Thora Perez, Rest in Peace

by Admin · December 30, 2022

Thora Perez, who has died at 93, speaks at the 2009 launch of Archbishop Denis Hurley’s biography Guardian of the Light. She is flanked by Mgr Andrew Borrello and Mike Pothier. (Photo: Hayden Demes)

Catholic activist and educator Thora Peres died on December 21 at the age of 93.

She was born as Thora Jasson on January 8, 1929, in what was then Umtata, Transkei, as the daughter of Louisa and Hugh Jasson, one of 15 children. Ten of the children reached maturity and were a very close group of siblings of whom Thora was the last to return to the Lord having passed away peacefully at the Ladies Christian Home in Cape Town.

Thora attended primary school at the Bedford Convent Farm, Umtata, before moving to Cape Town to attend St Augustine’s Training School in Parow where she qualified as a teacher. Her parish church then was Holy Cross in Nile Street, District Six, where she was a member of the Children of Mary.

Her very happy and influential teaching career began at Holy Cross Primary School in Searle Street, Cape Town. This was followed by a time at St Francis Xavier’s Mission School in Simons Town until it was forced to close due to the Group Areas Act. She went on to teach at Square Hill Primary in Retreat until her retirement at the age of 65.

Thora married Aloysius Perez in 1954. This union produced five children: Marie-Louise, Anna-Marie, Luigi, Celeste and Giovanni. Sadly, Luigi died in infancy. In 1965 Aloysius died, leaving Thora as the head of a very young household between the ages of 11 and 2.

While raising a family and teaching full-time, she remained active in Church ministry as a catechist in her parish as well as by training others through the archdiocesan programme, as a Justice & Peace activist and laity commission representative at the archdiocesan and national level.

While a member of Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Lansdowne, Thora was asked to help the Salesians set up the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary in Hanover Park. Together with a band of formidable women, she worked at providing soup kitchens, setting up Mass in a school and community centre, and leading a dedicated group of catechists to bring the faith to the children. This she continued to do when the church was built in 1972.

She remained active there as catechist, fundraiser, parish council member and chair as well as everyone’s “Granny” long after she stopped working in any official capacity. In 1983, she received an apostolic blessing for her “dedicated catechetical work in the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary”.

During the struggle against apartheid, Thora was a tireless and fierce but always loyal and compassionate warrior, bringing the message of justice, reconciliation and peace to the bishops, priests and laity through her participation in the Justice & Peace and Laity Commissions at local and national level.

When the bishops were becoming concerned about some people (often members of the so-called Catholic Defence League) walking out of Mass after SACBC letters relating to the injustices of the time, Thora said: “Let them. The Catholic Church has stood for 2,000 years and will stand for 2,000 more after they have gone.” She reminded the bishops of the growing and dedicated numbers of black Catholics who remained in the Church even though they had sometimes suffered discrimination such as having to sit at the back in some mixed churches and even receiving the Eucharist last, something she had personally experienced.

Archbishop Denis Hurley was an admirer. When Paddy Kearney launched his biography of the late archbishop in Cape Town in 2009, he invited Thora to be a keynote speaker.

Her activism led to a five-year stint as the Southern African representative on the Pontifical Justice and Peace Commission. On one of these occasions, at a dinner for English-speaking delegates with Pope John Paul ll, the conversation turned to the prospect of women priests. She responded to a point made by the Holy Father about the “distraction” a female priest might be to male congregants by saying that the “beautiful, young Italian seminarian who had assisted him [the pope] at Mass that morning had been a great distraction to the women in the congregation”. Thora was always ready to speak truth to power!

Pope John Paul ll conferred on her the distinguished emblem of the Sacred Cross, a decoration awarded for “outstanding service rendered to the local and universal Church”.

Thora’s final service in an official capacity was on the board of the Salesian Institute Youth Projects (SIYP), for which she also received the Rector Major Medal in recognition of her service to the Salesians and their special youth ministry.

Thora is survived by her children, their spouses (Joe, Pauline and Paul); eight grandchildren (Sean, Astrid and spouse Jan, Janine, Jessica, Luigi, Isaiah, Eli, Noah) and two great-grandchildren (Iris and Andile), as well as nieces and nephews spanning three generations, many “adopted” children, and too many to count.

Beloved Thora, God’s faithful servant on earth, rest in peace, rise in glory and please continue to be our prayer warrior at the foot of the Almighty!