Looking after ourselves, and others

Home at last. It is Sunday. Four men joyfully carry a new couch on their shoulders to the altar. The excited Lesotho-born priest receives the gift. Women ululate in thanksgiving. The home of the parish priest, Fr Ambrose Maqebo, looks immaculate and splendid.

This is how the parishioners of St Peter Claver parish in Mamelodi, Pretoria, welcomed their new priest. His house has been extended and furnished by the material and human gifts provided by the parishioners. In only six months about R30000 was raised for the presbytery.

Fr Maqebo is the first diocesan priest after 30 years to shepherd this parish. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate started the Mamelodi East community in 1968. This year, Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, (popularly known as Comboni Missionaries) handed over the parish to the diocesan clergy. Many religious congregations leave parishes to local clergy because of lack of vocations from Europe. I was told that the Comboni Missionaries entrusted the community to local clergy because they think their missionary role has been accomplished.

The decision by the missionaries and the humble acts of the parishioners of Mamelodi signifies that the era of a self-sufficient local Church is upon us. The majority of the parishioners of Mamelodi can still be classified as economically poor or previously (and still) disadvantaged. In this group you find mostly those who rely on government grants, those who are under skilled and the unemployed or the unemployable.

I have heard of many other efforts throughout the country where parishes try to be self-sufficient. But often self-sufficiency means financial independence from overseas agencies. This also applies to rich parishes, which on occasion donate to underprivileged causes.

Early biblical Christian communities and Church documents, especially since Vatican II, provide characteristics of a mature local Church. This Church is supposed to be self-reliant, self-propagating, self-governing and self-actualising. I know that the parish of St Peter Claver my home parishis far from that ideal.

Since its inception my parish has had similar challenges as those faced by the early Christian communities and many other parishes. Sadly leadership squabbles or those aspiring to replace them have dominated many parish churches; not unlike the present succession battles in the African National Congress. For some individuals leadership has been understood to mean power, prestige and privilege. We need to walk the path of the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11). Psalm 23 may help us in understanding what leadership and service is all about. We are called to be Christ to others.

Our Christian identity should not be limited to financial contributions. The essence of ubuntu is in recognising divinity in all those that we encounter or avoid. We should go beyond the cliched idea of inculturation to mean dance, music, clothing and long processions.

As members of the local Church we should consider what it means to be Catholic. People throughout the world helped us destroy the great evil called apartheid. In thanksgiving for our own liberation let us take care of the needs of immigrants. Christianity and ubuntu mean we need to be interested in the affairs of those less privileged. In our communities we can identify the foreigners and the outcasts.

We should not only be concerned with taking care of our comfort or prosperity like patients who live obsessed only with their health, or the rich with their wealth.

Mamelodi is in the process towards authentic evangelisation. South Africans have a greater opportunity to be self-sufficient, self-reliant, self-propagating, self-governing and self-actualising. Else we do not have a claim to maturity.