Remembering Well
Dear Reader,
During the month of November, we Catholics remember our dead. Our feature article in this issue on how we relate to our departed loved ones will, we hope, help many people who are living with grief.
We Christians have great comfort in knowing that death is not the final word, and that those who have left us are still with us, and we with them in our prayers. Knowing this, and to be reminded of it, is a consolation even as we mourn the terrible gaps which loss of loved ones tears into our lives.
Our cover this week combines the November practice of remembrance with the here-and-now importance of food. It shows our columnist Grazia Barletta with the delicious results of this month’s recipe, an All Souls tradition from Italy. Grazia also offers a reflection on food and faith, which come together in the Bread of Life.
Three years ago we celebrated the centenary of The Southern Cross with a special issue, which also told the history of what for a hundred years was the national Catholic weekly newspaper. At the time, so soon after the rather sudden but necessary transition from newspaper to magazine in 2020, our future was in the balance. We trusted, and continue to do so, that the Holy Spirit would guide us to safe shores.
Today we are still hoping to reach those safe shores, but the good ship Southern Cross is now sailing on less perilous seas — which, however, does not rule out sudden storms! We still need to grow our readership and advertising base. And without the former, we cannot even think of appointing an advertising manager to accomplish the latter.
But our readership is growing. After a recent promotion in Manenberg, Cape Town, the parish tripled its order. And Maitland parish, also in Cape Town, in one sweep went from a base of 15 copies to 60, all signed up.
We are excited to see so many young people taking an interest in the magazine, as we can see in the photo below. It shows medical students of the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, who are also members of the Association of Catholic Tertiary Students, on a hike up Nkopo mountain near Pretoria. With them, they had current and back-issues of The Southern Cross.
It may be that some people think a Catholic magazine might not appeal to them; perhaps they imagine that it would be too grey, too preachy, too technical. When they actually see The Southern Cross, they find a vibrant Catholic magazine which engages, entertains, edifies, educates, elucidates, evangelises and enhances people’s faith. A home with The Southern Cross on the proverbial coffee table is one where the Catholic Church is visibly alive.
For that reason it is important that parishes, sodalities, schools and other institutions as well as individual readers spread the word about The Southern Cross and its attractive, accessible and faith-building content. This will aid our mission of evangelisation, and it will help in taking us to the safe shores where the publication’s future — and that of our essential digital presence — is assured.
On December 3, we will mark the 50th anniversary of Pamela Davids’ time at The Southern Cross. Arriving as a fresh-faced teenager in 1973, she became the newspaper’s business manager in 1995, serving in that position for 28 years, until she handed the baton to Eugene Jackson a few months ago. Even now, Pamela remains involved as our subscriptions manager. We thank God for the gift that is Pamela. Read about her on page 10 in this issue.
And on page 9, you can win something really special: a personally dedicated autograph by Cardinal Stephen Brislin, on the cover of the September issue of The Southern Cross which pictured His Eminence. You have until December 4 to enter!
God bless,
Günther Simmermacher
(Editor)
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