50 CATHOLIC NEWS BULLETIN ARCHDIOCESE OF DURBAN AUGUST 2017 CARDINAL’S CORNER Inspiration and Lessons from Joint Witness 2017 Something of great significance took place at St John Vianney Seminary on 12 th and 13 th July. Officially it was the Joint Meeting of Bishops and Religious Superiors who have members working in the territories of the SACBC. Given some of the pressing practical questions brought on by diminishing members, aging members, loss of support from overseas sources, etc, you could have been forgiven if you thought Joint Witness 2017 was going to be about contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding, etc, as religious Sisters and Brothers strove to ensure that their great legacy in education and health care would continue into the future. Instead we found ourselves being challenged by something much more far-reaching, namely the very essence of what the Church was set up to be and to do – a Community of Disciples evangelising themselves, their religious communities and the communities they came to serve and continue to serve in the spirit of Christ. This was determined by the choice of theme and a most challenging keynote speaker Dr. Nothando Hadebe. The theme was: Finding new paths to Evangelisation through Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) the post Synodal Exhortation which passed through two sets of hands, those of Pope Benedict XVI and of Pope Francis. Dr Hadebe began by describing this endeavour as “The Gospel and our Faith are life giving and life transforming realities which Pope Francis is leading the Church to put into practice in concrete ways. He achieves this by rooting the faith and all that it is about firmly in the Gospel. In doing so Pope Francis is using Evangelii Gaudium to bring together all the disciplines of Church teaching and practice, so that Evangelii Gaudium ends up being the charter for the new evangelisation - new in spirit, new in method and new in expression.” In outlining the task ahead of us Dr Hadebe outlined 5 key areas which Evangelii Gaudium must be used to tackle; and tackle hard.
Transcript
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CATHOLIC NEWS BULLETIN
ARCHDIOCESE OF DURBAN
AUGUST 2017
CARDINAL’S CORNER
Inspiration and Lessons from Joint Witness 2017
Something of great significance took place at St John Vianney Seminary on 12th
and 13th
July.
Officially it was the Joint Meeting of Bishops and Religious Superiors who have members
working in the territories of the SACBC.
Given some of the pressing practical questions brought on by diminishing members, aging
members, loss of support from overseas sources, etc, you could have been forgiven if you thought
Joint Witness 2017 was going to be about contracts, agreements, memoranda of understanding,
etc, as religious Sisters and Brothers strove to ensure that their great legacy in education and
health care would continue into the future.
Instead we found ourselves being challenged by something much more far-reaching, namely the
very essence of what the Church was set up to be and to do – a Community of Disciples
evangelising themselves, their religious communities and the communities they came to serve
and continue to serve in the spirit of Christ.
This was determined by the choice of theme and a most challenging keynote speaker Dr.
Nothando Hadebe.
The theme was: Finding new paths to Evangelisation through Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the
Gospel) the post Synodal Exhortation which passed through two sets of hands, those of Pope
Benedict XVI and of Pope Francis.
Dr Hadebe began by describing this endeavour as “The Gospel and our Faith are life giving and
life transforming realities which Pope Francis is leading the Church to put into practice in
concrete ways. He achieves this by rooting the faith and all that it is about firmly in the Gospel.
In doing so Pope Francis is using Evangelii Gaudium to bring together all the disciplines of
Church teaching and practice, so that Evangelii Gaudium ends up being the charter for the new
evangelisation - new in spirit, new in method and new in expression.”
In outlining the task ahead of us Dr Hadebe outlined 5 key areas which Evangelii Gaudium must
be used to tackle; and tackle hard.
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a) The commodification and the “comicification” of Christianity
b) Key elements of faith being presented as for sale namely: religion, healing and even the
Sacraments!
c) Technology
d) Egotism
e) Decolonisation – letting the African identity emerge
A feature common to this post modern approach to religion is that those who participate in
worship and practice of the faith are assumed to have parked off their brains as well as their cars
in the Church parking lot! This gives frighteningly undue power to religious leaders, pastors,
church workers, etc, over their members.
Another area of grave and mounting concern is violence against women and children. The big
question is: Why? Is it the fragmentation of society, loss of sense of the common good,
racism/xenophobia, breakdown of the traditional family/society!?
A corollary which was not mentioned but which I regard as highly significant is the invisible
violence of abortion which cannot but be having a major effect on society today!
If the weakest, most defenceless and totally vulnerable are legally and routinely sacrificed at the
altar of convenience and lawless immorality, what’s to stop other weak and vulnerable members
of society from being violated as well? Albeit illegally and unlawfully?
But there are signs of hope, the chief being increasing resistance from upright men and women
committed to the common good, by resisting the anti life “zeitsgeist”/spirit of the age.
Second and very important is that the Joy of the Gospel provides us with the building blocks for
reform and renewal. The main thing that Evangelii Gaudium contributes is faith and confidence
in the Gospel and its power, which come from knowing Jesus, belonging to his community of
disciples in a real and concrete way and so coming to experience the transforming power of the
good news: “that God has come to redeem his people and that his coming continues wherever his
Church – led by his Son, Jesus Christ – makes the Good News happen by living as a community
of true brothers and sisters!”
It was as if we were rediscovering the challenge which Jesus left us: “By this shall all men know
that you are my disciples, by the way you love one another!”
“Go and do likewise” is what Joint Witness is saying to all in Southern Africa.
+ Wilfrid Cardinal Napier OFM
Archbishop of Durban
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MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE
The universal Church is concerned about the breakdown of marriage and family life on a global
scale. To address this concern, two major Church Synods have been held in Rome since 2014, to
discuss the issues involved and plot a way forward to deal with these.
The Archdiocese of Durban has also been concerned about these problems, and the Adult
Formation Team has spent considerable time and energy over the last year producing a series of
booklets that, we hope, will begin to raise awareness on some of the problems.
Called “The Cardinal’s Series on Marriage and Family Life”, there are ten booklets in the series,
available in both English and IsiZulu. Small, compact, and very affordable, the titles of these ten
are: Marriage, Family, Relationships, Communication, Fidelity and Commitment, Pressure,
Technology, Pornography, The Dangerous Duo: Drinking and Drugs, and Unemployment and
Retrenchment. All are dealing with issues that can cause problems in a marriage or in family life.
A set of these booklets was distributed to priests at the Chrism Mass earlier this year, and parish
priests were asked to make these “visible” to parishioners, and promote orders for them – either
individual books or in sets.
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The cost of each booklet is below R10, and the suggested price to parishioners was R10 per
booklet or R100 for the set of ten.
While these booklets are in no way comprehensive in their coverage of a particular topic, they are
designed, at least, to initiate discussion and reflection, and can be worked through by individuals,
couples, families or by small groups, and are suitable for people aged 16 and upward.
We are asking that some effort be made to promote the sale of these books in every parish. Order
forms are available online at www.myfaithalive.org.za or can be phoned through to Irene
Helsdon at (031) 5635554 or 082 559 6331.
Please promote these books in your parish!
N.B. Every priest was given a set of these well researched and written booklets under the title
The Cardinal’s Series on Marriage and Family. The reason for giving each priest this set of
booklets is for them to make the series known in their parishes, schools, hospitals, prisons and
other places where they practice their ministry.
The topics covered are right to the mark in regard to the moral and social problems which they
address for information, reflection and action, in prayer groups, families, sodalities, and of course
in your personal life.
The topics covered include: Family; Communication; Fidelity and Commitment; the Dangerous
Duo (Drugs and Alcohol); Unemployment and/or Retrenchment; Pornography; Marriage;
Pressure; Relationships; and Technology!
What a rich assortment of subjects for renewing and reforming married, family and personal life!
Believe it or not, NOT ONE order has been placed for the purchase of this exceptional set of faith
in life series.
The Reason!!! I don’t know! But it would seem none of the priests made these booklets known,
or advertised them or required their people to buy them! Come on! We can do better than that!
