Dear sisters – a big thank you

BY SYDNEY DUVAL

The Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood at Mariannhill and the Holy Cross Sisters are celebrating major milestones which remind us of the massive contribution Catholic religious, men and women and their co-workers, make to education and human development throughout South Africa. From impoverished rural and semi-rural communities to working class suburbs and the leafy lanes of the more well off.

The Holy Cross Sisters are celebrating 100 years in education through their school at Searle Street in District Six, and 100 years of service to St John’s parish, Maitland/Kensington, which includes establishing a primary school there
in 1916.

The CPS are celebrating 125 years of serving impoverished communities through healthcare and education. Both congregations have served and continue to serve society with exceptional distinction and commitment. Their passion for their vocation burns still in hearts that were once young and tender.

The work of the sisters in education continued in spite of the apartheid regime’s hostile discrimination against Catholic schools, forcing the Church to launch its special campaign to save its mission schools in the 1950s, a courageous and visionary action that called for great sacrifice from Catholic educators. In 1993, at a Mass at St Mary of the Angels, Athlone, former president Nelson Mandela acknowledged the role of church and mission schools when he said his generation, from elementary school up to university, was educated by church and mission schools.

Through holistic education in the classroom and on the playing fields, through art and music, the Catholic school is an affirming source of inspiration and enlightenment to young minds, showing them that they can rise above adversity to a better life; that the education and formation learners receive they must also strive to apply at home and at work and for the good of society as caring, responsible and involved adults. The guidelines they take from the classroom, enriched by Gospel values of truth, justice and compassion, are a supportive scaffolding for the years ahead. In times of joy and in times of distress and hardship.

The Holy Cross sisters and the Sisters of the Precious Blood have invested in an education that in many ways is a precious gift, offering learners the opportunity of friendship and solidarity for life. This connection is affirmed by the many active circles of old girls’ associations who support their old schools when calls are made on their time and special skills. They, too, have been conscientised to read and respond to the signs of the times; to be a discerning, sensitive and generous laity that will serve humanity in response to SACBC’s Pastoral Plan for Southern Africa.

The CPS were among the first in this country to offer both medical support and caritas to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. They wanted their community outreach programme from St Mary’s Hospital to be a living sign of Christian caritas where a devastating disease was adding to the distress of dire poverty. They started Jabulani Centre in an enterprising effort to help alleviate poverty by training local people in skills that could be used to put food on the table.

To all the Holy Cross Sisters, to all the CPS sisters, to all the Dominican Sisters, Loreto Sisters and Salesian Sisters, to all the Marist Brothers and the Christian Brothers, and the CMM Confréres, our profound thanks for your work and presence in the classrooms of this country. Your journey has been a tremendous adventure in education—infused with loving service.