Chris Chatteris SJ's blog

The world has been cajoled into believing that we absolutely have to have FIFA to enjoy international football. An insider tells me that ten years ago the branding gurus advised FIFA to equate itself with the World Cup. Hence ‘The World Cup’, became ‘The FIFA World Cup’ and with even less shame they added the slogan ‘For the good of the game; for the good of the world’. Happily the South African World Cup has shown that it’s about much more than the organisers and their branding consultants.

Several traditional soccer powers have now been made to look played-out and past it at the hands of arrivistes from the New World, East Europe and the Antipodes, England being among them. The Economist’s ‘Bagehot’ recently used football as a metaphor for the country’s place in the world, writing sadly that, ‘The team represents a people less certain than they were a few years ago that global greatness is their destiny and much less sure that they can afford it’. Across the Atlantic, the US strategic think-tank Stratfor suggested a little unkindly that England had an ‘aura as a perennial football power which obfuscates its World Cup disappointments’. That was before the US got its comeuppance against Ghana!

‘Is South Africa an independent country?’ A disarming question from a perceptive Mexican fan suggesting there is no independence without it being financial. To illustrate, he added that after 400 years many banks and businesses in his country are still Spanish. The commercial grip that Fifa has exercised over this World cup adds urgency to his question. Indeed some commentators have used the term ‘colonisation’, albeit temporary, to describe Fifa’s extraordinary level of control. Whose needs are being met around here? is a question worth asking as sovereignty seems suddenly ceded to a globalised bureaucratic behemoth.

A wise Jesuit confrere predicted not long ago that after the clergy abuse crisis in the Church, we would shortly have to deal with money scandals.

So which team do you support if yours has been eliminated? Readers in Scotland may be alarmed to hear that I recently met a Scottish woman after Mass here in Johannesburg sporting an England jersey!
For African fans the answer is simple - another African team. A Jesuit confrere who comes from Soweto was away in Nairobi for the opening march but was overwhelmed by the Kenyan solidarity with South Africa. This comes with expectations however. As he left the country a passport official chided him, saying, ‘You guys missed four goals (against Mexico)!’

‘Bafana Bafana will go to the quarter finals, and after that anything can happen’. By the time you read this you may be able to judge the prediction of my young interviewee with the help of hindsight. He is from the Johannesburg township of Orange Farm, one of the classic, far-flung creations of the apartheid era. Pitso (30) works in radio as a technician and presenter. He started his career with Radio Veritas, a Catholic station in Johannesburg and moved from there to community radio in his township and thence back to Veritas. I spoke to him at the studio after saying the midday on-air Mass.

You may recall that we presented a number of programmes for Radio Veritas during their FM month. With many thanks to them we are delighted that we can now offer you a chance to hear these programmes again by downloading them or streaming them from a file-sharing site. Please click links below:

God at Work with Raymond Perrier – MBA Students from Georgetown University, Washington DC
http://www.4shared.com/audio/KrgI5pO5/a_God_at_Work_09_March_2010_fi.html

God at Work with Raymond Perrier – 2 leaders from the world of business
http://www.4shared.com/audio/W4YNdRjS/b_God_at_Work_16_March_2010_fi.html

God at Work with Raymond Perrier – young and older professionals from the world of healthcare
http://www.4shared.com/audio/PUVxUfgx/c_God_at_Work_23__March_2010_f.html

God at Work with Raymond Perrier – 4 teachers from different types of schools
http://www.4shared.com/audio/4tYeFZrZ/d_God_at_Work_29__March_2010_f.htm

Art of God with Anthony Egan SJ – finding God in fiction
http://www.4shared.com/audio/MaXtvq1a/a_The_Art_Of_God_Part_1_11_Mar.html

Art of God with Anthony Egan SJ – finding God in musicals
http://www.4shared.com/audio/XHEXXK8h/b_The_Art_Of_God_Part_2_final_.html

Art of God with Anthony Egan SJ – finding God in music
http://www.4shared.com/audio/H7MVdgCC/c_The_Art_Of_God_Part_3_final_.html

Art of God with Anthony Egan SJ – finding God in films
http://www.4shared.com/audio/L4eZdyy8/_2__d_The_Art_Of_God_Part4_01_.html

Lenten Lectures – where is God in disasters? (Anthony Egan SJ)
http://www.4shared.com/audio/bVzMH85d/a_Lenten_Lecture_JobJesusHaiti.html

Lenten Lectures – where is God in destruction? (Chris Chatteris SJ)
http://www.4shared.com/audio/ygcekvbo/b_Fr_chris_edited_10_march_201.html

Lenten Lectures – where is God in depression? (Dr Annemarie Paulin-Campbell)
http://www.4shared.com/audio/Oomv6zfA/Campbell_19_march_2010.html

Lenten Lectures – where is God in death? (Raymond Perrier)
http://www.4shared.com/audio/rOqSKnRu/Raymond_26_march_2010.html

Teach us How to Pray – encountering God in Scripture
http://www.4shared.com/audio/5Xapjt0T/a_teach_us_how_to_pray_08_marc.html

Teach us How to Pray – encountering God in traditional devotions
http://www.4shared.com/audio/nQXijUYD/b_teach_us_how_to_pray_15_marc.html

Teach us How to Pray – encountering God in retreats
http://www.4shared.com/audio/XWRXx7CX/c_Teach_us_how_to_pray_FINAL_r.html

Teach us How to Pray – encountering God in spiritual direction
http://www.4shared.com/audio/vYNW7KCk/d_29_March_2010.html

Catholic Comment with Chris Chatteris SJ
http://www.4shared.com/audio/rbMPg2kD/a_1O_MARCH_CATHOLIC.html
http://www.4shared.com/audio/H4SvOTLv/b_17_MARCH.html
http://www.4shared.com/audio/RzcAwSgb/c_24_March.html
http://www.4shared.com/audio/3tkQldxU/Catholic_Comment_with_Chris_Ch.html

My Jesuit confreres recently gave me an ironic birthday present, a vuvuzela, the two foot plastic trumpet which is selling like hot cakes on the streets of Johannesburg. Although its elephantine sound is not universally appreciated, it has become iconic of the South African FIFA World Cup – loud, proud, colourful and commercial. South Africans, of all cultural backgrounds, are blowing their real or metaphorical vuvuzelas for the World Cup.

Posing as a beggar, the young man turned away from the car, but in a single movement turned back, punching in the front passenger window with a sparkplug. It was like a small explosion which left nothing but a few jagged edges of glass. He plunged into the vehicle and made a grab for the handbag lying on the floor at the feet of the 50-something woman passenger.

Poor choice! The lady had anticipated his move.

The good news for the airlines is that European airspace is opening up again. This is also good for fruit farmers in Ghana, flower growers in Kenya and stranded travelers. There was a curious and interesting collective denial about the disruption. How could it be that suddenly it was no longer possible to jump onto a plane to the other side of the world? Modern technological humanity was momentarily in shock.

The insurers used to call this kind of thing an ‘act of God’, though someone told me that it’s now been reclassified as an ‘act of nature’.