South African Mass of reconciliation raises
new questions for the church
By CARMEL RICKARD
Special to the National Catholic Reporter Durban, South
Africa
Organizers of a special Jubilee 2000 Mass in the city have learned
the hard way that asking pardon can be a controversial and highly political
activity.
One of the themes of the Mass, held in a sports stadium Jan. 9,
was the need to ask pardon for hurt caused by the church, a move that was
praised by many outside the Catholic church. However, the theme has sparked
considerable controversy among Catholics, including women, gay and lesbian
groups and African priests. Those objecting claim that the church has not
properly acknowledged the hurt it continues to cause them, and that there is no
indication that anything will be done to prevent this hurt from continuing in
the future.
Archbishop Wilfrid Napier and his team of organizers
enthusiastically adopted a papal call for the church to request forgiveness for
the pain it had caused down the ages and incorporated it into the first
archdiocesan event of the new millennium. About 10,000 Catholics attended the
Mass.
Asking pardon appeared to tie in well with the aftermath of South
Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which had investigated the
causes of gross human rights abuses during the apartheid era. Testifying before
the commissions hearings, representatives of different Christian
denominations and of different faiths confessed that they had not taken a
strong enough stand against apartheid. The commissions subsequent report
reflected this criticism.
A Mass at which the church sought pardon for these and other
failings appeared an ideal follow-up to the commission. Napier called the event
a contribution by the Catholic church to reconstructing the moral fiber
of the nation.
Many outside the church shared this assessment. A number of
political leaders as well as leaders of other denominations and other faiths
praised the step taken by the church in asking pardon, saying it served as a
model for the rest of the faith community.
Inside the church, however, the Mass has proved controversial,
even though many of those who attended said they had enjoyed the almost
festival-like atmosphere of the service.
Seeking selective pardons
While marginalized groups questioned whether they were included
among those from whom pardon was sought, more conventional Catholics said they
did not owe apologies to anyone quite the reverse. Since the Catholic
church had so often been persecuted, outsiders should be asking pardon of the
church, not the other way around, they said.
The organizers were flooded with calls of complaint, and the local
media gave widespread coverage to the views of those unhappy with what they
charged was the churchs selective asking of pardon.
Among the failings for which participants at the Mass asked pardon
were:
- Condoning and even contributing to intolerance and violence
against other parts of society, sometimes including fellow Christians;
- Showing a lack of understanding and even contempt for Jewish
people and for failing to stand with them in their hour of
persecution;
- Failing to dialogue with other Christian denominations, for not
standing with them in promoting under God the good of humanity, and
for not serving the rights and dignity of the oppressed members of
society;
- The evil and injustice done to many African cultures and
societies, often with the assistance of the church, and for the churchs
failure to support their rights and its failure to witness to Gods love
for them;
- Failing to support people with HIV/AIDS and their
families;
- Failing to promote the rights and dignity of women in the
church and society, for the lack of recognition shown for womens
contribution to the well-being of the human family and the church, and for the
failure to open a just place for them in the lay leadership of the church and
society;
- Failing to take an uncompromising stand against apartheid and
failing to vigorously defend the human rights of all South Africans.
One of those who criticized the event was Fr. Dabula Mpako,
general secretary of the African Priests Solidarity Movement, an
organization of black Catholic priests that claims racism is still rife within
the church in South Africa. Speaking after the Mass, he said that such
liturgical confessions were a good starting point but served no
function if they ended there.
There has to be a thorough analysis of how racism continues
to be embedded in the church. And there must be action to root it out, he
said. We have heard this before: In 1991, the Catholic bishops issued an
elaborate statement of confession about apartheid and racism, but nothing has
happened. The structures that resulted from the past still continue the
internalized racism and sexism are still there.
His organization wants the Catholic church to call its own
Truth and Reconciliation Commission to deal with the lack of
transformation within the church and its hierarchy. Officials of the movement
said the fact that a Mass was specially called to ask pardon of various sectors
of society indicated that their call for such a commission was valid.
Deciding who can feel hurt
Napier, however, said the Mass and the complaints of the
solidarity movement were unrelated. They are very different issues,
he said.
Catholics who back the ordination of women to the priesthood and
diaconate were also unhappy with the Mass. Elizabeth Mkame, a former Africa
representative for the Vatican on the liaison committee between the Vatican and
the World Council of Churches, said it would have been exciting if
the church had asked pardon for refusing to ordain women, since continuing to
refuse ordination was hurtful.
Other women said the carefully limited apology to women continued
the previous Vatican line that womens ordination was impossible and
limited itself to their role in lay leadership.
Its almost as though the church is defining who may
feel hurt and what they may feel hurt about, one woman, a member of a
group working for womens ordination, commented.
But while the liturgy included direct although arguably
inadequate references to the hurt caused by racism and sexism, there was
no clear indication of whether the hurt caused by the church to gays and
lesbians was included. Some lesbian Catholics said perhaps they were included
in the section that asked pardon from those alienated through the lack of
compassion of the church, but that it was hard to be sure.
It seems the church is still far from acknowledging the
serious hurt it has done to us over the years, a group of gay and lesbian
Catholics told NCR. And we certainly dont see any intention
to do anything to stop it in the future.
National Catholic Reporter, February 4,
2000
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