Catholics from across the globe will gather in Madrid for World Youth Day. We pray that the event will show that the Catholic faith is alive and relevant even among young people living in societies that are increasingly closing their eyes to God—and that the media will give the event its due coverage.

And we pray that the readers, associates, friends and supporters of The Southern Cross may have a blessed and peaceful 2011.