SPECIAL REPORT • EDITH STEIN

A free and liberating woman

Edith Stein was born in Breslau, Germany, on 12 October 1891. A Jewish philosopher, she converted to Catholicism and entered the Discalced Carmelite Order where she took the name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She died in Auschwitz concentration camp on 9 August 1942 and was canonised by St John Paul II on 11 October 1998

BY Fr Francisco Javier Sancho Fermín OCD, Theology PhD | University of Mysticism, Ávila, Spain

To enter into Edith Stein’s personality, into her message for today, is not an easy task. The multidimensional display which is visualized in her life cannot be explained with only one colour, even if the direction of the brushstrokes makes us look upwards. We will try, then, to unravel in its master lines this fascinating work of art that is the biography of Edith Stein.

When in 1983 the German Post Office issued a stamp of Edith Stein, it justified it with the following words: “Edith Stein is one of the most significant German women of our century. People of various vocations, confessions and from all continents have recognised in Edith Stein—as a Jew and a Christian, as a scientist and working woman, and as a victim of violence—a Follower of Christ. Her goal was to help people, who considered themselves Christians, to build their lives. She was especially concerned with making women aware of their roles in society and in the Church in their ´struggle´ for equal rights”. (Hackert 2018).

Search for Truth

Edith Stein defined herself in her life as a “Follower of Christ”, a concept of which she became conscious after her conversion. But before, in her atheist and agnostic stages, she was also a follower: “Search for the Truth was my only prayer” (Renata del Espiritu Santo 1998). She pronounced these words referring to the years that preceded her conversion.

For Edith Stein, the authentic man is the “Truth seeker “ (Wahrheitsucher). A truth that becomes the centre of all human efforts and responds to the deep and spiritual interiority of the human being. It is a truth that necessarily comes to find the Truth: God, who is the personification, the face and the name of that same Living Truth. In the Science of the Cross Edith writes: “He who walks after the truth lives above all in that inner centre, where the investigative activity of the understanding takes place; if one seriously tries to seek the truth, and not to accumulate mere isolated knowledge, perhaps he/she becomes closer to God than he/she imagines to be because God is truth itself.” (Stein 2006)

Trajectory of life

In order not to get lost in purely theoretical reflections, we should focus directly on the fundamental phases which mark her life, trying to discover the message and attitudes that she offers us by her example. But let us not forget that the fundamental attitude that animates her being, and gives unity and consistency to it, is her sincere search for truth.

If we look at her childhood, we discover a girl who conforms herself to the traditions in force in her home: devout Judaism. When she reaches adolescence, a time of crisis, of endless questions, of searching for the meaning of the self, she consciously abandons religious practices which she finds empty of meaning and a simple traditional inheritance. An attitude that nowadays is so common among teenagers, and that may be even “positive” as long as it is a first step on a path of search and life approach, since the basis of religion, of faith, cannot be only a cultural attitude but a personal conviction which must become a living experience of the Mystery.

University

When Edith enters university and chooses to study psychology, philosophy and history, she does it motivated by a personal vocation, as well as her restlessness to find the meaning of human existence. When she encounters Husserl’s phenomenology, she realises that searching is not enough. For this search to be effective and give positive results, it must be accompanied by some basic attitudes which must permeate the whole path, the whole life. These are detachment from all personal, cultural, social and intellectual prejudices, and a continuous attitude of openness. Both attitudes are complemented by an active search, sincerity, objectivity and humility, which prepares the person at all times to welcome new truths and to break off with the acquired ones if they are discovered to be not so authentic.

These dispositions of the spirit, together with the work of grace, are what opened the way for the atheist Edith Stein to “culminate” her search in Christ.

In the Catholic Church

But her life does not stop there; at first, she falls into the easy temptation of “pietism”, believing that she has reached the final goal. Soon she realises and discovers that it is now, starting from baptism, that the journey really begins. The search for Truth is always progressive, the goal is not definitively reached, it is necessary to continue advancing.

In her journey within the Catholic Church, she discovers new attitudes that complement and give full meaning to her vocation: her scientific activity cannot be closed in personal interest. Her ability is there as a gift for humanity. It is when she discovers that this activity has not only a material value but a profoundly apostolic-theological value, insofar as it is a contribution to the search for the authentic. Therefore, it is also a service to humanity. One conclusion is evident to us from her attitude: the decisive factors in the choice of a profession are the interior vocation and the dimension of service to the community.

Service to humanity

This vision of profession as an apostolate, of service, is an indispensable point in the living out, so urgent today within the Church, of witnessing with life to that union existing between faith and culture. There can be no rupture, quite the contrary. From the experience of God´s love, one easily arrives at the love for human beings. And from the love and respect for human beings, Love is reached. Edith Stein’s path is an example of this. Suffice it to recall the title of her great work: From the Finite Being to the Eternal Being.

Now one could ask: In what sense is this unity discovered in her life? Fundamentally, it can be seen in her dedication to the problems of women, who were strongly marginalised in all sectors of society and in the Church herself. Her service was not carried out as a “revolutionary or fighter” – it was more profound. The recovery of human rights can be achieved from a clear awareness of the anthropological being of woman and man. In her personal vision, this is of utmost importance because it is an essential part of the search for truth that must be carried out not only by the individual but also by society itself and the Church. Again, the character of progressiveness-activity appears strongly. There is no endpoint.

Carmelite nun

In her life as a Carmelite, the last phase of her biography, she teaches us something more. The attitude of searching and openness is also her foundation here. The aspect which is discovered with greater force in this stage is the Absolute of God. Her experience and interpretation of history acquire a theological character. The signs of the times are also the Word of God. The difficulties, the problems, the Nazi persecution, etc., have a message. Their profound suffering is marked by the redemptive sign of hope, mysteriously present in the Crucified One. To unite oneself with Him at this moment is to give expiatory-apostolic value to pain. She does not seek suffering but accepts the cross that the historical moment entails. In faith, she discovers that, even in human impotence, incapable of overcoming so many situations on its own, much can be done. Only from this standpoint, can we discover the value of her martyrdom.

Finally, I would like to share a thought that may seem to us very suggestive and key in Edith Stein’s life. It leads us to think and to propose the direction we want to give to our life. Our realisation will depend on it. Edith tells us:

“What a person offers for their freedom and the purpose for which they give what they offer, decides the destiny of that person”.

SPECIAL REPORT • THEORY OF ATTACHMENT

Mystical experience:“being with” the other

We are relational by nature. Relationships are part of our DNA and an essential constituent of any human being. We could even say that before being “rational”, or developing our reasoning capacity, a bond must have been formed. We are born to enter into relationships, being that a necessary condition for our brain
to mature and for our own survival

BY MARIA NOEL FIRPO | psychologist, Segovia, Spain

THE THEORY of attachment (Bowlby 1969), illuminates our “being in relationship”, understanding human development as a relational process. Attachment, which has nothing to do with being “attached” to something or someone in a negative way, is “any behaviour by which an individual maintains or seeks proximity to another person, considered stronger and more capable. It is also characterised by the tendency to use the primary caregiver as a secure base from which to explore unfamiliar environments and to return to as a refuge in times of alarm” (Bowlby, 1980).

Bond of security

That primary caregiver, at best our mother or father, is the one who takes us out of our stressful moments—hungry, sleepy, cold, etc.—when we are babies. The experience we have when we feel bad, and someone responds to our call, gives us a feeling of protection from the world around us. It regulates us emotionally, generating basic confidence that our discomfort will be calmed, that it will not last long and that with someone we will feel better. The opposite can be devastating. This primary bond is necessary for human survival, as social beings, sensitive, connected and capable of relating to others.

These mutual exchanges that take place between caregiver and baby, after a while become internalised, achieving what is called an “internal operating model” (Bowlby, 1969), which will become a way of being in relationship, of “being with the other”. The attachment experience does not remain only as a memory but continues to be present, transferring to other relationships. Such internal operating models organise the subjective experience, and lead us to ask ourselves: am I worthy of being loved, will the other person listen to me, will he/she accept me, will he/she be interested in what I say, will he/she come to my aid if I need him/her, and so on.

The answers to these questions will be based on the experiences we have had. Therefore, our identity, besides being intrapsychic, is intersubjective.

We have the potential to transcend the limits of our own history, breaking the chains that transmit insecurity, mistrust, fear, etc

It is expected that the baby has a “safe base” to turn to, knowing that the adult will quickly respond, be good enough, provides support, regulates the moments of alarm and together with him the longed-for calmness returns. We need this in different ways throughout our lives. We are always fragile and in need of others. If we have been moderately satisfied, with the presence of an optimal, sensitive and contingent primary caregiver, we can feel safe with others, be ourselves and be confident. Otherwise, if the person has not been sensitively cared for, or if he does not have the certainty of having been loved, he will establish relationships with the illusion of obtaining love, consideration and attention. He will live with this thirst and we can see the consequences. He/she will be waiting for the attachment figure not to abandon him/her, using any kind of strategy to achieve this or otherwise, “disconnect” so as not to resort to it. All this is very complex and exceeds the scope of this article, but it is part of the needs, desires, anxieties and interpersonal dynamics, which will accompany us in our relationships with others.

Not determined

Although attachment occurs throughout our lives, the person with whom we have this relationship varies. At the beginning it is the parents, as we grow up it can be a teacher, a friend or a partner; we ourselves may be attachment figures for others, but the function that is fulfilled is always the same: to provide support, to calm and to regulate emotionally. The most encouraging thing about all this is that if the experiences have not been positive, those patterns can be modified in the light of new bonds. We are not determined.

To argue this, we rely on neuroscience, specifically “neural plasticity” (Ansermet, F, and Magistretti 2006), as the brain’s ability to be modified by experience. With a new experience of a deep bond, the traces of a previous one can be transformed. Where there is an authentic person-to-person connection, each time more special, deeper and unique, that relationship is transformative as new ways of “being with” the other emerge. This invites us to believe that we have the potential to transcend the limits of our own history, breaking the chains that transmit insecurity, mistrust, fear, etc.

This applies to us, but we also have the possibility of helping to change dysfunctional patterns in the people we relate to. In this way, the attachment theory helps us to understand how our bonds make us who we are and how we put ourselves into play in our relationships with others. St John of the Cross says: “Alas, who can heal me” (C6). It is not a therapy, nor a medicine, it is a relationship with someone, who always repairs and heals.

Teresa of Jesus, master of interpersonal relationships

Relationality, moreover, is the central characteristic of the God of Christians. Created in the “image and likeness” of a loving God, of a Trinitarian God—three persons in relationship— we could say that “we are relationship”. This is expressed to us by the mystics, people who know the mystery of divine communication to the point of living an intimate and close relationship with Him. They feel fully loved by God, accepted and welcomed by this community of divine persons. They experience that God has the face of one who only knows how to love. Mysticism is the science of love.

Teresa of Jesus, a nun, woman and mystic of the sixteenth century, knew how to go beyond the walls of the cloister with her foundations, her writings, and with her extraordinary ability for relationships. This also helped her in her relationship with God. She tells us that she was a favourite daughter, that the sisters valued her for her sympathy and her joy in service, that she had grace in her conversation, and that this made her feel loved, “I used to be a friend of those who loved me well” (CC3,2). In her letters, we see that she was as much at ease with merchants as with the King. She lays bare her soul shamelessly before her readers, her sisters, confessors and inquisitors. Knowing that she is loved by others and by God generates in her a basic confidence that overflows her. The human being learns to love by first being loved by those main caregivers we have seen. In the spiritual life, it is also like this: we become aware of the previous loving attention of God, and after that comes the human response to the divine initiative. This is God’s style: He loves us by making us capable of loving.

God: Secure attachment figure

Teresa only wants to tell of the wonders that God has done for her. She invites us all to experience this transformative relationship, knowing that if we are truly committed, we will not be disappointed. She brings us closer to a God who is permanently desiring to relate to us: “Never, daughters, does your Bridegroom take His eyes off you…He is not waiting for anything else but for us to look at Him, and He is so pleased when we look at Him again, that His willingness for it is never short “ (C26:3). If we connect it with what we have discussed about the attachment theory, God would be a secure attachment figure, with whom we could experience a relationship in which there is someone capable of loving us unconditionally as we need it. Approaching Him and relating to Him, transforms us. A religion based on a set of pious practices does not make us better people, but what transforms us is the intimate encounter with God. In the mystical life, He is always the protagonist, the One who goes ahead. If our relationship with God does not result in a renewed self, a recreated being, all our actions are worthless. It is the being that must be recreated, from egocentric to other-centric. And we cannot achieve this alone but in relationship.

Prayer as friendship

As a teacher of spirituality, St Teresa speaks of prayer—attached behaviour—as “trying to be friend, often in solitude, with the One we know He loves us” (V8,5). Friendship is the term with which she defines her relationship with God. She relates her experience telling us that as a consequence of it, her life was “much improved and stronger” (V28,18), “…I saw myself as different in everything” (V27,1).

A relationship of acceptance and self-giving. Recollection shapes our personality. Teresa of Jesus teaches us to become aware of a Presence: Someone who is with us, but who surpasses us, and who, at the same time, leads us to our authentic true human being and to our neighbour.

The beginning of mysticism is the beginning of that “other life, a communion of longings and labours with Jesus. Teresa never loses sight of the fact that the glory of God is the salvation of the person, understood as the assumption of the communion of the Trinitarian life, to participate in that relationship. She clarifies that the mystical path does not consist in building “towers without foundation”, but to grow in love. “It is not a matter of thinking much, but of loving much” (4M1,7). Her style is always very plain, direct and without affectation, even when she speaks of spiritual themes. The essence of her mysticism can be summed up in “no, sisters, no; works, the Lord wants, and if you see a sick person to whom you can give some relief, do not give yourself to anything and lose that devotion…” (6M 3:11). The Thou of God will always refer us to our neighbour, to our brother and sister. The mystical life does not exclude anything that integrates human life.

If our relationship with God does not result in a renewed self, all our actions are worthless

Friendship does not have a totalitarian term, it is always on the way, so this process never ends in this life, we will always be committed to more. In this way, relationships grow in interiority, they are healed and we live more fully in our constitutive relationship with God. That God who is never exhausted, who is always a Mystery.

SPECIAL REPORT • LOVEMATTERS YOUTH PROGRAM

Life Choices affect youths transitioning into Adulthood

The LoveMatters Program boasts over 20 years of success in support of youth development and empowerment founded on core Christian values which equip young people to face the challenges of adulthood in a modern world

BY Jill Williams and Mariola Bravo | Pretoria
Fr Francois Dufour SDB & LoveMatters Facebook page | PHOTOS

JOHN MELCHOIR Bosco, popularly known as Don Bosco, who founded the Salesian Order (SDB), was an Italian Catholic priest, educator, writer and a pioneer in educating the poor.

Besides providing for his work, God gave him the gift of miracles. After his prayers on their behalf, the deaf heard, the lame walked, and once, a dead boy was raised back to life. He also had the gift of prophecy. Don Bosco was canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI.

History and continuity

The legacy of Saint John Bosco lives on in the activities of the Salesian Order. South Africa’s Don Bosco Youth Centre (DBYC) in Walkerville, Gauteng, is just one of the many facilities that, with a similarly loving spirit as St John Bosco, centralise their activities around youth matters.

The beautiful grounds at the DBYC can be attributed to the portion of the Hewitt Estate known as Nooitgedacht Farm that the SDB purchased in 1949. After trekking from Cape Town the first Salesian, Bro. Maurice Bondioni, arrived at Daleside to take up residence in the Clonlea homestead.

It was the first SDB house in the Transvaal/Gauteng Province and the third foundation in South Africa, after 50 years in the country. Within a few months, renovations and extensions sprouted and were to continue unabated for the next 20 years. The old homestead gave hospitality to President Paul Kruger and housed the original Bosco Boarding School which officially opened on 31 January 1951. The St John Bosco College closed in 1993 when the SDB entered into a joint venture with the Catholic Diocese of Johannesburg, resulting in the opening of the Don Bosco Youth Centre in 1994.

Youth Programs

Today the centre offers various programmes, particularly on youth leadership. In continuance of the legacy of St John Bosco, members of the Salesian Order continue to optimise and manage the programmes that the Youth Centre offers. Among these are Brother Clarence Watts SDB who was Director of Programs at the DBYC from 2009-2011/12 and is now, after 27 years in the Order, the editor of the Salesian Bulletin and in charge of the Family Forum. Since 2012, Fr Lingoane Tlaile SDB, has served to steer and direct the centre’s programmes successfully. Various priests at the Centre also participate in programs, particularly with the spiritual accompaniment, masses and confessions, retreats for Confirmation and First Holy Communion, etc.

Our measure for everything is always how much love we put into what we do

LoveMatters is the main Youth Program run by the Centre. It was started in 2001 by Fr Francois Dufour SDB.  It aims at meeting the needs of teenagers and providing them with skills to help them make healthy lifestyle choices amidst the many challenges they face on their life journey. The one-week program hosts around 100 attendees aged between 13 and 25. The participants come from different parishes, schools and communities.

The program provides value-based guidance to teenagers and helps them appreciate and understand the gift of sex and its role within a marriage, to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, offer a better understanding of their sexuality, fortify their ability to say NO to negative peer pressure and offer support to them in their commitment to true values.

Leadership and Youth Ministry

Young people aged 18 to 30 from a Christian, predominantly Catholic background, give one year of their life to serve in the program. They live on the premises and have their own quarters. They are part of the community and the Youth Ministry. Part of Don Bosco’s philosophy when working with young people is to involve them using a youth–to–youth approach. Volunteers often come from among those who have been impacted by the program. Recruited from within South Africa and Lesotho, from varying parishes and Christian institutions, they offer service to their fellow youth. Some eventually join the Salesians as religious for a lifetime. Others are moved to go deeper into religion, sustain their marriages more successfully, become sisters or remain in the service to others on account of their experience after the year spent volunteering at the DBYC.

The DBYC Volunteers/Ministry Team learn how to contribute to society and parishes, in leadership, in teaching and to impact others positively. Volunteers grow personally and the DBYC offers references for those who excel. The Salesian’s charism, the spirit of goodwill and dedication is something that the Volunteers carry forward with them. The Centre is always happy to see them being later recognised in society and becoming true ambassadors of the Salesian formation.

Focus and Impact

At the time of its inception, the LoveMatters program responded primarily to the AIDS pandemic which was then prevalent. It was designed as an answer to these challenges. It has always aimed at propagating Christian values which can fortify the youth as they are confronted with various dilemmas. Today the youth are facing an increasing number of challenges including sexual abuse and exploitation, media toxicity, depression, drugs, social media addiction and GBLTQ issues, amongst others. These matters threaten to overwhelm them unless they receive guidance and support which this program offers—based on Christian values and with the aid of the Christian community. LoveMatters covers not only the Spiritual but also physical and emotional insights into the actualities and considerations which need to be contemplated before entering into sexual activity.

LoveMatters also attempts to impact parents, caregivers and teachers to get involved and to be better informed on what the youth need

LoveMatters takes a non-judgmental approach and is aimed not only at young people before engaging in sexual activity but also at those who seek support to have a fresh start. In both cases, they all yearn to be affirmed in their resolution to save sex for marriage and they wish to lay the foundations for their future marriage and their vocation in life.

Follow-up and Support

The program runs only for one week. Some issues would demand more time. Youngsters are encouraged to share their troubles with members of the team. These are active in counselling and in listening, offering them moral support. Occasionally, the Program Manager can counsel parents and caregivers with permission from the participant. In cases of depression, for example, the program is effective, but continued counselling and care are required if the young person is to progress further. The parents, teachers or other parties then move forward in support of that young person, and sometimes professional help is required. Nevertheless, this limitation has not stopped the volunteers and the Centre from making themselves available.

A follow-up program is existing to see what changes have taken place and the impact the program has made on attendees. Facebook page How has LoveMatters affected you also helps get direct feedback and assess the program’s impact and its required improvement. LoveMatters also attempts to impact parents, caregivers and teachers to get involved and to be better informed on what the youth need.

Several Facebook communities have been formed among the attendees of LoveMatters. Those who have been through the program often give reprisals, ask questions, give testimony, chat or share and support one another on the group called LoveMatters@Bosco which can be found by following the link https://www.facebook.com/groups/147015071082/?ref=share&mibextid=KtfwRi. The group helps the DBYC get feedback, follow up with participants and give continuity to the support that the program offers.

Benefits and Outcomes

Previous participants said that the LoveMatters Youth Ministry Team made them feel extremely comfortable approaching and speaking to them openly on all matters and that the team was very successful in connecting with the youth on their level. Don Bosco also used games and other means to connect with the youth. The presence of the team is mainly to accompany and assist. The aim is to empower young people to think for themselves, to inform them fully and allow them to reason out viable strategies for living.

Attendees benefit greatly by learning to navigate the reality of life amidst the changing times. An honest approach is used to present the problems facing youths. The program has run for over 20 years; schools and groups return time after time, with youngsters from various parishes attending during holidays. LoveMatters may adapt to remain relevant but always maintains the core Christian values which remain constant and this is the mainstay that assists the youth to face the challenges of life with confidence.

SPECIAL REPORT • YCS

The Revival of the Young Christian Students Movement

The Young Christian Students (YCS) movement played an important role in the struggle for liberation in South Africa as an independent, non-racial and ecumenical organisation. It grouped students at various academic levels who strived for free and equal education. Fr Mokesh has now passionately taken the challenging effort of reviving the movement

BY Fr Mokesh K. Morar | Johannesburg

“DIT IS ‘n onbegonne taak!” (it is an almost impossible task!) exclaimed Fr Albert Nolan (1934 – 2022), National Chaplain of YCS Movement in South Africa from the mid-1970s as he heard about reviving YCS. For many, the era of YCS had ended with the adoption of the South African Constitution in 1996. However, Fr Nolan and others, including former YCS members, were supportive of this difficult project; a former YCS Chaplain exclaimed: “We needed it now even more than before 1994!” 

Origins of YCS in South Africa

Fr Joseph Cardijn started Young Christian Workers (YCW) in Belgium in the mid-1920s. In South Africa, YCS traces its roots to the founding of YCW by Erick Tyacke in 1949 and Fr Albert Danker, OMI. The latter started YCW groups in Catholic parishes around Durban and became its National Chaplain. The junior version of those parish-based groups was known as “Pre-YCW.” From these groups, Gladwell Dlamini, YCW organiser, contacted International-YCS (IYCS) in Paris to start a YCS group in Johannesburg.

In the late 1960s, the YCW and YCS National Teams started Thrust magazine which looked critically at the youth culture and education. By 1972, the YCS movement, with about 2 000 members, was well-established in the main cities of the country.

The National Catholic Federation of Students (NCFS) saw the disaffiliation of some Catholic Societies (CathSocs) at Black University campuses as the Black Consciousness Movement had grown by 1975. A commission was set up with members of NCFS to evaluate the relevance of the organization. They concluded that it was still playing a role to draw Catholic students together, but that there was a need to create a smaller structure for those who desired deeper social commitment. They used the See-Judge-Act (S-J-A) methodology which looks at reality, confronts it with the Word of God and gives a response of faith to it. After the Durban strikes of 1973, a change of direction was visible, from charity outreach to a deeper social analysis.

YCS became known for its meetings to raise awareness about the evils of Apartheid

After a meeting in November 1976 at Modderpoort—then province of the Orange Free State—between leaders of YCS and YCW they saw the need to separate the two movements and grant them their own autonomy. Consequently, on 31 January 1977, representatives from the S-J-A groups from the universities of Wits, Pretoria, Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Pietermaritzburg met in Johannesburg, where they decided to become YCS and to seek affiliation to IYCS. Soon afterwards, the S.A. Catholic Bishops Conference recognised YCS as an independent Catholic movement—distinct from YCW—though ecumenical (also distinct from CathSoc, known later as the Association of Catholic Tertiary Students/ACTS).

YCS became known for its meetings to raise awareness about the evils of Apartheid. Several of its leaders, including Fr Nolan, had to go into hiding. Chris Langeveldt and Mike Deeb took over as national chaplains under difficult conditions. YCW Chaplains such as Sr Bernadette Ncube ( 2012) spent long periods in solitary confinement and Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa (YCS Chaplain) were tortured in detention.

The Post-1994 era

Fr Mkhatshwa and others from the faith sector took up prominent roles in the new government and society hoping to bring light to the difficulties which SA society was suffering as a result of colonialism and apartheid. As Reinold Niebuhr—founding editor of the publication Christianity and Crisis wrote in his book (1944): “The children of light must be armed with the wisdom of the children of darkness, but remain free from their malice. They must have this wisdom in order that they may beguile, deflect, harness and restrain self-interest, individual and collective, for the sake of the community”.

YCS became known for its meetings to raise awareness about the evils of Apartheid

Sadly, many South Africans are discovering that this is a long and arduous journey through the desert under the shadow of the golden calf and it appears that many leaders are only cunning in keeping us in the dark. However, Jesus said: “Be gentle as doves and cunning as snakes” (Mt 10:16). Then, the question is raised: Where are our (faith-based) youth movements which were so vibrant against apartheid? What about YCS?

Revitalizing YCS

With the support of Bishop Jan de Groef of Bethlehem Diocese, school principals and others, we saw the need of responding positively to the challenge of reviving YCS in 2013. Fortuitously, there was one YCS group to start with. This was at Holy Family College (HFC), Parktown Convent, Johannesburg, aided by a teacher and former YCS member. The HFC principal assisted with contacts of school principals at Immaculata High School (HIS) in Diepkloof, McAuley House and St Martin de Porres High School and Orlando West in Soweto. YCS organized a weekend camp on their own in Magaliesberg. Kamohelo Qhala deputy student leader of IHS relates: “We initiated various activities: school clean-ups, charity drives reaching over 90 children in three years.” YCS members learnt how to be “champions of social justice.” Kgothatso Malema of IHS and a member of YCS since 2016 says “YCS is a place of growth and leadership. Most memorable is a camp we had in QwaQwa (Bethlehem Diocesan shrine) where we learnt about the national water crisis. The greatest opportunities I got were to be a Secretary General and Project Manager at North-West University, Vaal campus, organising big events, e.g. the Sunset Picnic in September 2021, catering for over 100 people and raising funds for students. YCS has proven several times that I’m capable of handling situations out of my comfort zone”. Proof indeed that given the chance young people are capable of much, much more than what many would give them credit.

Socially oriented movement

Lerato Makhalemele, prefect and choir leader of McAuley House School in 2019, now social work student at Wits, says: “YCS is a student-led movement and I was part of raising money for sanitary towels for young girls, as well as being an active participant of a committee called Kwanele-Kwanele which advocates against violence towards women and children”. Bonke Msib says: “The movement shaped me into an authentic, creative and fearless young leader. We planned and executed, with no help from an adult, how to work together”.

Delegates from McAuley, HFC and a teacher from St Martin’s attended the IYCS Global Council in Tagaytay, Philippines whilst a further two delegates attended the IYCS-Africa in Rwanda and shared their experiences with other students and parents. Today these delegates are part of the “Support YCS group.”

“The movement shaped me into an authentic, creative and fearless young leader”

Some of the former YCS members who are now at tertiary institutions assisted in the revival process. They were committed as they saw the importance of YCS in building ethics and strong leadership in society. One of them, Zanele Fengu of McAuley YCS, is finishing her Master of Law degree in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa at the University of Pretoria. She is the legal researcher for Corruption Watch, the South African chapter of Transparency International. Zanele is adamant that YCS went a long way in helping to shape her passion for social justice and encouraged her to become an active participant in that agenda. All the school principals and teachers praised the works of YCS including their outreach projects in Soweto, Orange Farm and Bophelong in Vanderbijlpark, in what is today termed: “young servant leadership”. One parent remarked: “I cannot recognize my own child. He used to be very naughty, and now he is such a responsible leader since joining YCS!” Two new groups were also started in 2023 with grade 7 students in St Angela, Dobsonville and St Matthew’s near Regina Mundi Church—with the support of the school principals, both religious sisters.

YCS is slowly, albeit painfully growing in some provinces of South Africa. God willing it will also do in other provinces in future.

Bonke wrote: “I believe YCS is one of the greatest platforms I have come across as it helps one become a better individual, not only for themselves but for the whole world as well.” We should stop talking about young people as “leaders of the future” but acknowledge them as leaders of today and cooperate with them in building the Reign of God here and now. YCS-SA is part of IYCS on the African continent and the globe, cooperating with IYCW, IMCS, other movements and progressive organizations for social justice. Today taking on the trials and jubilations of this world with Fr Nolan, Joseph Cardinal Cardijn, Fr Gutiérrez, Sr Bernadette, Mary of Palestine and the person called Jesus of Nazareth.

SPECIAL REPORT • WORLD YOUTH DAY 2023

The Feast of the Youth

World Youth Day (WYD) is a religious and cultural event that brings together hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world. This year it will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 1–6 August. It is an initiative for the evangelization of the world’s youth, an invitation for young people to meet Jesus Christ, to be missionary disciples and to collaborate in the construction of a better world more just, fraternal, peaceful and in solidarity

BY BRO. BERNARDINO FRUTUOSO MCCJ | JOURNALIST, LISBON, PORTUGAL

IN 1984, St John Paull II organised a gathering in Rome on Palm Sunday, to celebrate the Jubilee of young people as part of the Holy Year of Redemption 1983–1984. Sixty thousand pilgrims were expected, but 250 000 from many countries of the world took part. The experience was so significant for the Church that the Pope decided to repeat it the following year. At that meeting, 300 000 young people arrived in Rome and were distributed among the churches of the city for moments of prayer and catechesis, followed by a celebration with the Holy Father in St Peter’s Square. Later that year, on 20 December 1985, the Polish Pope wrote an Apostolic Letter to the youth of the world and announced the institution of WYD.

St John Paul II explained the creation of WYD in these words: “All young people should feel accompanied by the Church; it is for this reason that the whole Church, in union with the Successor of Peter, feels committed, on a worldwide level, to support young people, in their concerns and requests, in their dreams and hopes, to respond to their aspirations by communicating them—through appropriate formation—the certainty that Christ is truth and love. In fact, throughout these decades, WYD has shown itself to be a laboratory of faith, a place of birth for vocations to marriage and to the consecrated life, and an instrument of evangelization and transformation of the Church.

The history of WYD

The first WYD event was held in Rome, in 1986. The following year, the first international edition of WYD, was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where some 900 000 youth attended. This was followed by meetings in Santiago de Compostela, Spain (1989), Czestochowa, Poland (1991), and Denver, United States (1993). In 1995, the meeting was organized in Manila, Philippines, the country with the highest percentage of Catholics in Asia. In the sending-off Mass closing WYD, the most attended ever, over four million pilgrims participated, many of whom came from social backgrounds marked by poverty and inequality.

WYD is, undoubtedly, an opportunity to celebrate the joy of faith in a youthful atmosphere

The following WYDs were in Paris, France (1997), Rome (2000), and Toronto, Canada (2002). This was the last WYD that John Paul II presided over. The Pope again asked young people to commit themselves to the building of a more fraternal world, in solidarity. The first WYD that Pope Benedict XVI presided over was held in Cologne, Germany, his home country, in 2005 and the first in Oceania was in Sydney, Australia in 2008. The next meeting was held in Madrid, Spain, in 2011. This would be the last one presided by Benedict XVI, who told the young pilgrims that “faith is not limited to providing some information about the identity of Christ, but implies a personal relationship with Him”.

The first WYD attended by Pope Francis took place in Brazil, in South America, his native continent, in 2013. More than three million pilgrims attended the vigil and the sending-off Mass in Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro. In an atmosphere of celebration and prayer, the Pope stressed that “the Gospel is for all, not just for some” and asked young people to be “protagonists of change”.

In January 2019, the first WYD in Central America was held in Panama. This edition had an important Marian mark. At the vigil with young people, Pope Francis presented the Virgin Mary as “the greatest influencer in history”. In this meeting, the Pope announced that the next WYD would be held in Lisbon, Portugal.

The symbols of WYD

Two symbols have accompanied each edition of WYD during the last several years: the Pilgrim Cross and the Marian icon called Salus Popoli Romani (Salvation of the Roman People). In the months leading up to WYD, these two symbols travel in pilgrimage to various places around the world, but above all to the dioceses of the hosting country where the WYD will take place. These symbols, signs of faith and hope, are heralds of the Gospel and accompany young people, in a special way, in the realities in which they live. They provide powerful moments of spirituality and evangelization which help young people to strengthen their faith. “One of the best fruits of WYD is the witness of youthfulness in the Church, that young people are available and want to welcome the living Christ into their hearts and witness Him to the youth of the whole world”, says Bishop Américo Aguiar, President of the WYD Lisbon 2023 Foundation and Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon.

The Pilgrim Cross was built for the Holy Year in 1983. It is 3.8 meters high and was entrusted to young people on Palm Sunday the following year by the then Pope John Paul II. The aim was that it should reach the whole world through the hands of young people. Since then, this wooden cross has been on a pilgrimage through five continents and almost 90 countries. At each WYD it visits youth environments and passes through parishes, schools, universities and other institutions. It has been transported by train, boat and even by more unusual means such as sledges, cranes, ox carts and tractors. It has travelled through the jungle, through churches, juvenile detention centres, prisons, schools, universities, hospitals, monuments and shopping centres. Recently, in Portugal, it has even been to a discotheque.

Two symbols have accompanied each edition of WYD during the last several years: the Pilgrim Cross and the Marian icon

The Pilgrim Cross has also been a bearer and a sign of hope in particularly sensitive places. For example, shortly after 11 September 2001, it travelled to Ground Zero, in New York, where the terrorist attacks that killed almost 3 000 people took place. It also went to Rwanda in 2006, after the country had experienced a fratricidal genocide because of the civil war.

The Cross is a symbol of God’s love manifested in Jesus, who gave himself up to death to save us and to make himself one with our human condition. The Cross is also the place of encounter between the Son of God and humanity; it sensitises us and takes us to encounter our brothers and sisters, walking together with them, sharing their pains, sorrows and difficulties in our earthly pilgrimage.

At WYD 2000 in Rome, another symbol was presented: the icon Salus Populi Romani (Salvation of the Roman People, in Latin). It is a replica of the painting kept in the Pauline Chapel at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. Tradition says that the original icon was painted by the evangelist St Luke. This image has been a sign of protection and God’s love expressed through the care given by Mary, Mother of Jesus for many centuries, especially for the people of Rome. It is an ancient tradition to carry the icon in procession through the streets of Rome to ward off danger and misfortune or to put an end to plagues.

It was for these reasons that, in 2003, St John Paul II wanted this sign of God’s love and care expressed through the Virgin Mary, to be carried all over the world together with the symbol of the Pilgrim Cross. On 13 April 2003, the incumbent Pope John Paul II presented these symbols of WYD to the young people who were preparing for WYD 2005 in Cologne, Germany. At the end of the Angelus prayer, the Pope announced: “To the delegation coming from Germany, I entrust you with the Icon of Mary. From now on, together with the Cross, it will accompany the WYDs. Behold your Mother! It will be a sign of the maternal presence of Mary at the side of the young people, called, like the Apostle John, to welcome her into their lives. He added: “May the Cross of Christ show you the way, in the sometimes difficult choices of life, and may the Blessed Mother be for you the model of beautiful love. Here is your Mother!. Let us entrust to her the hopes and future of young people in every part of the world.”

WYD Lisbon 2023

The 2023 edition of WYD was originally scheduled for 2022, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 1–6 August. Its theme, chosen by Pope Francis, is ‘Mary got up and left in haste’ (Lk 1: 39). This text refers to the account of the visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, an episode which follows the Annunciation (the theme of the last WYD in Panama). In the scene of the visitation, Mary presents herself both as a woman of charity and a missionary. Leaving in haste, without fear and with joy, is the attitude which summarizes Pope Francis’ indications for WYD Lisbon 2023, challenging the youth to be active and courageous missionaries in today’s world. In his Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit, the Pope writes: “Where does Jesus send us? There are no borders, no limits: He sends us everywhere. The Gospel is for everyone, not for some. He invites us to be fearless missionaries wherever we are and in whatever company we find ourselves: in our neighbourhoods, in school or sport or social life, in voluntary work or the workplace. Wherever we are, we always have an opportunity to share the joy of the Gospel” (VC 177).

Young pilgrims from all over the world will be accommodated mostly in public and parish facilities or homes of families. During the days of WYD, various activities and meetings will be available, to facilitate the encounter of young people with God, active participation in the life of the Church, and commitment to the transformation of the world and evangelization. There will be moments of prayer—celebrations presided over by the Pope, such as the welcoming and opening ceremony, the Way of the Cross, the vigil and, on the last day, the sending-off Mass—catechesis and religious formation meetings, forums for dialogue and sharing of experiences, opportunities to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation (the confessionals to be used at the Park of Forgiveness of Lisbon WYD were built by inmates of prisons), spaces for cultural exchange and leisure. These various initiatives seek to fulfil the ultimate purpose of WYD: to enable young people to meet Jesus Christ and to take the Gospel of joy, in a renewed way, to the world.

“We need to tear up what is customary, and innovate, and to risk what is different,” said Bishop Américo Aguiar, responsible for organizing WYD Lisbon 2023. This WYD will pay special attention to the theme of integral ecology and sustainability. Pilgrims registered in WYD, as well as volunteers, the organizing team and partners, have been invited to ‘plant trees in the community’, dedicating them to WYD Lisbon.

WYD is, undoubtedly, an opportunity to celebrate the joy of faith in a youthful atmosphere and a space for the Church and society to listen, in a spirit of synodality, to the voice of the youth, as Pope Francis states: “Dear young people, what are your passions and dreams? Make them stand out and, through them, propose to the world, to the Church, to other young people, something beautiful in the spiritual, artistic and social fields” (Message of Pope Francis in 2020 for the 35th WYD). WYD in Lisbon awakens our hope and makes us realize, once again, that young people are the gift of the Church and, with their talents and energy, they collaborate in building a Church where communion is experienced and which goes forth building a better world, a more peaceful, fraternal, just and united world.

RADAR • A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

WORK IN THE 21ST CENTURY CHALLENGES IN A NEW INFORMATION SOCIETY

Our world of work is undergoing a revolution. Artificial Intelligence, robotisation and automation are replacing the human workforce. To combact this, it is necessary to focus on education and training of those skills that better the chances of employability

BY CHRISTOFFEL J. GELDENHUYS | LABOUR SPECIALIST, CJ ATTORNEYS
SUSAN SELZER | B. PROC. LABOUR LAW UNISA, PRETORIA

WHAT KIND of employment will there be tomorrow, especially considering that the rules which have been developed to monitor the employment relations of yesterday and today are turning out to be totally inappropriate for the present and the future world of work. For example, the rise in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as its chatbot (conversational robot) in the ChatGPT programme, to generate content which would have previously been produced through human labour.

Tremendous changes are taking place in the labour market and increasing numbers of people join the ranks of the unemployed. Some jobs are being eliminated and new ones have been created. One can even go as far as to predict the end of the world of work as we know it. For most citizens, work represents a viable path to a meaningful way of life by affording them access to the market of goods and services, providing the possibility to make a positive contribution to their own family and society at large and offering enriched human connections. Therefore, unemployment comes to represent marginalisation and exclusion. Indeed, work is a question of human dignity. It stands to reason that every path must be explored to enable more citizens to have the benefit of decent employment.

There are several factors that influence the world of work. The globalisation of the market economy is but one. International competition remains, amongst other things, the basic product/service at the best (often the cheapest) price. Ironically in a money-driven world, restructuring with massive job losses often pushes up the price of shares, as productivity and profits are expected to be greater.

The demographic explosion refers to two phenomena. Firstly, every hour, 12 500 new babies are born in the world, which adds a billion more inhabitants to our planet every decade. Secondly, many of us will live longer. People in the 21st century, certainly in the advanced economies, will live on average, close to a hundred years, or even longer. This outwardly ‘happy’ development has negative implications for our social security budgets, especially in the area of pensions/guaranteed income and the medical sector, but also positive implications for the world of work. Care of elderly people will prove to be a rapidly expanding provider of employment.

New work dynamics

Networking is the keyword. The work of today and tomorrow will thus perform in one or more networks, on one’s own, but mostly as part of a team, in the framework of shorter or longer projects, for which it will be contracted. Collective arrangements will be mere frameworks, or simply fade away, as a result of this new employment dynamic.

There will be an ongoing dramatic job shift, which is only just beginning. Job losses caused by other factors such as robotisation and automation will result in repetitive work being shed on a massive scale. We will increasingly depend on routine production and services, in-person services and creative inputs. It is thus obvious that routine or repetitive jobs are on the decline. The worker who performs routine production or service activities faces the threat of automation on the one hand and from cut-throat competition with low-wage countries on the other, with production being provided at much lower wages and in far less favourable working conditions, in India and China, for example.

The focus of education and training should be on
such skills that better the chances of employability
of the youth entering the job market

A continuous decline in routine jobs can therefore be predicted, with middle and routine management jobs also being threatened. However, in-person services are faring better. Hereto, automation plays a significant role. The replacement of human labour with machinery contributes to the growing competition between workers who have lost their routine jobs and immigrant workers alike. This is forcing their wages downwards, while creative workers are the only ones who are flourishing. They can offer their creative services on the world market and are the only people who are really contributing a high added value and being well rewarded for it.

The use of AI in the workforce is also rendering human skills and intelligence redundant in many sectors. Therefore, the demand for skills and knowledge is shifting towards those that AI does not possess to a satisfactory degree. To combat this, the focus of education and training should be on such skills that better the chances of employability of the youth entering the job market, especially in South Africa, where the youth unemployment rate is at an all-time high.

Financial services are another growing business and a weapon of speculation in the quest to maximise profits in the shortest term. For instance, the rise of cryptocurrency provides opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment which were not previously available and can be seen as unchartered territory that is worthy of exploration in this age of information.

One aspect that will remain present in the future working environment is the need for resolving labour
conflicts and disputes

Evidently, our world of work is undergoing a revolution. We have been
catapulted into a new information society, where the realities and the truths of yesterday are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Globalisation and new technologies are causing enterprises to explode into networks of teams where work will be done on a project basis. The employment relationship, the role of social partners and the like will be fundamentally changed, in terms of how both employers and employees approach the workplace; shifting from a traditionally ‘stable’ 9-to-5 activity to a more dynamic, interactive and fastchanging environment. There is a need for a mental revolution, especially in the area of vocational training, to grasp these challenges that lie before us and to determine what must be done to respond creatively and appropriately to the call of new opportunities which the information society offers. With this mentality, there is no shortage of work.

As a consequence, an economic environment with increased pressures
of unemployment, exacerbated by the demographic explosion, may leave no room for social policies that might burden public expenditure, which would mean cutting public jobs and reducing Social Security benefits, including pension and sickness benefits. The short-term nature of project-based employment would also make the provision of and access to such benefits more inexpedient.

Conflict resolution

Regardless of their roles or job titles, as long as humans remain present in the workforce, their foibles and fallacies will inevitably continue to affect the workplace. As such, one aspect that will remain present in the future working environment is the need for resolving labour conflicts and disputes. In South Africa, this role is played by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). This is an independent body that serves the function of a dispute resolution body and which has no affiliation to labour or business. It has mandatory and discretionary functions. One of its main purposes is to conciliate workplace disputes between employees and employers. In the workplace, where change is constantly taking place and for instance, jobs are being lost due to operational reasons, the Labour Relations Act of 66 of 1995 (as amended), sets out the procedural and substantive aspects which must be adhered to when job losses are imminent.

The purpose of the Labour Relations Act is to advance economic development, social justice, labour peace and the democratisation of the workplace by fulfilling the primary objectives of the aforementioned Act. The CCMA delivers cost-effective dispute resolution, which includes training and education.

In the ever-changing landscape of the workplace with technology—at times, replacing the human workforce—it is imperative that workers are aware that there is this body whose purpose is promoting stability in the workplace. Whatever the work of tomorrow shall be, the rules which monitor employment relations will have to be mutable and amended accordingly.

In a world where work is changing in unprecedented ways as a result of technological advancement, some jobs will be lost, others will be created, and new opportunities must be made use of to combat unemployment. Conflict resolution will need to adapt to these changes, but will still play a crucial role in the workplace of the future.

SPECIAL REPORT • ON WORK

LABOURING FOR THE COMMON GOOD

The Church regards work as a means through which the person serves others, not simply as a means for the provision of material needs. She upholds the rights of workers and envisages that employer and employee can contribute to the good of all, especially to the marginalised in society

BY CALLUM DAVID SCOTT | PERMANENT DEACON, ARCHDIOCESE OF PRETORIA & PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, UNISA

Jesus, the worker

Before beginning His ministry, Jesus was known among those in Nazareth as a tradesman. In Greek, Jesus was a ‘τέκτων’ (Mk 6: 3), often translated as carpenter. However, this word means more than a carpenter, but rather a builder, who would have carpentry amid his skills (Campbell 2005; Keith 2014). Regardless of the precise work Jesus did, He understood the nature of His trade and of business and the salvific nature of work (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2000 §533). This is apparent in some parables found in the Gospels, wherein Jesus uses characters who are workers and employees, and of money and labour issues e.g. five parables (Mt 13: 1–23, 47–50; 18: 23–35; 20: 1–16; 24:45–51). Jesus was conscious of the treatment of workers: ‘the labourer deserves to be paid’ (Lk 10: 7). It follows that He realized the consequence for those who did not or could not labour: ‘you [will] always have the poor with you’ (Mt 26: 11). St Paul took this a little further: anyone who is unwilling to work should not eat (2 Thes 3: 10).

Church’s understanding of work

The Catechism (2000) holds the Church’s official teaching on work (§§2426–2436). Here, the Church explicates the purpose of the duty and the right of working for the sake of the human, which is not only for material provision. Work has deeper meanings: through it, the worker serves others because work involves difficulties and toil, it spiritually unites the worker with the suffering and crucifixion of Christ, and it enables the worker to fulfil their potential. Consequently, in working to provide, in maximizing talents, and in participating—in a small way—in the redemptive activity of Christ, the worker is dignified.

However, work is not to be romanticized, for the Church, inspired by Jesus (Lk 16: 20)—as a voice crying out for justice for the exploited working People of God— is aware of the tensions that arise due to
stakeholder interests in labour.

The preferential option for the poor

The post-Vatican II Church compels the People of God always towards making “the preferential option for the poor” (Fr Pedro Arrupe SJ in Hebbelthwaite 2007). The advancement of social justice is taken so seriously as to be codified into the Church’s juridical text, The Code of Canon Law (2013):

[The Christian faithful] are… obliged to promote social justice and… to assist the poor… (Can. 222 §2).

A litmus test for discerning present labour-related social justice issues is by determining the situation of people living in dire poverty by considering indices of statistics on employment rates. For our own country, South Africa, the International Labour Organization’s modelled estimate for 2022 indicates that 36% of all adults over the age of 25 are unemployed, with gender disparity increasing the figure to almost 40% for women.1

Across the globe, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to be felt in countries’ workforces not having recovered to pre-pandemic levels due to national and international lockdowns which prevented the activity of work in many instances (International Labour Organization [ILO] 2022). According to the ILO, in 2020, five million workers worldwide joined the category of the working poor, merely because one has work—whether formal or informal—does not translate into a situation of being able to make ends meet, let alone to flourish.

A dynamic of care must enter all aspects of the
economic relationship, so that the business may
be humanly sustainable

Apart from the Catechism’s reflections on work, the Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium et Spes (1965) and the encyclical letters which popes have written from the latter 19th century on work—among these, the first, Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891), followed by Pope Pius XI’s Quarageismo Anno (1931), Pope St John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens (1981) and Centesimus Annus (1991), and Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate (2009)—there are other instances of support to labour movements given by different popes. During late Communist times in the 1970s in Poland, a groundswell of trade unionism began (Karabel 1992). On the 16th of October 1978, a Pole was elected pope, Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II), and by June 1979, he returned to Poland: a pope in a Soviet land! The impetus given by Pope John Paul II to the labour movement for change against the Soviet state cannot be underestimated (Weigel 2003). On Warsaw’s Victory Square, Pope John Paul (1979) praised the sweat of the Polish people’s labour “in the fields, the workshop, the mine, the foundries and the factories… creative work in the universities, the higher institutes, the libraries”. The history of Solidarność and the fall of Communism bears testimony to his just, motivating message to his subjugated people.

Wealth for the common good

Pope Francis (2021) gave a prophetic and challenging reflection on labour in his message to the 109th meeting of the ILO. He covered the critique that Catholic Social Teaching gives on labour in the contemporary world: by placing the human person—in her varied occupations, settings, and situations—at the heart of the Church’s considerations which are for the common good of all people, most especially of the vulnerable. through “…illness, age, disability, displacement, marginalization or dependency” (2021). To achieve this common good, Pope Francis invites all people involved in labour, whether factory owner or dustbin collector, to re-imagine work by moving beyond “the past fixations on profit, isolation and nationalism, blind consumerism and denial of the… discrimination against our ‘throwaway’ brothers and sisters in our society.” The Pope is not asking business not to make money, but to approach wealth generation differently, that is, in a way more sustainable and more equitable for the greatest number of people, as opposed to the capitalist limitless expansion of bank balances of the very rich. This, the Holy Father identifies as the vocation of business owners, for it is only through the utilisation of their skills, that wealth can be produced for the common good, such that the lives of all people can become more liveable and more bearable. Herein lies a subtle critique against blatant capitalism, for economic activity, in producing wealth should do so for “the development of others and to… [eliminate] poverty.”

To conceptualise human labour in this radical model, it is necessary to move away from comprehending work as a means to produce, instead considering it to be a relational activity through which the generation of wealth occurs. Work as a relationship lays the responsibility for its healthy continuance upon all parties involved, e.g. the business owner who has injected her capital into a company to open it, is as important as the person who cleans the premises of the business, for without the capital, the business would not be, but without the cleaner, the customer may be unlikely to return. A dynamic of care must enter all aspects of the economic relationship, so that the business may be humanly sustainable.

Migrants and informal economy

This dynamic leads to the consideration of the employment and abuse of those who are most vulnerable worldwide, namely, migrants and refugees. Within the South African context, the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 and its amendments of 2011 make it illegal for any foreign persons to be employed in this country and are not permitted to work according to their immigration status (§38.1)—but many people who fall into these categories are employed. Often these are the people who perform what Pope Francis (2021) calls “dangerous, dirty and degrading” work. Whilst the Church deems it a right for all workers to be guaranteed a just wage for work done, in the case of migrants and refugees, underpayment is common, and because they should not be working, they do not have any legal recourse. The relational dignity that should be accorded them is removed. Moreover, their ‘illegal’ status, sees to it that they are not included in those who receive benefits such as health care, and in some countries, they cannot access the public health care system either.

The Holy Father points out a similar crisis of care that also faces legal nationals in countries where there is a significant proportion of the population engaged in informal work. In the South African setting, the informal economy comprises almost 30% of the gross domestic product (GDP) (World Economics 2023), which logically includes a huge proportion of the population. These workers do not have ‘social protection’ in the form of medical and life insurance and daycare, and many informal workers are women, who are more vulnerable than their male counterparts (Pope Francis 2021). While some trade unions exist to provide a degree of protection to the informal sector, most often, unions serve those in formal employment, and thus, are only mandated
to safeguard the interests of members of their unions.

Although the behaviour of unionists in South Africa may at times be controversial, the Pope—along with the Church’s preferential option for the poor—emphasises that “joining a union is a right”, for it is a means by which the basic rights of workers are promoted against the abuses that often are meted out by employers. While Pope Francis calls for increases in solidarity between workers, he also challenges trade unions to embrace their prophetic call to be collaborators with the People of God in the advancement of the rights of workers. In a meeting with the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), the Pope (2022) highlighted labour concerns he considered as worthy of union uptake: safety in the workplace and the exploitation of workers. Rightly, he also reminded the unions that their membership should not be taken for granted because they exist to work on behalf of workers: “[t]here is no trade union without workers, and there are no free workers without trade unions.”

Employer and employee must see to it that they
contribute to the good of all, most especially
to the most marginalised in society

The Church’s teachings on labour do not follow the socialist line of thinking, dividing the ownership and the activity of labour and consequently pitting the two against each other. Following her usual methodology, the Church follows the middle path, that is, the route between divergent positions. In considering labour, it is neither the employer nor the worker who is favoured. Both have their obligations and their rights. If both wish to conceive of work in the manner in which the Church does, both employer and employee must see to it that they contribute to the good of all, most especially to the most marginalised
in society—the anawim (Lk 1: 46–55)—for whom God’s people must ever prefer to contribute.

SPECIAL REPORT • DIGITAL ERA

TECHNOLOGICAL SKILLS FOR TODAY’S LABOUR MARKET

More and more necessary in the working world, new technological knowledge and skills need to go hand in hand with human aptitudes such as solidarity, common sense, creativity and communication

BY JESÚS VARGAS | IT BUSINESS MANAGER, MADRID
ALEJANDRO DE CELIS | CYBER-SECURITY SENIOR MANAGER, JOHANNESBURG

TODAY’S LABOUR market barely resembles the one our parents knew.
The digitalization of everyday life has favoured a drastic and almost
instantaneous assimilation of advances. Common routines such as the printing and delivery of Curriculum Vitae (CV) tend to disappear for the vast majority of sectors and associated jobs, giving way to job portals. Who has not prepared a CV in a well-known word processor, generated a PDF document and sent it via e-mail?

What not so long ago was associated with specific professional profiles has nowadays been incorporated into what is recommended and, in many cases, necessary: technological skills. From the businessman’s perspective, technological changes increase the productivity and competitiveness of businesses, as one can optimize resources and contemplate new work models that were previously unthinkable due to the limitations of technology.

Knowledge and skills vary depending on the position, sector and speciality but, in general, it is expected that a young person in 2023, regardless of their geographic location, will be able to make use of a computer or similar, with all that it offers at the end-user level, and be able to interact with others, utilizing powered telecommunication tools, well known by many as a result of COVID-19 and the resultant instant change into a teleworking model.

ChatGPT

At the end of November 2022, the world discovered a technological tool destined to change the global labour market forever. The Internet, social networks and the press began to fill with news about ChatGPT, a Chatbot (conversational robot) that works with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is capable of answering any type of question with a logical meaning and formulating human conversation following the storyline. In less than two months since its launch, ChatGPT has broken the record in the growth of registered users in consumer applications or apps, with 100 million users. To give us an idea of the magnitude of the implications, this tool could have written this article without the reader realizing it because AI is called to imitate human intelligence in its entire splendour, with all that this entails, on an ethical, human, social and labour level.

Telework and new technologies

Everything is changing very fast; the Covid-19 pandemic altered the way we work in many ways. Overnight, companies and workers had to change their work strategies and routines due to the confinements. Employees began to set up home offices without understanding the impact this would have on professional relationships and on their lives. The digital transformation or integration of digital operations in our daily lives became unavoidable.

Since then, the technology sector has grown exponentially. We began to hear terms such as crypto-currencies or digital currencies, Blockchain and Metaverse (virtual world), which caused waves of hiring in the labour market in which many companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon launched a search for professionals with the best skills. It was the beginning of the race in developing the technologies of the future and no company wanted to be left behind.

So, what are the technological skills that companies are looking for, and
how can young people prepare themselves to enter a constantly changing labour market?

To understand the current labour market, we must distinguish between
generic digital users or those who have had to adapt to the digital market, and native digital users, who were born into a digitized ecosystem.

Generic and native digital users

Digital users had to adapt to a labour market in which computers and the Internet appeared, changing the way of working that existed until the end of the 20th century. Nowadays, any employee who requires a digital device to perform his/her professional activity must, at least, know and use Information Technology (IT) tools such as a digital device, whether a desktop computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet and know its basic operation. To know how to make use of Word processors, spreadsheets and presentation programs; digital document processors; electronic messaging tools; communication tools, video calling and instant messaging, exponentially boosted during and after the pandemic; Internet research tools; social networks; and to know how to creat a professional profile are also important skills.

In addition, we can see that a digital user needs a certain level of awareness of cyber-security. This field has ceased to be solely and exclusively for IT technicians to whom one turns when something does not work as it should. Regardless of the investment made, without proper training and awareness of their staff, organizations will continue to assume too high a risk. Knowing how to differentiate legitimate emails from potential fraud, understanding why security measures, both physical and logical, are in place in each organization and the consequences of bad practice, in many cases accidental, are the basis of cyber-security training.

Coding or computer programming

Everything seems to indicate that the world will be governed intellectually by those who know how to program, develop and understand code. Even more importance will be given to those who know how to explain simply what they want to create. Low-code platforms are designed for those who, without having computer skills, want to create, develop and maintain applications on the most varied devices and digital media, in the most efficient way possible—automatically.

Data analytics

In the 1990s, industrial companies dominated the world. With the advent of the internet and then smartphones, data became the new king. Young people need to learn to analyse and understand data with a view to working with large blocks of information and create meaningful reports and graphs which provide value.

Data can be used to drive economic growth and improve people’s quality of life, but it must also be managed responsibly to avoid misuse. Ethics, therefore, goes hand in hand with this new technological age and professionals are needed who, in addition to their analytical talent, bring rigour and common sense to this new era of misinformation.

Cyber-security

This field has acquired great importance and relevance in recent years as a result of the globalization of cybercrime. It would be extensive to detail all the technological knowledge that today’s cyber-security requires, but it is worth noting that it is no longer only the IT field that requires it.

The digital era and hyper-connectivity have given rise to the Internet of Things (IoT). Likewise, Operational Technology (OT) environments have joined digitization and remote connection. All this has contributed to the expansion of the technological knowledge and skills which cyber-security workers must possess to perform their job.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

ChatGPT is just the beginning of the AI era. It has taken the entire spotlight but in the shadows, applications with AI functionalities are being born which are flooding the internet and are coming to make our lives easier; or to replace us? As in every era, technological advances have destroyed jobs but also created new ones. The way these applications operate, give us clues that, as we said with programming, those who know how to understand and in this case manage AI in a simple way, will have great power, which also comes with great responsibility.

Skills in augmented reality

In 2018, the movie Ready player one, a science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, was released. The plot focuses on a virtual reality game called OASIS, in which users can interact in that world and compete for a cash prize and the inheritance of its creator.

How do we interact or become part of this virtual world? Augmented Reality (AR) plays a fundamental role, as it is used by the characters to interact with the virtual world of OASIS and see and experience virtual elements in the real world, which allows for a very realistic game experience.

Putting on AR glasses and immersing ourselves in a video game as if it were real life is a given. For this, skills such as knowledge of hardware, 3D design and user experience are essential, along with creativity and communication skills to generate immersive experiences close to reality.

Social media and digital marketing skills

Are we becoming asocial, or is the way we communicate changing? The reality is that human beings are social beings. The way we communicate is changing and with it our habits, the way we consume and the ways we relate to each other. Social networks are no longer so social. We no longer follow what our friends do. We see and consume what others do, who with a lot of creativity and innovative communication, turn products or services into viral social movements.

Social networks are therefore now entertainment networks. Some such as Tik-Tok, Instagram and Facebook currently stand out for the promotion of products and services, which go viral as their photos or videos have more views. This change of concept has led to an increase in the use of digital marketing—a set of strategies and techniques of promotion, advertising and online communication— another very important skill needed in today’s working world.

Product design and user experience skills

It is increasingly normal to see children handling smartphones better than middle-aged people. They are the socalled ‘generation Z’, those born from the year 2000 onwards who have grown up in 100% digital environments. This generation is used to this kind of environment, and skills such as digital product design and user experience are intuitive for them and at the same time fundamental.

Prototyping, user interface design, usability evaluation and continuous iteration to improve user experience are now highly demanded skills and tools such as Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, Figma and InVision help to obtain such knowledge and skills intuitively and simply.

As we can imagine, going deeper into each of the topics discussed here would be enough for a monothematic article on the subject. However, the current technological era requires a minimum of knowledge to belong to it, regardless of the person’s age.

Skills such as solidarity, common sense, creativity
and communication are aptitudes that stand out in a great professional person

The new generations are adapted to the changes and make use of digital technology practically from birth, continuing in their daily lives as they grow up. In parallel, an additional effort is required from the older generations who, for many of them, have been overtaken by the digital revolution, creating a new type of illiterate person—the digitally illiterate.

Therefore, there is currently a digital divide at the demographic level in which young people have and will have an advantage as digital natives, but it should be noted that there is also a global divide in which many countries are ahead at the technological level, creating economic and social inequality.

Technological skills are and will be fundamental in any society to reduce
this gap and to enter the labour market, but human skills are the ones which prevail in the face of changing trends and revolutions. Skills such as solidarity, common sense, creativity and communication are aptitudes that stand out in a great professional person, and as a society, we must work to make them relevant when it comes to directing technological advances along the right path of history.

SPECIAL REPORT • MIGRATION IN EUROPE

IRREGULAR MIGRATION TO EUROPE INCREASED IN ALMOST ALL ROUTES IN 2022

Europe seems to be headed for a migration crisis after experiencing an increased influx of refugees in 2022 mainly due to economic factors, effects of climate change and existing conflicts, including the war in Ukraine

BY MONICA REDONDO* | JOURNALIST, EL CONFIDENCIAL, MADRID, SPAIN EDITED AND UPDATED WITH FURTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION BY THE WORLDWIDE TEAM

THE NUMBER of irregular migrants who entered Europe in 2022 is reminiscent of 2016, a time when the European Union (EU) was experiencing the largest refugee crisis in her history due to the war in Syria. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the continent has reached a milestone in the number of irregular entries. Frontex, the agency which controls EU’s borders, recorded 281 000 irregular entries in the first ten months of 2022—a 77% increase compared to the same period in 2021, a figure which does not include the Ukrainian refugees officially hosted in several European countries (euronews.com). The most active route was the Western Balkans, where around 140 000 crossings were recorded, two and a half times more than in 2021 and the highest figure since the aforementioned Syrian refugee crisis.

According to Aljazeera news (aljazeera.com), Italy’s Interior Ministry counted more than 102 000 asylum seekers crossing on boats until 29 December 2022; compared to 66 500 in the same period last year.

The causes of this increase are certainly numerous, including the economic crisis as a result of the pandemic and local conflicts and wars. On the Balkan route, most irregular migrants come from Syria and Afghanistan, the former, in a seemingly endless war; the latter, under the yoke of the Taliban regime since August 2021. In the cases of migrants coming from African and Asian countries, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and economic reasons—among them food insecurity
caused by Russia’s blockade of grain exports from Ukraine—have caused thousands to leave their homes.

As EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson (2022) noted, the food and energy crises create situations of insecurity, unstable countries, stronger terrorist groups and better-organised criminal
gangs where people no longer feel safe to stay in their country.

Delayed effect

According Vít Novotný, an expert on migration, asylum and border control at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, in an interview with the author of this article, the increase in migrant arrivals usually has a delayed effect. Now the number of Afghans trying to cross the borders is rising, despite the fact that the Taliban came to power more than a year and a half ago. European governments are concerned about rumours that Russia is trying to destabilise Europe using migration. “There is an opinion that suggests that Vladimir Putin is trying to use migration across the Libyan border to put pressure on the EU. There is no evidence of this, but it cannot be ruled out,” (Lanzavecchia 2022).

While migrants from different parts of the world come to the EU in search of peace, respect for human rights or better opportunities in life, Europeans are preoccupied with their energy crisis and high inflation. However, these factors do not seem to be discouraging migratory flows,
either because the migrants themselves are unfamiliar with the European context or because the crisis in their countries of origin is worse than the one taking place at their destination.

According to Camille Le Coz, a migration policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, in an interview with the author of this article, the conflict in Ukraine has increased vulnerability in many countries. “North African countries were heavily dependent on wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and this war has been a severe blow to their economies.”

Other reasons for migration hailing from these countries include the lack of job opportunities, tensions or violence within communities and the effects of climate change. Many migrants have relatives or acquaintances who left their country years ago and now live in Europe. This circumstance “continues to attract migrants because those already settled in Europe can help them by sharing information about the journey, paying for the trip and sometimes helping them to find a job once they arrive in Europe,” Le Coz stresses.

Solidarity—eternal?

One has also to look at the effects that the increase in irregular migrants to Europe is having in the region. According to the national Spanish television (rtve.es), more than 7.9 million Ukrainian refugees have been temporarily hosted by European countries. “Arrivals from the central Mediterranean region have been a secondary priority,” notes Le Coz. Although the numbers have been lower than those coming from Ukraine, their increase in recent years and especially the management of the migration flows, remain a cause for concern for European institutions.

The arrival of asylum seekers and refugees has an impact on housing, already problematic in countries such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Camille Le Coz warns that “the situation has now worsened, as many of the available housing units have been allocated to Ukrainians”. Ukrainians had a warm welcome in

the EU and popular support from European citizens. “We know that these perceptions can quickly reverse, especially over time, when the initial wave of solidarity dissipates”. Le Coz cautions that European
governments should “carefully manage the refugee narrative to avoid them becoming scapegoats for their economic crisis”.

Frontex, in its Risk Analysis for 2022/2023 report, foresees a future increase in migration. “Firstly, extreme weather events and their results such as environmental degradation, resource scarcity and lack of access to basic goods such as food and water will have an impact on health, economies, security, migration and competition for these limited resources”.

According to the report, “the conflict in Ukraine has already triggered economic turbulence, unprecedented refugee movements, an energy crisis and food shortages. The war will further fuel geopolitical competition and the effects may range from military conflicts to hybrid
wars. The whole situation creates the perfect earthquake for increased pressure at the borders”.

Awaited migration pact

Since 2015, EU migration flow management has become one of the main stumbling blocks for domestic and foreign policy. The EU-27 are unable to reach a migration asylum pact to manage the refugee crisis. The European Commission’s proposal is based on the idea that
their members are not obliged to take in migrants who have arrived in other countries, but if they do not do so, they must compensate in other ways, either by financing the repatriation of irregular migrants or by helping the countries that have taken them in.

Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s EU office, says that after
a controversial agreement was signed between the EU and Turkey in 2016, on managing the Syrian refugee crisis, 15 000 women, men, girls and boys are still trapped in overcrowded camps on Greek islands. “Turkey, a country that has even sent people back to Syria, is not safe for refugees and asylum seekers. EU leaders must reinforce solidarity efforts, increase relocations to other member countries and follow the solidarity examples of activists and host communities across Europe,” said Geddie.

Fairness for all

Natalia Prokopchuk of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for Europe, in declarations to the Spanish journal El Confidencial, stressed that Ukraine has been an example of good
governance in receiving refugees. “The EU’s decision to offer temporary protection to refugees fleeing Ukraine has highlighted Europe’s capacity for an organised and workable approach to asylum, but the same should be extended to all nationalities,” notes Prokopchuk.

The organisation has often insisted on the need for sustainable asylum reform and progress on issues such as solidarity within the EU, adequate reception conditions and fair and speedy asylum procedures. “Dignified repatriations for migrants who wish to return to their countries of origin and who are not in need of international protection are equally crucial for a creble and wellmanaged system,” Prokopchuk stresses.

Until these objectives are met, the arrival of irregular migrants will remain an uncomfortable issue for the EU. The deaths of those attempting to cross borders by sea, in flimsy, unseaworthy boats,
have not stopped and remain shocking and shameful. Since 2014, 25 104 people have died and 16 032 went missing on Mediterranean routes (McAuliffe & Triandafyllidou 2021).

According to UNHCR (unhcr.org/news), at least 1 337 people have gone missing on the Central Mediterranean migration route this year according to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.

The number of irregular migrants has increased on all routes to the EU except the Spanish border with Morocco, following the end of the crisis between the two countries.

The Channel border to the UK has been identified as another hotspot in recent months. More than 45 000 migrants have arrived in small boats across the English Channel from France in 2022, compared with less than 30 000 in 2021. In the first six months of 2022, the UK’s national
statistics office recorded more than half a million net migrant arrivals through government-approved routes, up from 173 000 in the year before.

“The UK’s partnership with France has already prevented over 30 000 illegal crossing attempts since the start of the year—more than 50% more than at the same stage last year”, according to UK Home Office data (gov.uk/). Nicholson & Kumin (2017) at UNHCR, recommend that
rather than preventing arrivals—many might need international protection—“it is better to invest in a fair, swift and efficient asylum procedure”.

Despite possible upcoming migration pacts among European states which may help to manage the situation, the increase in crossings will continue if the causes which provoke them, such as internal conflicts, economic and energy crises, high inflation and food shortages persist.

SPECIAL REPORT • REFUGEES

Calling for a Christian response to the Reality of Migrants

“Every minute 20 people in the world leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror” (United Nations, 20 June 2021).

BY Lance Thomas | Centre for Faith and Community, University of Pretoria

Christian communities and societies in general look at the global migration crisis. Faced with it, different attitudes become manifest

A global perspective

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by the end of 2017, there were 25.4 million refugees across the world. By mid-2022, the figure had risen to 32.5 million. There are also 103 million displaced people worldwide. The 2022 report of the United Nations International Organisation on Migration (IOM) estimated that, in 2020, there were about 281 million international migrants—people living in a country other than their birth—meaning 3.6 % of the global population

In South Africa, the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University, states that “approximately 5.3% of people of working age were born outside the country”. In the United States, according to Erin Duffin (2022), “during 2022, 25 465 refugees were admitted into the country; a significant increase from 2021, when they were 11 411.”

P.W. Walsh (2022), at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford also affirms that in 2019, “an estimated 388 000 foreign-born people living in the UK came originally to seek asylum; around 0.6% of UK’s total population of around 67 million.”

These numbers are surprisingly low and a far cry from the image of migrants streaming across our borders or millions of migrants ‘stealing our jobs’.

A need for reviewing procedures

In the context of the negative discourse on migration in the United States, a religious Sister, working at the border of the US, told me that migrants wait for months to get their documents in near-prison conditions, in overcrowded buildings. The Sister and her team were requested to make space for a plane load of war refugees fleeing from Ukraine who were given priority in their allocation and allowed to stay in single accommodation, pushing the rest of the migrants into even more overcrowding. The Ukrainian/Russian war has shifted the urgency with which the West perceives the global migration crisis, manifesting a double-standard approach.

From a South perspective, we have been calling for the update of refugee laws for years. The 1951 Convention with its 1967 Protocols is outdated, putting serious pressure on the migration system. UNHCR (1967) and the signatory countries have not managed to agree upon the necessary modifications and this has caused a serious backlog in the migration system. The obligation of non-refoulement—not sending someone back into a situation of possible persecution—is a great positive, but treating each person on a case-by-case basis has complicated the situation. Moreover, many local migration policies tend to become more restrictive on migrants’ rights, often pitting human rights against the national policy, making it more difficult for migrants to get refugee status.

A ‘Holy Family’ of refugees

The irony lies in a world hostile to migrants celebrating, as we recently did, a heavily pregnant Mary forced to leave her home to be counted in Bethlehem. After giving birth she, Joseph and Jesus had to “leave everything behind to escape persecution” and terror. Large tracts of conservative, mostly United States Christian groups, try to convince the world that Jesus was in fact not a refugee; their argument is rather simplistic saying that as Jesus moved within the territory of the Roman Empire, He never crossed a national border.

There are vast similarities between the rise of an exclusive, anti-immigrant and fundamentalist, in its religious approach, orthodoxy, to the rise of the German Evangelical movement under Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, which Karl Barth, the Swiss Calvinist theologian, so aggressively opposed (Dolamo 2020).

Pope Francis lamented in Fratelli Tutti that, “migrants are not seen as entitled like others to participate in the life of society, forgeting that they possess the same intrinsic dignity as any person. No one will ever openly deny that they are human beings, yet in practice, by our decisions and the way we treat them, we can show that we consider them less worthy, less important, less human.” [FT 39].

South African situation

In South Africa, several reception centres for migrants have been closed resulting in huge backlogs regarding the regularisation of documents. The policy uncertainty has left many migrants in limbo with some waiting since 1994, for a procedure which should take three months. The Congolese community, for example, needs to renew their documents every few months while others are renewed every two years. A short span of renewal coupled with more migrants entering the country, plus a scanty and poorly trained staff in the reception areas, compounds the problem. The special dispensation of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa has also caused a humanitarian disaster. After 15 years of having a special visa, these rights have now been forfeited and migrants have to return home.

Since South Africa has a non-encampment policy, many migrants fend for themselves in the most precarious conditions, usually in townships, zones of gentrification around cities or in informal settlements close to places of work or business. South Africa finds itself in a financial decline due to years of mismanagement, theft from state coffers and poor infrastructure development. Recently it was revealed that in a hospital in Thembisa, a poor community, nearly a billion Rand was looted in graft. Within that context, a certain politician declared that “migrants are destroying our healthcare system”.

As the lives of people on the margins of society are becoming more precarious, compounded by the recent Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, many politicians and ordinary citizens use migrants as scapegoats for these larger social ills. New political parties and movements, such as Action SA (Youtube 2020), notorious for their xenophobic rhetoric, received considerable support in Gauteng’s last provincial elections. Their followers seem to be ordinary middle-class citizens around Soweto, Johannesburg and Pretoria, who see themselves as religious upholders of law and order. Others are well-educated people and even religious leaders with an anti-migrant discourse, who support them as custodians of Christian values.

Many local migration policies tend to become more restrictive on migrants’ rights, often pitting human rights against the national policy

Loren Landau (2022), Professor of migration and development at the University of Oxford, pointed out that scapegoating migrants is the narrative of a state that has nothing to offer to its citizens except hate and fear of the other, pitting the poor against the poor.

Since 2008, when South African society became synonymous with xenophobic violence, we have straddled the line between having one of the most progressive constitutions in the world; our inability to implement it; and a culture of care among our citizens protecting the rights of all. This fact leaves our society as a country ‘at war with itself’.

A Christian response

In Practical Theology, the term ‘responsible citizenship’ is currently used. In the context of African history of colonialism, with its missionary mandate of not getting involved in local politics, it could render church leaders ineffective in the protection of migrants. If the political narrative of using the term ‘illegal’ in regards to migrants continues, ordinary church members, under a supposed ‘responsible citizenship’, will shy away from dealing with the matter, following instead the directives of the state, and not reflecting on the harm imposed on the lives of vulnerable people.

Despite the many biblical texts clearly expressing that the justice of a society is reflected in the way it treats its “women, orphans and strangers” (albeit a little patriarchal) we still see our church mission limited to charity. In a city that faces poverty and inequality, land and housing injustice, urban exclusion, massive in-migration, contesting land aspirations, precarious housing, informality, and urban violence, the sum total of church effort cannot be limited to offering food.

At our Centre for Faith and Community at the University of Pretoria, we have sought to partner with Caritas to count the migrants in South Africa and with Kerk in Actie a Dutch Agency to develop groups of ‘church champions,’ people of goodwill who strive beyond establishing soup kitchens which often exonerate bad government policy. We want to train church members to take up social justice issues while still providing the food people so desperately need. As Helder Camara said, “when I give food to the poor they call me a saint, when I ask why they are poor they call me a communist” (Wagg 2014). For true Christians, keepers of their brothers and sisters, no matter where they come from, the Kingdom becomes their priority over building an exclusive Nation.