Roman catholic
ArchDIOCESE of Pretoria
To be read on SUNDAY MASSES, 4th FEBRUARY 2018
04 February 2018
Bi-centennial Celebration of the Church in Southern Africa
“Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word….”
With these words the gospel of St Mark concludes. This year we in South Africa give thanks to the Lord that for 200 years the Word of the Lord has been proclaimed by the Roman Catholic Church in our land (1818-2018.) Today we give thanks to Lord for His faithfulness and for the wonderful things He has worked for us.
In 1808 Pope Pius VII erected the Vicariate Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope and in 1838 Bishop Patrick Griffith arrived to be the first resident Bishop. In 1847 the Vicariate of the Eastern Cape was established and the first religious sisters, the Sisters of the Assumption, came and began schools in Grahamstown. In 1852 the first Oblates of Mary Immaculate settled in Natal and with Blessed Joseph Gerard opened missions in Lesotho in 1862. In 1877 Bishop Jolivet OMI came to Pretoria and acquired the site of the Cathedral and celebrated the first Mass here on the feast of the Sacred Heart in June 1877. In the following year he brought the Loreto Sisters who immediately opened the school at Skinner Street.
By the turn of the century, the Catholic Church was growing and was evangelising among African communities. In 1882 the Trappists founded the Monastery of Mariannhill and Abbot Franz Pfanner and his monks established a network of mission stations, schools and hospitals. In 1904 Bishop Miller was consecrated as the first Bishop of what was then the Transvaal and in 1906 he ordained the first priests at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. After the discovery of gold in 1887 Johannesburg grew rapidly and was at first served by priests from Pretoria. It soon became a city and parishes were established there, indeed the Bishop went to live there from Pretoria.
In Pretoria at Bantule a school and a mission flourished with the arrival of the Holy Cross Sisters in 1916. As many African people came to the Catholic Church the sisters established Lady Selbourne in 1927 and later Garsfontein. A very zealous missionary Father de Hovre used to cycle to the area around Pretoria ministering to all who were searching for Christ. One evening a deputation came to him from De Wildt to find what they said was “the true Church in Pretoria”.
Fr De Hovre cycled out to De Wildt and a dedicated community formed. The people built their own Church and it was dedicated to the Most Holy Redeemer. A rondavel behind the church became the priest’s residence. De Wildt became a centre for several other missions and was the place taken over later by the Stigmatine fathers.
Much heroic work went into the building up of this Archdiocese. Religious like the Sisters of Mercy, the Christian Brothers, the Assumption Sisters, the Dominicans, the Little Company of Mary, the Nazareth Sisters and the Redemptorists came to serve. The faith and commitment of excellent laity be they catechists, leaders of the sodalities, deeply committed parents who loved and sacrificed for the faith all made deeply impacting contributions.
An example of dedication is the life story of Fr De Hovre. Around 1930 he used to cycle the 45 kilometres to bring Mass and Catechism to the people of Hammanskral, often in extreme heat. Working physically with the generous people there he built a church which he dedicated to his own patron St Camillus. Often the only food he had was dry bread and peanuts. His cycling and his disregard for his food undermined his health. One Sunday morn he could not say Mass and was found lying on a mattress under a tree. The iron –roofed sacristy which he used as his dwelling was simply too hot. When he was carried to Pretoria he begged to return to Hammanskraal to ‘let me die amongst my people”. He died at the age of 56.
In the first part of the 20th century the Church often adopted a conciliatory stance towards the government in the hope of maintaining the Church’s network of schools, hospitals and welfare institutions. By the 1950’s the Catholic Church had established the finest schools in South Africa. All the first rural clinics were created by Catholic religious in the country and the Church had 55 hospitals caring for all races. Until then most of this work was done by missionaries and the government of the time which was anti-Catholic would easily expel foreign missionaries from the country.
In 1953 the government struck at church schools for African children with its Bantu Education Act, the Catholic Church, both whites and blacks fought desperately to retain its Christian educational system. The Bishops’ Conference was established in 1947 and made its first pronouncement against racism in 1952 and in 1957 condemned apartheid as ‘intrinsically evil”. However, it was only in the 1970’s that the Church began to make acts of defiance against the state especially in opening schools to all races.
God has been faithful to His Church and to this Archdiocese. The National Seminaries are now here, so is the Secretariat of the Bishops conference, the Apostolic Nuncio lives amongst us. In 1951 Pope Pius XII established Pretoria as a Metropolitan Archdiocese. We have witnessed great holiness in many but most clearly evidenced in the beatification of Blessed Benedict Daswa in Limpopo. We are blessed with many excellent and dedicated people, people of faith who love and serve their Church.
We have many committed local priests and religious and over 300,000 Catholics. But there is still much to do. We are all responsible for the future. We need not be afraid, God is faithful.
Let Pope Francis challenge us; “Every Christian is challenged, here and now to be actively engaged in evangelisation; indeed, anyone who has experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love”.
Yours faithfully in Christ,
Archbishop William Slattery OFM
Archdiocese of Pretoria