The Future of the Church
Dear Reader,
Our cover this month gives us an unusual view of St John Vianney National Seminary in Waterkloof, Pretoria. It is an aerial shot taken by drone, with Fr Mlungisi Mabe on the controls. The young priest, an alumnus of the seminary, is a talented photographer. His work has featured before on the cover of The Southern Cross, in the May 2021 issue, to illustrate a feature on seminarians and their hopes.
At that time, the rector of St John Vianney was Fr John Selemela, who is now the auxiliary bishop of Pretoria. Bishop Selemela will feature in our September issue, but this month we turn our focus on his successor, Fr Wellington Siwundla, and vice-rector Fr Aaron Gabela. Working with their dedicated staff, the two priests bear a great responsibility: to shape our future priests. As you read about Frs Siwundla and Gabela, keep them, their colleagues and the seminarians in your prayers.
On August 1, the city of Lisbon will welcome the world’s Catholic youth for that great festival of our faith, World Youth Day. I was blessed to cover the last WYD, held in Panama City in 2019. If one wants to see the Catholic faith practised at its most effervescent, one should see young people in action at a WYD. My abiding memory of Panama City is of seeing hundreds of thousands of young people on their knees in prayer with Pope Francis during the vigil.
Over two issues, we will be revisiting all past World Youth Days, starting from the first gathering in 1984. The first part, in this issue, takes us up to 2005. Next month we will resume with WYD 2008, which was held in Sydney.
Young people are also part of the focus on the future of the Church in Ireland, covered on pages 10-11. In few traditionally Catholic countries has the backlash against the Church been as severe as it has been in Ireland. The rejection of the Church among many Irish people is the result of a history of excessive clericalism, social and political domination, and a variety of scandals and overreach — apart from the rampant secularisation that is common throughout Western Europe.
As a result, the Church in Ireland must find new ways to live out its true mission of proposing Christ. Its experience in finding such ways of evangelisation will be instructive for the Church in all places where secularisation is taking hold — including South Africa.
In May, the government awarded Nardini Sister Ann Thöle a posthumous award for bravery. Sr Ann died in 2007 while rescuing people from a fire in KwaZulu-Natal. On pages 12-13, we recall the life and sacrifice of this officially-declared national hero.
At her funeral, a priest noted that Sr Ann should qualify for canonised sainthood, as a martyr of charity. But sainthood causes tend to be a great drain on resources, so we may not see the canonisation of Sr Ann. But we can invoke her in our prayers, perhaps in petitions relating to fires — especially in winter, when so many informal settlements are ravaged by infernos.
This month’s cover might well have depicted St Ignatius of Loyola. The founder of the Jesuits is our Saint of the Month, with a particularly striking poster, and our regular collection of quotes on the backpage are all by the great saint. On top of that, our columnist Raymond Perrier reflects on St Ignatius.
Although Raymond once studied as a Jesuit and previously directed the Jesuit Institute of South Africa, in his many years as a Southern Cross columnist, he has never written about this fascinating saint and his legacy. This “oversight” now finds remedy.
The church of St Ignatius in Rome also features in our photospread on The Southern Cross’ “Saints of Italy” pilgrimage, on pages 24-25. Next year, we will return to Rome, and the Holy Land, on a pilgrimage led by Mgr Simon Donnelly (see page 35).
Thank you for reading The Southern Cross, and please tell your friends about your monthly Catholic magazine.
God bless,
Günther Simmermacher
(Editor)
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