Tribute to Long-Serving Bishop Pius Mlungisi Dlungwane

by Fr S'milo Mngadi · October 21, 2022

Bishop Pius Dlungwane (Photo: Paul Tatu)

By Fr S’milo Mngadi – Quietly as his natural composure, Bishop Pius Mlungisi Dlungwane of Mariannhill handed the baton of leadership to his coadjutor bishop since February 27, 2022, Bishop Neil Augustine Frank OMI during the clergy annual study held at Mariannhill Coolock House in Port Shepstone.

He had served the diocese of Mariannhill as its ordinary since 2006, and before that as auxiliary since 2000.

Bishop Dlungwane, who turned 75 on October 13, tendered his letter of resignation to the Holy See earlier this year as required by canon law. Contrary to popular belief, bishops do not retire since their apostolic office is permanent. Neither are they removable. They resign willingly for the good of the Church in humility characteristic of Christian standards. They are not appointed either but are named by the bishop of Rome (the pope) who is but the first among equal bishops.

Bishop Dlungwane was born on October 13, 1947, at Clairvaux mission, Impendle, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. After schooling in the same mission, he did his senior primary at the Alosyianum Gymnasium and high schooling at St Mary’s Minor Seminary both in Ixopo. He proceeded to St Augustine’s Seminary in Lesotho where he completed his priestly studies. He was ordained a priest on July 5, 1976.

Having served as locum tenens in various mission stations, he became rector of St Francis College and his alma mater, St Mary’s, before going to St Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada. Having obtained a licentiate (master’s degree) in Biblical Theology, he became a lecturer at St John Vianney Regional Seminary, Pretoria. He returned to Ottawa for doctoral studies and obtained a PhD.

He became the first black rector of St John Vianney in 1997, a ministry he held until August 6, 2000, when he became the auxiliary bishop to the ailing Bishop Paul Themba Mngoma. After Bishop Mngoma’s death he became the bishop of Mariannhill, exactly six years after his episcopal ordination as auxiiary.

Though soft-spoken and considered lenient by his peers, he achieved a lot in his 16 years at the helm of South Africa’s second-most populous diocese. Following the century-long tradition of Mariannhill which ordained the first black priest in Southern Africa in 1898, he added more than 20 new local priests to the ranks of his diocesan clergy.

He was not selfish with these priests but shared them graciously with his fellow bishops in the SACBC. He sent more than 12 of them to serve in deprived dioceses. He seconded six priests, after releasing them to study, for service in the SACBC in Pretoria, either at the regional seminary or the bishops’ conference’s secretariat at Khanya House.

He has also been very serious with the ongoing formation of his clergy, having been at some stage the episcopal delegate to the South African Council of Priests (SACOP).

During his tenure, a week-long annual study week for the clergy was introduced. This is an activity in which the clergy are taken through the new developments in various ecclesiastical disciplines and together devise effective pastoral strategies both long and short term. They also share their difficulties and joys in serving the vast diocese which is largely rural.

Bishop Pius also contributed immensely to self-sufficiency. About half of the parishes of the diocese are now self-sufficient, thanks to his effort. Prior to him, all of them depended on the diocese at various percentages for their operations.

He also started the annual gatherings of each of the five deaneries for the fundraising for the education of the seminarians within the context of worship. Thus, the notion of giving as a spiritual act and planting in the kingdom is now ingrained in many Catholics of the diocese. At its peak, these gatherings collected over R2 million. Indeed, through him, the dream of the diocese’s last missionary bishop from Europe, Martin Elmar Schmid CMM, has been realised.

Dear to Bishop Pius’ heart is Kevelaer, the diocesan Marian shrine in Donnybrook, where tens of thousands gather each year. With a group of nuns and lay people, he personally took a foot-pilgrimage of about 40km to Kevelaer with the rosary, Marian devotions and hymn-singing done throughout. He used the 11 annual pilgrimages to Kevelaer as moments of preaching and catechising, using his unique gift of expounding the Scriptures and the doctrine of the Church using the Zulu imagery. The study of his homilies, which he wrote meticulously, is a mine for research on inculturation theology in Southern Africa.

Bishop Pius was also focused on the laity. During his time, the Catholic Women’s League was established in the diocese. Prior to this, women who wanted to join this apostolate had to go to the archdiocese of Durban.

He also saw to the establishment of a youth movement called St John Bosco for the youth and the young adults who were, for any reason, beyond the traditional Children of Mary. He also inducted the first woman chairperson of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, a position which had always been held by men.

The retired bishop will be remembered for his hospitality, open arms, a listening ear and, above all, a down-to-earth attitude which for many made him an “epitome and model of humility”.

These good qualities brought him so many challenges as some among the clergy, religious, lay people and episcopal peers abused them to his detriment.

In humility, he told the clergy in the study week of 2019, he had sought help from the Holy See out of his own volition. This was attested to by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Peter Wells at the ordination of Bishop Frank: “None of this was imposed by the Holy See; Bishop Pius asked for it on his own. It takes a lot of humility to cry out for help. Bishop Pius did, and we acclaim him for that.”

The solution was that there would be an apostolic visitation whose recommendations led to the appointment of the apostolic administrator in the person of William Slattery OFM, archbishop Emeritus of Pretoria, in 2020, and the naming of the coadjutor bishop in 2021. Archbishop Slattery and the Bishop Frank were to be responsible for the administration of the diocese while Bishop Dlungwane remained the bishop of the diocese both theologically and spiritually.

Bishop Dlungwane’ “retirement” and ascension of Bishop Frank is the second instance in the diocese of Mariannhill of the passing on of the episcopal leadership baton with no vacancy. This is very rare in South Africa, if not in the whole of Africa and the rest of the Church in the mission lands.

During the Mass of Thanksgiving, Bishop Frank, noted that Bishop Dlungwane had been so welcoming since he came and very helpful to him to settle in the house and the administration of the diocese. He wished him a well-deserved rest in the refreshing and quiet Southern Drakensberg town of Himeville.