Bishop Vanqa Equips Youth Chaplains and Coordinators With Hope

by Kati Dijane · February 27, 2026

SACBC Youth Chaplains & Coordinators Conference

By Kati Dijane – Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference youth chaplains and coordinators gathered at the Lumko Institute in the Archdiocese of Johannesburg from Monday, 23 February, to Thursday, 26 February, for their annual conference.

On the final day, the youth liaison bishop for Southern Africa, Siphiwo Paul Vanqa SAC, delivered a homily that gently challenged and deeply encouraged those entrusted with walking alongside young people in the Church.

His message was profound: we begin the work, but it is God who completes it.

The story of a composer

To illustrate his message, Bishop Vanqa shared a story about the renowned German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach, he recounted, would often wake in the middle of the night with a melody in his heart. Living in a double-storey home, he would quietly go downstairs to his pianos and organs, playing and writing music while the rest of the house slept. Unbeknownst to him, his children were listening.

Though he never formally taught them, they absorbed his music. When he was away, they would attempt to play the pieces themselves. One night, after hearing him compose a particularly special song, they went downstairs in the early hours of the morning to try and replicate it. They struggled. They could not complete it. Eventually, they returned to bed. Bach, who had been listening, came downstairs once more and finished the piece where they had stopped. Bach’s story, the bishop said, was an example of the Church’s mission and for the work of youth ministry.

Starting the song, trusting God to finish

“The story resonates with what we are doing here,” the bishop said.

Throughout the conference, chaplains and coordinators had shared experiences, evaluated programmes, discussed challenges and mapped out strategies for the future of youth ministry in Southern Africa. They had spoken about accompaniment, leadership formation and missionary outreach.

Yet the bishop reminded them that their efforts, though sincere and important, are limited by human capacity.

“Maybe what you try and do is good. Maybe it’s not enough,” he acknowledged. “So we need, where we have stopped, to ask God most of all to take over from there and finish the piece.”

“That piece is most probably what we will not finish in our lifetime,” he said. “Others will come after us and finish what we have started and never finished. And who will do that with them other than God? It will be God himself.”

Focus on the positive

Bishop Vanqa urged the chaplains and coordinators not to leave Lumko dwelling on shortcomings or unmet expectations.

“Don’t look at the failures and shortcomings,” he said. “Look at the positive things that we have done in this conference.”

A family spirit

“One of the things that we experienced as a group was the spirit of togetherness that we had,” Bishop Vanqa continued. “The love that we found, almost like that family of Sebastian Bach.”

In that musical household, the bishop said, mistakes were not met with anger. When the children could not complete the song, there was no shouting. Instead, Bach simply picked up where they had left off and brought the melody to completion.

This, the bishop implied, is how the Church must operate, especially in youth ministry. No condemnation for imperfect attempts. No harshness when plans falter. Rather, collaboration, patience and trust that God is at work in the gaps.

The national youth chaplain of the SACBC, Father Motankane Mahlako, also thanked everyone who participated in the conference and encouraged those present to continue supporting one another for the benefit of the youth ministry.

The programme ended with a hearty breakfast and lots of farewell hugs.