STATEMENT BY THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE

The Catholic Church agrees that the student protest has foundation.  We are aware as a Church, of the inequality of opportunity for poor and competent students to access third level education.

As Bishops spread throughout the country, we have assisted students with our limited resources. But the majority of the deserving students we have not been able to help.

What the students desire is more equality in access to good education at university level. We support this request. But we don’t condone the violence, looting, and vandalizing of property by students and the use of force by police army.

By now we feel that the students have made their protest.  The whole society, other students, universities, and the government are very aware of the student’s protest.  It is time now for the disturbances to end and for the academic year to continue and for exams to be written.

We feel that at this stage there is little more university authorities can do.  In fact, they have generally shown themselves sympathetic to the students’ demands.

But the solution suggested by the students at the moment is beyond the financial and organizational capabilities of university authorities.  However, it must remain on our agenda as the priority for the future.

What is to be done is for the government to ensure that this academic year is completed in peace. The government and students must now iron out their difficulties.  A compromise must be considered as the huge financial demands of university free education cannot be found instantaneously.

As Bishops we extent our sincere sympathy and prayers for a speedy recovery to Fr Graham Pugin, the Jesuit Parish Priest of Braamfontein.

Fr Graham was wounded by a direct strike from a rubber bullet to the face while engaged in offering refuge to frightened students.

The Bishops wish to express their appreciation to our Catholic Chaplains who have been close to our students at this anxious time. We encourage university authorities to do all in their power to complete this academic year.

+William Slattery OFM

Archbishop of Pretoria

 

STATEMENT FROM FR DAVID ROWAN SJ, REGIONAL SUPERIOR of the JESUITS of SOUTH AFRICA

Fr Graham Pugin SJ, who was shot in the face by a rubber bullet at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, has received medical treatment and is recovering. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits), the order of priests to which Fr Graham belongs, and Fr Graham himself, are grateful for the concern that has been shown after the incident. We have received many prayers, well wishes and offers for assistance from across society. We have also received support from the Jesuit General Congregation meeting in Rome at present and the Vatican Ambassador to South Africa, His Excellency Archbishop Peter Wells.

Fr Graham has been one of the facilitators, along with other clergy and former student leaders, working towards an agreement between the students, management and other stakeholders at the University of the Witwatersrand. All the facilitators have worked hard to create an atmosphere of trust. Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Braamfontein has served as a safe and sacred space for negotiations, and we hope that it will continue to do so.

Unfortunately, the negotiation process has been stalled and we are concerned by the sense of distrust between all the role players. The high-security presence and clashes between police and students have also heightened tensions, making negotiations, at this stage, much more difficult. The shooting of Fr Graham has shocked and distressed many people, including students. He, along with the Society of Jesus, remain hopeful that a solution can be achieved.

We believe there needs to be a national mediation effort to resolve the fees issue and stabilise the situation on campuses. We note the establishment of a national government task team on the fees crisis but believe that this alone will not deal with the problem. We believe there needs to be a concerted effort, involving all sectors of society, to deal with the historical context and systemic problems which make higher education inaccessible and unaffordable for millions of poor South Africans.

We stand ready to participate in this mediation effort so that a national solution can be found to the crisis in the higher education sector. We are concerned by the levels of violence and urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint so that an atmosphere conducive to negotiations may return.

We appeal to all involved to pledge themselves to restore peace on and around our campuses.

Below please find downloads of the Catechists Manual and the Participants’ Book for the new season of Ecclesia “Called By Name”, starting October/November 2016.

[gview file=”http://adct.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Called-by-Name-Participants-Book-Aug-2016.pdf”] [gview file=”http://adct.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/ECCLESIA-CALLED-BY-NAME-catechist-manual.pdf”]

To the African National Congress last week must surely feel as, at worst, the rumour of defeat to come, at best a loud political wake-up call. Other parties need to take note too.

Everyone knew the ANC would retain Durban and Bloemfontein without serious opposition, just as everyone assumed the Democratic Alliance would hold onto Cape Town. What was discussed were Johannesburg, Tshwane (Pretoria) and Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) metropolitan areas. All the pundit predicted close polls, with ANC majorities slashed substantially, with some even suggesting ‘hung’ councils.

The results – in effect a DA victory in Port Elizabeth (though needing a small number of coalition partners to secure firm control) and hung councils in Tshwane and Johannesburg – probably exceeded a realistic estimation of the DA base of support. Clearly sections of the black community, most likely parts of the middle class in the big cities, have switched to the DA this time. Port Elizabeth is a particular prize to the DA, since it is seen as ANC heartland. However one should note significant numbers of minority voters there, who elsewhere tend towards the DA. Lest the DA gets smug and rests on its laurels it should note that such a protest vote does not necessarily mean a new cadre of party faithful.

Speaking of things of a protest kind, the results also suggest what many have thought: that the Economic Freedom Fighters may have far less actual support than their own hype assumes, and is more of a protest movement with some of its members in public office than a party the average voter sees as capable to share in government. If the EFF is to grow, it needs to articulate clearer programmes than just being anti-ANC and prove itself in practical governance. The need for coalitions in metros gives EFF such an opportunity. If it takes said opportunity their performance will deeply affect how voters see them in future.

For a party that believes in a modern day version of Louis XIV’s dictum – “L’etat, c’est moi” [I am the state] – losing ground must have been devastating, not least for city councillors who will now need to find a job. In a one party dominant democracy like ours, any weakening political power for the rulers feels like a cross between an imminent revolution and the end of the world –even Jesus’ return. Obviously the ANC can find ways of reclaiming lost ground – coalition-building with other parties in the short term. National government might even meddle with councils under opposition leadership, creating ways to obstruct their effectiveness.

Or, in the long term, the ANC might accept that they lost significant ground in 2016 because of their own local and national administrative incompetence, short-sighted policies that people no longer like, and because growing numbers of South Africans are sick of the corrupt hi-jinks of the ruling faction in the Movement. They might accept that some policies, practices and more than few comrades in high places need to be changed.

By Fr Anthony Egan S.J.

Earlier this week Pope Francis on a return trip from Armenia took a series of questions from journalists. Some of his responses, especially his comment about asking forgiveness of gay people and their families provoked a media storm. Yet, in reading the whole interview, I was struck by his consistent concern for all those who are marginalised, and hurting in the world.

He not only challenged Christians to ask forgiveness of gay people and their families for the way in which the church has treated them,  but dealt with these questions in the context of the Armenian genocide in 1915, and the response of the rest of the world then.

In the Confiteor in the mass we confess our sinfulness to God by saying: “I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do”. Pope Francis is reminding us that sin is not just what we have done. We also sin in our thoughts about others, in what we say of others, and in what we fail to do.

It is easy for most of us to sit back comfortably in the awareness that we would never set out to kill others. It is easy for us to see ourselves as “good” and for there to be “bad” people “out there” who commit terrible deeds. Pope Francis is challenging us to think about our complacency.

Whether we are talking about the prejudice and racism that fuels genocide, or discriminatory attitudes towards homosexuals or towards women, that fuel abuse, we are talking about the same fundamental problem. A failure to see others as being created with equal dignity and love by God. That is a basic evil, where we ourselves do not recognise and uphold the innate dignity of others. There is a related evil, namely when we tolerate discriminatory attitudes around us.

Just 24 years after the Armenian genocide, in his infamous Obersalzberg Speech Hitler said that he would “send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language.” He gave as justification, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

The Pope quoted this line of Hitler’s referring to how we as Christians have sinned by turning our gaze away from those who are discriminated against. He wants us to think about those moments when we did not respond and so allowed evil to thrive.

He is asking us to repent of our selfishness, which makes us want to stay safe in our own comfortable world, and not see the evil that is done around us. He is challenging us to repent of all the times when we do nothing but look “from the other side like the international powers with three genocides.”  He is challenging us to no longer tolerate in ourselves or in others discriminatory attitudes about race, class, gender, or sexual orientation.

By Frances Correia

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Worship and Social Justice – by Fr John Baldovin SJ. Book now!

By Fr Anthony Egan, S.J.

I really like to see, amidst the populist appeals of many politicians to the lowest – the very lowest – common denominator in humanity, that a public figure has the courage to talk sense about religion. The figure is (I am tempted to say again) Pope Francis. The occasion: his interview with the French newspaper La Croix. And the religion is Islam, with a thoroughly appropriate dig at the excesses within Christian tradition and modern secularism as well.

It is really a pleasure, at a time when rabble-rousers try to trump reason (pun intended), to hear the Pope calling us back to a more balanced perspective on Islam. He is quite right I think in his intuition that Western home-grown Islamic extremism is a product of ghettoization, and that further marginalisation of Muslims feeds the lunacy that is Islamic State. This in turn plays into the hands of cynical populist politicians who manipulate legitimate fears of violence to gain power. This further intensifies Muslim feelings of being marginalised and oppressed, giving its lunatic fringe the ‘justifications’ it seeks.

As an outsider I find much about Islam with which to disagree. On a theological level the idea of a literal reading of sacred scriptures seems to run counter to the historical and critical approaches that are second nature to my way of thinking. Such a reading opens itself to reading things into a text that aren’t there; at worst it can open religion to demagoguery.

Aspects of the social and ethical dimensions of the faith also worry me, particularly where it’s used to enforce gender inequality, treats other religions with less than equal respect, or encourages religious conquest.

But, as Francis noted, Christianity itself is also not blameless with regard to religious conquest. Nor, I would add, have we been models of tolerance or paragons of gender justice. Many Christians also have literal readings of the Bible and are fundamentalist when interpreting doctrine. Much of the progress we’ve made in becoming more accepting of religious difference is the result of the rise of secular democracy, often despite the resistance of many Churches.

So is secularism the answer? Well, it depends what one means by secularism. If by secularism we mean deliberately marginalising religion in society, often treating faith with disdain: No. This creates ghetto mentalities that breed resentment and religious extremism. If it means that the state adopts a neutral policy to religion, both protecting the right to express faith – without any faith using the state to further or police its beliefs – and defending the right to differ within faiths, and even the right not to believe: Yes.

Francis rightly rebukes the French state for leaning too far towards the former model of secularism. Many Christians will agree with him.

I suspect many Muslims share his view too, detest religious extremism and welcome the opportunity to live as believers in a tolerant state that embraces pluralism. Before we Christians get swept away by anti-Islamic demagoguery, we should remember this.

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