Our prayers for 2012

The resolution of the climate change conference in Durban will have satisfied few who have at heart the welfare of the planet and its people. The governments of the world have pronounced the myopic pursuit of revenue as an absolute priority.

The underfunded Green Climate Fund will do little to address climate change and its effects.
Our prayer for 2012 must be that pressure and good sense will push governments towards a common purpose in addressing climate change, and other matters of ecology, beginning with COP 18 in Qatar.

Climate change is just one contributing factor in the aggravation of the poverty of those who already have little. The economic crisis, which has been caused by an economic system that rewards selfish greed, is serving only to widen the gap between the rich and the poor. This is markedly so in South Africa

We pray that Pope Benedict’s appeal to Africa that there must not be an “unconditional surrender to the law of the market or that of finance” will be heard, and that governments become more proactive in rooting out exploitative and other moral iniquities in business practices.

In Swaziland an unrepresentative and tyrannical king and his coterie are living the high life as the poor are going hungry. Leaders of Southern Africa’s Catholic Church visited the country in 2011. They forthrightly condemned the political repression there, and called for democratic reform in one of the world’s last absolute monarchies.

In Zimbabwe, elections might be held in 2012. There is little to suggest that such elections would be peaceful, free or fair.

Moreover, with President Robert Mugabe rapidly aging, the succession battle within his Zanu-PF party is already in full swing, with every indication that the battle for supremacy will not be placid.
Our prayer for 2012 is that in Swaziland and Zimbabwe especially, the principles of an accountable and transparent democracy in conditions of peace will find firm roots.

There is no fear that the succession contest in the African National Congress, which will culminate in the party electing its president (and therefore the country’s president) in Mangaung in December 2012, might produce violent turbulence. There is, however, a very real danger that the leadership battle is compromising the ANC’s ability to govern effectively, especially if factions use the area of governance and state resources to sabotage one another.

Our prayer is that politicians, of whatever factional stripe, will always keep in mind their call to serve the people, with personal ambition secondary, and that voters will hold accountable those who place position and avarice ahead of public service.

As the Arab Spring continues, we must pray that those who replace ousted tyrants will maintain respect and consideration for minorities, including Christians. We also pray that those living in intolerable conditions hostile to the faith of Christ, especially in Pakistan, will enjoy the religious freedom which the Catholic Church demands for all.

As ever, we must pray that the political will emerges to find an equitable solution to the stalemate between Israel and Palestine. Our prayers must also be with the ever-diminishing number of Christians in the Holy Land.

After a decade of revelations of clerical abuse of minors and the cover-up of these crimes, we may be confident that the cleansing in the Church is on track. Pope Benedict is acutely mindful of the need to heal—those who have been abused, and those who have been affected by it. We pray that the Church will let this healing process run its slow course.

But there are signs of hope in the Church. In October, the pope will launch a Year of Faith with the intention of promoting the various evangelisation apostolates. In Southern Africa, we are fortunate to enter that special year with much groundwork already done, through renewal programmes in some dioceses and nationally through the commendable Hope&Joy network.

So our prayer must be that the Year of Faith will be preceded by sound preparation and be welcomed with much enthusiasm.

And finally, we pray that the readers, associates, friends and supporters of The Southern Cross may have a blessed and peaceful 2012.