Most Holy Redeemer Mission in Mmakau Village, north-west of Pretoria joined many other social institutions and individuals in South African society to celebrate Heritage Day this past Sunday. The church is a very rich site of heritage in Catholic history in the Archdiocese of Pretoria.
It was founded in 1921 when six royal council members of the Bakgatla-ba-Mmakau clan travelled to Pretoria to request the Church to establish a presence in their village. The royal council members were Mr E Motsepe, Mr A Tseleng, Mr E L Mokgoko, Mr B Teeme, Mr J Nthabu, Mr D Tseleng and Mr B Ramaboa, who walked for three days to reach the St Teresa Church in Bantule, west of Pretoria.
The mission also hosted a future pope in Cardinal Batista Montini of Milan in 1962. He later was appointed the universal shepherd of the Church as Pope Paul VI in 1963. Mother Teresa of Calcutta also visited the mission on her 1988 South African tour.
In Sunday`s Heritage Day celebration, prayers were said in various languages including indigenous South African languages and in the French and Swahili languages. After the Mass service, various traditional dishes and drinks were sold as part of the church`s fundraising drive.
Parishioners and visitors spent the afternoon revelling in the food, dancing to cultural music and having their cars washed as part of the fundraising drive.
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