God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

12/18/2009 • 5:11 pm Comments Off on 18.12.2009 A new bishop..

18.12.2009 A new bishop..

Since 13h00 local time, it is official: Cape Town has a new bishop and – what coincidence – it is a Stephen. After my home bishop Stephen Ackermann in Trier Cape Town will now be represented by Bishop Stephen Brislin. Without being to superstitious I take it as a good sign.

Who is he, the new bishop? It is amazing to see how thrilled people are to know more about the newly appointed one. Is he progressive, conservative, open-minded, pastoral… ? Especially the clergy has an interest to know more and I am sure the next days and weeks will be filled with whispered what one has heard about the new bishop.

I hope like always that the newly appointed is first and foremost a human being, touched by the love of God. Not more, not less. This is for me the basic to be able to stand despite all the massive expectations of the people of a new diocese and to humbly accept the big task lying ahead of him. A man of prayer and recognition, that we all struggle one in a while to match our vocations, but that we try our best to be good worker in the vineyard of the Lord.

Also for me, a “visiting” priest in the Archdiocese of Cape Town, it is a change of times. Having served under Archbishop Lawrence P Henry the last 12 years, I am grateful for all, I have experienced so far in this Archdiocese and I am looking forward to be part of this new chapter of the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the mother of Catholicism in South Africa.

Filed under: Reflection, Uncategorized, , , ,

12/13/2009 • 12:07 pm Comments Off on 13.12.2009 25 years of Tafelsig Parish

13.12.2009 25 years of Tafelsig Parish

In half an hour I will got to attend the luncheon, given on the occasion of 25 years of the Catholic parish Tafelsig in Cape Town. A friend of mine is parish priest for this community and it is with pleasure that I will go and mingle with the people there. 25 years is not a long time – and one has to realise, that being a “Catholic” in South Africa is until today rather something suspicious. Invitation, where I am invited with wife show the grade of knowledge about Catholicism and from the “good old times” it was known, that Catholics are subversive: during the apartheid times it was mainly the Catholic church siding with the black communities; a lot of priests were driven out of the country. Only after the end of apartheid the Catholic church really starts to be much more visible. I remember the year 1998 where my application for permanent residence was put on hold. I had to appear in front of a committee, at that time in the Western Cape rather a “white affair, and the only question I had to answer was about my relationship with the Vatican. Amazing experience- you could still sense the anxiety of the apartheid system about possible Vatican spies on the wrong side of the battle of minds and for the security of a “white country”.
I think one can compare this a bit with the situation in the occupied territories of the Westbank and the Gaza Strip, where the state Israel also does everything to make it difficult for Catholic priests and social workers to do their bit to ease the situation.

Also at Tygerberg Hospital during the opening of the HOPE Cape Town project and the Ithemba Ward once again it showed that Catholicism was not “normal” in Afrikaans circles. According to some from the hospital, it was the first time in 2001, that a Catholic priest was doing the official blessing – in this case together with a Rabbi and an Imam.
And HOPE Cape Town remains a brainchild of a Catholic priest and the Chairperson of the German-speaking Catholic Community at that time – even when the organisation is since then working together with all denominations, religions and society groups.

So in celebrating 25 years of the Catholic parish in Tafelsig all this comes to my mind – and I am pleased to say, that the vast majority of work in the fields of HIV and AIDS is done by the Catholic church or initiated by our church.  A lot is said about the Catholic Church in these days, and not always that positive; therefore it is good to remind ourselves of all the good things the church is doing, most times through the people working at grass root level. Let’s celebrate these people also in Tafelsig.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , ,

12/10/2009 • 12:53 am Comments Off on 10.12.2009 Long dinner

10.12.2009 Long dinner

Invite for dinner – and it turns out to be a very interesting and chatty evening – coming home after midnight does not happen that often. It is nice to sit and chat around a table not feeling the time going by… it’s always also a compliment for the hosts to have been able to bring interesting people around their table.
Slowly but surely people getting into holiday mood, and also we from HOPE Cape Town starting slowly to wind down the operations, from mid next week, most employees will take leave and quite some will also travel to see their extended families where ever they live.
Slowly but surely another year comes to an end – Christmas is almost in reach. It will be the first time to be without my “Heilig Abend” service on Christmas eve, one of the most important and most emotional services I had to celebrate while being the chaplain to the German-speaking Catholic Community. I will miss it – and lots of people have asked whether I would not be able to come back for this one time. My answer is always the same: No, it is not possible. If you are gone, you are gone. Sounds easy, isn’t so easy, but it is the right thing to do. I hope that the service held by a fellow colleague will be touching the lives of the many coming to this very special occasion.
Yesterday we also had our last management meeting of HOPE Cape Town and our last meeting with the Catholic Aids Network for this year. Things have been wrapped up and the rest will be on the agenda again in the coming year. One can sense the intensity of Cape Town at this time. Almost everybody is tense at that time of the year – because everybody wants everything possible to be done before mid December, before the Mother city falls into the holiday coma – only awaken again mid January. Cape Town is fun, so one says, but Cape Town is also stress – because things are not done constantly, but at certain times of the year. And November till mid December is one of the most busy time – the summer holidays well deserved – for all but the priests, who have to work over the festive season… 😦 But I know from own experience that in between all the festive days there is also enough time for us clergy to rest a bit…,  so no complains but anticipation of this mixture of work and pleasure time for all of us in one of the greatest cities of the world: Cape Town 🙂

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

12/01/2009 • 10:05 pm Comments Off on 01.12.2009 World AIDS Day..

01.12.2009 World AIDS Day..

It doesn’t matter where I look, it is obvious: it is World AIDS Day and it seems everybody is on this day aware of the pandemic and it’s consequences. Even our president Jacob Zuma – he will go for a test, he vows to treat all children tested positive from April next year, statistics are run up and down in all newspapers – every bit of good news are squized again and again – the challenges mentioned – and somehow I think it is every year the same for one day.. and then it ceases again – and the lives of the millions of people infected and affected is shelved again until next year same time. One could be cynical about it, if there wouldn’t be hope – or HOPE.. 🙂

Here in Cape Town, the FIFA draw on Friday overshadows anyhow the World AIDS Day – streets are closed, traffic jams, police helicopters all day long, a city preparing for another special day where the world will be watching what is happening at the convention centre of the mother city. All over the city workers trying to finish off for the big draw – and then, for the next half a year, soccer will rule South Africa and everything else has to wait until August 2010.

I am just coming back from a reception marking 100 years of South African – Japanese relationship – and one can see the typical Cape Town syndrome beginning of December: Everybody somehow tired from the rush of November – the hectic of all-has-to-be-done until the summer holidays arrive in a couple of days.  My little success today was just to get the internet up and running again – the second time in two weeks that the line collapses and the reason is clear now: Telkom sells an ADSL speed which are too fast for the old lines… 🙂 also a way to make business..  Now the speed is down again and the line stable and up again….

Also with HOPE Cape Town we are short before the holiday season starts for most of our employees. We still got some visitors on our list until mid December, so enough to prepare and time is flying. I must admit that I am also happy if it all slows down a bit for the festive season. This year was an amazing one and I have seen the best and the worst from church colleagues, I have been trapped in empty promises and saw myself almost at the end of my church career, my life has been turned up side down so many times at will of other people, and now, at the end it looks like the uneven lines of life are leading to a years end with the promise of meaningful work for the years to come. It almost sounds like a years end blog, but all the traffic and times of stop and go are ideal times for reflection of past and present times. The rest of my thoughts then at the year’s end blog.. but it might well be only in the new year… Then New Years Eve this year, I will celebrate in Thailand – and I am sure I  will be out of the streets to celebrate with the crowd on the streets of Bangkok.  It is one of the last festive times, I never had the time to celebrate in the East, so I am looking forward to it. But before still some hard work – and some sleep. 🙂

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

11/23/2009 • 12:01 am Comments Off on 22.11.2009 4 weeks and already he is gone again

22.11.2009 4 weeks and already he is gone again

Exactly four weeks has my successor as the new chaplain to the German-speaking Catholic Community lived in Cape Town before leaving again. Living behind “burglar bars” was not his dream, a mugging added to the anxiety. It is a pity as once again it has been proven that the transfer of priests is not a chess game or goes according to files from the human resource department. For me it was sad to see that an obvious wrong transfer knows only losers: the person who was transferred, the community who was looking forward to have another priest and obviously also the Kath. Auslandssekretariat, which has shown that they ignored the realities of the persons and communities concerned.

I wish my successor, who is now back in Germany awaiting his new assignment, all the best. Thanks God the pastoral community council found a retired German priest who is able to supply for the rest of the year. And for me amazing to see how people now take more ownership and responsibility to maintain a certain level of service until a new chaplain will arrive somewhere next year. Nevertheless, after 12,5 years of building up a community, it is somehow frustrating to see how careless my previous headquarters puts at risk the work of many years.

As mentioned yesterday in my blog, my last “spiritual seminarian” will be ordained deacon on the 6.12. This is the first time that I will be at Nazareth House again and meet with the German-speaking Catholic Community. I have to attend this event after years of accompanying Dominik towards priesthood. His diaconate will be the first step of ordination, end of next year should then follow the ordination to the priesthood.

Finally a good start into the week also for HOPE Cape Town. We will get new offices at pharmacology in February next year. Then all senior staff will work in close proximity at the University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg Campus and also I will occupy an office there. But we still have to search for a new team secretary for the G7 Ithemba Ward. Also for February  next year – if you know a reliable person with secretarial knowledge and a lot of human values and a peoples person – let me know.

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

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