Parish Letter 24th Week A 2008
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
St Paul, whose year we are celebrating, admits, at the beginning of his letter to the Corinthians, that the content of his gospel message – Christ crucified – did not fit into the either the Jewish or the Greek cultures of his day:
“And so, while Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here we are preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. ” (1Cor 22-25)
According to Paul’s accurate observation of his contemporary culture, a crucified Christ makes no sense in terms of any worldly evaluation. If we observe carefully our own culture today, we will come to the same conclusion. Yet, Paul insists that both Jew and Greek are called to follow the crucified one.
The cross is central to being a Christian. It is a paradoxical sign that communicates victory over loss, weakness transformed into strength, and triumph over tragedy. It is the crucified Christ alone who is true power and wisdom.
The cross puts our human suffering into perspective. The cross transforms meaningless suffering into something full of meaning and value, even beauty. We know that suffering is part of the human condition.
Some suffering is actually caused by the terrible acts of violent individuals bent on reaping destruction in the name of whatever cause. We have seen that recently in the political disturbances in our country.
We see it every night in TV reports, and every morning in newspaper accounts of the world’s numerous troubled spots. Some suffering comes in the form of tremendous natural disasters, such as the devastating hurricanes currently wrecking havoc in the Caribbean and the US. Yet, another form of suffering accompanies the human condition – incurable diseases, such as HIV/Aids and cancer.
Still, the results of accidents, psychological and emotional stress, broken and strained relationships and the pressures of daily life, compounds the human condition. All suffering, no matter what its cause, presents a challenge and causes much distress, anxiety and pain to humanity. What makes it even more difficult is the innocence of those who suffer. What sense can we make of this suffering, how do we react to it?
Paul was no stranger to suffering (read 2Cor 11:23-33). He seems to draw attention to suffering as an integral part of what it means to follow Christ and what it means to be an apostle. Paul is aware that proclaiming the truth can lead to much suffering and rejection. Paul saw a profound paradox at work in his life through his sufferings: “Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Cor 12:10)
This is the Christian paradox that Paul teaches us. What in worldly terms is perceived as weakness is actually strength in terms of God grace and mercy. No symbol so embodies this truth as the cross. Life in Christ means embracing the cross. It requires not that we flee from suffering, but we accept it and learn to live with it constructively.
It is possible to live and love, to be free and to grow, to heal and flourish in the face of of suffering. For Paul, the Christian faith was born in suffering. Jesus willingly took on the humiliating and excruciating torture of death by crucifixion so that he could show others the way of victory through suffering.
Jesus is the model who gives confidence to Paul. On this feast day of the Cross, let us model ourselves on Jesus as St Paul did, and teaches us.
In the Most Holy Redeemer
Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Parish Letter 20th Sunday A 2008
On one of my early hospital visits, I walked into a Parirenyatwa Hospital ward, where a parishioner was recovering. It was midmorning, between the visiting hours, so the place was very quiet with patients either sleeping or resting. I found the parishioner sitting up and spent some time with her. We talked for a while before we prayed together. She wanted me to sing a song with her and we did that. I anointed her and gave her Holy Communion. I sat by her bedside for a little while before saying goodbye, promising to pray for her and to come again.
As I was walking out of the ward, a man lying in the far corner said to me: “What about me? Do you not pray for me too? I am not a Catholic but I need some prayers.” I felt chastised and humbled. I walked over to him and said, “Of course I will pray for you. It does not matter that you are not a Catholic.” And I prayed with him. As I was about to go, I looked around and saw the look on the faces of the other patients, and I knew better to start praying with them before more chastisement.
I learnt something very important on that hospital visit. When I visit the hospital I am ready to pray for more than those on my list. I used to worry about being seen as imposing my faith, infringing individuals’ religious rights, proselytizing, and taking advantage of the infirm and other similar concerns of religious freedom. I take the precaution of waiting for those outside my pastoral jurisdiction to invite me first.
I have come to appreciate in a very sensitive way, the utter loneliness that people experience in hospital and the pressing need they have for human contact and social engagement. Faced with these needs, they surrender their ideological and creedal fortifications and become vulnerably open to the healing prayer available. It is a dangerous vulnerability, yet it is necessary.
In today’s gospel, the Canaanite woman makes herself dangerously vulnerable. Her position was diametrically opposed to that of Jesus on many levels; she was Canaanite – he was Jewish, she was a woman – he was a man. This position had serious social, political, racial, sexual, and religious connotations. Their dealing with each other would inevitably violate some sacrosanct code of behaviour in a reprehensible manner.
Jesus had ventured into this pagan territory to cool off the tension caused by his and his disciples’ non-conformity to social and religious propriety. Interacting with this foreigner and woman was going to dent Jesus’ reputation and confirm him as a deviant.
Jesus responded to this woman who was tormented by the torment of her daughter by testing her faith. She did not give up but pressed on, arguing that even if Jesus saw her as a dog, she deserved his consideration, since dogs are not denied the leftovers. Jesus saw her reasoning as evidence of her great faith and granted her wish.
Her persistence on behalf of her daughter, her desperation after trying only God knows how many remedies; her readiness to cross racial, social, sexual, political and religious barriers impressed Jesus. That was her great faith, for faith is more than a nice feeling of being loved by God, but faith takes up all our deepest pain of being human and longing for wholeness and healing. The Canaanite woman had it – she was a human being grappling with the pain of being human and needing wholeness for her tormented soul and that of her daughter.
I have learnt, in my pastoral care for the sick, that sickness is a time of religious significance for most people. There is a religious need that we experience when we are sick which goes beyond our denominational difference. In fact, it goes beyond most divisions that keep us apart. I see it more as openness to God than simply to an available minister.
At the behest of their religious mothers, I have been at the bedside of many a lapsed Catholic and have been amazed by the faith of the faithless. The sister of a man who had long abandoned church said to me as we watched him in a coma: “This is a special time for him. God has given him this time when he cannot talk to any of us for a purpose. This is the time for my brother to talk with God.” The next day the man died peacefully.
Those who take care of the sick and bear the burden of sickness vicariously, like the Canaanite woman who was tormented by the torment of her daughter, experience this profound need for God. I learnt this when a junior doctor at Parirenyatwa grabbed me by the arms on the corridor and begged me: “Father please pray, pray for the sick and pray for us too. There are things that we cannot do, but only God can do.” Here was another person tormented by the torment of others and longing for their wholeness and healing.
It is for faith as great as this that Jesus grants their wishes. Let us pray for the gift of faith. Let us pray that we too may be tormented by the torment of others and relentlessly bring their case before Jesus who will grant our wish. Amen.
In the Most Holy Redeemer Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Woman, you have great faith.
As I was walking out of the ward, a man lying in the far corner said to me: “What about me? Do you not pray for me too? I am not a Catholic but I need some prayers.” I felt chastised and humbled. I walked over to him and said, “Of course I will pray for you. It does not matter that you are not a Catholic.” And I prayed with him. As I was about to go, I looked around and saw the look on the faces of the other patients, and I knew better to start praying with them before more chastisement.
I learnt something very important on that hospital visit. When I visit the hospital I am ready to pray for more than those on my list. I used to worry about being seen as imposing my faith, infringing individuals’ religious rights, proselytizing, and taking advantage of the infirm and other similar concerns of religious freedom. I take the precaution of waiting for those outside my pastoral jurisdiction to invite me first.
I have come to appreciate in a very sensitive way, the utter loneliness that people experience in hospital and the pressing need they have for human contact and social engagement. Faced with these needs, they surrender their ideological and creedal fortifications and become vulnerably open to the healing prayer available. It is a dangerous vulnerability, yet it is necessary.
In today’s gospel, the Canaanite woman makes herself dangerously vulnerable. Her position was diametrically opposed to that of Jesus on many levels; she was Canaanite – he was Jewish, she was a woman – he was a man. This position had serious social, political, racial, sexual, and religious connotations. Their dealing with each other would inevitably violate some sacrosanct code of behaviour in a reprehensible manner.
Jesus had ventured into this pagan territory to cool off the tension caused by his and his disciples’ non-conformity to social and religious propriety. Interacting with this foreigner and woman was going to dent Jesus’ reputation and confirm him as a deviant.
Jesus responded to this woman who was tormented by the torment of her daughter by testing her faith. She did not give up but pressed on, arguing that even if Jesus saw her as a dog, she deserved his consideration, since dogs are not denied the leftovers. Jesus saw her reasoning as evidence of her great faith and granted her wish.
Her persistence on behalf of her daughter, her desperation after trying only God knows how many remedies; her readiness to cross racial, social, sexual, political and religious barriers impressed Jesus. That was her great faith, for faith is more than a nice feeling of being loved by God, but faith takes up all our deepest pain of being human and longing for wholeness and healing. The Canaanite woman had it – she was a human being grappling with the pain of being human and needing wholeness for her tormented soul and that of her daughter.
I have learnt, in my pastoral care for the sick, that sickness is a time of religious significance for most people. There is a religious need that we experience when we are sick which goes beyond our denominational difference. In fact, it goes beyond most divisions that keep us apart. I see it more as openness to God than simply to an available minister.
At the behest of their religious mothers, I have been at the bedside of many a lapsed Catholic and have been amazed by the faith of the faithless. The sister of a man who had long abandoned church said to me as we watched him in a coma: “This is a special time for him. God has given him this time when he cannot talk to any of us for a purpose. This is the time for my brother to talk with God.” The next day the man died peacefully.
Those who take care of the sick and bear the burden of sickness vicariously, like the Canaanite woman who was tormented by the torment of her daughter, experience this profound need for God. I learnt this when a junior doctor at Parirenyatwa grabbed me by the arms on the corridor and begged me: “Father please pray, pray for the sick and pray for us too. There are things that we cannot do, but only God can do.” Here was another person tormented by the torment of others and longing for their wholeness and healing.
It is for faith as great as this that Jesus grants their wishes. Let us pray for the gift of faith. Let us pray that we too may be tormented by the torment of others and relentlessly bring their case before Jesus who will grant our wish. Amen.
In the Most Holy Redeemer Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Parish Bulletin
Parish Letter I8th Sunday of the Year 2008
Come ... all you who are thirsty!
After hearing of the death of John the Baptist, the Gospel tells us, Jesus withdrew to a lonely place. He wanted to be alone to grieve over his friend and cousin, his precursor and herald. He needed time alone to ‘regroup,’ to process the loss of John, to put closure to their relationship. But no sooner than he got there, the crowds had already caught up with him. We see Jesus here facing the challenge to balance his personal need to take time out and mourn the Baptist; and the pressing needs of the people who sought him. When he saw the crowds, he took pity on them and healed their sick.
This Gospel reveals to us a very important truth about Jesus. He was true God and true human being, as we profess in the Creed. What shines out in this Gospel is his genuine humanity. As a human being he felt loss and all the emotions that we feel when someone we know and love dies. He felt the need to be alone, to refocus his life after the loss, to honour the beloved dead. He knew that he would not be much use to those who needed his help when he was feeling this low. This is an idea that many people today, as many others throughout history did, find difficult to understand and accept – that God can be a human being all the way! That God can feel loss and pain, get tired and need rest. That is the mystery of the Incarnation – God became a human being and lived among us.
Then he feeds the multitude miraculously.
It is easy here to emphasize that it was because of his divinity that Jesus performed this miracle. There is no doubt about that – only God can do something like that. Yet, it is important to acknowledge that it is because of his human ability to empathise, to feel with and for others, that Jesus worked the miracle. In his own neediness, he was able to see the need of others. Contemporary spirituality has often called Jesus “the wounded healer.” He knew and bore the wounds of our human condition; hence he understood the pain of the wounds of others. Because he had experienced need he felt for the needs of others. Only God-become-human can do that. So if we make his humanity shine in this miracle we are at the same time making his divinity shine!
Isaiah, the prophet in the first reading, talks about the everlasting covenant out of the favours promised to David. Through the words of Isaiah, God calls out to all who are thirsty, hungry, and have no money. He wants them to come so he can fill them with plenty. Jesus fulfils this promise in today’s Gospel – he fills with plenty the crowds who were thirsty, hungry and had no money. He filled the sick with healing. He felt pity for those who were abandoned. God became a human being so that his promises, given through the prophets, may come true.
St Paul, whom we commemorate this year, came to know Jesus and his life was transformed. It was his encounter with this God who became a human being that made Paul so utterly convinced of Jesus’ power to save. So he could not think of anything that could come between us and the love of Christ. Even death cannot separate us from the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is this love of God, prophesied by Isaiah, proclaimed by Paul and made human by Jesus that beckons us in the Eucharist. Let us open our hearts and draw closer to God who calls us.
Yours in the Redeemer,
Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Fr Gerry's Letter
Fr Gerry Mulligan's Letter to St Gerard's Parish
While I was overseas in July, Gerry Mulligan, our Vice Provincial, was kind enough to come to Zimbabwe and help in our parishes. I was very happy that he came, especially at this time when our country is going through a very difficult phase. While telling our confreres in the UK the difficult situation here, I feared that Gerry might be scared and decide not to came. Knowing fully well what was happening here he decided to come. Gerry responded in the spirit of the true Redemptorist: "Always ready to undertake what is difficult." The letter that he wrote for our Parish Bulletin as he left speaks for itself:
ST GERARD'S PARISH LETTER 17th. Sunday of The Year 2008
One cold day last January in Scotland, Fr Ronnie McAinsh- our Redemptorist Provincial said to me “They were going to be a bit short-staffed in Zimbabwe during the month of July. They needed help with the weekend and daily Masses.” Listening to the rain and sleet battering on the window pane, I said “I’ll go.”
Five months later, on June 29th, standing in the queue for security checks at Glasgow airport I wondered if I had made the right decision. People looked at me strangely when I said I was going to Zimbabwe for a month. I must admit, I felt a bit apprehensive myself after all we had seen on TV during the lead up to the elections.
First impressions can be misleading. When I arrived, so much seemed to be going on as normal. Certainly, the welcome I received from everyone was overwhelming and people seemed to be genuinely pleased that I had come. It was only with time that I began to realize how very difficult and frightening things had been. I was amazed at people’s ability to cope, to survive from day to day and even to keep smiling– something I had remembered from previous visits. I felt in a strange way honoured to be here; humbled that people had allowed me to share these days with them. But, there was tiredness in people’s faces, not surprisingly, and a feeling of disappointment that was so real you could almost touch it.
I enjoyed meeting my Redemptorist confreres again at St Gerard’s and visiting the student community at Tafara. It is always good to meet up with your brother Redemptorists and enjoy catching up with all the news of people and having some good laughs along the way. Soon, I was getting familiar with the way from St Gerard’s to Nazareth House and St. Augustine’s Hatcliffe. I enjoyed so much the Masses and the singing.It is always a moving experience to share in Mass, in different places. We have so much in common as we gather at the altar. So many different faces, different lives, different experiences, yet all reaching out to receive the food God gives us, the food we must share with one another.
During the month, people kept saying to me “Thank you for coming to see us at this time.” But I felt that I was the fortunate one because I was learning so much about the goodness and courage of ordinary people, something which survives even in times of great adversity.
I think this must be the power and the presence of God.
One of my many memories is a recent visit to an orphanage.
Whenever I got close to any of the young children and babies, they started to howl and cry. I don’t know if it was my strange voice, or my white face, or my big nose! Something was frightening them. As I moved on to another room, I saw a little boy sitting on the floor. He was blind. He had lost an eye through cancer and the sight in the other was all but gone. I stretched down to take his hand and as soon as he felt my hand , as if he was on springs, he jumped up and threw his arms around my neck and would not let me go. And that was us for the rest of the afternoon. He was fairly heavy– I don’t know how you women carry children around with you for so long! But he wasn’t really heavy, he was my brother. Later on, I asked myself if that was what God was like with us. We reach out our hand to him; it is often all we can do. When he feels our touch he takes us in is arms and won’t ever let us go no matter how heavy we are. It made me walk tall for the rest of the day.
A precious message taught to me by one of God’s little ones.
So as I return to Scotland I want to say thank you for these last four weeks. I wouldn’t have missed them for the world. I will take your good wishes to all those you have been asking me about; Fr. McAinsh, Fr. Webster and Fr. Maguire and let them know of the love and regard you have for them. Thanks also to my own Redemptorist confreres whose hospitality was so warm and generous. Being here has made me proud to be a Redemptorist.
I promise to pay for you and our country at this time. I trust that the seeds of hope that seem to have appeared this past week will grow and grow until you have the life and the country you desire and deserve. During these days as I prepare to return home, some words written a long time ago by Hilaire Belloc have been in my mind;-From quiet homes and first beginnings Out to undiscovered ends. There’s nothing worth the wear of winning But laughter and the love of friends. Dear friends, thank you for your love and your laughter.
Let us pray for one another,
Fr. Gerry Mulligan C.Ss.R
While I was overseas in July, Gerry Mulligan, our Vice Provincial, was kind enough to come to Zimbabwe and help in our parishes. I was very happy that he came, especially at this time when our country is going through a very difficult phase. While telling our confreres in the UK the difficult situation here, I feared that Gerry might be scared and decide not to came. Knowing fully well what was happening here he decided to come. Gerry responded in the spirit of the true Redemptorist: "Always ready to undertake what is difficult." The letter that he wrote for our Parish Bulletin as he left speaks for itself:
ST GERARD'S PARISH LETTER 17th. Sunday of The Year 2008
One cold day last January in Scotland, Fr Ronnie McAinsh- our Redemptorist Provincial said to me “They were going to be a bit short-staffed in Zimbabwe during the month of July. They needed help with the weekend and daily Masses.” Listening to the rain and sleet battering on the window pane, I said “I’ll go.”
Five months later, on June 29th, standing in the queue for security checks at Glasgow airport I wondered if I had made the right decision. People looked at me strangely when I said I was going to Zimbabwe for a month. I must admit, I felt a bit apprehensive myself after all we had seen on TV during the lead up to the elections.
First impressions can be misleading. When I arrived, so much seemed to be going on as normal. Certainly, the welcome I received from everyone was overwhelming and people seemed to be genuinely pleased that I had come. It was only with time that I began to realize how very difficult and frightening things had been. I was amazed at people’s ability to cope, to survive from day to day and even to keep smiling– something I had remembered from previous visits. I felt in a strange way honoured to be here; humbled that people had allowed me to share these days with them. But, there was tiredness in people’s faces, not surprisingly, and a feeling of disappointment that was so real you could almost touch it.
I enjoyed meeting my Redemptorist confreres again at St Gerard’s and visiting the student community at Tafara. It is always good to meet up with your brother Redemptorists and enjoy catching up with all the news of people and having some good laughs along the way. Soon, I was getting familiar with the way from St Gerard’s to Nazareth House and St. Augustine’s Hatcliffe. I enjoyed so much the Masses and the singing.It is always a moving experience to share in Mass, in different places. We have so much in common as we gather at the altar. So many different faces, different lives, different experiences, yet all reaching out to receive the food God gives us, the food we must share with one another.
During the month, people kept saying to me “Thank you for coming to see us at this time.” But I felt that I was the fortunate one because I was learning so much about the goodness and courage of ordinary people, something which survives even in times of great adversity.
I think this must be the power and the presence of God.
One of my many memories is a recent visit to an orphanage.
Whenever I got close to any of the young children and babies, they started to howl and cry. I don’t know if it was my strange voice, or my white face, or my big nose! Something was frightening them. As I moved on to another room, I saw a little boy sitting on the floor. He was blind. He had lost an eye through cancer and the sight in the other was all but gone. I stretched down to take his hand and as soon as he felt my hand , as if he was on springs, he jumped up and threw his arms around my neck and would not let me go. And that was us for the rest of the afternoon. He was fairly heavy– I don’t know how you women carry children around with you for so long! But he wasn’t really heavy, he was my brother. Later on, I asked myself if that was what God was like with us. We reach out our hand to him; it is often all we can do. When he feels our touch he takes us in is arms and won’t ever let us go no matter how heavy we are. It made me walk tall for the rest of the day.
A precious message taught to me by one of God’s little ones.
So as I return to Scotland I want to say thank you for these last four weeks. I wouldn’t have missed them for the world. I will take your good wishes to all those you have been asking me about; Fr. McAinsh, Fr. Webster and Fr. Maguire and let them know of the love and regard you have for them. Thanks also to my own Redemptorist confreres whose hospitality was so warm and generous. Being here has made me proud to be a Redemptorist.
I promise to pay for you and our country at this time. I trust that the seeds of hope that seem to have appeared this past week will grow and grow until you have the life and the country you desire and deserve. During these days as I prepare to return home, some words written a long time ago by Hilaire Belloc have been in my mind;-From quiet homes and first beginnings Out to undiscovered ends. There’s nothing worth the wear of winning But laughter and the love of friends. Dear friends, thank you for your love and your laughter.
Let us pray for one another,
Fr. Gerry Mulligan C.Ss.R
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Back from Overseas
I returned yesterday from a week in Scotland UK, and a week in Maryland USA. I presented at the Formation Workshop for Redemptorist Formators at our monastery in Kinnoul Perth. The Redemptorist workshop was a wonderful opportunity to meet with confreres from the Northern Hemisphere just as the one in Bangkok was my first encoutner with the East and with our confreres of Asia, Oceania and the Pacific. Its always good to be with a bunch of our guys - the Reds are great. We had confreres from the USA, Canada, the UK, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Ireland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe at the Scotland workshop. I felt sad at the end of the week of my presentation, when I had just about come to know the guys, to have to move on.
In Maryland I was happy to be reunited with the Redemptorist Community that hosted me when I studied at Loyola. Two of the confreres have just been moved; John Hamrogue to Brooklyn NY and John Lavin to Boston MA. I was fortunate to be there in time for their farewell Mass and party in the Caroll Gardens! I was able to spend some time with each of the members of the Annapolis community and to catch up with each of them. I went out for dinner with Jack Kingsbury, Andy Costello and Pat Flynn on both the Sundays that I was there. It was so nice to go through memory lane and to have uproarious laughter about the memorable lighter moments of my stay in the States.
I did get a chance to meet a good number of the faithful of St Mary's Parish Annapolis. Many people seemed as they were when I left last year, and some seemed to have changed much. Many of the young people have become young adults in the space on one year! It was just like madness when i walked into the St Mary's offices on the Saturday morning and there were all those screams and shouts for joy. I felt like a hero returning home! Harry the musician stood up to the occassion and played Pachabel canon for me at one of the Masses! I was tremendously impressed by the interest in and concern for Zimbabwe that the people of St Mary's showed. Because they know me they have followed events here very closely as they unfolded and asked for my safety all the time. It was very reassuring to know that there is that prayerful support for our cause and plight. It is very encouraging to know that we are not alone.
I visited Loyola College in Maryland, my Alma mater. I met some staff and faculty. I had called earlier and scheduled a meeting with the Admissions Officer David Newton and my Clinical Supervisor Dr Danielle LaSure-Bryant. We had a very good time together and they listened to my Zimbabwe stories with much interest. Just being at Loyola brought back many good memories of my stay in the States. I did catch up through the phone with classmates Laura and Hope and Karlyin actually made it to dinner with me.
I visited my friend Booby in the "Hood" of Annapolis (a black neighbourhood). Unfortunately, I was not able to see Booby, but his grandmother and his mother were there. They were both very happy to see "Mr Williams, the fine gentleman from Africa" as they call me. I regret not having had the time to allow them to teach me to eat crabs again. I went to the barbershop where I used to have my hair cut in the Hood, just to check out on the brothers and to "cut-back" (free speech as practised in the barbershops) just a little bit, if you you know what I am saying. Ah, I could have had my hair cut everyday of the week just for the "cutting-back" with brothers.
I also visited my other clinical placement site at the Calvert County Hospital's Crisis Intervention Center. I just walked in announced, like anyone in crisis coming for counselling. Now didn't I make the receptionist, Brenda, nearly faint! She just couldn't believe that it was I who she was seeing before her. It was so good seeing the wonderful counsellors who taught me the ropes of crisis counselling, which is ever so helpful on the Zimbabwean pastoral scene. Cindy who I did children's group with and Christine who trained me to do the intakes and to take the hot line calls, Janet my site supervisor, Paul the specialist for children and Allison one of the senior therapists were all there. Timothy from Kenya who interned at the same time with me and who stayed on was also there. It was a wonderful afternoon with much glorious laughter.
I caught up with some of the Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who were part of my extended community in USA. I drove up to PA to see Moira, Taka and Memory and we had some sadza! I was again just in time before Moira moves on to Canada to join her mother and Taka to Texas next month. I was able to find half a dozen Fanta's to take to Brenda and Thandi's house, as I always did when I visited them. Shingai came to Annapolis and spent the good part of Saturday with me. We went to Rumshead Tavern and had a good happy hour savouring one of Maryland's finest brews, the Copperhead Ale on tap!
The rest of the Zimbos, I was not able to see - you could only fit so much into a week. I did call Reuben and his family in Texas. Noel in North Carolina called everyday and chided me for coming for only a short time. Kuda called me from Connecticut and I was able to talk to him and his parents who are visiting from Zimbabwe.Fungisai called from Virginia and Girley from California, Chiyedza called from PA and Lillian from Texas as word began spreading among the Zimbos that I was in the States. It was nice talking again to these friends from Zimbabwe and to catch up with their life stories. Each of them spoke of the pain of watching their beloved motherland go though such an enormous struggle about which they can only do precious little to help. We shared our helplessness and encouraged each other to hope for a better Zimbabwe.
Most people who I talked to in the States, and in the UK, were worried about my going back to a Zimbabwe whose many dangers I had told. Some were courageous enough to tell me that they thought I was a fool to go back. I did not take offense. I know it is utterly foolish to come back to Zimbabwe having had a chance to go out. Many people in Zimbabwe would pay an arm and a leg to get out of this country now. I really enjoyed my time in the "free world" for those two weeks. I could not possibly abandon Zimbabwe at this time. It would be hard for me to have an appetite and to find sleep if I jumped of this ship now. So I came back. I came back because I believe very strongly that Zimbabwe is where God is calling me to be. This is where I can do the will of God and fulfill my life's mission at this time. I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to leave because that helps me to see things differentlly and with new clarity each time. My short time away has re-energized me and re-enkindled in me the fire that I need to keep burning for Zimbabwe. It was a well deserved break and I am ready to pick up the struggle where I left and continue to share hope with those who live daily in helpless hopelessness.
In Maryland I was happy to be reunited with the Redemptorist Community that hosted me when I studied at Loyola. Two of the confreres have just been moved; John Hamrogue to Brooklyn NY and John Lavin to Boston MA. I was fortunate to be there in time for their farewell Mass and party in the Caroll Gardens! I was able to spend some time with each of the members of the Annapolis community and to catch up with each of them. I went out for dinner with Jack Kingsbury, Andy Costello and Pat Flynn on both the Sundays that I was there. It was so nice to go through memory lane and to have uproarious laughter about the memorable lighter moments of my stay in the States.
I did get a chance to meet a good number of the faithful of St Mary's Parish Annapolis. Many people seemed as they were when I left last year, and some seemed to have changed much. Many of the young people have become young adults in the space on one year! It was just like madness when i walked into the St Mary's offices on the Saturday morning and there were all those screams and shouts for joy. I felt like a hero returning home! Harry the musician stood up to the occassion and played Pachabel canon for me at one of the Masses! I was tremendously impressed by the interest in and concern for Zimbabwe that the people of St Mary's showed. Because they know me they have followed events here very closely as they unfolded and asked for my safety all the time. It was very reassuring to know that there is that prayerful support for our cause and plight. It is very encouraging to know that we are not alone.
I visited Loyola College in Maryland, my Alma mater. I met some staff and faculty. I had called earlier and scheduled a meeting with the Admissions Officer David Newton and my Clinical Supervisor Dr Danielle LaSure-Bryant. We had a very good time together and they listened to my Zimbabwe stories with much interest. Just being at Loyola brought back many good memories of my stay in the States. I did catch up through the phone with classmates Laura and Hope and Karlyin actually made it to dinner with me.
I visited my friend Booby in the "Hood" of Annapolis (a black neighbourhood). Unfortunately, I was not able to see Booby, but his grandmother and his mother were there. They were both very happy to see "Mr Williams, the fine gentleman from Africa" as they call me. I regret not having had the time to allow them to teach me to eat crabs again. I went to the barbershop where I used to have my hair cut in the Hood, just to check out on the brothers and to "cut-back" (free speech as practised in the barbershops) just a little bit, if you you know what I am saying. Ah, I could have had my hair cut everyday of the week just for the "cutting-back" with brothers.
I also visited my other clinical placement site at the Calvert County Hospital's Crisis Intervention Center. I just walked in announced, like anyone in crisis coming for counselling. Now didn't I make the receptionist, Brenda, nearly faint! She just couldn't believe that it was I who she was seeing before her. It was so good seeing the wonderful counsellors who taught me the ropes of crisis counselling, which is ever so helpful on the Zimbabwean pastoral scene. Cindy who I did children's group with and Christine who trained me to do the intakes and to take the hot line calls, Janet my site supervisor, Paul the specialist for children and Allison one of the senior therapists were all there. Timothy from Kenya who interned at the same time with me and who stayed on was also there. It was a wonderful afternoon with much glorious laughter.
I caught up with some of the Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who were part of my extended community in USA. I drove up to PA to see Moira, Taka and Memory and we had some sadza! I was again just in time before Moira moves on to Canada to join her mother and Taka to Texas next month. I was able to find half a dozen Fanta's to take to Brenda and Thandi's house, as I always did when I visited them. Shingai came to Annapolis and spent the good part of Saturday with me. We went to Rumshead Tavern and had a good happy hour savouring one of Maryland's finest brews, the Copperhead Ale on tap!
The rest of the Zimbos, I was not able to see - you could only fit so much into a week. I did call Reuben and his family in Texas. Noel in North Carolina called everyday and chided me for coming for only a short time. Kuda called me from Connecticut and I was able to talk to him and his parents who are visiting from Zimbabwe.Fungisai called from Virginia and Girley from California, Chiyedza called from PA and Lillian from Texas as word began spreading among the Zimbos that I was in the States. It was nice talking again to these friends from Zimbabwe and to catch up with their life stories. Each of them spoke of the pain of watching their beloved motherland go though such an enormous struggle about which they can only do precious little to help. We shared our helplessness and encouraged each other to hope for a better Zimbabwe.
Most people who I talked to in the States, and in the UK, were worried about my going back to a Zimbabwe whose many dangers I had told. Some were courageous enough to tell me that they thought I was a fool to go back. I did not take offense. I know it is utterly foolish to come back to Zimbabwe having had a chance to go out. Many people in Zimbabwe would pay an arm and a leg to get out of this country now. I really enjoyed my time in the "free world" for those two weeks. I could not possibly abandon Zimbabwe at this time. It would be hard for me to have an appetite and to find sleep if I jumped of this ship now. So I came back. I came back because I believe very strongly that Zimbabwe is where God is calling me to be. This is where I can do the will of God and fulfill my life's mission at this time. I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to leave because that helps me to see things differentlly and with new clarity each time. My short time away has re-energized me and re-enkindled in me the fire that I need to keep burning for Zimbabwe. It was a well deserved break and I am ready to pick up the struggle where I left and continue to share hope with those who live daily in helpless hopelessness.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Presidential Runoff
Today the Presidential Runoff is taking place. Leading up to it has been a very difficult time, especially for the poor and most vulnerable people of Zimbabwe. People in the Rural areas and those in the townships have suffered much under state sponsored terror. In Hatcliffe the Zanu PF militia have been ruling supreme for the past month. All trade and commerce is being controlled by the militia. Buses are having to offload people about a kilometre outside the township in order to avoid the "toll" that they are being charged for entering the occupied territories. Street vendors have to pay a fee in order to continue trading and they have to wear Zanu PF campaign regalia in order to be spared harrassment. Most motorists have been cowed into displaying campaign regalia on their cars to be granted passage in some of Harare's occupied territories. Pedestrians have no option but to carry at least some item that identifies them with the ruling party in order to move with some modicum of freedom through Harare. At the shops, ruling party functionaries are controlling access to bread and other basic commodities. They buy all the stock out of the shop for $800 million a loaf and and resell it to the desperate public on the very presincts of the shop for anything between 3 and 5 billion dollars a loaf. There is no maize-meal for making sadza entering Hatcliffe, supplies from Domboshawa are being either blocked or confisticated. Supplies from NGOs and churches were stopped almost a month ago now. People are famishing as I write. Yet the ruling party militia are going door to door demanding food from the people for them to eat at the infamous base that they have set up in the township. In Hatcliffe Extension, where the people are poorest and most defenseless, the militia are demanding a bucket of maize-meal per family and amounts of money varying between 5 and 10 billion for their upkeep. The people of Hatcliffe have no option, no recourse, and have to simlpy surrender their hard earned supplies. An operation to bar the people from watching international news via satelite was carried out last week in Hatcliffe, as in other parts of Harare and the country. In some places the satelite dishes and decorders were confisticated. Those who were fortunate were able to dismantle the equipment themselves and hide it. The sheer injustice of this whole campaign is in its target on the poor and defenceless. In the neighbouring well-to-do surbub of Borrowdale, there is none of this molestation. In Hatcliffe they can do absolutely what they want to the people and they get away with it, in broad daylight. But in Borrowdale and its neighbouring well-to-do areas, they would not even dare. The police are always present when the people are being harrassed and all they can do is watch. Apparently the militia are led by members of the national army in civilian clothes and the so called Border Gezi youth. I have been told by police officers, their frustation and indigantion, having been given orders from above not to interfere with the ruling party militia. Those officers who have defied these instructions have either been moved to other posts or simply dismissed. I had to get a police escort on Sunday as I accompanied children of the parish from theirn St Alois celebration. The policeman was more afraid of the militia than I was. A greater threat of violence looms over the people after the runoff election. People have been told who to vote for and the consequences for not doing so. If they go to vote today it is simply because they are afraid and they want to avoid the repression that is sure to follow.
Presidential Runoff
Today the Presidential Runoff is taking place. Leading up to it has been a very difficult time, especially for the poor and most vulnerable people of Zimbabwe. People in the Rural areas and those in the townships have suffered much under state sponsored terror. In Hatcliffe the Zanu PF militia have been ruling supreme for the past month. All trade and commerce is being controlled by the militia. Buses are having to offload people about a kilometre outside the township in order to avoid the "toll" that they are being charged for entering the occupied territories. Street vendors have to pay a fee in order to continue trading and they have to wear Zanu PF campaign regalia in order to be spared harrassment. Most motorists have been cowed into displaying campaign regalia on their cars to be granted passage in some of Harare's occupied territories. Pedestrians have no option but to carry at least some item that identifies them with the ruling party in order to more with some modicum of freedom
Year of St Paul
Parish Letter Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul 2008
The Year of St Paul
This year, Saints Peter and Paul’s Day mark the beginning of the Year of St Paul, which will end on the same feast day next year. Pope Benedict’s intention for this special year is for the Church to celebrate St Paul’s life and to dedicate itself to reflecting, praying and cherishing the outstanding contribution of this great apostle, teacher, preacher, Christian, martyr and saint. St Paul was born Saul at Tarsus in Cilicia between 7 and 10 AD, hence the year-long celebration of the 2000th anniversary of his birth. He came from a Jewish family of the tribe of Benjamin and was a Roman citizen. He was educated in Jerusalem by Gamaliel in the tradition of the Pharisees. As a young man he became a bitter persecutor of the early Christian Church, being actively present at the martyrdom of St Stephen. While on a tour of duty, arresting Christians, he had an encounter with the risen Jesus, at Damascus, which changed his life completely.
The risen Lord opened his mind to the truth of the Christian faith and chose him to be the apostle of the pagans. From then on Saul, who changed his name to Paul, dedicated his life to serving Christ. Fourteen years after his conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem to participate in a council with the other apostles. At this council, partly through the influence of Paul, it was agreed that the Jewish Law was not binding on non-Jewish Christians. He encountered much opposition in this ministry from Jews and Christians with Jewish sympathies. In AD 58 Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and imprisoned at Caesarea Palistinae until AD 60. He was sent to Rome where, after two years, his case was dismissed for want of evidence and he was set free. A subsequent arrest in Rome ended in his martyrdom, probably in AD 67.
What we know about St Paul comes mainly from the Acts of the Apostles and from the Letters associated with him. There are thirteen letters in the New Testament associated with St Paul. Seven of these are considered the genuine writings of the apostle, namely; 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, and Philemon. Three others were probably written by a disciple of his, and these are; 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and Ephesians. There are three letters attributed to St Paul, as was common in those days, obviously to make use of his fame, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. These categories were reached after careful study of the original texts and their message.
Celebrating the Year of St Paul reminds us of his importance as a teacher. In the Letter to the Romans, St Paul tells us what he dedicated his whole life to teach: “The depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (11:33-36).So we begin this Pauline Year with an eager desire to learn the mystery of God at the feet of his great apostle.
On the 25th of January we celebrate the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. The Mass for that day teaches us the importance of St Paul and his ministry in the opening prayer: “God our Father, you taught the Gospel to all the world through the preaching of Paul...” and after Communion, “You filled Paul the Apostle with love for all the churches...” St Paul was committed to giving witness to the love of God. He preached Jesus Christ who demonstrated God’s love. His deep conviction in the love of God is what he offers to us today: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39).
As a parish community, let us join the universal Catholic Church in honouring St Paul and celebrating his memory during this Pauline Year. Our Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan focuses on the Word of God in this first year of its inception. May the prayer of St Paul to the Church at Philippi be a prayer also for our Church. He continues to pray for us as we celebrate his bi-millennial anniversary: “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, the Glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11).Yours in the Most Holy Redeemer
The Year of St Paul
This year, Saints Peter and Paul’s Day mark the beginning of the Year of St Paul, which will end on the same feast day next year. Pope Benedict’s intention for this special year is for the Church to celebrate St Paul’s life and to dedicate itself to reflecting, praying and cherishing the outstanding contribution of this great apostle, teacher, preacher, Christian, martyr and saint. St Paul was born Saul at Tarsus in Cilicia between 7 and 10 AD, hence the year-long celebration of the 2000th anniversary of his birth. He came from a Jewish family of the tribe of Benjamin and was a Roman citizen. He was educated in Jerusalem by Gamaliel in the tradition of the Pharisees. As a young man he became a bitter persecutor of the early Christian Church, being actively present at the martyrdom of St Stephen. While on a tour of duty, arresting Christians, he had an encounter with the risen Jesus, at Damascus, which changed his life completely.
The risen Lord opened his mind to the truth of the Christian faith and chose him to be the apostle of the pagans. From then on Saul, who changed his name to Paul, dedicated his life to serving Christ. Fourteen years after his conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem to participate in a council with the other apostles. At this council, partly through the influence of Paul, it was agreed that the Jewish Law was not binding on non-Jewish Christians. He encountered much opposition in this ministry from Jews and Christians with Jewish sympathies. In AD 58 Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and imprisoned at Caesarea Palistinae until AD 60. He was sent to Rome where, after two years, his case was dismissed for want of evidence and he was set free. A subsequent arrest in Rome ended in his martyrdom, probably in AD 67.
What we know about St Paul comes mainly from the Acts of the Apostles and from the Letters associated with him. There are thirteen letters in the New Testament associated with St Paul. Seven of these are considered the genuine writings of the apostle, namely; 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, and Philemon. Three others were probably written by a disciple of his, and these are; 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and Ephesians. There are three letters attributed to St Paul, as was common in those days, obviously to make use of his fame, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. These categories were reached after careful study of the original texts and their message.
Celebrating the Year of St Paul reminds us of his importance as a teacher. In the Letter to the Romans, St Paul tells us what he dedicated his whole life to teach: “The depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (11:33-36).So we begin this Pauline Year with an eager desire to learn the mystery of God at the feet of his great apostle.
On the 25th of January we celebrate the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. The Mass for that day teaches us the importance of St Paul and his ministry in the opening prayer: “God our Father, you taught the Gospel to all the world through the preaching of Paul...” and after Communion, “You filled Paul the Apostle with love for all the churches...” St Paul was committed to giving witness to the love of God. He preached Jesus Christ who demonstrated God’s love. His deep conviction in the love of God is what he offers to us today: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39).
As a parish community, let us join the universal Catholic Church in honouring St Paul and celebrating his memory during this Pauline Year. Our Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan focuses on the Word of God in this first year of its inception. May the prayer of St Paul to the Church at Philippi be a prayer also for our Church. He continues to pray for us as we celebrate his bi-millennial anniversary: “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, the Glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11).Yours in the Most Holy Redeemer
Thursday, June 19, 2008
After Harare Central
19 June 2008
I went into the Central Police Station this morning. Mr. Mudiwa Mundawarara, the area chairperson for Nazareth House accompanied me. Everyone had advised me to go with someone, and Mudiwa had voluntered to come with me as soon as he got my message. We got to the Suburban Section and found Chief Superintendent Marange's office. Sgt Mutero, who I know from Mabvuku, (his cousins Luke and Alphonce joined the Redemptorists and left) welcomed us into a waiting area. We had to wait for about 15 mins before the Chief Supt could see us. We waited in silence. The morning activity in the waiting office did not seem to distract us from our pensive waiting. Finally we were led into the Chief Supt's office. He welcomed us very warmly and talked to us nicely, in between answering the phone and his cell phone. He did not seem to mind my coming in with Mudiwa. We had thought that he might object to that mistaking Mudiwa for a lawyer. He told us that he had recieved my complaint and asked me to elaborate. I told him that I had recieved death threats that had propmted me to make a report to the local police station. I told him about how in the past month I have been the subject of discussion at party meetings because I prevented the people from attending these meetings while I said mass with them. I told him also of the interest shown in our social projects by those who would have wanted to use their popularity in their campaigns. He listened very intently. He assured us that he was going to ensure that the church and its priests are not molested. He promised to get the local police chief to have a meeting with political leadership in Hatcliffe and tell them to desist from harrassing the people. He told us that we could contact him or come to him at any time if we needed help. He reiterated that the Church should not be prevented from doing its work.
I was tremendously relieved by the Chief Supt's warmth. My relief came mainly from knowing that what I had feared most was not the case. I was not going to be locked up or beaten by the police. However, I found the Chief Supt rather too nice. There was a real disconnect between this affable man and the reality that we are living with. If the ploice were as caring and concerned like this, then how come so many people are being harrassed without redress and justice, let alone protection? Whatever is the truth, there is a clear line between the well intentioned police and the militias that seem to be a law unto themselves and above the police. I was relieved to know that I was going to walk away from the police station a free man and unmolested, but I know deep down that the real danger of the marauding mobs can only be underestimated at one's own peril.
We left the police station and headed to Mudiwa's office in the CBD of Harare for a cup of tea and to debrief. Over tea we shared our immediate sense of relief and our continued fears of what might yet happen. We shared a prayer and I headed away. I stopped by the bookshop to see Br Tendai who, like many friends, had been waiting anxiously for the outcome of my early morning visit to Harare Central. I also made phone calls to Richard Reid and Tryvis letting them know I was alright and safe. I sent sms to most of the people who were waiting anxioulsy to hear about me. On my way home I stopped at Borrowdale Police Station to see the Officer in Charge. I told him about my visit with his superiors. He gave me a form to fill so that our house can be put under police monitoring and protection. It helped to know that at least the police are on alert should anything happen. My big worry right now is a night raid on the house. At St Anthony's Mission is Zaka the priest's house was burnt down and fortunately the priests were all not at the mission during the attack. The priest in Tanda, Fr Maringe, was attacked together with two seminarians. There were severly beated. The Dominican Sisters have evacuated their sisters and closed the house at Gokomere this mornig following threats of unspecified acts of violnce. At the meeting for Diocesan Priests from all over the country held at Chishawasha this week every priest spoke of the threats and intimidation that they are living with.
I went to have lunch with Richard and Wenceslaus at Lollie's. On my way, past Chisipite, I saw about 100 youths clad in Zanu PF campaign regalia marching along the Enterprise Road. I had seen groups of about ten all the way along Harare Drive from the Rolf/Gaydon intersection. They were carrying posters and placing them on trees, walls and utility poles.
I went to Hatcliffe after lunch to say mass at 2:00pm. There were only about 12 people at Mass today, where we normally have 30 or 40. I talked to the people after mass and there was no need to prompt them into telling the woes of the times. They were all talking about the horrible murder of Mrs Chiroto, the ubducted MDC councillor's wife. What was causing the people much pain is that they have not been allowed to gather at the Chiroto house to mourn her. People are greatly shocked by the calousness of the crime.
I drove to the market place in front of the shopping center in Hatcliffe. I bought a bundle of fire wood for $1Billion and put it into the boot of my car. Then I parked the car and mingeld with a group of truck drivers who were waiting to be hired. Most of then are Catholics. They told me that business was slow, almost non existent. There were afraid of being hired out to ferry people who want to move out of the township. Actually no one is being allowed to leave, even though many people would like to go where they may feel safe. Again without being prompted they began to express their sheer disgust and shock at the murder and mutilation of Mrs Chiroto. There were totally dombfounded by the fact that mourners have been told not to gather at her house. One of the men is a neighbour of the Chirotos. He spoke very well of Mrs Chiroto as a very quiet and respectable woman. She was only 25yrs old and the second wife of Mr Chiroto. His first wife died a few years ago.
There is a Zanu PF man who hangs out with these men, who have obvious MDC sympathies. He manages the Flee-Mkt at the shopping center. He too was shocked by what happened to the Chirotos. He told how Mr Chiroto had approached him wanting a market table to sell some wares. He had told Chiroto that it would be difficult for him to be accepted in the Zanu PF controlled market. Instead he had suggested to Choroto that his wife could take up a stall in her own name. Mrs Chiroto had come to him and he gave her a market stall. She had operated it with no problems, even though her husband is MDC. I was really touched by the sincerity of members of the warring parties at this level. It goes to prove that violence is not being carried out on local people by local people. Hired hands are at work. The militia is made up of outsiders who do not have the sympathies and sensitivities that local people have for each other across the party lines. Left to themselves local people have much respect for each other, albeit their political differences.
I went into the Central Police Station this morning. Mr. Mudiwa Mundawarara, the area chairperson for Nazareth House accompanied me. Everyone had advised me to go with someone, and Mudiwa had voluntered to come with me as soon as he got my message. We got to the Suburban Section and found Chief Superintendent Marange's office. Sgt Mutero, who I know from Mabvuku, (his cousins Luke and Alphonce joined the Redemptorists and left) welcomed us into a waiting area. We had to wait for about 15 mins before the Chief Supt could see us. We waited in silence. The morning activity in the waiting office did not seem to distract us from our pensive waiting. Finally we were led into the Chief Supt's office. He welcomed us very warmly and talked to us nicely, in between answering the phone and his cell phone. He did not seem to mind my coming in with Mudiwa. We had thought that he might object to that mistaking Mudiwa for a lawyer. He told us that he had recieved my complaint and asked me to elaborate. I told him that I had recieved death threats that had propmted me to make a report to the local police station. I told him about how in the past month I have been the subject of discussion at party meetings because I prevented the people from attending these meetings while I said mass with them. I told him also of the interest shown in our social projects by those who would have wanted to use their popularity in their campaigns. He listened very intently. He assured us that he was going to ensure that the church and its priests are not molested. He promised to get the local police chief to have a meeting with political leadership in Hatcliffe and tell them to desist from harrassing the people. He told us that we could contact him or come to him at any time if we needed help. He reiterated that the Church should not be prevented from doing its work.
I was tremendously relieved by the Chief Supt's warmth. My relief came mainly from knowing that what I had feared most was not the case. I was not going to be locked up or beaten by the police. However, I found the Chief Supt rather too nice. There was a real disconnect between this affable man and the reality that we are living with. If the ploice were as caring and concerned like this, then how come so many people are being harrassed without redress and justice, let alone protection? Whatever is the truth, there is a clear line between the well intentioned police and the militias that seem to be a law unto themselves and above the police. I was relieved to know that I was going to walk away from the police station a free man and unmolested, but I know deep down that the real danger of the marauding mobs can only be underestimated at one's own peril.
We left the police station and headed to Mudiwa's office in the CBD of Harare for a cup of tea and to debrief. Over tea we shared our immediate sense of relief and our continued fears of what might yet happen. We shared a prayer and I headed away. I stopped by the bookshop to see Br Tendai who, like many friends, had been waiting anxiously for the outcome of my early morning visit to Harare Central. I also made phone calls to Richard Reid and Tryvis letting them know I was alright and safe. I sent sms to most of the people who were waiting anxioulsy to hear about me. On my way home I stopped at Borrowdale Police Station to see the Officer in Charge. I told him about my visit with his superiors. He gave me a form to fill so that our house can be put under police monitoring and protection. It helped to know that at least the police are on alert should anything happen. My big worry right now is a night raid on the house. At St Anthony's Mission is Zaka the priest's house was burnt down and fortunately the priests were all not at the mission during the attack. The priest in Tanda, Fr Maringe, was attacked together with two seminarians. There were severly beated. The Dominican Sisters have evacuated their sisters and closed the house at Gokomere this mornig following threats of unspecified acts of violnce. At the meeting for Diocesan Priests from all over the country held at Chishawasha this week every priest spoke of the threats and intimidation that they are living with.
I went to have lunch with Richard and Wenceslaus at Lollie's. On my way, past Chisipite, I saw about 100 youths clad in Zanu PF campaign regalia marching along the Enterprise Road. I had seen groups of about ten all the way along Harare Drive from the Rolf/Gaydon intersection. They were carrying posters and placing them on trees, walls and utility poles.
I went to Hatcliffe after lunch to say mass at 2:00pm. There were only about 12 people at Mass today, where we normally have 30 or 40. I talked to the people after mass and there was no need to prompt them into telling the woes of the times. They were all talking about the horrible murder of Mrs Chiroto, the ubducted MDC councillor's wife. What was causing the people much pain is that they have not been allowed to gather at the Chiroto house to mourn her. People are greatly shocked by the calousness of the crime.
I drove to the market place in front of the shopping center in Hatcliffe. I bought a bundle of fire wood for $1Billion and put it into the boot of my car. Then I parked the car and mingeld with a group of truck drivers who were waiting to be hired. Most of then are Catholics. They told me that business was slow, almost non existent. There were afraid of being hired out to ferry people who want to move out of the township. Actually no one is being allowed to leave, even though many people would like to go where they may feel safe. Again without being prompted they began to express their sheer disgust and shock at the murder and mutilation of Mrs Chiroto. There were totally dombfounded by the fact that mourners have been told not to gather at her house. One of the men is a neighbour of the Chirotos. He spoke very well of Mrs Chiroto as a very quiet and respectable woman. She was only 25yrs old and the second wife of Mr Chiroto. His first wife died a few years ago.
There is a Zanu PF man who hangs out with these men, who have obvious MDC sympathies. He manages the Flee-Mkt at the shopping center. He too was shocked by what happened to the Chirotos. He told how Mr Chiroto had approached him wanting a market table to sell some wares. He had told Chiroto that it would be difficult for him to be accepted in the Zanu PF controlled market. Instead he had suggested to Choroto that his wife could take up a stall in her own name. Mrs Chiroto had come to him and he gave her a market stall. She had operated it with no problems, even though her husband is MDC. I was really touched by the sincerity of members of the warring parties at this level. It goes to prove that violence is not being carried out on local people by local people. Hired hands are at work. The militia is made up of outsiders who do not have the sympathies and sensitivities that local people have for each other across the party lines. Left to themselves local people have much respect for each other, albeit their political differences.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Harare Central: 19 June 2008
I am going into Harare Central Police Station this morning to appear before Chief Superintendent Marange, who commands the Harare Suburban District (Ph: 777639 cell: 011883311). Mr Mudiwa Mudawarara, the area committe chairperson for Nazareth House, is coming with me to represent the Parish Chairperson, Mr Ranga Zinyemba, who is oversees. I have put all my confreres, friends and clergy contacts on high alert. I really do not know what to expect at the Central Police Station. Anything is possible in the current national climate, but I hope for the best. While i live, i hope.
Harare Central: 19 June 2008
I am going into Harare Central Police Station this morning to appear before Chief Superintendent Marange
June Journal (leading up to the runoff elections)
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Today the team that coordinates our social development projects came to see me in the morning. They operate from our St Augustine’s Church in Hatcliffe Township. We moved their operations to the church about two months ago from the Mupandasekwa house where they had operated since their inception, in the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina. They are currently occupying the office at the church while a three roomed building is being built for their work at the church.
The projects team expressed to me their fear of going into Hatcliffe this morning. They had received a message informing them that the house next to the Mupandasekwas was burnt last night. The gang responsible for the arson had inquired about the projects team. The new residents at the Mupandasekwa house told the assailants that the projects had since moved to the church.
I told the projects team to wait for Fr. Moyo, my assistant, who was out saying mass at Nazareth House. Fr. Moyo is the manager of the projects. Meanwhile, I told them that we may have to stop operations at the church if the situation remains a threat. Only this Sunday I had a meeting with the area committee for St Augustine’s where we decided to cancel a choir event on the 29th March because of the danger that might befall those participating in the practice sessions in the evenings. I also asked section leaders to stop evening meetings until after the election. Any activity at the church that requires people to come out after dark has been suspended until the situation improves. We will, however, gather for funerals if needs be, but we will have to exercise extreme caution under these circumstances.
When Fr. Moyo returned he proceeded to Hatcliffe with the projects team to assess the situation. I followed shortly afterwards. I went to the house next to the Mupandasekwa house that was burnt. The owner of the house is Mr Chiroto the MDC councillor for the area who was recently voted for in the March elections. There were about ten party supporters who were not wearing any party regalia. There were also four women who must be relatives of the Chirotos. I identified myself as the local Catholic Priest come to see the carnage. I was shown into the house and saw the extensive damage to property that had been caused by the fire. Attempts to douse the fire with water had further damaged whatever had not been burnt. So, the place was totally ruined.
I asked about the Chirotos. I was told that Mr Chiroto had received a victim of political violence earlier in the evening and had rushed him to Parirenyatwa hospital. This man had had his legs and arms broken. He was from Hatcliffe extension, the squatter camp where our projects are constructing houses for the poor. It was while Mr Chiroto was out at the hospital that his house was attacked at about 8:00pm. The attackers arrived in two new grey twin cab trucks unmarked and with no number places. Eyewitnesses say that the men were clad in government-issue fatigues. They abducted Mrs Chiroto and her two year old daughter and took them away after they had set the house alight. Neighbours and party supporters came and tried to save some furniture and put out the fire. It was a difficult task since Hatcliffe Township is often without water supply. The fire brigade did come, but much damage had already occurred. The police also came, but the attackers had since gone.
No one had heard of the whereabouts of either Mr Chiroto or his wife and child. The women who were at the house are from the cooperative area of the township and were very frightened because they had been told that tonight their area will be the target of burnings. The campaign manager for Mr Chiroto’s councillor bid told me he was frightened too, that what had happened to his superior would happen to him. I commiserated with the group at Mr Chiroto’s house and there was nothing more that I could do to help them.
I went over to our church and saw the builders busy, working on the new building. There had been no incident at their site. Unfortunately the night watchman had gone off. I would have wanted to know if there had been any visitors the night before. I talked with the church caretaker, Wellington who reported that they had been no incident at the church. I told him to be on the high alert and to call me if anything happened.
My big worry concerns the huge amount of food that we have stored at the church. Two weeks ago we got a letter from Minister Goche instructing us to stop feeding the poor. I had a meeting with the SVP and social concerns people and we decided that it was safe and cautious to stop food distribution until after the elections. We had just received about two tonnes of mealie meal from CADEC. The people already knew that we have food. My fear is that they may force their way into our store and loot it. The ruling party functionaries, who are well seeded in the congregation, may demand that we release it to them so they can use it in the campaign. I have told my people that in the event that the ruling party approaches us to demand the food we will not resist them.
I left the church and drove around the township talking to people. Most people that I talked to were very frightened. They were feeling very vulnerable, knowing that they can be targeted and attacked anytime. They have seen how others have been arbitrarily singled out for attacks. All it takes is the perception, which needs not be true, that one is an MDC member. They are also frightened because the attacks that they have seen are near fatal to fatal – the breaking of limbs and skulls.
There were many young people dressed in Zanu PF party reagalia milling around the township attaching posters and distributing fliers. The general mood in the township was depressed and sombre. I was shown the camp near the high school, where the party militia is gathered and where the beatings of suspected MDC supporters are being carried out. The evenings are reported to be especially dangerous for anyone seen walking. It was reported that the militia is made up of unemployed young people from Mbare and members of the notorious Mbare criminal gang Chipangano.
When I got home, a woman from the parish called me on the phone from Hatcliffe and told me that she had been trying to get hold of me all morning. She told me that the previous day, Sunday, there had been a meeting at the house next to her. The house owner is also a parishioner whose name has been given to me. At this meeting that other parishioner gave a report of what I had preached in Church, distorting it to make it sound anti-Zanu PF. There was a heated discussion about how I must be disciplined. A pledge was made to pay a group of thugs to beat me up. The woman who called was very disturbed by this and felt that she had to tell me and warn me. I thanked for letting me know.
Later in the evening the area chairperson for our church in Hatcliffe called me to warn me of an attack against me that had been planned for this evening. My case had been the subject of discussuion at the Zanu PF rally on Sunday and it had been agreed that I must be beaten up or killed. The area chairperson was very frightened about this and begged me not to spent the night in the house. The parishioner who had called me earlier during the day had also begged me not to stay in the house at night.
This is not the first time that I have heard of such plans to harm me in the past month. There have been threats every week to the effect that I must be beaten up and killed. My case has been considered as easier to deal with than Fr. Maguire’s, who as a foreign national could only be deported. “Guri we will simply kill, for he is a local,” is what I have often head being said. I have received reports that there are parishioners who habitually go to the CIO every Sunday after mass and give a report of what I would have said in Church. Among these, have been named some long-time parish members, parish leaders, and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. I have already received a warning from one deputy minister Chihota, warning me not to preach politics at St Gerard’s.
The net result of all these threats and warnings has been a considerable weight on my shoulders. I often take it lightly as rumours that proliferate at a time of great socio-political instability such as we are living through. I think they are aimed at getting me to overreact, fight or run away. Then my overreaction would be used against me and against the Catholic Church, which I see as being very much the object of attack. So I have endeavoured to give the impression that I am not taking these things too seriously. I have been cautious and desisted from being provocative in my speech and sermons. Yet the threats continue to come in. As I see what is happening to innocent people who are the victims of the ongoing violence, I begin to get frightened.
The horrific scenes of Mr Chiroto’s house made me really scared for my life. It was an attack very close to home and that could easily happen to me. I felt very vulnerable. I stopped at the police station on my way home and asked to see the Officer in Charge. I told him about the attack of the Chirotos and the possibility of our church and the Mupandasekwa House being attacked. I also told him about the threats aimed at me and my fear of being attacked. He promised to send more police details to Hatcliffe. He intimated to me how the police is overwhelmed with arson cases and how it seems that no one is in control of the violent mobs. He told me that the Chiroto child had been found, alive and well, in the Mabelreign area, but both Mr and Mrs Chiroto were still unaccounted for by both the police and their relatives. I went to see the little Chiroto child in the Victim Friendly section of the police station where she was being held. I told the Officer in Charge that he was responsible for ensuring that the public was safe and protected in a time like this.
As evening set my fear became very intense. I celebrated the 5:30pm mass at St Gerard’s and struggled to hide my fear from the small group of faithful who are also living in fear. After mass parishioners shared with me the horror stories of the violence that is happening all over. They told me how bases have been set up in our neighbourhood. In Lewisham there two camps responsible for terrorising the Enterprise Road area. On Sunday parishioners going to Nazareth House on foot were force marched to the camps and beaten. After the mass those parishioners with cars had to drop those without cars at their homes, to evade the marauding militias patrolling the Enterprise Road. I also got a report from Nazareth House that our gardener was intercepted on his way to work and forced to distribute campaign material.
In the evening I made a call to our Redemptorist community house at Tafara. After so many trials I managed to talk to Fr Richard Reid and informed him of what was going on here. I tried to call the Archbishop of Harare, without success all through the day. In the evening I did manage to speak to one of his assistants, Fr Davison Lukio and told him to tell the Archbishop about my experiences and concerns. I called the Jesuit Provincial Fr Fidelis Mukonori who came to see me that same evening. I sat with him and shared with him my concerns and fears. Fr Fidelis has connections with the government and he told me that he was going to bring our security concerns to a meeting with some police commissioners that he was going to attend the following day.
I went to bet quite exhausted from the emotional turmoil of the day. I prayed for safety in the night and hoped for the best.
Wednesday 18 June 2008
Today I did not go into Hatcliffe at all since I had no business there. I talked to Arthur who heads our projects. He told me the horror stories from the townships where all hell seems to have broken loose. Medicine, one of our gardeners, asked me if his wife could stay with him at the workers quarters until after the elections. Medicine’s wife is a member of the MDC and they are afraid that she may be endangered. David, our cook, has moved his sewing machine and all his certificates and birth certificates for his children from his Warren Park home for safe keeping with us here. He is afraid that in the madness these valuable papers may be destroyed. I took Bishop Mutume, who is convalescing with us here, to St Joseph Clinic in Chishawasha just before lunch and enjoyed some calm on the short drive out of Harare. Chishawasha has its own fair share of trouble and a hit list for priests has been drawn up. A local Chishawasha village head man was beaten to death last week for failing to produce a list of opposition supports in his area.
About 4pm I had a visit from two police officers from Borrowdale Police Station. They had been sent over by the Officer in Charge who wanted my contact details. I asked them what he wanted that for. They said a senior officer wanted to talk to me. So I gave them the house and parish landline and one of my cell phone numbers. The two men were fully dressed in Zimbabwe Republic Police uniforms, the winter fatigues, but looked unusually less confident and out of place, for the usually self-sure ZRP officers. They didn’t even know their way back to the police station from here. I suspected that they could be part of the mob that we hear to have been given police uniforms for the purposes of intimidating members of the opposition. An hour after the police had left; I received a call from the Officer in Charge at Borrowdale Police Station. At least that assured me that my visitors were from the police station. We exchanged pleasantries and then he told me his superiors wanted to see me tomorrow morning at 8:00am at the Central Police Station in Harare. He said this was following up on the concerns that I had shared with him yesterday. I must go and see a Chief Superintendent Marange.
In the meantime Fr Moyo, my assistant, who spent the whole day in Hatcliffe, told me that Mrs Chiroto’s mutilated body was found. She was killed and abandoned on a roadside.
Today the team that coordinates our social development projects came to see me in the morning. They operate from our St Augustine’s Church in Hatcliffe Township. We moved their operations to the church about two months ago from the Mupandasekwa house where they had operated since their inception, in the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina. They are currently occupying the office at the church while a three roomed building is being built for their work at the church.
The projects team expressed to me their fear of going into Hatcliffe this morning. They had received a message informing them that the house next to the Mupandasekwas was burnt last night. The gang responsible for the arson had inquired about the projects team. The new residents at the Mupandasekwa house told the assailants that the projects had since moved to the church.
I told the projects team to wait for Fr. Moyo, my assistant, who was out saying mass at Nazareth House. Fr. Moyo is the manager of the projects. Meanwhile, I told them that we may have to stop operations at the church if the situation remains a threat. Only this Sunday I had a meeting with the area committee for St Augustine’s where we decided to cancel a choir event on the 29th March because of the danger that might befall those participating in the practice sessions in the evenings. I also asked section leaders to stop evening meetings until after the election. Any activity at the church that requires people to come out after dark has been suspended until the situation improves. We will, however, gather for funerals if needs be, but we will have to exercise extreme caution under these circumstances.
When Fr. Moyo returned he proceeded to Hatcliffe with the projects team to assess the situation. I followed shortly afterwards. I went to the house next to the Mupandasekwa house that was burnt. The owner of the house is Mr Chiroto the MDC councillor for the area who was recently voted for in the March elections. There were about ten party supporters who were not wearing any party regalia. There were also four women who must be relatives of the Chirotos. I identified myself as the local Catholic Priest come to see the carnage. I was shown into the house and saw the extensive damage to property that had been caused by the fire. Attempts to douse the fire with water had further damaged whatever had not been burnt. So, the place was totally ruined.
I asked about the Chirotos. I was told that Mr Chiroto had received a victim of political violence earlier in the evening and had rushed him to Parirenyatwa hospital. This man had had his legs and arms broken. He was from Hatcliffe extension, the squatter camp where our projects are constructing houses for the poor. It was while Mr Chiroto was out at the hospital that his house was attacked at about 8:00pm. The attackers arrived in two new grey twin cab trucks unmarked and with no number places. Eyewitnesses say that the men were clad in government-issue fatigues. They abducted Mrs Chiroto and her two year old daughter and took them away after they had set the house alight. Neighbours and party supporters came and tried to save some furniture and put out the fire. It was a difficult task since Hatcliffe Township is often without water supply. The fire brigade did come, but much damage had already occurred. The police also came, but the attackers had since gone.
No one had heard of the whereabouts of either Mr Chiroto or his wife and child. The women who were at the house are from the cooperative area of the township and were very frightened because they had been told that tonight their area will be the target of burnings. The campaign manager for Mr Chiroto’s councillor bid told me he was frightened too, that what had happened to his superior would happen to him. I commiserated with the group at Mr Chiroto’s house and there was nothing more that I could do to help them.
I went over to our church and saw the builders busy, working on the new building. There had been no incident at their site. Unfortunately the night watchman had gone off. I would have wanted to know if there had been any visitors the night before. I talked with the church caretaker, Wellington who reported that they had been no incident at the church. I told him to be on the high alert and to call me if anything happened.
My big worry concerns the huge amount of food that we have stored at the church. Two weeks ago we got a letter from Minister Goche instructing us to stop feeding the poor. I had a meeting with the SVP and social concerns people and we decided that it was safe and cautious to stop food distribution until after the elections. We had just received about two tonnes of mealie meal from CADEC. The people already knew that we have food. My fear is that they may force their way into our store and loot it. The ruling party functionaries, who are well seeded in the congregation, may demand that we release it to them so they can use it in the campaign. I have told my people that in the event that the ruling party approaches us to demand the food we will not resist them.
I left the church and drove around the township talking to people. Most people that I talked to were very frightened. They were feeling very vulnerable, knowing that they can be targeted and attacked anytime. They have seen how others have been arbitrarily singled out for attacks. All it takes is the perception, which needs not be true, that one is an MDC member. They are also frightened because the attacks that they have seen are near fatal to fatal – the breaking of limbs and skulls.
There were many young people dressed in Zanu PF party reagalia milling around the township attaching posters and distributing fliers. The general mood in the township was depressed and sombre. I was shown the camp near the high school, where the party militia is gathered and where the beatings of suspected MDC supporters are being carried out. The evenings are reported to be especially dangerous for anyone seen walking. It was reported that the militia is made up of unemployed young people from Mbare and members of the notorious Mbare criminal gang Chipangano.
When I got home, a woman from the parish called me on the phone from Hatcliffe and told me that she had been trying to get hold of me all morning. She told me that the previous day, Sunday, there had been a meeting at the house next to her. The house owner is also a parishioner whose name has been given to me. At this meeting that other parishioner gave a report of what I had preached in Church, distorting it to make it sound anti-Zanu PF. There was a heated discussion about how I must be disciplined. A pledge was made to pay a group of thugs to beat me up. The woman who called was very disturbed by this and felt that she had to tell me and warn me. I thanked for letting me know.
Later in the evening the area chairperson for our church in Hatcliffe called me to warn me of an attack against me that had been planned for this evening. My case had been the subject of discussuion at the Zanu PF rally on Sunday and it had been agreed that I must be beaten up or killed. The area chairperson was very frightened about this and begged me not to spent the night in the house. The parishioner who had called me earlier during the day had also begged me not to stay in the house at night.
This is not the first time that I have heard of such plans to harm me in the past month. There have been threats every week to the effect that I must be beaten up and killed. My case has been considered as easier to deal with than Fr. Maguire’s, who as a foreign national could only be deported. “Guri we will simply kill, for he is a local,” is what I have often head being said. I have received reports that there are parishioners who habitually go to the CIO every Sunday after mass and give a report of what I would have said in Church. Among these, have been named some long-time parish members, parish leaders, and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. I have already received a warning from one deputy minister Chihota, warning me not to preach politics at St Gerard’s.
The net result of all these threats and warnings has been a considerable weight on my shoulders. I often take it lightly as rumours that proliferate at a time of great socio-political instability such as we are living through. I think they are aimed at getting me to overreact, fight or run away. Then my overreaction would be used against me and against the Catholic Church, which I see as being very much the object of attack. So I have endeavoured to give the impression that I am not taking these things too seriously. I have been cautious and desisted from being provocative in my speech and sermons. Yet the threats continue to come in. As I see what is happening to innocent people who are the victims of the ongoing violence, I begin to get frightened.
The horrific scenes of Mr Chiroto’s house made me really scared for my life. It was an attack very close to home and that could easily happen to me. I felt very vulnerable. I stopped at the police station on my way home and asked to see the Officer in Charge. I told him about the attack of the Chirotos and the possibility of our church and the Mupandasekwa House being attacked. I also told him about the threats aimed at me and my fear of being attacked. He promised to send more police details to Hatcliffe. He intimated to me how the police is overwhelmed with arson cases and how it seems that no one is in control of the violent mobs. He told me that the Chiroto child had been found, alive and well, in the Mabelreign area, but both Mr and Mrs Chiroto were still unaccounted for by both the police and their relatives. I went to see the little Chiroto child in the Victim Friendly section of the police station where she was being held. I told the Officer in Charge that he was responsible for ensuring that the public was safe and protected in a time like this.
As evening set my fear became very intense. I celebrated the 5:30pm mass at St Gerard’s and struggled to hide my fear from the small group of faithful who are also living in fear. After mass parishioners shared with me the horror stories of the violence that is happening all over. They told me how bases have been set up in our neighbourhood. In Lewisham there two camps responsible for terrorising the Enterprise Road area. On Sunday parishioners going to Nazareth House on foot were force marched to the camps and beaten. After the mass those parishioners with cars had to drop those without cars at their homes, to evade the marauding militias patrolling the Enterprise Road. I also got a report from Nazareth House that our gardener was intercepted on his way to work and forced to distribute campaign material.
In the evening I made a call to our Redemptorist community house at Tafara. After so many trials I managed to talk to Fr Richard Reid and informed him of what was going on here. I tried to call the Archbishop of Harare, without success all through the day. In the evening I did manage to speak to one of his assistants, Fr Davison Lukio and told him to tell the Archbishop about my experiences and concerns. I called the Jesuit Provincial Fr Fidelis Mukonori who came to see me that same evening. I sat with him and shared with him my concerns and fears. Fr Fidelis has connections with the government and he told me that he was going to bring our security concerns to a meeting with some police commissioners that he was going to attend the following day.
I went to bet quite exhausted from the emotional turmoil of the day. I prayed for safety in the night and hoped for the best.
Wednesday 18 June 2008
Today I did not go into Hatcliffe at all since I had no business there. I talked to Arthur who heads our projects. He told me the horror stories from the townships where all hell seems to have broken loose. Medicine, one of our gardeners, asked me if his wife could stay with him at the workers quarters until after the elections. Medicine’s wife is a member of the MDC and they are afraid that she may be endangered. David, our cook, has moved his sewing machine and all his certificates and birth certificates for his children from his Warren Park home for safe keeping with us here. He is afraid that in the madness these valuable papers may be destroyed. I took Bishop Mutume, who is convalescing with us here, to St Joseph Clinic in Chishawasha just before lunch and enjoyed some calm on the short drive out of Harare. Chishawasha has its own fair share of trouble and a hit list for priests has been drawn up. A local Chishawasha village head man was beaten to death last week for failing to produce a list of opposition supports in his area.
About 4pm I had a visit from two police officers from Borrowdale Police Station. They had been sent over by the Officer in Charge who wanted my contact details. I asked them what he wanted that for. They said a senior officer wanted to talk to me. So I gave them the house and parish landline and one of my cell phone numbers. The two men were fully dressed in Zimbabwe Republic Police uniforms, the winter fatigues, but looked unusually less confident and out of place, for the usually self-sure ZRP officers. They didn’t even know their way back to the police station from here. I suspected that they could be part of the mob that we hear to have been given police uniforms for the purposes of intimidating members of the opposition. An hour after the police had left; I received a call from the Officer in Charge at Borrowdale Police Station. At least that assured me that my visitors were from the police station. We exchanged pleasantries and then he told me his superiors wanted to see me tomorrow morning at 8:00am at the Central Police Station in Harare. He said this was following up on the concerns that I had shared with him yesterday. I must go and see a Chief Superintendent Marange.
In the meantime Fr Moyo, my assistant, who spent the whole day in Hatcliffe, told me that Mrs Chiroto’s mutilated body was found. She was killed and abandoned on a roadside.
Parish Letter
Parish Letter 11th Sunday A 2008
Father’s Day.
Today is the Father’s Day. Fathers and mothers are very important persons in any human culture and religion. Human beings are terribly anguished when their parents cannot be the objects of their love and affection. The absence or failure of a relationship with parents can have very negative effects on an individual.
In the Old Testament, God is experienced as a father who is loving and merciful, who saves and protects his children. In Hosea God says: “When Israel was a child I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt...I myself taught Ephraim to walk, and took them in my arms...I led them with reins of kindness, with leading-strings of love. I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek; stooping down to him I gave him his food” (11:1-6). In Jeremiah, God’s love for his people is likened to that of a long suffering father: “Is Ephraim, then, so dear a son to me, a child so favoured, that after each threat of mine I must still remember him, still be deeply moved for him, and let my tenderness yearn over him?”(31:20). The father-tenderness of God is not only for his sons, but for his daughters too: “Say this to them, ‘Tears flood my eyes night and day, unceasingly, since a crushing blow falls on the daughter of my people, a most grievous injury’” (14:17). In Isaiah, God’s fatherhood is like that of a conciliatory husband: “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Where is your mother’s writ of divorce by which I dismissed her?’” (50:1). “Yahweh calls you back. Does a man cast off the wife of his youth? I did forsake you for a brief moment, but with great love will I take you back” (54:7-8). God is, therefore, a father who cares for his sons and daughters and for their mother. If God can be likened to a human father, he is that father who is caring, responsible, loving and good to his family.
Jesus called God his father, and taught his followers to address God in prayer as “Our Father...” (Mt. 6:7-15). The father gives good things to his children: “What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread, or a snake instead of a fish, or a scorpion if he asked for an egg?” (Lk. 11:11-12). “Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them...What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed? ... Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.” (Mt. 6:25-34). Above all, God is the father whose loves is shown by his forgiveness and generosity, tolerance and acceptance, mercy and compassion in the story of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32). In his ministry Jesus conducted himself like the caring Father whose kingdom he proclaimed. He brought relief to those suffering from diseases and evil spirits, hunger and want, oppression and injustice. In today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to the plight of the people with the tender loving concern of a father: “When Jesus saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt. 9:36). His response is immediate, personal and structural. Personally, he prays to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to bolster the few numbers. He sets up an intervention structure by giving his twelve disciples authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. Jesus models good fatherhood by his concern and involvement, his readiness to share authority and to empower others.
Today fatherhood is in crisis. Fathers of families face insurmountable difficulties in carrying out their responsibilities. Children are not being properly fathered because their fathers are too overwhelmed by the demands of life to be meaningfully present, or they are just not there. When children who were not properly fathered become fathers they push the ever increasing deficit of fatherhood onto succeeding generations. This exponentially cumulative loss of fatherhood is a serious concern and a hard fact of our life. The crisis of fatherhood is a crisis of authority and legitimacy which begins in the nucleus family and ripples out to every level of society, including church and state. In the words of an unknown poet: “In the shadows of ancient twilights, where babes strayed. In the boyhood of Judas, Jesus was betrayed.” The quality of fatherhood that a society insists on is the quality of citizens of that society. So, in the Catholic Church, let us insist on a fatherhood after God’s own heart; merciful and compassionate, loving and kind, caring and protecting, as Jesus taught and modelled. May God bless all fathers and give them all the graces they need. Happy Father’s Day!!
Yours in the Redeeming Christ Father William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Father’s Day.
Today is the Father’s Day. Fathers and mothers are very important persons in any human culture and religion. Human beings are terribly anguished when their parents cannot be the objects of their love and affection. The absence or failure of a relationship with parents can have very negative effects on an individual.
In the Old Testament, God is experienced as a father who is loving and merciful, who saves and protects his children. In Hosea God says: “When Israel was a child I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt...I myself taught Ephraim to walk, and took them in my arms...I led them with reins of kindness, with leading-strings of love. I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek; stooping down to him I gave him his food” (11:1-6). In Jeremiah, God’s love for his people is likened to that of a long suffering father: “Is Ephraim, then, so dear a son to me, a child so favoured, that after each threat of mine I must still remember him, still be deeply moved for him, and let my tenderness yearn over him?”(31:20). The father-tenderness of God is not only for his sons, but for his daughters too: “Say this to them, ‘Tears flood my eyes night and day, unceasingly, since a crushing blow falls on the daughter of my people, a most grievous injury’” (14:17). In Isaiah, God’s fatherhood is like that of a conciliatory husband: “Thus says Yahweh: ‘Where is your mother’s writ of divorce by which I dismissed her?’” (50:1). “Yahweh calls you back. Does a man cast off the wife of his youth? I did forsake you for a brief moment, but with great love will I take you back” (54:7-8). God is, therefore, a father who cares for his sons and daughters and for their mother. If God can be likened to a human father, he is that father who is caring, responsible, loving and good to his family.
Jesus called God his father, and taught his followers to address God in prayer as “Our Father...” (Mt. 6:7-15). The father gives good things to his children: “What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread, or a snake instead of a fish, or a scorpion if he asked for an egg?” (Lk. 11:11-12). “Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them...What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed? ... Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.” (Mt. 6:25-34). Above all, God is the father whose loves is shown by his forgiveness and generosity, tolerance and acceptance, mercy and compassion in the story of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32). In his ministry Jesus conducted himself like the caring Father whose kingdom he proclaimed. He brought relief to those suffering from diseases and evil spirits, hunger and want, oppression and injustice. In today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to the plight of the people with the tender loving concern of a father: “When Jesus saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mt. 9:36). His response is immediate, personal and structural. Personally, he prays to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to bolster the few numbers. He sets up an intervention structure by giving his twelve disciples authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. Jesus models good fatherhood by his concern and involvement, his readiness to share authority and to empower others.
Today fatherhood is in crisis. Fathers of families face insurmountable difficulties in carrying out their responsibilities. Children are not being properly fathered because their fathers are too overwhelmed by the demands of life to be meaningfully present, or they are just not there. When children who were not properly fathered become fathers they push the ever increasing deficit of fatherhood onto succeeding generations. This exponentially cumulative loss of fatherhood is a serious concern and a hard fact of our life. The crisis of fatherhood is a crisis of authority and legitimacy which begins in the nucleus family and ripples out to every level of society, including church and state. In the words of an unknown poet: “In the shadows of ancient twilights, where babes strayed. In the boyhood of Judas, Jesus was betrayed.” The quality of fatherhood that a society insists on is the quality of citizens of that society. So, in the Catholic Church, let us insist on a fatherhood after God’s own heart; merciful and compassionate, loving and kind, caring and protecting, as Jesus taught and modelled. May God bless all fathers and give them all the graces they need. Happy Father’s Day!!
Yours in the Redeeming Christ Father William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Sunday Homily 15 June 2008
11th Sunday of the Year A
Father’s Day.
Today in the gospel Jesus looks at the crowds and feels sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus sees the plight of the people, empathizes with them and sends his disciples out to help them. What moved the heart of Jesus into action is the situation of the crowd who were abandoned. What does it mean to be abandoned?
To be abandoned is to have lost the leadership and authority that is required for human life to thrive. It is the loss of an authority that maintains a social order conducive for human development. It is the lack of an authority that guarantees the common good for all, the preservation of shared values and cherished memories. Abandonment represents a time of dehumanization, a culture of death, a spiritual hopelessness.
To be abandoned is to be forsaken and given up by those providing the basic needs of life. It also means loss of power to help oneself. Just as a field that is abandoned is quickly overrun by weeds and becomes unproductive. A building that is abandoned collapses in ruins. A domestic animal that is abandoned strays and dies. A wound that is abandoned festers and rots. Similarly a human being that is uncared for and unloved becomes lonely, hurting, despairing, vulnerable and dies.
Jesus looked at the crowds and saw that they were abandoned. They were no longer receiving the attention they deserve as human beings. No one considered them as having any value. Others had left them in their sad state and had stopped feeling responsible for them. Their rulers, those appointed to represent them and fend for them had stopped caring. There was a vacuum of authority, a yawning gap in the leadership of the people. The people were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus’ reaction to the poor and most abandoned is the preferential option for the poor that Vatican II has taught. The Church is founded on the fundamental choice that Jesus made to identify and show solidarity with the poor, and intervene with their situation of abandonment. The apostles are sent on a mission to the abandoned, with power to lift the ban of neglect and dereliction from their shoulders. The apostles are the pillars of the Church, the foundations on which our life and work rests. That is why the fundamental option for the poor is for us a moral imperative today. We cannot be an apostolic church if we do not choose the poor and abandoned.
Today there is so much abandonment of the people. There are many who are harassed and dejected and like sheep without a shepherd. As an apostolic church we cannot turn a blind eye on them. We must be brave enough, like Jesus, to look at them and to be moved to help them. When we act like Jesus, using the power and authority given us through the apostles, and bring respite to the abandoned, we invite the ire of those who have abandoned them. They don’t want to see the people whom they have abandoned getting help, being healed, having their human dignity restored. Jesus got into trouble with the very powers that harassed the crowds and made them dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Today the Church too gets into trouble with those responsible for the harassment and dejection of the people. As long as we are following in the footsteps of Jesus and his apostles, we must endure resistance from those who work against the liberation of people.
Abandoned sheep cry out for a shepherd. Jesus is the good shepherd. God said in Ezekiel, I will shepherd my flock by myself. God has no kind words for those shepherds that abandon the sheep. Today we are celebrating Father’s Day. Fathers are shepherds of their families. If fathers are to be good shepherds of their families, they must have the mind and heart of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that a good father does not give a stone when his child asks for bread, a snake when a child asks for a fish or a scorpion when the child asks for an egg. A good father gives good things to his children. This is the challenge of Jesus to fathers on this Father’s Day.
Fatherhood is not limited to the home, to one’s wife and children. To be a father is to be a responsible and legitimate authority in the life of others. To be a father is to be the author of growth, healing, freedom and dignity in others. Our civic leaders are our fathers. Our church leaders are our fathers. Our employers and other community leaders are our fathers. It behoves anyone entrusted by others as a father to act in their best interests.
Alas, many fathers do not measure up to the ideal of life giving presence in the lives of others. The real crisis at the heart of many of our problems today is a crisis of fatherhood. When you have a father who does not care, the family is abandoned. It can be the domestic family, the church family, or the national family. A family disintegrates and suffers much in the grip of an abusive father. Fathers who abuse are monsters. It is bad to be abused by an outsider, and it is even worse to be abused by one’s own father. A father who is not there is better that the father who remains there to oppress, to harass and to cause dejection and suffering.
As we celebrate this Father’s Day, let us look to the fatherhood of God as shown us by Jesus through his personal solicitude for the poor and abandoned and through his teaching. Jesus made himself a father to the crowd that was harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. He gave them the apostles to be their fathers in their plight. Jesus taught us that God is like the father of the prodigal son, who overlooks our many failings and strives for our life and well being. Jesus wants all fathers to be caring and supportive, not abandoning and harassing. Let us pray that our fathers, at home, at church, at work, at school, and in the nation, may be good fathers and good shepherds. Amen.
©Fr William Guri, C.Ss.R., St Gerard’s Church Borrowdale, Harare, 15/06/08.
Father’s Day.
Today in the gospel Jesus looks at the crowds and feels sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus sees the plight of the people, empathizes with them and sends his disciples out to help them. What moved the heart of Jesus into action is the situation of the crowd who were abandoned. What does it mean to be abandoned?
To be abandoned is to have lost the leadership and authority that is required for human life to thrive. It is the loss of an authority that maintains a social order conducive for human development. It is the lack of an authority that guarantees the common good for all, the preservation of shared values and cherished memories. Abandonment represents a time of dehumanization, a culture of death, a spiritual hopelessness.
To be abandoned is to be forsaken and given up by those providing the basic needs of life. It also means loss of power to help oneself. Just as a field that is abandoned is quickly overrun by weeds and becomes unproductive. A building that is abandoned collapses in ruins. A domestic animal that is abandoned strays and dies. A wound that is abandoned festers and rots. Similarly a human being that is uncared for and unloved becomes lonely, hurting, despairing, vulnerable and dies.
Jesus looked at the crowds and saw that they were abandoned. They were no longer receiving the attention they deserve as human beings. No one considered them as having any value. Others had left them in their sad state and had stopped feeling responsible for them. Their rulers, those appointed to represent them and fend for them had stopped caring. There was a vacuum of authority, a yawning gap in the leadership of the people. The people were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jesus’ reaction to the poor and most abandoned is the preferential option for the poor that Vatican II has taught. The Church is founded on the fundamental choice that Jesus made to identify and show solidarity with the poor, and intervene with their situation of abandonment. The apostles are sent on a mission to the abandoned, with power to lift the ban of neglect and dereliction from their shoulders. The apostles are the pillars of the Church, the foundations on which our life and work rests. That is why the fundamental option for the poor is for us a moral imperative today. We cannot be an apostolic church if we do not choose the poor and abandoned.
Today there is so much abandonment of the people. There are many who are harassed and dejected and like sheep without a shepherd. As an apostolic church we cannot turn a blind eye on them. We must be brave enough, like Jesus, to look at them and to be moved to help them. When we act like Jesus, using the power and authority given us through the apostles, and bring respite to the abandoned, we invite the ire of those who have abandoned them. They don’t want to see the people whom they have abandoned getting help, being healed, having their human dignity restored. Jesus got into trouble with the very powers that harassed the crowds and made them dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Today the Church too gets into trouble with those responsible for the harassment and dejection of the people. As long as we are following in the footsteps of Jesus and his apostles, we must endure resistance from those who work against the liberation of people.
Abandoned sheep cry out for a shepherd. Jesus is the good shepherd. God said in Ezekiel, I will shepherd my flock by myself. God has no kind words for those shepherds that abandon the sheep. Today we are celebrating Father’s Day. Fathers are shepherds of their families. If fathers are to be good shepherds of their families, they must have the mind and heart of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught that a good father does not give a stone when his child asks for bread, a snake when a child asks for a fish or a scorpion when the child asks for an egg. A good father gives good things to his children. This is the challenge of Jesus to fathers on this Father’s Day.
Fatherhood is not limited to the home, to one’s wife and children. To be a father is to be a responsible and legitimate authority in the life of others. To be a father is to be the author of growth, healing, freedom and dignity in others. Our civic leaders are our fathers. Our church leaders are our fathers. Our employers and other community leaders are our fathers. It behoves anyone entrusted by others as a father to act in their best interests.
Alas, many fathers do not measure up to the ideal of life giving presence in the lives of others. The real crisis at the heart of many of our problems today is a crisis of fatherhood. When you have a father who does not care, the family is abandoned. It can be the domestic family, the church family, or the national family. A family disintegrates and suffers much in the grip of an abusive father. Fathers who abuse are monsters. It is bad to be abused by an outsider, and it is even worse to be abused by one’s own father. A father who is not there is better that the father who remains there to oppress, to harass and to cause dejection and suffering.
As we celebrate this Father’s Day, let us look to the fatherhood of God as shown us by Jesus through his personal solicitude for the poor and abandoned and through his teaching. Jesus made himself a father to the crowd that was harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. He gave them the apostles to be their fathers in their plight. Jesus taught us that God is like the father of the prodigal son, who overlooks our many failings and strives for our life and well being. Jesus wants all fathers to be caring and supportive, not abandoning and harassing. Let us pray that our fathers, at home, at church, at work, at school, and in the nation, may be good fathers and good shepherds. Amen.
©Fr William Guri, C.Ss.R., St Gerard’s Church Borrowdale, Harare, 15/06/08.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Parish Letter Fourth Sunday Easter A 2008
The Gate of the Sheepfold
In the Gospel today, St John presents Jesus’ teaching on authority. He uses the image of a shepherd. There are good shepherds and bad shepherds. In the words of Jesus, as preserved for us by John: “anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand.” In contradistinction: “The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock.” The legitimacy of the shepherd is evident in that, “the gate keeper lets him in,” and, “the sheep hear his voice.” The good shepherd has an intimate knowledge of, and bond with, his flock for, “one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.” To his call, the sheep respond, “the sheep follow because they know his voice.”
The good shepherd is a model of legitimate authority. The word authority finds its root in the word author. An author is more than just someone who writes a book or originates a project. To be an author is to be a creator and to participate in the ongoing creative activity of God the Creator. So, genuine authorship mirrors, and flows from, the creativity of God. Similarly, authentic authority, radiates, and emanates from, the authority of God. A shepherd is good to the extents that he is a shepherd after the master’s heart, to the extent that his authority flows from that of God. The image of a shepherd is central to the biblical notion of legitimate authority. The Christian tradition that we have received espouses this idea of authority both in the church and in the state.
The opposite of authority is not simply bad authority – it is abandonment. The root meaning of abandon is; “to place under a ban or authority of another.” Abandon is the establishment of an attitude that anything goes which becomes destructive of a human and social fabric. It is the absence, or loss, of leadership that, in a former era, could have maintained a better cohesiveness in society, a cohesiveness of shared values, purposes, and dreams, even. In short, abandon represents a time of dehumanization, a culture of death, a spiritual helplessness. Abandon is the emptiness caused by the absence of a truly legitimate authority.
When the flock of sheep is without a shepherd it is abandoned. To be abandoned is, simply, to be forsaken entirely, and given up by anyone providing the basic needs for daily living. A field that is abandoned is quickly overrun with weeds and becomes unproductive. It appears useless. Likewise, a building that is abandoned ends up collapsing in ruins. A domestic animal that is not fed and cared for ends up dying. A human being uncared for and unloved becomes lonely, despairing, depressed, heartbroken, and suicidal or ultimately dies.
It is easy to imagine situations of abandonment, that is, places and people who no longer receive attention. Anything that is abandoned ceases to have value and meaning. It is fit only for the junkyard, rubbish heap, and the graveyard. Abandonment happens when authority is abdicated or usurped. Abandonment happens when someone other than the shepherd, in the words of Jesus; “enters the sheepfold in some other way” other than through the gate. When a shepherd focuses his attention on himself, at the expense of the sheep, he is abandoning them. He leaves the sheep in their sad state, discontinues feeling responsible, and ceases to have compassion, for them. We do not need to go into the specifics of abandonment and illegitimate authority in this bulletin.
Suffice it to say, again, that authority finds its root in an author, and God is the Author after whom all authors take. God is the Good Shepherd, in whose steps all shepherds must follow. Exercising authority ought to author life, give growth, increase value, engender hope, facilitate reconciliation, initiate healing, open up possibilities, and give reasons to rejoice. Those under authority need to flourish and to thrive; to actualize and to realize the liberating truth about who they truly are. Authority ennobles society and enhances humanity.
Let us pray for authority in our country, as we live through a rough patch of national history, replete with abandonment. Let us pray that God, the Author and Creator may give us leaders who participate in his creative authority. Let us pray that Our Lord Jesus, the Gate of the Sheepfold, may give us shepherds, in the church and in the country, who enter through the gate. Amen.
May God Bless You Always Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
The Gate of the Sheepfold
In the Gospel today, St John presents Jesus’ teaching on authority. He uses the image of a shepherd. There are good shepherds and bad shepherds. In the words of Jesus, as preserved for us by John: “anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand.” In contradistinction: “The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock.” The legitimacy of the shepherd is evident in that, “the gate keeper lets him in,” and, “the sheep hear his voice.” The good shepherd has an intimate knowledge of, and bond with, his flock for, “one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.” To his call, the sheep respond, “the sheep follow because they know his voice.”
The good shepherd is a model of legitimate authority. The word authority finds its root in the word author. An author is more than just someone who writes a book or originates a project. To be an author is to be a creator and to participate in the ongoing creative activity of God the Creator. So, genuine authorship mirrors, and flows from, the creativity of God. Similarly, authentic authority, radiates, and emanates from, the authority of God. A shepherd is good to the extents that he is a shepherd after the master’s heart, to the extent that his authority flows from that of God. The image of a shepherd is central to the biblical notion of legitimate authority. The Christian tradition that we have received espouses this idea of authority both in the church and in the state.
The opposite of authority is not simply bad authority – it is abandonment. The root meaning of abandon is; “to place under a ban or authority of another.” Abandon is the establishment of an attitude that anything goes which becomes destructive of a human and social fabric. It is the absence, or loss, of leadership that, in a former era, could have maintained a better cohesiveness in society, a cohesiveness of shared values, purposes, and dreams, even. In short, abandon represents a time of dehumanization, a culture of death, a spiritual helplessness. Abandon is the emptiness caused by the absence of a truly legitimate authority.
When the flock of sheep is without a shepherd it is abandoned. To be abandoned is, simply, to be forsaken entirely, and given up by anyone providing the basic needs for daily living. A field that is abandoned is quickly overrun with weeds and becomes unproductive. It appears useless. Likewise, a building that is abandoned ends up collapsing in ruins. A domestic animal that is not fed and cared for ends up dying. A human being uncared for and unloved becomes lonely, despairing, depressed, heartbroken, and suicidal or ultimately dies.
It is easy to imagine situations of abandonment, that is, places and people who no longer receive attention. Anything that is abandoned ceases to have value and meaning. It is fit only for the junkyard, rubbish heap, and the graveyard. Abandonment happens when authority is abdicated or usurped. Abandonment happens when someone other than the shepherd, in the words of Jesus; “enters the sheepfold in some other way” other than through the gate. When a shepherd focuses his attention on himself, at the expense of the sheep, he is abandoning them. He leaves the sheep in their sad state, discontinues feeling responsible, and ceases to have compassion, for them. We do not need to go into the specifics of abandonment and illegitimate authority in this bulletin.
Suffice it to say, again, that authority finds its root in an author, and God is the Author after whom all authors take. God is the Good Shepherd, in whose steps all shepherds must follow. Exercising authority ought to author life, give growth, increase value, engender hope, facilitate reconciliation, initiate healing, open up possibilities, and give reasons to rejoice. Those under authority need to flourish and to thrive; to actualize and to realize the liberating truth about who they truly are. Authority ennobles society and enhances humanity.
Let us pray for authority in our country, as we live through a rough patch of national history, replete with abandonment. Let us pray that God, the Author and Creator may give us leaders who participate in his creative authority. Let us pray that Our Lord Jesus, the Gate of the Sheepfold, may give us shepherds, in the church and in the country, who enter through the gate. Amen.
May God Bless You Always Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Parish Letter Third Sunday of Easter 2008
The Road to Emmaus – Jesus our Hope
In today’s Gospel we encounter the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. They had spent Passover weekend in Jerusalem. They had gone up to Jerusalem with great excitement and expectations. They had real hopes that this Passover would change their lives significantly.
Upon arriving in Jerusalem, they were told that, only the week before, Jesus had been welcomed into the Holy City as a King. They quickly joined onto the great expectation that during Passover week Jesus was going to transform their lives. He was the Messiah who they had waited for and they hoped that he would liberate them. They had been oppressed for far too long. They could not imagine going into another week of the same wretched living they had been subjected to. So this change was welcome. The Messiah was badly needed and the stage had been set for the final showdown between their Saviour and all the forces that assailed them.
The death of Jesus must have been a disappointment of unimaginable proportions for the Emmaus disciples, and all the people who had pinned their hopes on him. When people are making sacrifices in anticipation of a new dispensation, they don’t care about the cost. When that dispensation fails to come, then people feel utterly crushed by the cost of the sacrifices made. They feel robbed, cheated, used, fooled, taken for a ride and betrayed. They feel bad about themselves. They get depressed; see no point in living and some may even take their lives. Sad things do happen to people whose hopes have been shattered, whose dreams have been stolen, and whose chances for change have slipped out of their grasp like a handful of sand. It is very difficult to find a new reason for living, a purpose for going on and even the desire to do anything that was formerly pleasant. The saddest human thing is not just to die – it is to have one’s dream and hope killed, taken away or in some other way destroyed.
This week I have seen the Emmaus disciples on the streets of Harare. I have been one of them. I have seen our people walking back to the same life that they had hoped much, and sacrificed much for, to change. The recent elections have given us an acutely painful experience of anxiety. We could never have been more similar to the frightened Emmaus disciples. We walked in the dark, trudging home-ward, downcast, wounded, bruised, hurting, to face the same fate we have been trying to shake off our backs for almost a decade. We walked homeward dreading the worst.
I found great solace in the prayer that we say after the Our Father: “Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ.” I leant anew, that Jesus is the Lord who comes in the times of our greatest human need. Through this prayer, at Mass and at many other times during the day, I felt the presence of Jesus in the midst of our collective national darkness. That presence was comforting for me, and I shared that prayer with many others, who felt the same. Jesus is not far away when we come face to face with evil, when we are tempted to sin, and when we are harassed internally by anxiety. Tuning in to his presence is what made the day for the Emmaus disciples. We can learn from the Emmaus turnaround.
On the road to Emmaus, the Lord Jesus joined the dejected disciples. They opened up to him, and he opened the scriptures to them. He opened their minds and hearts to a new vision, a new hope. He restored their shattered dreams. Through their generosity and care, they invited Jesus into their home. He took their bread, broke it and shared it with them. Then they realised it was he. They realised that he had been with them all along the path of dejection and hopelessness. They were filled with a new enthusiasm and even the darkness of the night did not bother them. They were galvanised to go and share the good news that he had risen, all was not lost, a new life was still possible for all.
We have come to the Eucharist today after a week of walking like the sad Emmaus disciples. We come to meet Jesus who is risen, who has conquered death and evil. We come to meet our Saviour, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. May our Eucharist be a meeting with Jesus; to walk along the difficult road of our lives with him, to listen to the enlightening scriptures with him, and to break and share bread with him. It is by inviting Jesus into the sadness of our life, that we are filled with a new and transforming enthusiasm, and no amount of darkness and evil can take that away from us. Let us allow Jesus to feed our tired hearts with his word and sacrament in this Eucharist.
Yours in the Risen Christ Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
The Road to Emmaus – Jesus our Hope
In today’s Gospel we encounter the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. They had spent Passover weekend in Jerusalem. They had gone up to Jerusalem with great excitement and expectations. They had real hopes that this Passover would change their lives significantly.
Upon arriving in Jerusalem, they were told that, only the week before, Jesus had been welcomed into the Holy City as a King. They quickly joined onto the great expectation that during Passover week Jesus was going to transform their lives. He was the Messiah who they had waited for and they hoped that he would liberate them. They had been oppressed for far too long. They could not imagine going into another week of the same wretched living they had been subjected to. So this change was welcome. The Messiah was badly needed and the stage had been set for the final showdown between their Saviour and all the forces that assailed them.
The death of Jesus must have been a disappointment of unimaginable proportions for the Emmaus disciples, and all the people who had pinned their hopes on him. When people are making sacrifices in anticipation of a new dispensation, they don’t care about the cost. When that dispensation fails to come, then people feel utterly crushed by the cost of the sacrifices made. They feel robbed, cheated, used, fooled, taken for a ride and betrayed. They feel bad about themselves. They get depressed; see no point in living and some may even take their lives. Sad things do happen to people whose hopes have been shattered, whose dreams have been stolen, and whose chances for change have slipped out of their grasp like a handful of sand. It is very difficult to find a new reason for living, a purpose for going on and even the desire to do anything that was formerly pleasant. The saddest human thing is not just to die – it is to have one’s dream and hope killed, taken away or in some other way destroyed.
This week I have seen the Emmaus disciples on the streets of Harare. I have been one of them. I have seen our people walking back to the same life that they had hoped much, and sacrificed much for, to change. The recent elections have given us an acutely painful experience of anxiety. We could never have been more similar to the frightened Emmaus disciples. We walked in the dark, trudging home-ward, downcast, wounded, bruised, hurting, to face the same fate we have been trying to shake off our backs for almost a decade. We walked homeward dreading the worst.
I found great solace in the prayer that we say after the Our Father: “Deliver us, Lord, from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ.” I leant anew, that Jesus is the Lord who comes in the times of our greatest human need. Through this prayer, at Mass and at many other times during the day, I felt the presence of Jesus in the midst of our collective national darkness. That presence was comforting for me, and I shared that prayer with many others, who felt the same. Jesus is not far away when we come face to face with evil, when we are tempted to sin, and when we are harassed internally by anxiety. Tuning in to his presence is what made the day for the Emmaus disciples. We can learn from the Emmaus turnaround.
On the road to Emmaus, the Lord Jesus joined the dejected disciples. They opened up to him, and he opened the scriptures to them. He opened their minds and hearts to a new vision, a new hope. He restored their shattered dreams. Through their generosity and care, they invited Jesus into their home. He took their bread, broke it and shared it with them. Then they realised it was he. They realised that he had been with them all along the path of dejection and hopelessness. They were filled with a new enthusiasm and even the darkness of the night did not bother them. They were galvanised to go and share the good news that he had risen, all was not lost, a new life was still possible for all.
We have come to the Eucharist today after a week of walking like the sad Emmaus disciples. We come to meet Jesus who is risen, who has conquered death and evil. We come to meet our Saviour, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. May our Eucharist be a meeting with Jesus; to walk along the difficult road of our lives with him, to listen to the enlightening scriptures with him, and to break and share bread with him. It is by inviting Jesus into the sadness of our life, that we are filled with a new and transforming enthusiasm, and no amount of darkness and evil can take that away from us. Let us allow Jesus to feed our tired hearts with his word and sacrament in this Eucharist.
Yours in the Risen Christ Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Parish Letter Easter Sunday A 2008 He is risen Alleluia!!
I saw a large poster once, outside the precincts of a great city, which was placed so as to catch the attention of every comer and goer. It read ‘Christ is the Answer.’ The cynic in me retorted inwardly, ‘What is the question?’ I am sure many people are tempted to ask the same question when they see bold proclamations like ‘Christ is the Answer!’ In a world full of many unanswered questions, it is little wonder that such a hunger for answers exists. People like me can easily miss out on the reality of the unanswered questions that we live with daily, because of our fleeting cynicism. When I got myself to take that poster more seriously, I did go through an endless list of unanswered questions. Some of them are my own.
I was fascinated most by those that tended to have a theological bent to them. Why do we die? Why do people die young? Why is there so much suffering around? Why do people have to suffer long illnesses when they are going to die anyway? Why do some people seem untouched by pain and suffering at all in their life, while for some pain and suffering is their daily bread? Is God aware of human suffering? Does God care that we suffer? Is God interested in human suffering? Does God allow human suffering? Can God stop or end human suffering? Will God use pain and suffering in the next world? Do we suffer in proportion to our sinfulness? Is there any point in suffering? What is the meaning of suffering? The list of questions invoked by human suffering can go on and on.
Some of the questions are generic and others are specific to time, place and person. There is a host of unanswered questions specific to our time, to our country and our nation. We are living in this country with some questions that are very difficult to answer. As a nation we have become accustomed to have these questions unanswered and keep on going. Some of these questions query God’s goodness, presence among us, and for care us. As a priest I often bear the brunt of the of a questioning nation. The faithful, too, are put on the bar because our unanswered national questions challenge the heart of our Christian faith. We enter into the celebration of Jesus resurrection with these questions. Our hope as a nation is that the resurrection may shed a light on our plight and, perchance, help us to find answers for the hard questions that have become or daily bread in recent years.
Jesus is the answer to these questions. In his obedience to the Father, Jesus became a human being. He did not become a human being the way that actors become a historic person in a play. Jesus became fully and truly a human being. He was open to all human experience; its joys and delights, its sorrows and pains. He was like us in everything, except sin. So he became in every sense part of suffering humanity, party of questioning humanity. He lived with our frailty and vulnerability. He experienced the ambiguity of our condition – prone to both happiness and sadness.
Jesus brought to humanity the ability to remain steadfast despite suffering. Through his teaching, preaching, healing, celebrating life, enduring the realities of life, Jesus showed us the way to be faithful, straightforward, committed, happy, compassionate and caring in spite of the human condition. He showed us that being a human being is not an excuse for not loving, not caring, not being happy and not being compassionate. In a much more profound way, Jesus showed us that it is possible to remain a good human being even when all odds are against you. His passion and death on the cross, and how faithfully obedient to the Father he remained, just proved his teaching and practice about the ability of human being to triumph despite suffering. In his humanity Jesus transformed the experiences that inspire the most dread in human being namely suffering and death. By his stripes and wounds, we are healed. By his dying we are brought to a life that does not end. The resurrection is this triumph. It is Jesus’ triumph and it is our triumph too, for we are his followers. We celebrate the resurrection today and remind ourselves that if we are faithful and obedient to God, nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop us. Even death cannot stop us! Jesus is indeed the answer! In the risen Jesus Christ, humanity has the answer to all its most perplexing questions.
Wishing you all a very happy Easter Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Parish Letter Easter Sunday A 2008 He is risen Alleluia!!
I saw a large poster once, outside the precincts of a great city, which was placed so as to catch the attention of every comer and goer. It read ‘Christ is the Answer.’ The cynic in me retorted inwardly, ‘What is the question?’ I am sure many people are tempted to ask the same question when they see bold proclamations like ‘Christ is the Answer!’ In a world full of many unanswered questions, it is little wonder that such a hunger for answers exists. People like me can easily miss out on the reality of the unanswered questions that we live with daily, because of our fleeting cynicism. When I got myself to take that poster more seriously, I did go through an endless list of unanswered questions. Some of them are my own.
I was fascinated most by those that tended to have a theological bent to them. Why do we die? Why do people die young? Why is there so much suffering around? Why do people have to suffer long illnesses when they are going to die anyway? Why do some people seem untouched by pain and suffering at all in their life, while for some pain and suffering is their daily bread? Is God aware of human suffering? Does God care that we suffer? Is God interested in human suffering? Does God allow human suffering? Can God stop or end human suffering? Will God use pain and suffering in the next world? Do we suffer in proportion to our sinfulness? Is there any point in suffering? What is the meaning of suffering? The list of questions invoked by human suffering can go on and on.
Some of the questions are generic and others are specific to time, place and person. There is a host of unanswered questions specific to our time, to our country and our nation. We are living in this country with some questions that are very difficult to answer. As a nation we have become accustomed to have these questions unanswered and keep on going. Some of these questions query God’s goodness, presence among us, and for care us. As a priest I often bear the brunt of the of a questioning nation. The faithful, too, are put on the bar because our unanswered national questions challenge the heart of our Christian faith. We enter into the celebration of Jesus resurrection with these questions. Our hope as a nation is that the resurrection may shed a light on our plight and, perchance, help us to find answers for the hard questions that have become or daily bread in recent years.
Jesus is the answer to these questions. In his obedience to the Father, Jesus became a human being. He did not become a human being the way that actors become a historic person in a play. Jesus became fully and truly a human being. He was open to all human experience; its joys and delights, its sorrows and pains. He was like us in everything, except sin. So he became in every sense part of suffering humanity, party of questioning humanity. He lived with our frailty and vulnerability. He experienced the ambiguity of our condition – prone to both happiness and sadness.
Jesus brought to humanity the ability to remain steadfast despite suffering. Through his teaching, preaching, healing, celebrating life, enduring the realities of life, Jesus showed us the way to be faithful, straightforward, committed, happy, compassionate and caring in spite of the human condition. He showed us that being a human being is not an excuse for not loving, not caring, not being happy and not being compassionate. In a much more profound way, Jesus showed us that it is possible to remain a good human being even when all odds are against you. His passion and death on the cross, and how faithfully obedient to the Father he remained, just proved his teaching and practice about the ability of human being to triumph despite suffering. In his humanity Jesus transformed the experiences that inspire the most dread in human being namely suffering and death. By his stripes and wounds, we are healed. By his dying we are brought to a life that does not end. The resurrection is this triumph. It is Jesus’ triumph and it is our triumph too, for we are his followers. We celebrate the resurrection today and remind ourselves that if we are faithful and obedient to God, nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop us. Even death cannot stop us! Jesus is indeed the answer! In the risen Jesus Christ, humanity has the answer to all its most perplexing questions.
Wishing you all a very happy Easter Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
I saw a large poster once, outside the precincts of a great city, which was placed so as to catch the attention of every comer and goer. It read ‘Christ is the Answer.’ The cynic in me retorted inwardly, ‘What is the question?’ I am sure many people are tempted to ask the same question when they see bold proclamations like ‘Christ is the Answer!’ In a world full of many unanswered questions, it is little wonder that such a hunger for answers exists. People like me can easily miss out on the reality of the unanswered questions that we live with daily, because of our fleeting cynicism. When I got myself to take that poster more seriously, I did go through an endless list of unanswered questions. Some of them are my own.
I was fascinated most by those that tended to have a theological bent to them. Why do we die? Why do people die young? Why is there so much suffering around? Why do people have to suffer long illnesses when they are going to die anyway? Why do some people seem untouched by pain and suffering at all in their life, while for some pain and suffering is their daily bread? Is God aware of human suffering? Does God care that we suffer? Is God interested in human suffering? Does God allow human suffering? Can God stop or end human suffering? Will God use pain and suffering in the next world? Do we suffer in proportion to our sinfulness? Is there any point in suffering? What is the meaning of suffering? The list of questions invoked by human suffering can go on and on.
Some of the questions are generic and others are specific to time, place and person. There is a host of unanswered questions specific to our time, to our country and our nation. We are living in this country with some questions that are very difficult to answer. As a nation we have become accustomed to have these questions unanswered and keep on going. Some of these questions query God’s goodness, presence among us, and for care us. As a priest I often bear the brunt of the of a questioning nation. The faithful, too, are put on the bar because our unanswered national questions challenge the heart of our Christian faith. We enter into the celebration of Jesus resurrection with these questions. Our hope as a nation is that the resurrection may shed a light on our plight and, perchance, help us to find answers for the hard questions that have become or daily bread in recent years.
Jesus is the answer to these questions. In his obedience to the Father, Jesus became a human being. He did not become a human being the way that actors become a historic person in a play. Jesus became fully and truly a human being. He was open to all human experience; its joys and delights, its sorrows and pains. He was like us in everything, except sin. So he became in every sense part of suffering humanity, party of questioning humanity. He lived with our frailty and vulnerability. He experienced the ambiguity of our condition – prone to both happiness and sadness.
Jesus brought to humanity the ability to remain steadfast despite suffering. Through his teaching, preaching, healing, celebrating life, enduring the realities of life, Jesus showed us the way to be faithful, straightforward, committed, happy, compassionate and caring in spite of the human condition. He showed us that being a human being is not an excuse for not loving, not caring, not being happy and not being compassionate. In a much more profound way, Jesus showed us that it is possible to remain a good human being even when all odds are against you. His passion and death on the cross, and how faithfully obedient to the Father he remained, just proved his teaching and practice about the ability of human being to triumph despite suffering. In his humanity Jesus transformed the experiences that inspire the most dread in human being namely suffering and death. By his stripes and wounds, we are healed. By his dying we are brought to a life that does not end. The resurrection is this triumph. It is Jesus’ triumph and it is our triumph too, for we are his followers. We celebrate the resurrection today and remind ourselves that if we are faithful and obedient to God, nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop us. Even death cannot stop us! Jesus is indeed the answer! In the risen Jesus Christ, humanity has the answer to all its most perplexing questions.
Wishing you all a very happy Easter Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Waiting in Hope
Today is the forth day after the national harmonised elections. March 29 was a critical day for Zimbabwe. People went to vote in order to bring to an end, once and for all, the suffering that they have endured for almost a decade. This year has been particularly painful for Zimbabweans. With inflation in the regions of 200000% the cost of living in Zimbabwe has become acutely painful. Domestic workers earn $500million dollars a month which is just about one US dollar. In the first three months of the year the prices of basic commodities has increased hundreds of times. It is a wonder that people are still alive. They are barely making it, just surviving. The essential service delivery system has all collapsed. Unemploymetn at +80% is more the norm than the exception. So, the just ended election was looked upon by all as thier only chance for a change. A change of the regime that has throttled the life of the nation in the last 8 years. Between two presidential contestants, Morgan Tsvangirai and Simba Makoni, most urban voters were not very clear who they wanted. But that was not a big problem. What people were absolutely clear about, what they knew and wanted, was for Mugabe to go. So they voted with their feet. All they wanted to see on their presidential ballot paper was that the space next to Mugabe remained blank, unchecked, when they dropped it into the box. Then the waiting began. Waiting for the announcement of the presidential ballot has been painfully long delayed. On Sunday people had begun to gather information posted outside the polling stations. Messages were criss-crossing the country and by end of the day the results were public knowledge. People were tremendously enthused by the result which clearly favoured the exit of Mugabe. Already by Sunday people began to feel great about the new era that had dawned upon the land. They felt a great sence of efficacy for they had brouhgt about their own emancipation through the ballot. They had given one last chance to democracy, perchance, before they died. For death in one of the byproducts of the regime that they are desperately fighting to overthrow. There were cautious celebrations, and whispers of joy. People could not wait to erupt with jubilation on the announcement of the election result. On Monday the reality dawned on the nation that the announcement of the result was not going to come so easily. The Zimbabwe Election Commission began announcing parlimanetary poll results very slowly. They announced the same set of results three times in English, Shona and Ndebele. It was needless to do that - it would have sufficed to announce the result once in English. The announcement was not orderly and they shuffled randomly between the constituents. We have had to endure painfully for 3 days the announcement of the parliamentary election, even as we wait for the presidential election result. It has been very anxiety provoking. I have seen people looking absolutely dejected and hopeless. What seemed to have depressed people most is the thought that Mugabe was trying to manipulate the vote result by announcing it so slowly. People could not imagine another stolen election, another dubious Mugabe victory and another five years under this regime. If there is anything that the people of Zimbabwe want so badly now it is the truth, and they know that the truth is that they have voted Mugabe out. So why can't we just have it? Waiting for the presidential result has been a real test on hope. It has been more painful, arguably, than the 8 years that Mugabe has pontificated over the ruin of this country. How can one sustain hope in a situation like this? How can one remain motivated to live, to work and to go on with life? Can there be a hope that hopes beyond this hopelessness?
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