Author: Fr Matthew+
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German easier than Russian?
I remember flying home on Lufthansa from Moscow in the summer 1991. We were drama students having finished an exchange program at the Moscow Arts Theater. Officially, Chekhov was the only thing we “staged” while we were there. About the events that occurred within days of our leaving, I’m sure I Couldn’t possIbly comment on…
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Game Day
Lakeside Lodge Entabeni. That’s where we are tonight. We traveled half a day out of Johannesburg to get here. The safari jeeps met us at the edge of the land preserve and we said goodbye to our coach bus. We spent the second half of our day on safari. Yes, church pastors on a game…
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Mountain in the Cradle
The view from atop Table Mountain I know we think of the Fertile Crescent as the Cradle of Civilization but this southern tip of the continent we still get the rarest of biodiversity in the plant world and among the human languages spoken, the native Xhosa carries the heritage of the most ancient speech. Table…
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Khayelitsha is an informal Township outside of Cape Town. One of the locals near my hotel tells me it’s not the worst, there are actually worse places in South Africa, and he names a few off the top of his head. I try to wrap my head around how it could be any worse. Recalling…
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12 Steps for Stuff Addiction
Basic ethics asks that I look at what I’m doing and multiply that by everyone in the room and see if it’s sustainable. Could everyone live like me? Rev Alan Storey of the Central Methodist Mission in Cape Town says we would need two planets to sustain the lifestyle of the average white westerner for…
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Celebrate Diversity
The flora of South Africa is more diversified than any other part of our planet. It is part of the beauty of this land. Diversification is one of its strengths. So often we talk about tolerating the differences in others or “being in dialogue” to learn about other beliefs, faiths, or thought. Yesterday we learned…
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The Clouds Do Not Linger Long, Yet They Arrive Unexpected
Spending the day with former prisoner Eddie Daniels yesterday was a gift beyond compare. He kept thanking us, his listeners from all over the world, for applying pressure to, at first, ease the Apartheid government’s dehumanizing treatment of inmates and ultimately for the pressure that ended Apartheid rule. Our policies of divestment in South African…
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South African Spring
Life south of the equator is in spring today. South Africa still needs so much more to to be in the full flower of summer. But the view of Table Mountain from my hotel, the luxurious spread of breakfast and the blooming flowers in perfect weather today, seem to be both a delight and a…