q CROSS TEAM: side-by-side are the two Cross newspapers South Africa and North East England displayed here by Jim Little (left) and Fr Gérard Lagleder.

Crossed!

I AM a Seminarian at Ushaw for Hexham & Newcastle Diocese. I have recently completed a pastoral placement in South Africa as part of my formation. I intend to write a report on the placement and hope, with the permission of Ushaw, to provide a copy for you to print in Northern Cross in due course.

The placement involved working in a Care Centre in Mandeni, approximately 70 miles north of Durban in the kwaZulu/Natal region. I was working in the care centre which is run by the Brotherhood of Blessed Gérard.

The President of the Care Centre is a German Missionary Benedictine priest called Father Gérard Lagleder OSB. I spent just over four weeks on placement there. I was sent the July edition of Northern Cross while on placement. On the same day that it arrived, Fr Gérard asked if I was interested in reading the South African weekly Catholic newspaper.

He passed the newspaper to me and I was quite surprised to find that it is called the Southern Cross. I went to my room and produced a copy of Northern Cross for him. He was equally surprised.

The Southern Cross is named after a star formation that is easily visible in the Southern hemisphere; Fr Gérard pointed it out to me one evening. It is four stars that form the extremities of a cross that is easily visible on a clear evening.

After Mass on the evening of Sunday, July 21 the photograph (right) was taken of Fr Gérard holding Northern Cross and of me holding Southern Cross. This photograph was taken in the Parish Church of St Anthony, Mandeni. I'm sending a copy of the photograph of the Southern Cross and I have asked Fr Gérard to advice me if they publish it.

Jim Little

northern cross, No. 555, 1 September 2002

DOUBLE CROSS: The Southern Cross has a counterpart, literally. The Northern Cross is the Catholic Newspaper of the diocese of Newcastle-Hexham in England. Seen here are English visitor to KwaZulu-Natal Jim Little (left), holding The Southern Cross, and Benedictine Father Gerard Lagleder of Mandeni, Eshowe, holding The Northern Cross. The Southern Cross has a couple of namessakes: the Catholic newspaper of the diocese of San Diego, California, and the Anglican newspaper in Australia.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NORTHERN CROSS