Call To Holiness In Community

S.P.R.E.D. – Special Religious Development.

We were born into the community of a family and extended family. We depended on this community for the fulfilment of all our needs, physical, emotional, social, moral, economic, and religious. Our community of family went a long way towards making us who we are. When we grow up we can move away from home, get a job, set up a home; in other words become independent. Our friends with learning difficulties do not have these options in the same way. They really do need a community that will allow them to be individuals who have dignity, choice,and a sense of giving as well as receiving, a sense of being part of a community. They need friends outside their families and work places. The first community we experience outside the family is that of the Christian community when we are brought to church to receive the Sacrament of Baptism.

Each Baptised person is welcomed into the community of the parish and is given the opportunity to develop his/her faith, initially by receiving the sacraments and then by ongoing attendance at the Eucharist and other liturgical events. Our aim in Spred is to integrate our friends into the liturgical life of the parish. Our faith is our greatest gift from God. Our friends have as much right as we have to grow in their faith. We, in Spred, can give them a chance to experience the spiritual in life, also a chance to grow in the faith that they received in seed at baptism. Faith education is only possible if our friends feel they are loved. We are opening a door that allows our friends to appreciate who God is for them. Often it is our friends who opens the door for us. It is by giving to those who have learning difficulties that we not only receive but also enable them to give. Then, their joy, simplicity, and honesty, for example, may be seen and experienced by others. Others are consequently modified by being with them. With them we can be weak and receive of their strengths, of their love for us, of their trust, of their approval, if we give them time and space to be with us.

Spred is all about friendship. We are referred to as volunteers while we ourselves are known as faith companions because that is our role- to be a companion in faith to our faith friends.  We all need friends outside of our family. We all need community. It takes time to build up this bond of friendship. We realise to be a faith companion we need to accept one another as we are, to be loving, sincere, honest, genuine, compassionate, kind and authentic. Our friends can easily discern if we are lacking in these attributes. We respect one another and this can be seen in the way we relate to one another. We are sharing our faith. We are faithful companions on a journey with our friends. The depth of our bonding as a small faith community is a symbol of the depth of God’s love for us. Through Spred our friends can experience the Church as a group of believers who come together to share life.

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Celebrating Justice and Peace Sunday

Justice and Peace Sunday fell on 17 September and the department’s fieldworkers went to various parishes in the Archdiocese to present the department’s objectives.

Tebogo Masunyane addressed the faithful at St Francis Xavier, Evaton where Mass was said by parish priest, Fr Sergio Lorenzini.

“Found and rooted in scripture and the social teachings of the church, the Justice and Peace ministry is one of the evangelisation tools in the church,” explained Tebogo.

She gave a brief background on how the ministry came about, saying: “After the Vatican II Council, the Bishops of the world spoke about the grave injustices that were prevalent and which prevented people from living full human lives.”

For Christians to remain silent and unmoved in the face of the tragedy of oppression, poverty, unemployment, abuse, greed and unjust suffering is a denial of the Gospel, she continued.

Justice and Peace is not just about recognising injustices, but about doing something about them. Methods which can be used to help people include welfare, charity, development, the most sustainable being advocacy and lobbying.One of the department’s priority objectives is air quality. The mine dumps project is just one we have partnered with Benchmark to ensure that mines are rehabilitated, she said.

As part of the offering, members of Justice and Peace presented a basket of fruit and vegetables to the church.

“We would like to present this basket to Fr Sergio and to encourage people take care of the environment that God has entrusted to our care. When properly taken care of, it has the means to take care of us like giving us the fruit and vegetables we have here,” said Rose Mabunda, a member of the parish’s J&P committee.

Lerato Mohone

PASTORAL LETTER 8

MARY AND THE STRUGGLES OF WOMEN

In South Africa during the month of August, the frustrations, struggles, aspirations, the enduring strength, the collective power and triumphs of women and forcefully drawn to the attention of the nation.  It is also a month during which men’s worldview and attitudes towards women are placed under fierce scrutiny.  The clarion call is for justice, equality and inclusive participation.

Recalling the pain of Women

Mary is an example of a woman who endured pain and suffering.  This is in spite of the fact that she had found favour with God, and carried the title “full of grace” (gratia plena).  In spite of that, she and her family had to flee from Israel and became refugees in Egypt.  Many women today can identify with her pain and suffering.  Many flee their countries of origin with no possessions except the clothes on their back.  They are forced to flee because of political conflicts, wars, natural disasters or simply abject poverty and are therefore in search of better opportunities for themselves and for their children.  They move from country to country, from shelter to shelter.  They are often aided by magnanimous charitable organizations.  Some are without identity papers and are therefore stateless.  In such situations they are perennially anxious and are highly vulnerable.  Officials harass them to no end.  Their labour is helplessly exploited.  Heartless, cruel men take advantage of them.  They are generally stripped of their dignity, forced to be beggars and consequently have a poor image of themselves.

Mary saw her Son spat upon, beaten, forced to drag a wooden cross, mocked, pierced with a spear and left for dead by his tormentors.  “A sword pierced her soul” as Simeon had prophesied (Lk.2:35).  Many women find themselves in a similar situation.  They are like Rachel “who sobbed and wept and refused to be consoled for her children were no more” Mt. 2:18).  Many mothers see their children ravaged by abuse, hunger and disease.  Their husbands divorce them at the drop of a hat and leave them in abject poverty.  Younger women are trafficked and sold like animals by mean spirited men.  It is this pain of women that cry to heaven for justice.  Many women in the refugee camps and in the informal settlements are the “discarded people”, the “surplus people”, the “forgotten” people.

The rise of Women

Mary, despite her unworthiness, pain and suffering, was able to break out in song and praise the God who “exalts the lowly”, whose mercy reaches out towards despised women of every age, and “fills the hungry with good things” (Lk.1. 50-52).  Many women and children are genuinely the “wretched” of the earth for even some African men, wretched as they are, treat women with contempt.  The prophetic words of Mary about God “exalting the lowly”, is a  firm promise to women who are discriminated against, despised and abused, that they too “will rise” and regain their God-given dignity.  It is also incumbent upon women to wrestle courageously with issues of inequality and discrimination.  Meekness and docility only serve to delay the life-long struggles of women. Read more →

Launch of gender-based violence helpdesk

One of the activities of the Justice and Peace department during Women’s Month was to shine a spotlight on the scourge of gender-based violence.

The department’s head, Joseph Dube, said that, in 2015, it conducted a survey on gender-based violence in which 600 respondents were interviewed. Forty percent said they reported cases to the church. A report was compiled and the department then decided to train counsellors who would work in parishes.

Following other gender-based violence helpdesk launches in other parishes, the parish of Nyolohelo launched its own on Bible Sunday. The Minister of Women and Children, Susan Shabangu graced the occasion.

Mass was celebrated by parish priest, Fr Simphiwe Kheswa OFM, Fr Chaka Motanyane OP and Fr Nhlanhla Mkhize from Mariannhill diocese. They were assisted by Dominican brothers Francis Amponsah and Godfrey Chikaura and Rev Simon Mokoena.

Touching on gender-based violence and abuse, Fr Simphiwe said a woman in an emotionally- abusive situation may not be abused physically, but they are “beaten within”.

Break the silence and talk about it, he urged.

He closed his homily by expressing Gratitude to the minister for attending the occasion.

Ntswaki Maduna from People Opposing Women Abuse said the ‘burning’ stage of abuse did not happen overnight. It starts with little things like being told that “you are not good enough” and being compared to others. Over time, a person’s self-esteem is so crushed that they feel unworthy of anything that is good, she said.

Minister Shabangu said she could attest to the history of the Catholic Church and its role in the struggle, including bullet holes in the structures of Regina Mundi, Moroka. “The church provided a safe haven for many young boys and girls. It should, therefore, carry on in this direction by providing help, not only to Catholics, but to all victims of gender-based violence in the community, including men,” she said.

The minister applauded and thanked the department of Justice and Peace. “You are showing consciousness – an awareness of the injustices. We need to work together in ensuring that gender-based violence ends,” she added.

Parishioner, Lebotho Lerata donated cash towards the hosting of this event.

 Lerato Mohone

Training for pastoral agents

The Scalabrini  Institute for Human Mobility in Africa, the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office and the department of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees organised a training course on migration for pastoral care agents.

The training took place at Koinonia House from 14 to 17 August. Thirty-five participants came from dioceses around the country – Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg took part. Topics included understanding  international migration in Africa, migration in the Bible, the teaching of the church on migration, the history of pastoral care for migrants and refugees, the human rights of migrants, advocacy and networking, counselling on migration, migration and health, the laity in the ministry to the migrants, theology of migration, the challenge of religious diversity on migration, migration: pastoral planning in the migrant ministry and a round table discussion on stateless children.

Sr Maria de Lurdes Lodi Rissini

Head of the Department of Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees.