Christian Brother Michael Chalmers Rest in Peace
Christian Brother Michael Chalmers
By Br Michael Burke CFC – Christian Brother Michael Martin Chalmers, best known for his work with the Catholic Bible Foundation, died on May 18 at the age of 82.
Born in Johannesburg in 1941, part of a family of three sons and one daughter, he went to school at the old St Paul’s Primary School in Maryvale and then Christian Brothers’ College in Boksburg.
Mike, as he was popularly known, played tennis, hockey and rugby during his school days. In 1957 he travelled to Stellenbosch to try his vocation as a Christian Brother. He did his novitiate there under the legendary long-time novice-master Br Oliver McEvoy.
After qualifying as a teacher at the Training College in Bloemfontein, he made his final profession as a Brother in 1966.
For three decades he taught at Christian Brothers’ Colleges in Bloemfontein, Boksburg, Kimberley, Springs, Cape Town and Pretoria, specialising in geography, and serving as principal and community superior in Springs (1974-79) and Cape Town (1986-1992). He also shared his love of sports wherever he taught.
Moving back to Stellenbosch in 1993, after a sabbatical programme in the USA, Br Mike was drawn into Bishop Daniel Verstraete’s plan of founding a Catholic Bible Foundation(CBF) in South Africa, along with the late Holy Family Sister Mary Doyle. The programmes developed for lay groups and schools were not academic but designed to help people pray using the Scriptures.
For the next three decades of his life, Br Mike led the CBF’s team in its work of opening the Scriptures to ordinary parishioners of Catholic churches around South Africa, as well as those training for consecrated life as Brothers and Sisters. A central office was established in La Rochelle, Johannesburg, with branch offices in Durban and Cape Town.
Br Mike wrote two books in these years, Bread That Will Last (2015) and Meet God In His Word (2017), to share his love for the Scriptures with a wider circle.
He celebrated his 60th Jubilee as a Christian Brother in 2017.
For 12 years during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Br Mike served on the leadership team of the Christian Brothers Southern African Province (later called a District). He later became a mentor for young Christian Brothers from Zimbabwe, Zambia and Sierra Leone, who were studying in Johannesburg. For Br Mike, this was a challenging and interesting ministry.
He was always thorough in whatever he did and disciplined, and he expected the same from those Brothers who were studying; as a result he expected a lot of them. A number of these Brothers can testify how they benefited from Br Mike’s experience.
Having lived in the La Rochelle parish for 21 years, Br Mike moved back to Boksburg as his health started to fail and he needed to retire from his work. After two years in the Brothers’ community, he moved to Marian House, the Newcastle Dominican Sisters’ frail-care community nearby, for his last few weeks of enduring great pain.
He is survived by his brother Bernard and family in Canada, and by his beloved niece Louise Noyle in Johannesburg. His ashes are with those of his sister Mary at the Maryvale parish church.
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