SA Bishops: Support the Southern Cross

by Admin · April 15, 2020

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has called on all parishes and the faithful to support The Southern Cross.

In a message signed by its president Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, the SACBC asked that its “special heartfelt message” be relayed to the faithful “through your parish priests and parish organisations”.

“An invisible cordon has been thrown across the world causing isolation, lockdown and anxiety,” the message noted, saying that the Covid-19 pandemic “is a wake-up call to the whole of society to revalue the way we live as neighbours and communities—and for decisive action to improve health services, especially for the poor and vulnerable”.

The pandemic and the lockdown serve as “a call, too, for us to be Good Samaritans to one another”.

Bishop Sipuka noted that “Pope Francis has emphasised the crucial role of the media in keeping us informed and living with hope in this time of distress and isolation”.

“In thanking journalists and TV, radio and online social networks for helping people to cope with loneliness, Pope Francis was affirming the importance of social communications in

sustaining human solidarity and compassion,” the bishop said.

In South Africa, he noted, “The Southern Cross has kept us connected in faith for 100 years. As partners in this valued publishing enterprise, we support the special centenary gift” of free access to the newspaper’s online digital issue for one month.

All parishioners need to do is visit www.scross.co.za.

“In this way readers will answer the call to discipleship, the call to follow Jesus in his healing ministry at Galilee,” Bishop Sipuka said.

“And they can continue to read and be inspired by the Good News that The Southern Cross shares as a lighthouse that keeps the Word shining,” the message said.