God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

12/24/2009 • 4:45 pm Comments Off on 24.12.2009 Christmas Eve

24.12.2009 Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2009: The noise of the construction side next to my cottage has ceased – since month the first day without noise – what a relief. The sun is shining and my cellphone is giving its characteristic “sms beep” again and again – all the good Christmas wishes are coming in – even the email box is full of well wishers. The coming services are prepared – and it feels like time and hectic is calming down for a moment.

Christmas Eve – traditionally in Germany the most important family event and as parents preparing the last necessities for their kids, I will now close down my office and enjoy a Christmas Eve with friends. I must admit that I am not a real Christmas person – too much sentiments are not my cup of tea on this day. I cherish my memories of a winterly Christmas time in Germany but I must say that I enjoy a sunny Christmas the same way if not even more. Sun, laughter, kids at the poolside, braai: doesn’t that sound like a real birthday bash? 🙂

We celebrate the coming of God into the world – and we proclaim us brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters of God. But looking around, watching the news, experiencing it in my own environment: Do we have drawn any consequences out of this event? Is mankind better in dealing with each other? Do we see our sisters, our brother in the person next to us? According to statistics the most poor people in this world living in Africa have become more poor in the last two decades. All the progress, all the donations have done virtually nothing to change the world as a whole. Millions dying of hunger in the developing countries while others live and digest more than it is healthy. The funny conference in Copenhagen – has it shown that those having benefited since years from climate change, are now really looking towards the lives of their brothers and sisters when they propose targets to stop this change in nature. Or do they, like always, just offer money – the rich ones can always bail themselves out,it seems.

Christmas – we celebrating the coming of God into our world – and we proclaim us brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters of God. On this day we also should look and acknowledge all those, who take these titles serious and try to act on that – sometimes against the will of a state or a church. People, who are really take it on – day by day – to fulfill the promise of Christmas. I just read about Erwin Kraeutler, bishop in the Amazons, who is not able to walk a mile without security because of death treats he received. Those are the people balancing the bitter balance of human mankind’s dealing with each other in a way, which indeed shows the likeness of God.

Merry Christmas to all of you – and may the blessings be felt by each and every one of you!

Filed under: General, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

10/08/2009 • 9:12 am Comments Off on 08.10.2009 secret gag order?

08.10.2009 secret gag order?

Since I took up my post as Fidei Donum priest in the Archdiocese of Cape Town, I am asked again and again what secret deal I have made, what kind of restrictions are lying on me to be able to work in the fields of HIV and AIDS for the church. And seems that people doubt it when I say, that there has been no burden laid on me in any form. The frame of my work constitutes our faith, which means that we have to proclaim that everybody is loved by God and that this love is unconditional. The frame is marked by the message of Jesus, that we are all brothers and sisters and that we have to care for each other. The frame is set by the spirit of God, his good spirit allowing all men and women to achieve full potential of their lives if it is not messed up by the fellow brothers and sisters. The framework consists of the message of justice for all, peace for all and an environment, which will keep a future for our kids and the kids of the kids.

I never doubted or lost that framework, and that is why I believe that it must be possible to talk to each other without any anxiety, to meet each other, to listen to each other. I will always be concerned if man of the cloth or employees of the church don’t meet this basic rule. I suspect, that if there is anxiety to speak to one another, there is a lack of experience of God’s unconditional love.
Nevertheless, in the framework of our faith I am working now in the new portfolio and I have no intention to change that frame. I believe that religion and faith has much power to give to the people, lots of strength, and hope and believe in a good future. And all this I want to take to those here in South Africa, who are stigmatized thought the pandemic and this little virus called HI virus.

Lets see how it all develops…

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

09/25/2009 • 11:30 pm Comments Off on 25.09.2009 Makwan. A letter from Paradise

25.09.2009 Makwan. A letter from Paradise

On Facebook I am part of the cause: “save the iranian gays Hamzeh and Loghman from being executed”
On the cause side one can see the youtube clip: Makwan, a letter from Paradise – which shows the hanging of a gay person in Iran and brings to live the life of a person who’s only guilt it was to love a man as a man. It is touching, shocking, moving, going to heart.  It is unbelievable that there are still countries where people are executed because of their sexual preference.  And religion is the cause for the death sentence.

I makes me aware of how powerful religion can be, that it can be a cause of life or death, a blessing or a curse for another person with a different ethical view and living condition. And it makes me so much more cautious about how I judge and talk about other people. Also in our Christian believe system is homosexuality intransic evil as I have read in one church paper. Working in the fields of HIV and AIDS, the gay issue is of course very often attached to it, specially when somebody is coming from Europe. Here in South Africa, the virus has no “gay” connotation, many women and heterosexual persons are infected. Nevertheless, when it comes to the history of the virus in the 80′, it was in the gay clubs of North America were the virus was prevalent and spread.

So sexual orientation is on the agenda again and again, when dealing with my portfolio. For me personally, I don’t think, that the sexual preference does not matter and I guess, that for God it also does not play a role – whether somebody has a good heart, develops his or her talents, is doing good, is a blessing for others – that might be rather criteria in his or her eyes. Well, I guess, even “his” or “her” means a limitation to God. But unfortunately our language needs a gender to express itself.  Having in the moment the big discussion about our South African female runner, it shows clearly how careful we should be with gender determination anyway.

Anyway, this film-clip about Makwan, yes, I would say Makwan has touched my heart and my soul this eve, and I will never ever forget what I have seen – and will be always in my mind, as a person, as a Christian, as a priest.

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

09/24/2009 • 7:18 pm 7

24.09.2009 Bishops worried

German Bishops are worried about the increasing numbers of people leaving formally the church, so I read in the news today. And I wonder how the bishops discuss that matter. Do they, as people usually do, search for the blame by the people leaving or do they start soul searching with themselves to find out, what is going wrong in our days. The right-wing Pius brotherhood has a simple solution: Only the way back to the good old times will prevent more people leaving the church – not sure how they really can think like that.  One must be very ignorant to the reality of today and totally living in the past with closed eyes to come to that conclusion. I am sure our bishops are different – and if they really would go out and ask the people why they are leaving the church, one answer will come up more frequently in my opinion:

That church is losing its relevance for the people of our days, that the sermons in church do not match the living circumstances in our days, the announcements of episcopal nature are not matched with how people experiencing church and the representatives of the church in their daily lives. Sunday sermons are followed by Monday blues – power games instead of servants of the faithful – people feel hurt and alienated from us clergy. Obviously we never can generalize it – but in this context the personal experience, the personal encounter is the decisive test for a single faithful. Mess it up and you have lost a soul, so to speak. And there is still the scandal of sexual abuse, the loss of moral stance through the encyclical “humanae vitae”, the dealing with the  Pius brotherhood – so many topics were my church in our days cannot gain points on the score card.

As we accompany people through the times, I guess we always have to reflect on our attitude as professional staff of the church, we always have to ask what is coming first, God’s message of love or church discipline. We might make general rules in the church, but we always have to see the individual standing before God. Not more and not less…

If we do so, maybe people still will leave the church, be it because they found other ways of finding God, may it that the path of the church community is not fast enough for the individual, may it that they even don’t need a church institution anymore because of their direct contact possibilities with God. Whatever it might be – our goal as the Catholic Church should be to serve all good people to be able to connect to God. And when we look into the field of HIV and AIDS, there is even more the need just to bring home the love of God, the unconditional love of God.  Forget about judgement, forget about exclusion – just embrace the person as he or she is – he or she deserves it because he or she is a brother or sister of me and a son or a daughter of God. Embrace the person, make him or her feel home and loved and wanted…

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

09/06/2009 • 8:53 am Comments Off on 06.09.2009 Ecumenical matters

06.09.2009 Ecumenical matters

This morning our German speaking Catholic Community will join the Lutheran St. Martini community by being a guest during their service. I have the honor to preach during the service and it is always a bit tricky. What really to say? That it is a scandal being separated since that long time? Everybody knows? That we would need each other and all our diversity to become the people of God? Also known. That it is in theological terms sinful to live separate church lives? That is does not help if Vatican documents describe the Lutheran church as a not complete church?

Times have been rough in the last years and the tendency to segregate instead to unify was leading us people on the grounds into a situation, where nobody with some knowledge about ecumenical questions would like to be. Being scared of each other is surely not the right base for understanding. And all the unctuous sermons of the church elite pasting over the cracks and gaps do not help either.

I am sure that God in his grace does not mind to hear Lutheran or Catholic prayers and that for him, it does not matter whether a man with stole or without is standing in front of the congregation. If rather matters to the so called church discipline, but not to God at all. If we would prevent the temptation to form a picture of God as a “super human” but leave him (even that is a presumption – him, her.. it all does not match – the Jews are right, not to name God) his (again the same problem) mystery.

For me ,such an encounter with the Lutheran brothers and sisters feels like a thorn in the flesh of our churches – and it is more than time to pull out this thorn.

Filed under: Reflection, , , , , , , , , , ,

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