God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

02/13/2010 • 10:45 pm 1

13.02.2010 Haiti…

4 weeks are gone in Haiti – and seeing some video clips and photos I am not sure we really understand what is going on there and how desperate people must feel having lost everything. All modern technology could not help to prevent this disaster and the first attempts of help, coordinated by the US has been – I almost would have said naturally – with lots of enthusiasm but also the typical sense of “we know it all”.  Haiti was a broken state and nature has proven to be able to add to the misery. I am not sure how so-called industrialised countries can coop with such a natural force, but hurricane “Katharina” has shown that they do not better, even worse as the expectations of the people are much higher.

Sometimes I ask myself how much compassion a person can show in our times or when the constant flood of misery through TV news, online news etc simply provokes a stop of such feelings because people are exhausted or getting used to it. I guess the same is to ask when one lives in a developing country and sees poverty and tragedy every day. It is in a certain sense true that one gets used to a situation – and when I go with visitors into a township, then I see rather the improvements since my last visit (if there are any) than the poverty. And it needs the art of a sort of balance of different feelings, being touched, but also accepting certain conditions for the time being as not changeable by oneself.

After almost 13 years South Africa, I am still sitting in the evenings after a day “out there” and reflect how I would feel living in a shack or without work or without mony depending on other people’s handout. I tell myself that this thoughts are useless because obviously alone the way I think is surely different as I would have thought if I would have been in that situation since birth. Sounds philosophically? Yes, I believe so, but in simple words: My realties would be a totally different ones grown up under different circumstances.

Nevertheless, alone that I am reflecting shows me, that I have not lost the sense of compassion and a sense that there is in front of my doorstep lots of injustice. I know that having founded HOPE Cape Town together with others helps people, but often I wish I could do so much more in less time. And then creeps in the feeling of being powerless.  Well, then there is only one thing to do: to believe my own sermons telling that nobody is powerless and that we are all called to change and better the world.  🙂

Filed under: General, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , , ,

02/11/2010 • 11:15 pm Comments Off on 11.02.2010 What a mixed day…

11.02.2010 What a mixed day…

Sometimes one is sitting till late in the office until the mind is not able to take on more. And one feels so full and mixed up with the day that sleep will not come easy. In the morning an excellent meeting with the nuncio for South Africa and Sr. Margaret from Nazareth House. Topic was the POZ initiative caring for priests and clergy being HIV positive. And while I tried to prepare for the Sunday sermons for coming weekend and the joint councils meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry tomorrow, again and again requests and problems popped up and filled every little gap between tasks I had to complete today. I would call it a crazy day.

It was also a day of realisation how different people take a situation, how different they experience realities, how difficult it can be to communicate and to make oneself understandable. how exhausting it is not to flip out confronted with the attitudes of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I am not sure how often I used the word “Ohm” today, observing my breath according to good old Buddhist teaching. 🙂

But today is also the day, Nelson Mandela walked free, it is a day to remember and to celebrate somehow.Without him, the miracle of a peaceful transformation would not have been possible; and seeing the old wise man sitting in parliament this eve, I thought how important it is to have him still around as the conscience of South Africa today. Lets hope for a long life…

Filed under: General, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

02/07/2010 • 11:02 pm Comments Off on 07.02.2010 Sexual abuse …

07.02.2010 Sexual abuse …

Once again is the sexual abuse of minors by priests and religious a topic in Germany – and once again it seems that one case follows many and the responses are quite divers.  From condemning the church till accusing the church of cover up there is a lot to read in our days in the German press. The psychologist of criminology, Hans-Ludwig Kroeber points out that still the numbers of abuse compared with the general population is below average. Of course, the “status quo” of a priest and his delicate position of confidence in society are making every case a special one. There are quite a lot who blame celibacy as the reason behind sexual abuse. Others question the cover up of such incidence until the very moment that nobody can deny the fact anymore.

Nobody denies that it is a tragedy and that the church has long enough shrouded such cases in secrecy, trying to avoid the daylight. Whether in the USA or in Ireland and now in Germany, many admissions are coming too little too late. There is a clear procedure how to handle such cases in Germany and other countries and this is certainly the first step in the right direction. But still the church somehow seems to not acknowledge the problem until a media campaign has started and everybody tries to be on the safe side.

I believe that we owe the faithful as a church more than clear procedure. We owe them an honest debate on how we handle the topic sexuality in our church. We owe them to acknowledge that we have done much to far in these fields when it came to confession, but not enough when it comes to catching up with the modern science of sexuality. We have our heels digged deep when it comes to this special topic and we are losing more and more moral ground by not engaging ourselves in this honest debate. A debate which includes spirituality, the knowledge of sciences and the many stories of lives, wining or losing the battle to integrate sexual desire into the lives of priests and religious. We all as priests know the theory of integrating sexuality – but we also know the practise, ranging from to sublimate the own sexuality in gaining power in the church via abuse of alcohol till the topic to be discussed here: sexual abuse of minors. There are so many possibilities where integration of sexuality can go wrong.

I say it again: The Catholic Church is by far not above the average of any other group of the population when it comes to sexual abuse of minors. But we should be capable of learning from the lessons we receive since years now and tackle the topic of sexuality. Doing so, we also can escape that the clergy in general is put under general suspicion. Too much harm is done, to many people are hurt, too much trust is lost – and too many chances to engage with young people. It becomes for a normal priest to dangerous to work with young people because alone the suspicion can destroy a priestly life.

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02/03/2010 • 11:15 pm Comments Off on 03.02.10 emails

03.02.10 emails

Emails can be a blessing and a curse.  I spend half of my day answering them being behind it a bit through the travel last weekend. It is amazing how fast an email box can fill itself up – and it is amazing how fast people can answer emails once in a while. It seems to me that everybody is just sitting and waiting to press the “reply” button whenever I send one out.  That are the so-called sisyphos days where the box is as full as the end of the day as it has been earlier in the morning.
Luncheon with a friend of mine and once again it is good to chat and exchange ideas from person to person – no email can replace this personal word, this looking in each other eyes and reading the expression of body and face.
Surely, communicating via internet is easy because it seems so anonymous and chat rooms are full of people exchanging all sorts of secretes and personal details because not seeing a person means to them to be anonymous. But we all know meanwhile that this is not true and that all footsteps on the internet are recorded almost for eternity somewhere and somehow.

At the end of such an office day one looks back and asks oneself: “What have you done the whole day?”  Good question – next question…. 🙂

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02/03/2010 • 5:22 am Comments Off on 03.02.2010 Friends are there for…

03.02.2010 Friends are there for…

…letting thoughts flow. A wonderful and more spontaneous luncheon with a friend where I was able to take a breath and to talk about personal things which really moved me in the moment. It feels like a blessing to be able to share when heart and mind creates a rollercoaster situation.  🙂

Otherwise I spend the morning with young journalists from Germany – organised by the “Sueddeutsche Zeitung”. We went to visit a primary health care facility in Mfuleni, one of our patients at home and then went to Tygerberg Academic Children’s Hospital and HOPE Cape Town to discuss current issues. The journalists already had meetings with important people like the German Ambassador Dieter Haller and Premier Helen Zille. Their task is it to gather background information about South Africa before the Soccer World cup 2010 starts. And it is difficult. As I heard there is either painted a rosy picture of South Africa in anticipation of the sports event – and it seems that nobody is allowed to say a critical word about some areas of concern – or people condemn and warn of security failure and the horrendous crime rates. It seems in the moment, there is only black and white at our disposal – and I think, this is simply wrong. South Africa has, like all other nations a variety of gray – yes, we have crime and the statistics are shocking, but yes, hundred thousands of tourists are visiting South Africa every year  and most of them are going home with a positive impression and lots of good experience. Yes, there are concerns, also security concerns – but yes, there are also lots of efforts to make 2010 a success for South Africa and Africa. Yes, the price structure of some airlines and hotels are indeed rather reminding us of gangsterism, on the other hand – there will be enough good deals closer to the time. We have to be honest brokers of the realities of South Africa. I concede, the realities are not that easy to read and interpret often – but only if we see and communicate all the potential for success, but also not forget the pitfalls – South Africa is like any other nation made out of humans and human structures… Nothing wrong about it.

The stadiums are ready – the people get more enthusiastic, upgrades of roads and transport systems are driving us South Africans crazy every day we commute to town, the soccer world cup 2010 will be a success – the African way and that is indeed good so…  Such events also help to highlight the shortcomings of a country – but which country has no shortcomings??

So I hope that the journalists went back to their hotel with the impression, that they got an honest assessment of the situation without politics or diplomacy tainting the picture. I think there is no need. Looking back to the last years there is surely more sun than shadow – and the way, South Africa will choose will anyhow only decided after the world cup circus will move on.

One is for sure: the soccer world cup 2010 prevented South Africa and its young democracy to  dip deeper into trouble during the developing times, when we have to learn how to organise us as such a democracy. The soccer world cup 2010 was and is the necessary nail to stop destructive development. My South African part tells me that nothing is decided yet when it comes to the future of South Africa, but one thing is for sure: the potential to create a home for all and a stable democracy is at hand, but in our times, all countries are interdependent as the global recession has again shown. So the future of South Africa also hangs in the balance with the other states and nations of this world. I will remain optimistic and realistic. A realistic optimist or an optimistic realist.. whatever is necessary in the next years to come…

Filed under: General, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

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