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December 5 to December 11, 2012

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Blind Catholic makes a big difference

Imagine that: Pope’s vision trumps Lennon’s

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Church movement to set up a new seminary in SA BY CLAIRE MATHIESON

The shrine basilica of Our Lady of Dolours in Thrissur, India, is decorated in colourful lights for the annual feast marking the consecration of the church. The Syro-Malabar minor basilica is located in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Christianity is believed to have come to Kerala in 52 AD with the arrival of St Thomas the Apostle. Today, Christianity is the state’s third-largest religion, with a share of 19% of the population. (Photo: Anto Akkara, CNS)

China: New leaders won’t change old problems with the Church BY ED WILKINSON

HIGH-RANKING Vatican official from China says he doesn’t expect much to change in Church-state relations with the new Chinese government. “I don’t think there will be a big change in the immediate future for the religious policy in China. It’s not one of the immediate priorities of the new government. They have many other things to take care of,” said Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. China unveiled its new Communist Party leadership in mid-November. The top ruling body, known as the Politburo Standing Com-

mittee, is composed of seven members who will take charge in March. Xi Jinping, the new president, repeatedly called for a “great renewal” in his acceptance speech. Mr Xi, who was vice-president, also was promoted to chairman of the Central Military Commission at a time when the country aspires to become a maritime power. Archbishop Hon explained that since the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution in China, people have been able to freely worship. The problem is with “the structure and development of the Church—especially for the hierarchy—the control is too much”. The Chinese government demands the power of approval before a bishop can be appointed by the Vatican.—CNS

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DIOCESAN seminary for the Neocatechumenal Way is being set up in the archdiocese of Cape Town. The Redemptoris Mater International Missionary Seminary, a seminary for priests who want to live their vocation through the Neocatechumenal Way, will be erected in the archdiocese of Cape Town by the end of this year. Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, along with vicar-general Fr Peter-John Pearson, signed the decree authorising the new Cape Town seminary in the Vatican at the St Peter’s basilica altar of the Lithuanian chapel, below the effigy of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn. The Neocatechumenal Way movement focuses on the formation of Christian adults. Archbishop Brislin said the decision to erect a seminary in the archdiocese was a practical response to the call by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict for the New Evangelisation which “seeks not only to bring Christ to those who do not know him, but also to evangelise lapsed Catholics and those who have become indifferent to their faith— not to mention evangelising a secularised culture”. The Redemptoris Mater seminaries are based on the experience of the Neocatechumenal Way. Since the Neocatechumenal Way is not a religious order, all Redemptoris Mater seminaries are fully diocesan. Its seminarians “have arrived at their vocation as a result of their Neocatechumenal path and the rediscovery of their baptism as lived through small Neocatechumenal communities”, explained Dino Furgione, an Italian missionary for the Neocatechumenal Way in South Africa. Only candidates who have been part of the Neocatechumenate and have been through the catechesis are accepted. The priests from the Redemptoris Mater seminary minister in their diocese—such as Cape Town—or in other parts of the world. However, diocesan priests not affiliated to the Neocatechumenal Way will be trained, as before, by the bishops’ seminary system. “Those who attend St Francis Xavier Seminary—and we hope there will be many from Cape Town in the coming years—will be diocesan priests who are called specifically for ministry in the parishes of the archdiocese and various other ministries,” Archbishop Brislin said.

he new seminary will initially be housed in archdiocesan property. “More than one property has been identified as a possible site and discussions are taking place to decide on the most suitable of the properties. In due course, a more permanent arrangement will be made,” said Archbishop Brislin. He added that in some cases Redemptoris Mater seminaries do not begin with an institution but instead the seminarians live with families of “The Way” and meet for lectures and formation. Today, there are 95 seminaries around the world and the Neocatechumenal Way is present in 105 countries, in more than 20 000 communities. The first Redemptoris Mater seminary was set up in Rome in 1987 at the wish of Pope John Paul II.

(From left) Dino Furgione, Fr Peter-John Pearson, Archbishop Stephen Brislin and canon lawyer Adelchi Chinaglia hold the decree authorising the establishment of a seminary for the Neocatechumenal Way in Cape Town after a Mass in the Lithuanian chapel in St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican. Mr Furgione said the seminaries are called “missionary” as their seminarians come from all parts of the world. The Redemptoris Mater priests, once formed and ordained in the diocese and having served for some years in their diocese, are ready to travel to other dioceses, to serve the Church wherever necessary. Mr Furgione said the trip to Rome was considered a pilgrimage. The archbishop and his companions prayed at the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul, and the tombs of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II. “In this 50th anniversary year of Vatican Council II, praying at the tombs of these two popes signifies a desire to honour the inheritance of the council and continue its direction of renewal in the Church. And it was precisely in honour of this spirit that the archbishop wanted to erect this new Redemptoris Mater, to give his diocese a seminary, which is, at once, diocesan, missionary, and international,” Mr Furgione said.

rchbishop Brislin said he envisaged the new seminary to act as a response to the New Evangelisation. “It will form presbyters who will be prepared for the challenges of a secularised society, and which will know how to offer people of this generation a serious path of Christian initiation,” he said. “Christ is not a theory to be discussed, but a person to encounter,” the archbishop said. Archbishop Brislin said the movement was a natural growth of the seeds sown more than 25 years ago when the Neocatechumenate begun its work in the archdiocese. He said it would also allow Cape Town to “become part of an international missionary effort and to make a real contribution to the growth of God’s Kingdom in other parts of the world. Hopefully, this will also lead us to become more and more missionary in our attitudes and Christian life.” Three priests have already arrived in Cape Town—two Italians and one Zambian. Another three are expected once the necessary documentation has been finalised.