Catholic “Sheroes” Sr Brigid Flannagan HFS and Lerato Mphuti Remembered

by Daluxolo Moloantoa · August 14, 2023

Top: Articles in the Southern Cross magazine on Brigid Flanagan HFS and Lerato Mphuti. Bottom: Holy Cross sisters Sr Kathleen Mitchell (left) and (right) Sr Joy Money. Anastacia Mphuthi, mother of Lerato Mphuti

“We`re very pleasantly surprised to see Sr Brigid Flanagan in the History in Colour section of the Southern Cross magazine,” said Holy Family Sister Joy Money at a Women`s Month event held this past Saturday in Johannesburg. Sr Joy, along with fellow Sisters of the Holy Family Sr Kathleen Mitchell were among the attendants of the Marriage Annulment in the Catholic Context seminar held at the Christ the King Cathedral.

Sr Brigid, also of the Holy Family Sisters, is featured in the August edition of the Southern Cross magazine as part of the celebration of Women`s Month. “Sr Brigid was our unit leader when I joined the Holy Family Sisters. She was later chosen to be on our international General Leadership Team in Rome, Italy. On returning to South Africa, she was appointed as the acting secretary-general of the SACBC in 1982. She also fought very hard against the discriminatory laws brought about by the apartheid government during those heady days. She was a brave woman and a leading light to the Holy Family Sisters and to every person who knew her,” Sr Joy said.

Also present at the seminar was Mrs Anastacia Mphuthi. She is the mother of Lerato Mphuti, the teen girl who was featured in the Youth Month June edition of the Southern Cross magazine. Mrs Mphuti expressed her gratitude to the magazine for featuring her daughter`s story. Lerato was a student at Johannesburg`s Sacred Heart College, and was a parishioner of the Divine Mercy Church in Walkerville.

Her short but impactful life has been heralded as “an example of a true spiritual and prayerful life for teens” and “a special light”, among many reflections by those who came into contact with her in her lifetime. In recognition of her unique spirituality as a teen, Salesian Father Michael Connolly began to document the development of her spirituality from her childhood. “A book is currently under consideration on Lerato`s life in celebration of her impact on young people during and after her passing,” Mrs Mphuti said.

“Everything Lerato did flowed from the spirituality of her prayerful life. Let us adopt the enthusiasm modelled by Lerato and the prayerful hope that one day her life will be recognised as an example of youth spirituality,” Colleen Constable said in her June article on Lerato in The Southern Cross magazine.