SAFCAM Communique #56 - English

SAFCAM Communique #56            12/06/2021          

Dear Subscribers

Media attention focuses of Vaccines of course, and on the G7 and the Euro2020 (Delayed by 364 days!)  I remember older confreres when I was in initial formation often repeating that all footballers can speak about is soccer; and all that cricketers talk about is cricket. And what do Salesian only talk about? Football and cricket! In this information age, it is difficult to keep up with the news, and as disciples of Christ, and followers of Don Bosco, our interest needs to be on the Good News for the young poor as a priority. But the ‘world news’ risks influencing them (and us) even more than the gospel. We need to be able to match the Word of God relevantly to the words of the many influencers everyone is exposed to, and prayerfully discern the way of truth to live by.

The two hearts of Jesus and Mary

In the past the practice was to perform consecrations to the two Hearts separately - first to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and then to the Heart of Mary. The consecration of the universal Church and the world by successive popes has marked the evolution of this tradition: 

in 1899, Leo XIII consecrated the Church and the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus;

in 1942, Pius XII consecrated the Church and the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary;

in 1984 and 2000 Saint John Paul II renewed these consecrations in a combined fashion, leading to the practice now of consecrations to the two hearts simultaneously.

Jesus and Mary are inseparable. That is why we devote and abandon ourselves to both Hearts together. Jesus became man in the womb of the Virgin, where his human heart grew. From the beginning, their two hearts were united in a sacred bond. Mary, a mother and educator, also formed the human heart of her Son. When the lance of the Roman soldier pierced the heart of Jesus crucified, the heart of Mary was pierced by a sword of sorrow. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the very reflection of the Heart of His Mother.

In the Church, the devotion to the Heart of Mary and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus evolved in a parallel way.

The day after the feast of the Sacred Heart, we remember the Immaculate Heart of Mary, indicating the significant connection between the two devotions.

In 1916, the angel of peace who appeared to the children of Fatima also spoke of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The Mother is always found near her Son!

SAFCAM team news:

The weeks are passing at supersonic speed – we will soon reach midway in 2021, and still the pandemic is disrupting normal travel, educational schedules, social life and curtailing religious practice.

Fr Camiel having eventually obtained visas for Equatorial Guinea and Central African Republic, is exploring ways to reach the communities in those countries. Road travel is tricky and there is the additional problem of Covid barriers and quarantine requirements. ‘I might be able to spend some quarantine time at Bishop Miguel Angel’s house, if they accept this in Guinea’, says Camiel. ‘Then the confreres from Bata and Micomiseng can come to see me at the Bishop's residence. But after that, the challenge is how to get to the confreres in Malabo (which is the capital on an Island!).  Normally, the official entry into the country is Malabo, with a 5-day mandatory quarantine in a hotel. The confreres would have to supply me with food, and the hotel accommodation is at your own cost! In order to fly to Malabo, the only way would be via Ethiopian airlines, which means I would have to fly from Yaoundé to Addis, in order to catch a flight Addis-Malabo’.  That would entail a 10,500 km trip in order to cover the 302 km distance, besides the ticket prices!

For my part, I am presently enjoying a retreat online with 30 or so other AFE confreres, preached by Fr Vincent Tembo sdb-zmb, but it would be preferable if we could be all together. Next weekend I will go to spend 3 weeks in AET to present (face-to-face for the first time in a long time) a 3-day quinquenium to the recently perpetually professed/ordained confreres, and 2 annual retreats to the confreres in Ethiopia.

During that time, it may be difficult to update the website and forward the weekly communiques!

Recommended reading of news posting on SAFCAM.ORG:

- I presume the word WOKE has grown familiar to all of us over the past few years. From a slang word used by rappers, it has become a common term, referring to ‘consciousness concerning issues of social justice especially in the areas of racism and gender issues. Wokeness has become a culture, a philosophy, and is claiming sole legitimacy in modern thought control. See the amusing reflection about the consequences on a white man’s confusion regarding his identity.

- The discovery of undocumented child graves in Canadian catholic boarding school has made the news in the past week, with insinuations that indigenous peoples were abused and killed and secretly buried in school grounds. See the reactions of two Canadian catholics to the news, which has led to much sorrow and outrage, as well as stinging attacks against the Church. But the blame ought to be shared by the Canadian Government itself for its historical policies of sequestrating children from their families in order to ‘socialize’ them out of their ‘primitive culture’.

- News broke this week of Chinas change of policy about how many children couples were permitted to have. From 1970s till 2016 – only one child; from 2016 – two kids; and now from 2021, three! This deplorable forced population control has been achieved in the ‘free’ world by other means! See the 2 articles about couples who now voluntarily choose to remain childless and the dramatic birth rates in the USA (but also most of Europe). The ‘One planet one child’ poster is typical of the prevalent mentality.

- Then there an article asking whether we should endorse the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal on Gender Equality?

- And finally, the admirably well composed response of Pope Francis to Cardinal Marx’s offer of resignation (a provisional unofficial translation).

Recommended viewing:

https://youtu.be/MRELxm96MvU - Is the world overpopulated? Find out, as Jason Evert interviews Emmet Dooley in this 52-minute YouTube clip.

Camiel (from Yaoundé) and François (Nairobi)