Time for umlungus is over
It must be sad for our archbishop and diocese of Pretoria. In April Archbishop George Daniel turned 75. Canon law requires that bishops tender their resignation on reaching their 75th birthday. He has been the pastor of our diocese since 1975. In South Africa retirement age will soon be 60 for men.
I was privileged to witness one of the archbishop’s farewell addresses. At the inauguration of the new council of the Handmaids of Christ the Priest — a local religious operating mostly in Lesotho and our archdiocese — Archbishop George said something which will forever be recorded in my memory: “The time for us umlungus is over.” Umlungu is an Nguni word for a person of European descent. He was predicting that almost all new bishops will come from the indigenous people of our country. Aliwal diocese is an exception that it has a new bishop from Germany.
In his homily, the archbishop referred to the new comers in the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Bishops Sithembele Sipuka and Xolelo Kumalo have been appointed bishops for Umtata and Eshowe respectively. By the way, the two are the first black bishops to emerge from St John Vianney Seminary, which under apartheid was for white seminarians. They had incidentally taken part in the seminarians’ march against apartheid during the turbulent ’80s. Recently they had endorsed the manifesto of the African Catholic Priests Solidarity Movement calling for transformation in the Church.
Archbishop Daniel lamented that in his old age he is preoccupied with closing convents formerly owned and run by mostly European religious orders. In the last few years he had closed convents which belonged to the Dominican sisters (Hammanskraal, Sunnyside, Brummeria, Marapyane, Tweefontein). He has witnessed the closure of the Holy Cross convent in Waterval. The Benedictine Sisters have move out of Mamelodi. This year the Little Company of Mary Sisters will bid farwell to their hospital ministry in Groenkloof. The Loreto Sisters are preparing to shut their home of more than 100 years, the school grounds of their famous school near the archdiocesan cathedral.
Men religious orders are also bowing out. In June the Missionaries of Africa (known as White Fathers) will be leaving mostly rural former KwaNdebele missions for an urban parish. The Stigmatine priests have left Jericho in the north-western part of the archdiocese. This trend will be considered normal in the next few years. Most of these congregations relied on vocations from Europe. In the beginning they were not recruiting Africans. But some of them think their evangelisation efforts have failed to penetrate local cultures. We all know that they did their best and Pretoria archdiocese will never be the same.
In his homily the archbishop also announced good news. The Handmaids of Christ the Priest continue to grow in Pretoria and in Lesotho. Their congregation was started by a Canadian priest, Fr André Blaise OMI, strictly for Black women. These local sisters have 15 convents throughout the archdiocese and several more in Lesotho. This writer was taught catechism by sisters from this august congregation. At the end of Mass Daniel inaugurated the new leadership of the HCP sisters. They are Sisters Mary Nkuna (Provincial) Martina Makhabane (Vicar), Julia Mafike, Sylvia Limelintaka and Esther Masinge. The sisters pledged to continue to serve humbly wherever they are sent.
According to the archbishop the success of the sisters is contrasted by a lack of priestly vocations in the country. One reason for the closure of St Peter’s Seminary was attributed to low numbers of vocations to diocesan priesthood. (A friend in Rome told me that the Vatican refused to grant permission for the sale of the Garsfontein seminary.) The archbishop said the demise of apartheid opened opportunities for previously disadvantaged communities. One person’s meat is another person’s poison. As we are promised the Holy Spirit, we are consoled by Jesus Christ’s assurance. “I will not leave you orphans. I will be with you until the end of time.”
- Archdiocese of Pretoria launches Jubilee 2025 - December 30, 2024
- Catholic Women’s Association National AGM - November 22, 2024
- Fr Obed Tlhalefang Ramoipone Rest in Peace - December 30, 2021