South Africa’s Catholic History
As the Church in Southern Africa anticipates the 200th anniversary of its foundation next June, the celebration of Heritage Day offers an opportune time to reflect on how far Catholicism has come in those two centuries.
The first Christian presence on the southern tip of Africa was not that of Calvinist Dutch traders but of the Catholic Portuguese explorers Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama on their respective journeys.
In the event, Portugal asserted no claim on the land. But it is a fascinating exercise in alternative history to speculate what might have been had Portugal colonised the Cape.One of them even named one of our provinces, having discovered the eastern coastal territory on the feast of the Nativity. The Portuguese word for Christmas is “Natal”.
The first Christian service on territory that is now South Africa, a Catholic Mass, was celebrated around 1488 on the island of the Holy Cross, just off Port Elizabeth, during Dias’ exploration.
Dias also planted a padrão cross at Kwaaihoek in the Eastern Cape; remnants of which are stored at Wits University in Johannesburg. Portuguese explorers would place a padrão, a large stone cross, as part of a land claim for Portugal’s crown.
In the event, Portugal asserted no claim on the land. But it is a fascinating exercise in alternative history to speculate what might have been had Portugal colonised the Cape.
There is no good reason to believe that the region’s history would have been benign, and the borders would likely follow different routes, but this would now be a largely Catholic nation.
Missionaries from many orders were responsible for spreading the faith, but the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in particular were at the vanguard of evangelising the mission fields of Southern AfricaInstead, Catholicism was suppressed for a very long time, and always treated with suspicion during the eras of colonialism and apartheid.

Although difficult to make out in the image – Bishop Henry DeLalle OMI (front) with priests, nuns and confirmands at Mariannehill Mission in November 1921.
It is a huge achievement that the Catholic Church is now one of the biggest churches in South Africa, even at 7% of the population.
Missionaries from many orders were responsible for spreading the faith, but the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, in particular, were at the vanguard of evangelising the mission fields of Southern Africa, moving from Durban into the interior.
Also noteworthy is the evangelising work of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries.
How the Catholic Church spread in our region has been outlined by Fr Anthony Egan SJ in his two articles published in this newspaper this month. Over the next few months The Southern Cross will look at the history of Catholicism in South Africa in more detail. We hope that these stories of the past will resonate with Catholics today.
No other faith community besides the Catholic and the Dutch Reformed churches have sustained a weekly national newspaper for many decades.Sadly, most Catholics do not know much about their local Church’s history, even its notable accomplishments.
One of these you are holding in your hands — or looking at on a screen — right now. No other faith community besides the Catholic and the Dutch Reformed churches have sustained a weekly national newspaper for many decades. And even then, Die Kerkbode no longer appears weekly.
The Catholic education system, which even now sustains schooling in many rural areas, withheld immense pressure by the apartheid regime. When the regime cut state subsidies for Catholic schools serving black children in order to force the Church to relinquish them, the Catholic community went on a massive funding drive — in which The Southern Cross played a crucial role — to keep them alive.
Many priests, religious and lay activists were detained by the Security Police — even the secretary-general of the bishops’ conference — and many of them subjected to tortureIt was a huge victory over apartheid. Another came in the 1970s when Catholic schools previously reserved for whites opened admission to black pupils — an act of immense courage.

A copy of the Southern Cross Daily in April 1951 which marks the Marian Congress in Cape Town and the establishment of the SACBC
By that time the Catholic Church was strongly engaged in the struggle against apartheid. Many priests, religious and lay activists were detained by the Security Police — even the secretary-general of the bishops’ conference — and many of them subjected to torture.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference contributed also materially to the struggle when they founded the largely secular weekly New Nation in 1986 to serve as an organ of the struggle.
After apartheid, the Church performed a mammoth task in providing a quarter of all Aids care in South Africa, the largest after the government.
The SACBC’s Aids Office was the first in South Africa to set up antiretroviral programmes, when the Mbeki government still refused to do so. It must be said: the Aids Office’s work is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.
The story of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa must be told. Let’s own it — the bad, the good and the great.
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