God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

03/18/2010 • 10:46 pm Comments Off on 18.03.2010 Why has a day only 24 hours..?

18.03.2010 Why has a day only 24 hours..?

This is a question, I often ask me, but then again, maybe I am the workaholic some people see in me. Be it as it may be, very often one wishes for more time to finalize matters, get the email box empty and all those nice things letting one feel satisfied in the evening when at home.

On the other hand one has to learn to limit oneself – life is more than just work. Only the balance between work and recreation makes life worth living. I guess sometimes my ying and yang are not in balance in this matter. 🙂

Today was filled with an interview, looking for a team secretary for our Ithemba ward and a meeting with the person responsible for the PR work of Tygerberg Academic Health Complex. It is important to keep in touch with her and also to discuss how we want to strive a balance now during the world cup year between the interest of visitors and journalists to learn first hand about the situation and the smooth running of a hospital ward. But I am confident that we are able to find the right balance. We also discussed the promotion of the  hospital itself – the fundraising efforts are – compared with other hospitals – still quite in the beginning of full blossoming and I offered my expertise to the lady if need be.

Rotary in the middle of the day – I needed some signatures to get a matching grant into motion. HOPE Cape Town needs urgently a second vehicle and we are grateful that some Rotary Clubs under the guidance of Michael Eisenmenger from the St. Wendel Club is taking it into their hands to organise the funding of such a vehicle. Rotary is a wonderful organisation, not only because of this, but after 13 years of being a Rotarian I am convinced that this big organisation is able to change a lot of the face of this earth.

Office work in the afternoon is part of almost every days life – sometimes I feel that emails are a curse rather than a blessing. But on the other hand quick communication is of essence in our days and so I try to keep up with it. Besides all the work in the fields of HIV and AIDS I am getting also more and more involved in the fields of renewable energy. Beginning of April we will constitute in Johannesburg a national working task force on renewable energy / energy efficiency under the umbrella of the Southern African – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and I will be part of it as vice chair of the Regional Council of the Chamber. A lot new stuff to learn for me, but an exciting field and very much necessary in our days and specially also in South Africa. To learn new things also keeps an old mind going again.. good for my brain cells… 🙂

Evening – dinner with friends on a lighter note and with lots of laughter and chatter. Good so. A nice end to another 24 hours…

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

03/17/2010 • 1:02 pm Comments Off on 17.03.2010 Abuse and no end..

17.03.2010 Abuse and no end..

Meanwhile one has to get used as a Catholic priest to justify the pure being in such a profession – where ever I go, the questions of abuse and many more are mounting. And surfing the news on the net – one never can escape a new story. I almost feel that we are living in a time of hysteria. Yes, there have been abuse cases in the past – and yes, there have been many stories of covering up and ignoring the facts and leaving victims in the dark.

But does that really mean that all priests are preying on kids? Or does it mean, as the right wingers in our church claim, that only homosexual priests did do these kind of things? Does it really mean that everybody within the church has now to repeat again and again how awful it was and how wrong? Does it really mean that our pastoral work with kids are at a dead-end because there is a pretty good chance that somebody will read something fundamentally wrong into our doing? Does celibacy really foster the appetite for sex with children?

As much as I feel sorry for the past, I can’t see that this kind of hysteria we are facing in the moment can solve any problem. Emotions are important to let out, but to change a situation we have to reflect in a complete different way.

To do this, our church can assist in doing the following: Don’t cover up any more and learn to deal honest with abuse. As more than 95% of abuse is done within families and the circle of friends, we don’t have to hide with our small numbers – we have to face every single case in a serious way.

Another aspect: We as a church have to stop drawing a connection between homosexuality and the abuse of children – there is no connection and I am aware it is nice to use even this situation to justify certain moral theological aspects of the teaching, but it is wrong. Sciences and research show otherwise, so please no more theological politics with this grave situation. This applies specially for those in the utmost right corner of the church, people, who seems to have no sense of shame to abuse an abuse situation to save their church ideology.

We as a church have to think constructive: How can we restore a trust which enables us to work with children and youth without general suspicion. I guess it will be a long way until this is achieved.

But for all including bishops and clergy applies: no hysteria. I am quite impressed with the approach of Bishop Stephan Ackermann, who seems to understand, that only serious reflection can bring us forward in a positive and beneficial way. And I agree with him, that the discussion of celibacy is not directly connected with the abuse cases. Of course this does not mean that we have within the church also to have a debate about this requirement for priesthood in our days – but for that there is another place and time in the moment.

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03/15/2010 • 10:42 pm Comments Off on 15.03.2010 ORF

15.03.2010 ORF

An interview with the ORF about the churches stance on HIV and AIDS for a documentary occupies quiet a time in the afternoon. Before brief discussion with co-workers at the Ithemba office. Tomorrow the offices will move to the 7th floor of the University of Stellenbosch – Tygerberg Campus. On Thursday we will interview a person to be the team secretary, a person amongst others looking after the hospital side and the Ithemba ward. To run an organisation means so many small and bigger things to deal with during the day. It means in our days sometimes too many requests, emails and with 28 employees a lot of coordination and communication. It is again and again a challenge to keep all together, specially when one is spread so far apart like our HOPE community health workers in their 17 township communities.

In the morning a longer discussion with one management member about the HOPE Kapstadt Stiftung and the future of this particular trust. We agree about steps to take to ensure developement into what we see as the right direction. Long and medium term planing is needed besides all the day-to-day business.

A full Monday with office work in between – not to forget the hairdresser before the TV interview. Yes, also a priest wants to look good 🙂

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, , , , , ,

03/14/2010 • 9:56 pm 1

14.3.2010 Thailand or never peace?

Once again politics in Thailand brings the country on the brink to chaos, this time the so-called “red shirts” on the streets of Bangkok trying to bring down the government. Sometimes I wonder about a lot of things: About how people perceive their political view as the only valid once. About how people think their doing is so important for the development of this world. About how people perceive the  state of affairs as static. People murder for their political views, people die for their country, politicians negotiate in a way one could think the nation has exist since the beginning of the world.

I advise to go somewhere in the desert or in the bush where there is no artificial light and have a look at night at the stars, at the milky way and all its unlimited extensions… And then feel how small and tiny we are… A bit more being humble would help in most situations.

I also think that by the way when I observe religious leaders and gurus – how they insist to know the truth and only the truth. People of the cloth have killed for their conviction in the past, wars have been ignited by religious views, so-called witches burned, Jews hunted, crusaders send en mass to Jerusalem.

I advise to go somewhere in the desert or in the bush where there is no artificial light and have a look at night at the stars… and you suddenly realise how little you know about this world and its existence and where we are coming from and going to. We believe, but there are so many things we still have to learn about the meaning of life – even the holiest man is still far away from knowing it all. If he is wise, he knows that he doesn’t know – and he is humble. We need a lot of wise men in our days..

All this reflection does not prevent from preparing for the week. After 2 weeks with limited internet I spent this Sunday in answering emails and preparing for the coming week. A Bavarian delegation is arriving and visiting HOPE Cape Town, the Austrian TV wants to have an interview, there are several meetings with representatives of the health sector of the province and much more. Hope there is time to live in between.

Filed under: General, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

03/14/2010 • 12:28 am Comments Off on 14.03.2010 Back in Cape Town

14.03.2010 Back in Cape Town

After 2 weeks of enjoying the sun of Johannesburg and Brits back in Cape Town. Two weeks of close encounter with the problem of accusations of indecent behaviour of a priest and the consequences of court proceedings. Even if I cannot comment on the actual case because it is still running in court, I bring with and want to express a very deep feeling of sadness. The climate regarding child abuse in the church in the moment seems to be carried away by a mixture of hysteria, factual happenings, projections and the fight of the church to end the stigma endured by so many cases all over the world. Yes, abuse has happened, but also yes, most abuse has not happened in any church but in the families. Looking only into Germany I can add some no’s – no, it has nothing to do with homosexuality, 9 out of 10 cases in Germany involve girls. And no, it is not always the priest, in 3 out of 4 cases the culprit is a member of the family.

All this does not take away the pain of our church for all what has indeed happened, but this pain should include rather the impotence of the responsible bishops and clergy not taking out the person in question. Yes, there was a cover up, surely not in the way some would like to see that from a standpoint of today – times have been different 30-40 years ago. We don’t have to ignore that. And yes, we as a church have to discuss our dealing with sexuality – without an honest review of this topic we are doomed for the next round of disasters. It is not enough to bring such cases to the state authorities – we have to reflect how we deal with one of the strongest forces of mankind, sexuality, and only when we do this honestly we will be able to prevent further abuse.

A few bishops and high-ranking office bearer have taken their responsibility serious and stepped down from their pulpit as the consequence of their dealing with such cases in the past – I would have hoped for more taken their responsibility seriously.

Filed under: Reflection, Uncategorized, , , ,

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