Hopes and fears for George
A few weeks ago I was privileged to attend a breakfast function at St Peter and St Paul’s church in George, in the very heart of the famed Garden Route.
I was interested to learn that this is South Africa’s second-oldest Catholic church, having been built in 1842. Learning this did not surprise me, because George is one of those towns that are famous for all sorts of things, most of all its people—especially its Catholic people who, in my opinion, have re-written the book of hospitality.
George is also the most forward thinking town in the world because their Christmas decorations in York Street are all ready to be turned on in the middle of June.
My reason for being in George was to speak at a breakfast function for the men of George, arranged by the women of the parish of St Peter and St Paul.
The subject under discussion was how men could contribute to the Church in particular and society in general in this modern era in which many men find themselves having to be totally engrossed in the business of business in order to survive.
It was generally agreed, for example, that modern technology had made it a lot easier for men to be able to do things these days that in the past were either a tedious chore or a complete embarrassment.
This includes teaching children the facts of life, which for many years has been based largely on the mating habits of birds and bees.
I remember when I was growing up in the 1950s, my parents, and those of my friends and cousins, simply just opted out of any form of explanation regarding sex.
My education in these matters came from a friend of my older cousin who based his fount of knowledge of everything to do with human procreation on something he had witnessed going on in a motor car parked in a shady lane in the early hours of the morning.
But these days, modern technology has made it a lot easier for parents who find themselves trying desperately to explain things to children who probably know more about the subject than they do.
Nowadays, when a young boy asks his father how he came to be born, the computer-literate dad can answer in a language they both understand and which contains no direct sexual and anatomical jargon.
“Well, my son, this is how you got to be born. Your mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your mom and we met at a cyber-café. We sneaked into a secluded room and googled each other. There your mother agreed to a download from my memory stick. As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little pop-up appeared that said: You’ve got male!”
This is a prime example of the importance of all fathers understanding everything there is to know about computers.
On a more serious note, attending Mass at St Peter and St Paul and chatting afterwards at a wonderful dinner arranged by parishioners, it was clear that the things that worried the Catholic community in George were exactly the same as those that worry most parishes in the country—and that is the availability of permanent parish priests.
A new parish priest is just about to be appointed for St Peter and St Paul and a lot of the parishioners are quite rightly a little nervous. Will they get someone who throws his energy into serving the community? Or will it be one of those priests who have very little interest in getting involved in anything other than saying Mass?
All of which reminds me that I remain convinced of something that is becoming extremely important with regard to the training of priests. It is the attribute of understanding how to manage an organisation. It’s not just being skilled in matters administrative and financial but also, most important of all, people skills and human resource management.
And how to empower people. I find it strange that our Church still practices old fashioned management techniques. It insists on parish councils and finance committees, yet even the most unskilled, people-unfriendly priests have a complete right of veto which often leaves parish councils feeling a distinct lack of worth.
Parishes are full of skills these days. These need not only to be used more efficiently; more importantly, they need to be trusted.
The good people of George are crying out to build a solid Catholic community. Hopefully they will be helped, and not hindered.
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