SAFCAM Communique #75

SAFCAM Communique #75          30/10/2021        

Dear Subscribers

As we close the month of the missions, we hopefully did not neglect to celebrate Bl Michael Rua, who continued the push for Salesian expansion into ‘mission territories’, including Egypt and South Africa in 1896! Did he perhaps share the vision of Cecil Rhodes of a Cape to Cairo link-up of Salesian presences? We can still dream like that, and include a Dakar to Dar-es-Salaam Salesian route!

It’s Halloween tomorrow! For the unbelievers, it is merely an annual day, promoted by marketing interests. But its origin is the celebration of the feast of All Saints with various cultural adaptations. It commemorated the deceased of the family who were believed to be enjoying eternity with God. Unfortunately, through the 20^th Century, it progressively degenerated into a strange mix of customs more connected with the culture of death, including creepy displays of ghosts, corpses, headstones, and skeletons and increasingly weird costumes and decorations. And though Africa has been spared most of this, our cults venerating the ancestors, are at risk of gradually being corrupted with similar modern pagan customs.

Halloween means the “eve of all hallows” because it’s the evening before one of the holy days of the liturgical year: All Saints. Let us avoid condemning the crazy parties, but try to ‘redeem’ them with what should be the true way to commemorate this feast.  (See the posting on www.safcam.org )

All Saints day and the challenge to become one!

One does not become a saint by one's own strength, although personal effort is also essential here. However, holiness is not so much the result of what a person does him/herself, it is a "gift", a gift from God which He places in the hearts of all who are receptive to it.

This gift from God requires explicit and focused cooperation on our part. From the start of his public life, Jesus clarified what the saint's rule of life should be. A saint will always be recognizable by certain fundamental qualities: standing before God in his poverty; to his inner pain whenever God is not loved; to his faith in the joys of a simple life with respect for values that appear insignificant but are vital; to his thirst for justice and truth on a global scale and in his own life; to his unrestricted generosity and mercy; to his purity of gaze, of heart and of language; to his commitment to both external peace and his own inner peace; to his constant evangelical way of life, which makes him a sign of contradiction for many.

Do I recognize myself in these qualities of holiness? “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Mt 5,48)

COP26!

Do you know what COP stands for?  (Chief of Police? Climate of Protests? Countries of Pollution?)

Ask Google if you don’t know! And why 26^th ? Again, look it up. (Hint – COP1 was in 1995)

Anyway, one thing is sure. For the coming days we will have our attention diverted from any other important events around the world, and COP26 and climate change will become the over-arching concern of all media, with some naming and shaming of the most guilty nations and multi-nationals, and the praising of the gurus of renewable sources of energy being presented as the new messiahs. I’m not complaining; just stating facts.

As that esteemed weekly catholic publication – The Tablet – comments:

“Climate change presents a unique moral challenge to the entire human race. The fact that leaders of governments from all over the world are coming together in Glasgow over the next two weeks to look for solutions, is an encouraging sign that humanity is beginning to understand the moral responsibilities involved. These responsibilities are not just to communities already threatened by extreme weather and climate turbulence … but also to future generations, which are even more at risk.”

But we cannot leave it to the governments and climate experts to resolve the threat that our common home could become largely inhabitable in the long run. Each of us needs to do our bit – to keep reducing, re-using, recycling, and consuming just the essential, whether it be fuel, electricity, water, food … We all need to live simply so all can simply live. And Laudato Si’ fans need to not only advocate about the macro issues, but make sure we economize energy and resources at the micro level. And of course, we ought not be concerned only with caring for the planet but ALL our fellow dwellers on it, including the unborn babies, which according to statistics are some of the most endangered creatures on earth. If we are ALL created equal, that equality needs to be respected from conception. Sadly, this is denied by too many of our species, who show immense concern for the protection of the environment, and rightly so, but show callous disrespect for unborn lives.  To save the planet from climatic devastation, we perhaps should begin by preventing humanity from self-destruction due to growing moral depravity.

It is interesting that there has been a list of presidents and prime ministers queuing up to meet Pope Francis on their way to the G20 meeting and the COP26 in Glasgow, including Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, Macron, Moon Jae-in (Korean), among others.

Catholics in Africa and Asia Continues to Rise

The number of Catholics in Asia and Africa continued to grow, according to newly released statistics.

The world population grew by 81.3 million in 2019, while members of the Catholic Church increased by 15.4 million for a total of approximately 1.3 billion Catholics worldwide.

While news coverage in recent years has highlighted the drop in Catholic priests being ordained in Europe and the Americas, the overall number of priests rose slightly in 2019 — by 271 — mostly due to a rise in priestly vocations in Africa and Asia, which offset decreases elsewhere. Permanent deacons also continued to rise from the year prior, with all five continents seeing their numbers grow, especially Europe and the Americas. Unfortunately, the total number of men and women religious decreased in 2019.

Women religious were down by more than 11,500. Lay-missionaries increased by over 34,200, with the overwhelming majority of the new lay missionaries located in the Americas.

The Catholic population has stayed steady with population growth. At the end of 2019, Catholics made up 17.74% of the global population — up by .01% from 2018.

The number of Catholics in Africa grew by more than eight million in 2019, for a total of around 19% of the population, while in Asia, which has 4.5 billion people, Catholics make up just 3.31% of the population, at 149.1 million. In Asia, around half of the continent’s Catholics are located in the Philippines, where this year the Church is celebrating 500 years of Christianity.

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted;

the indifference of those who should have known better;

the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most;

that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”  - Haile Selassie

In ten days’ time the Provincials of our region will be gathering for their annual CIVAM meeting in Nairobi! In 2020 it was reduced to a few online sessions. Thank God this year it is possible for them to gather face to face. We pray that they will all manage to travel without difficulty and their meeting be fruitful.

Having completed my 3-year assignment, I will be leaving for my home country and province of origin in AFM this coming week. I appreciate the opportunity this task offered me to take care of my own ongoing formation as I tried to help others do the same. I will continue to assist Fr Camiel and the SAFCAM project (online) for a few months until my replacement is able to join him here in DBYES. I will at the same time be fully involved in the projects of the Salesian Institute in Cape Town (begun in 1896!)

“Listen my fellow Africans! If you have no hope, you should get out as soon as possible! If you have unbounded hope, you should go and see a psychiatrist! If you can't give up hope; if you insist on hoping against hope, and are prepared to suffer, then persist with all the things you have been doing to make this a better country and continent! Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and hard work and self-sacrifice of those who are willing to take the risk of fighting for freedom, democracy and human dignity."  - Alan Paton in 1977 (Author of "Cry the beloved country")

Happy All Saints day and start to the month of November.

God bless.  Camiel and François