Many Ways to Serve God

Dear Reader,

In the month of May, we usually pray for vocations, following on from Vocations Sunday (this year on April 30). In this issue we look at two kinds of vocations specifically.

One is the vocation to the priesthood, lived to the fullest over 65 years by Fr Ralph de Hahn, whose prolific writings will be familiar to many readers of The Southern Cross. Fr Ralph turns 95 on June 4 — but this faithful priest is concrete proof of age really being just a number. He has the fitness, energy and mental faculties which people 25 years his junior would be grateful for.

The other vocation we highlight this month is that of two young women from Johannesburg, twins at that, who are using their talent for the glory of God. In the case of The Light Twins, that gift is music, a medium which is a powerful tool of evangelisation.

That is a kind of vocation we should pray and give thanks for, too. Of course, we need vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life, and we must not cease to pray (and work) for these. But we should also pray that all people may hear God’s call to serve him — according to their talents, capacity and charism — in contributing to the mission of the Church. That service can take on many forms, from making music to parish or charitable engagements to the stillness of contemplative prayer — or even promoting The Southern Cross in your parish. Every one of us has a vocation (or, indeed, several vocations) with which we can serve the Lord — we just have to be open to hearing that call.

Hearing God is also the subject of a book we review this month. Titled Pray, Then Listen, the book suggests that we complement our structured prayer routine with spontaneous prayers throughout the day, with a view to discerning God’s response to us. Prayer can thus be a two-way conversation. God speaks to us all the time — not in a booming voice from the heavens but in signs and in giving us (often unexpected) insights. The trick is to know when God is speaking to us, and to discern what he is saying.

This month we also focus on Africa. There is the moving article on a martyr for social justice in the DRC who was gunned down by police during a protest.

We also summarise the recent African Synodal Continental Assembly in Addis Ababa. Its outcome includes many commendable visions, including a call to address rigid hierarchies and harmful clericalism.

It remains to be seen how the assembly’s call for inclusivity in the Church — “a Family where all belong and feel at home” — will be lived out in countries where the Catholic bishops endorse and even pursue the criminalisation of homosexuality. During his visit to Africa in February, Pope Francis called such laws sinful and an injustice.

I  was amazed to learn that in Nigeria, 94% of Catholics go to Mass at least once a week. On page 22, a local cardinal explains why he thinks his country records such a high Mass attendance. One reason must be that Nigerians identify strongly with their religion, possibly also a result of the ethno-political situation there. But it’s fair to observe that where faith is important in society, religious adherence tends to be high.

A recent study in the US found that 20% of devout, committed Catholics say that they are not comfortable with sharing their faith — in other words, to evangelise. Figures in South Africa might well be similar. Why would one in five committed Catholics not want to talk about their faith?

In some cases it may be because they lack the necessary insights to articulate matters about their faith, and to respond to criticism of it. If so, it points to a crisis in ongoing formation. It seems obvious that encouraging the faithful to make use of Catholic media — including this magazine — would offer some remedy to the formation crisis. And it would strengthen people’s Catholic identity.

In that spirit, we thank you for reading The Southern Cross — and please tell your friends about your monthly Catholic magazine.

God bless,
Günther Simmermacher
(Editor)