May, 12, 2020

It is almost three weeks since that last blog, and for all of us it has been living in lockdown.

Ha, now it is May 18. You know, if it is true that the way to hell is paved with good intentions, then I am ¾ of the way their, and that is just with the Blog. There are plenty of other things too.

But let’s tackle some things while we can.

Skype---They reminded me about the expiry of my old credit card but when I tried to send the info about the new card, I ran into the usual unfriendly web pages suggested. Eventualy, I just pretended to start a new subscription and managed to get the new credit card info in their files, while still keeping the old info about how much air time I still have, etc. I spent hours and hours trying to do this but eventually it was the Holy Spirit that got us through. I now can use it to call my uncle Casey (92 yrs. Old) who has macular degeneration and can hardly see. It is the only form of communication that works for him now. The phone rings and the recording says the usual ….we’re not home now but just leave your phone number, etc. Ha. I know they are there because they can hardly move, he and his wife, the other Rose. So I can, come on, I know your’re there, it’s Cas from Africa, and in a few seconds he picks up the phone and we get going.

I also use it for cheap phone calls all over the world, since it is only 2 cents a minute. I am happy that I am still able to use Skype.

    Another thing that brought joy to my heart was that the internet was reconnected to us. Wow, it save me having to go over to the monastery to get a signal there, and now   I can also use I t at night when I have time on my hands.

    My sink was clogged up so I got some baking powder and some white vinegar and tried to unblock it. Lots of fizzing and foozing but not satisfactory. It allowed a small amount of water to go down after  long while, but eventually we had to get a plumber to do it. I think it took him about 30 seconds to unplug it.   It must be a plumber’s secret.

    Mike Pillay, our church leader, said he had to come to one of the convents here at Mariannhill to bring food parcels . I asked him to drop in and pick up the stuff I had prepared for his kids for Easter. He reminded me about the  bottle of Ballantine’s whiskey which he game me for my birthday last November which I haven’t touched because of medication. Ha he was so happy.

     But a highlight of this time, I think, is from the things I have been reading….Man’s search for Meaning by Victor Frankl, a Jewish Psychiatrist who is a survivor of Auchshwitz and Dachau.

It is unbelievable that anyone could have survived the conditions they had to live and work in. Starvation, freezing weather to work in, beatings for nothing, etc.  it is there that he got much of the material for his book. He came to the conclusion that every person needs to have something that gives meaning to his/her life. If that person’s life has meaning, that person can survive almost anything.  It is basic, he thinks. I think that I would agree with that. If one is convinced that his/her life is meaningless, there is no more a desire to go on living. He saw this in the concentration camp. Those who found no reason to live (to get back home and be with his beloved wife and watch their child grow into maturity , for example) just died. They found no meaning for their life, they just gave up.

   He also made an interesting observation regarding sex. Wasn’t it Freud who said that sex was the basic driving force for all human beings. He said that there in the all male environment of the camp, there was no talk of sex at all, whereas anywhere else where there are all males (prison, army, scouts), there are always problems.

His conclusion was  that if you could find a reason WHY you should continue to live (meaning), someHOW you would manage it.  He tries to help people find meaning for their lives through what he calls   Logo therapy, but we won’t go into that now. The terrible things he had to endure for more than 2 yrs. Really made me think.

There is another book that was reviving my spirits. My friend, Carohn Cornell, pulled together the stories of a bunch of people who had all worked for the Catholic Welfare Bureau , later called the Catholic Welfare and Development, emphasis  shifting from welfare mode to development mode so as to help people and their projects self sustainable . This was during the time of heavy apartheid In Cape town. It made one proud to see the Catholic Church, which inspired people, to become activists for uplifting people and for challenging unjust structures that were oppressing them. It renewed many memories and brought back to mind many of the  people who I was privileged to meet and even work with during those dark days. Of course the next question is what are we called to be and do now.    The explanation or who these beautiful people are is very flimsy. They are, all of them, heroes and heroins for their involvement in the struggle to bring democracy to south Africa and an end to apartheid.

There are many other things I would like to share with you, but let this suffice for now. Here is an article from one of my mentors, Bishop Kevin Dowling reflecting on the things that the corona virus brought out into the open that makes him feel that we simply can’t go back to the way things were before this pandemic. Here is what he says. Check it out with what you think..

We cannot go back to what was normal in the past 

The Church faces two tasks, to help those suffering in the present crisis and to look to a different future

SOUTH AFRICA, even after 26 years of independence, still remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. The immediate need to respond to the health crisis cannot obscure the urgent need to create a more just and equitable society once the pandemic passes. The Church must be involved in both struggles, writes Bishop Kevin Dowling.  The number of infections and deaths recorded so far has been lower than expected. The peak will perhaps arrive only in September, and a long, uncertain road lies ahead. The prevention strategies being implemented only highlight the reality of life for most people here. Since 1 May, everyone who goes to work in a taxi or a car, anyone in the public domain, has to wear a face mask – but they are responsible for making these masks themselves. Social distancing is regarded as essential for diminishing the rate of infections – in that sense it is the right thing to do – but it is simply not always feasible. Thousands of very poor families in the huge shack settlements around the platinum mines in my diocese live in one room. Social distancing in such conditions is virtually impossible. How can they stay at home and wash their hands frequently, when there is no readily available water? The same often applies in the overcrowded townships. People are doing their best, but in my once a week trip to town for food I have seen a lot of people moving around outside their homes, including children playing with their friends. Many people here are desperately hungry. NGOs, the government’s social service departments and ordinary people are responding. But there have been examples of unrest, as thousands of desperate people are not able to find enough to feed their families. We are facing a serious crisis. The Church leadership in Southern Africa, under the bishops’ conference and its president, Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, has encouraged us to respond as creatively as possible to the needs of the people, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. 

SOUTH AFRICA

A religious community which lives next to me at St Joseph’s Mission, called Tsholofelo Community (“a place of hope”), works in some of the poorest shack settlements. The community supplies over 500 adults and children with food parcels once a week. One sister, a highly qualified nurse, is running a primary health care and ARV clinic in a converted shipping container; other sisters had been running education and training programmes until they were shut down when the lockdown began because they were not considered a “essential service”.  I hope that as time goes on, we can start to discern what the experience of this pandemic calls for from the Church in terms of its vision, mission and ministry. We are living a primarily sacramental model. The closing of churches and the suspension of public Masses is challenging us to become a different kind of Church. We cannot go back to what was normal in the past. We must be a Church which is much more inclusive of the destitute and of those who are suffering in so many ways: the victims of violence against women and children, all those who are stigmatised or suffer discrimination.  This requires addressing honestly the systemic issues in the political fabric of the nation, the massive corruption, mismanagement, and incompetence. But it also requires of us as Church to reflect on and discern what the signs of the times call us to be and do, what model of Church we need to create and develop. I hope and pray that this crisis will bring out the treasures of who we are called to be as disciples of Jesus, and to be the field hospital that Pope Francis dreams of. This means building on what we have achieved in the past – but then, to be creative in imagining something new for the future.

Kevin Dowling C.Ss.R. is Bishop of Rustenburg,                                                                                                         (FROM THE TABLET—MAY 9, 2020)