Dr Raymond Perrier: My 150th Southern Cross Column

This month marks my 150th column for The Southern Cross. I have been writing every month since January 2013. That means 12 and a half years and, at roughly 1200 words per column, 180 000 words — or enough for a second doctorate!

So, if you will indulge me as my editor has, I thought this would be a good chance to look back over that time. The world has changed in so many ways — then we had the hopefulness of President Obama in the US and the awkwardness of President Zuma at home; now we have the more-than-awkward President Trump in the US and…ah well, President Cyril Ramaphosa at home.

The Rand has declined from just over R11 to the US dollar to almost R20! And, of course, during that time we have had Covid, wars in various parts of the world, and riots and political turmoil here at home.

As the issue of January 16, 2013, hit the pews, the Church was entering the final weeks of the papacy of Benedict XVI (though we did not realise it); now we have said farewell to Pope Francis and await, with a mixture of emotions, the emergence of the new pope, whose identity we will know just days after this edition has gone to print.

Meanwhile, The Southern Cross has itself transformed from being a weekly newspaper to a glossy monthly magazine. Despite the impact of the collapse of postal deliveries, and with so many parishes not returning to pre-Covid levels of sales, The Southern Cross is still solvent — but only just, thanks to smart management, the financial sacrifices of staff, the Associates Campaign and other generous people, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit!

Changes in the Church

In fact, Covid has affected the life of the Church in more ways than just newspaper sales — many parishes have seen a step down in the level of attendance. People who once would not have dreamt of missing Mass are now happy with going to church online. Many are using the internet to find a service beyond their town and even South Africa, perhaps also searching for a quality of preaching and music that they might feel they cannot find locally.

So, with changes in the world and changes in the Church, there has been no shortage of topics to explore under my general rubric of “Faith and Society”. This double-headed title critically contains the word “and” — my intention has always been to explore the links between the realm of Faith (what is typically seen as inside the Church or indeed inside our churches) and Society (everything else that goes on).

I hope that sometimes I have succeeded in explaining a social question from a faith perspective; and sometimes have helped fellow Catholics to understand how our faith is affected by, and can in turn influence, broader social issues.

Casting a wide net

Fr Nicholas King SJ — a weekly Southern Cross columnist for many years — in a contribution in 1996 to a series of essays about the SACBC Pastoral Plan, was reflecting on the challenge for the Church after liberation:

“As soon as the single issue disappears from the centre of our vision, the complexity of real life breaks harshly in, and we wonder to which of the following centrally important issues we should turn our attention: health, education, housing, transport, corruption, crime and violence, preaching the Gospel, empowering women, employ-

ment, cooperation with other Christian denominations, not to mention collaboration with people of other faiths and none, sexual morality, sport and recreation, drugs, abortion and what to do about the arms industry.”

While I don’t think I have covered everything on that list, I believe I have lived up to Fr Nick’s challenge to cast the net wide.

In that I am consciously responding to those resonant words from the opening of Vatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.”

The very broad range of topics means that I have never had to repeat a column. But I have returned to some themes.

Inevitably, given that my day job is running a centre for homeless people and refugees, I have looked at themes such as hunger, healthcare, the exclusion and empowerment of the marginalised. Moreover, since that centre is named after the illustrious Archbishop Denis Hurley, the themes of Catholic heritage and identity have come up often.

On reviewing my past 149 columns in preparation for this article, I see that on more than one occasion I have looked at the theme of saints and what they say about our faith and our society — perhaps also hinting at the hope which many of us share that we might one day be able to call on “St Denis of Durban”.

My own interest in the arts — coupled with the Church’s historic patronage in this area — has rompted columns touching on movies, drama, dance, music and painting. And I have also been able to draw from the experience of travels to the UK, Europe, India and the United States.

Questions of leadership

There is one theme, however, that I notice has recurred more often than any other, and that is the subject of leadership and accountability. Given how often people in South Africa complain that we have a “crisis of leadership”, that is not so surprising. I have commented on political leadership in South Africa, at both national and local levels, and further afield. I have looked at leadership in business, in universities, in schools and in NGOs. And I have also commented on leadership in the Church, again at both national and local levels. Each time, I have offered commendations when there are reasons to be proud; but also given critique when there are reasons to be embarrassed.

When I do not always view the Church through rose-tinted glasses, some might accuse me of being disloyal. But isn’t it true that unquestioning adherence to a leader is exactly what perpetuates our crisis of leadership?

Moreover, drawing attention to deficiencies in our leaders is rarely telling people something they do not already know; but it hopefully makes the leader (and his followers) aware that we are not so dazzled that we cannot see.

I don’t have any magic solutions to the problems in our Church or society since I have no greater access to such alchemy than any other Catholic. But I hope that my columns might have provided ways of asking pertinent questions and, as I draw on and learn from my own experiences, that they encourage you to draw on yours.

Synodality — journeying together rather than just receiving orders from the top — has been a defining theme of Francis’ papacy, both implied and explicit. I thank you that we have been journeying together through this column across 180 000 words.

God’s message is revealed to us through all of God’s creation — as we encounter it in places of faith and in every aspect of society. And God has created us so that, if we choose to, we can see clearly what he places before us.

We can make judgements about what God is telling us; and we can act to bring about God’s kingdom. “See, Judge, Act” — the mantra of Cardinal Joseph Cardijn. And in many ways, that is a good summary of what Jesus does in the Gospels and what he calls each of us to do in our own way.

Published in the June 2025 issue of The Southern Cross magazine