Michael Coleman: Tribute to a Bishop and an old Friend

by Sydney Duval · January 8, 2012

The late Bishop Michael Coleman (right) with Bishop Michael Wustenberg at the iron cross at Emaus, Umzimkulu diocese. (Photo: Sydney Duval)

BY SYDNEY DUVAL

I remember St John Vianney Seminary, which I attended for some time half a century ago, for many things. I remember it for the bonds of friendship it supported some became life-long connections that ran deep no matter how and where we ended up. They were friendships that could be reignited spontaneously in spite of long breaks. The threads were always there.

One of the wonderful qualities of Bishop Michael Coleman, the late ordinary of Port Elizabeth who died on December 17, was his capacity for compassion, solidarity and friendship in good times and tough times. His open door policy at his chancery extended to his personal life. He had a warm and ready hand open to those coming to him with happy hearts and troubled hearts the laity, the staff, the religious, priests who were in difficulties.

His wit and sense of humour were legendary, brightened by the bluest of eyes and a brilliant smile which would break what sometimes appeared to be a severe profile.

I met Mike at the seminary in 1958. He was in second-year philosophy, a gangly 18-year-old farm boy from the Eastern Cape and wonderfully innocent. I was the newcomer from Durban, aged 21 and with five years of work behind me.

We shared several classes where Mike showed a sharp intellect with his probing questions. He was very popular, sociable and joined in just about everything, including a part in the play Julius Caesar. We got to know each other gradually, as bridge partners, doing manual work and on the football field where he played with more passion than skill.

It was a chance outing on bicycles that opened the way for friendship, just as the road opened the way to new destinations. We did not cycle regularly, but when we did it was with great energy as we explored the hills surrounding Pretoria and the fields reaching to Silverton…to the mulberry tree at Fountains where our khaki shorts were stained purple from the fruit.

Our conversation followed the twists and turns of the road, with bouts of fantasy contrasting with the realities that were shaping our young lives. What emboldened the friendship was the fact we had both grown up close to the bush. This is where it is possible to read silence for signs of life that would later become a reading of the signs that shape life and society.

After a break of several years, I met Mike again at plenary sessions of the Southern African Bishops’ Conference from 1987 until I retired from the archdiocese of Cape Town in 2002.

Three events stand out. The first was our being together at the 1988 IMBISA plenary at Harare which Pope John Paul II closed amid growing hope that the weapons of warfare destroying Mozambique and Angola could be turned into ploughshares.

The second was his recalling this sabbatical at Sangre de Cristo Centre in New Mexico and its renewing impact on his life and ministry, a journey he had shared with Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg.

The third event took place on August 10, 2008 during the Mariannhill mid-year plenary. Mike was among the large SACBC group that journeyed to Emaus to follow the Stations of the Cross which Abbot Francis Pfanner had carved out of a steep hillside. The idea of the pilgrimage was to bring the bishops closer to the spirit of Mariannhill’s founder who spent his last years in exile at Emaus.

Reaching the summit, where Abbot Francis had erected a large iron cross with a commanding view of the countryside, was for all a profound experience.

I had turned to follow the procession down the hill when I heard Mike calling me. He asked me to photograph him standing beside the cross. He said the pilgrimage and Stations had been a powerful experience of Church. We later gathered for a reflection in the room where Abbot Francis had died, followed by the bishops signing the petition supporting the cause for his beatification.

I never did get the photograph to Mike, but it is printed here as a late but sure sign that we will continue to cycle together in the spirit of enduring friendship.