What nuns and priests do for Christmas

Christmas time is traditionally spent with family and friends, but what of those in religious life who may be far from home? STUART GRAHAM found out what our beloved nuns and priests do over Christmas.

Nuns and priests working in South Africa’s villages and towns are used to being away from their families at Christmas time, but there is always one sure way to connect with home: dinner.

Schoenstatt Sister Kathleen Sauren of Cathcart, Queenstown diocese, says before celebrating Mass with her community she will prepare biscuits using a recipe from her native Germany, and make a roast chicken.

“I am usually alone for Christmas, so I will prepare biscuits and then I will roast a chicken, which takes me a number of days to eat,” she says.

Christmas in the area is normally very quiet, says Sr Sauren.

“The farmers from Cathcart will go away with their families. “The others who work much of the year in the Western Cape come back for Christmas, but they celebrate in their homes,” says Sr Sauren.

“We have midnight Mass, but the social activities are more in Kati-Kati, outside of Cathcart,” she says.

Sr Sauren, who has been in South Africa for more than 50 years, says there is always a steady stream of visitors who come to Cathcart to visit the Schoenstatt Family’s “Mother Shrine of Africa”, and so there little time for her to be lonely.

The shrine, consecrated in 1949, is the first Schoenstatt shrine to be built on the continent of Africa.

“Many people, especially from the Indian community in Queenstown, come to see the shrine, so I can’t say I am lonely, because there are always people here.”

Sr Sauren says parish priest Fr Thulani Gubula is very popular in the area and his midnight Mass in Kati-Kati is well attended.

“It is Fr Thulani’s second Christmas here after he was ordained in 2012,” she says. “He is very popular among the Xhosa community and the white farmers who love him.”

Sr Lucyna Budny of the Little Servants of Mary Immaculate in Matatiele, Kokstad diocese, who is originally from Poland, says Christmas in her parish is a “multicultural” celebration.

“We have people from Poland, Congo, Ghana and South Africa,” she says. “When we celebrate, we celebrate the customs from each country.”

Matatiele is hot in December and Sr Budny says she often misses the snow in Poland at Christmas time. She is always happy though when she can prepare something from home for dinner.

“We prepare a Christmas Eve meal with each member welcome to contribute a recipe from home,” she says. “I will make something from Poland; some of the others will contribute things from Africa. And when we celebrate Midnight Mass, we celebrate it in English,” she says.

“Church is always very full. People come from all over Matatiele. We have a choir and the atmosphere is very warm.”

On Christmas Day the sisters are back at work, serving their communities. “On Christmas Day, if someone needs our help, we go,” she says.

Fr Jude Fernando TOR, parish priest of St Anne’s in Mpophomeni, outside Howick in the archdiocese of Durban, is originally from Colombo in Sri Lanka. He says he oversees a day of appreciation at Christmas time.

“Usually what we do in Mpophomeni is to prepare an “appreciation day”. All people who work at the church prepare gifts and we express our appreciation for what we have,” he says.

The parish also prepares a tree before Fr Fernando names St Anne’s “woman and man of the year”.

The celebrations are usually concluded with a Christmas meal.

Dinner with family is also an important part of the Christmas celebrations for Fr Sebastian Roussouw, parish priest of the Regina Mundi parish in Soweto.

“At Regina Mundi we celebrate with one big Mass at 6pm,” says Fr Roussouw. “After Mass we will give out gifts to the little ones, especially the less fortunate.”

This Christmas the parish will have baptisms, “to show that the birth of Christ brings new life”, he says.

Fr Roussouw says up 2500 people usually pack into the church to celebrate Christmas Mass.

“After Mass the congregants will pose for photographs, but once the formalities are over, I will drive home to Eldorado Park to be with family for Christmas dinner,” he says, adding: “We try to encourage families to get together as Christmas is a day of the family.”