Dear Reader,
Last month we concluded our series on St Francis of Assisi, who died 800 years ago on October 3, but the order he founded features prominently in this issue too. On page 8, the Franciscan Cardinal Wilfrid Napier reflects on the special legacy of the pope who named himself after the saint of Assisi.
And on the cover we have Franciscan Father Casey Cole, a young priest whose social media work is impressive in both content and presentation. He told Jason Scott — who most recently interviewed the Orthodox archbishop of Cape Town in the September issue — about his path to the Franciscans and social media.
Social communication is also the vocation of radio presenter and podcaster Grace Shonhiwa, who is interviewed by Daluxolo Moloantoa on page 12.
Saints and sinners
On page 17 we read about the life of St Andrew the Apostle, the disciple who brought people together — most famously Jesus and Simon Peter. Like all our Saints of the Month, St Andrew offers us edification, a model of a holy life.
But on the page after the feature on the Apostle, we read about a life that certainly would not serve as a model of virtue. And that is the point of our article on the legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday: no matter how flawed our lives and even our faith, any of us is a child of God who may receive his graces and his mercy. Holiday’s turbulent life reminds us of that truth.
That article is the first in a series on Catholic stories that may surprise or amaze us. Few, if any, of those whom we will feature have much chance of becoming a Saint of the Month, but their stories too will be about their Catholic faith.
New at 400 years?
In our feature on 400 years of St Peter’s basilica, we refer to the great church as “new”. This is because before the present structure, another St Peter’s basilica stood there for almost 1200 years. Read the history of the world’s most famous church on page 14.
In August I had the privilege of accompanying a group of 34 on a pilgrimage to Poland, Czechia and Austria. It took us to many wonderful places, such as the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (whose Jasna Góra monastery produced Bishop Stanislaw Dziuba of Umzimkulu), the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Krakow, the Infant Jesus of Prague, and Our Lady of Mariazell, Austria’s national shrine. The former and latter inspired the names of two missions in South Africa: Centocow (Częstochowa) in Umzimkulu and Mariazell in Mthatha.
It was a grace-filled journey, as pilgrimages always are. Most of my fellow pilgrims had experienced these graces on previous pilgrimages. But God had a plan for us: our spiritual director, Bishop Victor Phalana, had to cancel his participation at the very last moment, on doctor’s orders. At such short notice, it was too late to find an available replacement, much as we tried. Happily, our numbers included Deacon Walter Middleton of Johannesburg, who was able to provide some spiritual direction — though not the celebration of Mass.
But this provided another grace: while normal pilgrim groups live in something of a pocket, with private Masses, we now had the opportunity to experience the Mass with local Catholics, often in their own language. It was a reminder of the Church’s universality.
Along the way we experienced the warmest of welcomes, none more so than from Mgr Mirosław Kazimierz in Hnojník, a small town in Czechia, who called on his parishioners to join us at Mass and then treated us to coffee and cake, even handing out biscuits with an image of Our Lady.
We missed our bishop, but the experience of the local churches made this pilgrimage an extraordinary one. See the collection of photos on page 22.
Thank you for reading The Southern Cross — and please tell your friends about your monthly Catholic magazine!
God bless,
Günther Simmermacher, (Editor)
- God’s Many Graces - November 3, 2026
- Sydney Duval: We Call him Friend - October 8, 2026
- St Francis and Mission - October 6, 2026
