Plenary Opening Address

24 January 2024

Pretoria

Bishop S. Sipuka

I take this time to welcome you all to this plenary meeting. We begin the plenary aware of those of us who are still healing from the loss of parents and siblings: Bishop Joao and bishop Mbuyisa, who lost their mothers; Archbishop Jwara, who lost his father; and Bishop Zondi, who lost his sister. We renew our condolences and prayers for your consolation. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful rest in peace. 

In welcoming you this year, I want to follow protocol and begin with the Cardinals. We welcomed Cardinal Brislin in August as an announced Cardinal, but now that we have seen him in red, because seeing is believing, we welcome him with certainty and with no doubt as a Cardinal because we have seen the colour red. All the other congratulations made so far, we were tentative. Congratulations, Cardinal Brislin.

Let me follow up with the protocol and welcome our veteran (Baba Omkhulu), Cardinal Napier. We really have two Cardinals in our conference because the thought faculty of our first Cardinal is still as clear as a bell, and his wit still catches young men off guard. And do not underestimate his physical strength. During the Ad Limina, I walked with him from Mary Major to the Vatican, and he was almost outpacing me. Thank you, your eminence, for your continued contribution to the Conference and welcome. 

Msgr Dario, I had hoped you would be here with the new Nuncio, in his absence, I welcome you alone. Thank you for holding the fort at the Nunciature and for all you do in facilitating our interaction and work with Rome. Welcome, Msgr Dario. Thank you for your kind invitation to supper at the Nunciature on Thursday; we look forward to it. 

I also welcome Fr. Hugh in his second term as secretary-general, which the Board has confirmed. Thank you, Fr. Hugh, for the last three years; we look forward to another fruitful term with you.

Another person who deserves a special welcome in this plenary is Bishop Eddie Risi, who celebrated an important birthday in the life of a bishop this month. Happy 75^th birthday, Bishop Eddie. 

We congratulate the Aliwal North Diocese, which celebrated a centenary last December. Manzini Diocese is also celebrating a centenary this month. If it were not for the fact that the next IMBISA plenary meeting will take place in Manzini, we could have celebrated the centenary by holding this plenary in Manzini. Congratulations, Bishop José. Please give our message of greetings and felicitations for the celebrations. Gaborone Diocese recently celebrated the 25^th Episcopal Anniversary of Archbishop Nubuasah; congratulations, Archbishop. For your retirement, we hope to hold the plenary in Gaborone.

This is our first gathering since the Synod on Synodality in September last year, so our theme for this plenary is Synodality. Archbishop Mpako and his team will lead an extended session on Synodality, giving us information about the Synod and leading us into an experience of the Synod. 

We are gathering brothers and sisters at a time characterised by many challenges in all aspects and at every level. Yet, as much as these challenges press us, there are indications of good news, even if they exist in the form of a silver lining. And so, if one were to be poetic, one could say it is at the best of times and the worst of times that we gather.

On the ecclesial side, one indication of the best of times is the gradual resumption of Church life. During COVID-19, people got used to staying at home and participating minimally in the life and work of the Church, and even a year after COVID-19, they continued to be lazy about the Church. But thank God, the attitude and practice are improving, and churches are getting fuller with improving active participation. Gatherings and conferences have resumed, and the normal liturgical activities of exchanging peace and receiving communion from both species are gradually resuming. 

I also wish to note with gratitude the upward trend of the Lenten Appeal collection in the past three years. You will recall that during COVID-19 and the period after, the Lenten appeal collection took a nosedive; from what I see now, it is picking up again, increasing yearly over the past three years. 

To continue with the best of times in the Church, I wish to appreciate the Department of Christian Formation’s constant efforts to link faith and culture through liturgical translation, healing, and exorcism workshops and research. These are excellent efforts towards the inculturation of the faith, which has been paused since the 1990s. In the past nine years, except during the COVID-19 period, the Theological Advisory Commission has picked up on its task of theological reflection on current matters on behalf of the conference. During this plenary, they will give a presentation on gender fluidity.

Numerous dissertations for master’s and doctoral degrees have been written by Catholics, most with proposals towards the end to contextualise and enculturate their research topic. The Department for Christian Formation and the Theological Advisory Commission would do well to review these dissertations to see how they may help advance the task of contextualising and enculturating the faith. 

Our Social Action Department, mainly through Justice and Peace and Dennis Hurley Peace Institute, is making valuable contributions to concrete justice issues. In the ’90s, this department contributed a lot to the debates about the transition from the apartheid regime to the new dispensation, but now it is focusing on matters of justice in our own time. 

While rejoicing about these silver linings, the worst of times still characterises the Church in many aspects. At the November Board, a point was raised about insufficient formation of priests in catechesis, which manifests in priests not being involved in catechism teaching and not encouraging and supporting catechism. Priests need to be trained in the pedagogy of teaching catechism so that they, in turn, can train catechists. In teaching catechism today, we must do more than drill children on the number of sacraments and commandments. 

The experience of South Africa’s economy and social order showing a downward trend is evident to everybody; one does not need to be an analyst to see that. I will not waste time here repeating the litany of things that are not going well in the country because, in August last year, we had the opportunity to note the failures of political leadership and their contribution to the worst of times in South Africa. We produced a short document titled “Reclaiming the Dream” for immediate release and implementation. 

A more extended version of the document that we dubbed “the Kyros document” was to be comprehensive in its analysis and proposals, taking into consideration what was to emerge from the anticipated similar document of the SACC. We look forward to hearing about this “Kairos document” from the Justice and Peace desk during this plenary and its proposals to improve these worst of times.  

A silver lining to these social and economic woes is the coming elections, which, ideally speaking, is the opportunity to change the situation for the better. A pastoral letter outlining principles to be considered when voting has already been written. The only cause for concern is the high number of parties. The last time I checked on the 14^th of January this year, I discovered that 356 parties had registered with the IEC, and by the time we go to elections, there might be more. 

The good thing about this abundance of political parties is that it affirms and confirms the vibrancy of democracy. The question that arises is how many of these parties are different from each other in terms of their vision. Given these numerous parties, we seem destined for a coalition government, which has not worked well at the local government level. The conference needs to craft some ethical guidelines about coalition government. 

Eswatini has had no public destructive irruption during the last year. Still, according to some reports, there is undercurrent tension with people being detained and others being house-arrested. The last time I heard about Botswana was when the former president had taken refuge in South Africa in fear for his life. I am not sure how that affects ordinary people’s lives; maybe Archbishop Nubuasah and bishop Rebelo could share with us if there are significant issues of concern. 

On behalf of the Conference, I have been engaging about the war in Gaza, not because of any need to validate my relevance as president of the conference. My reaction to the Gaza situation is informed instead by the gut-wrenching sights of massive carnage occurring at levels not seen in recent times, with most of the victims being children and women. What we see is something that goes far beyond an eye for an eye justice principle, totally disproportionate. Even by the account of the allies of Israel, and I quote here the US secretary of State, when he said, “daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high” (Blinken). 

Yet, despite this admission about the unacceptably high number of civilian casualties and the continued torture and anguish of the hostages held by Hamas, the war continues to be supported. Even the hope pinned to the South African government’s charge of genocide against Israel that it would lead to a provisional halting of the war is hanging on a balance. It will depend on the court deciding on whether what is happening in Gaza is legally a genocide or not. 

Whether the South African Government succeeds in proving that what is happening in Gaza is genocide or not, I think that it must be commended for trying to do something about the situation in Gaza while other countries, at best, are silent and, at worst, are supporting the war. It is inhuman and lacking heart not to be moved to do something about what is happening in Gaza. 

We must appreciate the Southern African Council of Churches delegation who, over Christmas, paid a courageous and risky solidarity visit to Palestine on our behalf. We must honor Ahmed Abbasi, a young South African father of three and a representative of the Gift of the Givers who, together with his brother, got killed while trying to assist the elderly, orphans, and the sick in the war-torn Gaza. We must also appreciate the journalists who risk their lives every day in Gaza to cover these painful events for us, many of whom end up being killed. 

While we must be careful not to be seen as competing against Rome, which is doing its best to deal with the situation of Gaza, as bishops, we should not be derelict on our call and responsibility to deal with this issue, particularly as a Conference that has firsthand experience of a similar situation as Gaza. We must continue to do our part in the efforts to stop the present suffering and carnage in Gaza. 

We cannot resign ourselves to saying that there is nothing we can do without incurring upon ourselves the painful judgment of Jesus when he shall say: “Whatsoever you did or did not do to the list of these brothers and sisters of mine, that you did or failed to do to me”. During this plenary, we will have the opportunity to discuss and deliberate about this painful situation in Gaza. 

The recent document Fiducia Supplicans has thrown the cat among the pigeons by proposing a blessing of people in the same-sex union, raising the question of whether when you bless people in the same union, you are blessing them as individuals or the union itself. The other sentiment it has triggered is the perennial sotto voce complaint that one part of the Church, Europe, and the US, to be specific, tends to impose its priorities over the universal Church. This issue of the blessing of the same-sex union is seen by many as an example of that imposition, particularly by some African bishops. 

While I am doubtful about homosexuality being an imported behaviour from Europe or as “un-African”, I concur with the view that it is not a priority at this moment in our situation. We have other priorities, e.g. poverty, corruption, gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, shortage of priests, absence of the youth in Church, lack of catechism teachers, clericalism, lack of resources, and many others. 

The issue of same-sex unions is not at all near high on our list of priorities in the conference but because we are part of the universal Church, Cardinal Brislin and I had to leave everything and respond to the pressing calls of the media on this matter and issue a statement on behalf of the Conference and accept interviews. The statement and interviews were made with the proviso that the final and conclusive position would come from this plenary. So, it is scheduled for discussion. 

To close with a silver lining, I wish to note the trend of improvement in Matric (grade 12) results. Matric results are getting better each year, and this year, they hit an all-time high record of 82%. This is a significant improvement, with more numbers achieving bachelor’s passes and more students passing mathematics compared to previous years. 

While critics are quick to dampen this ecstasy by reminding us that 450,000 learners who started Grade 1 with this matric class of 2023 dropped out, we must still commend the good that has come out of this imperfect situation. A letter of congratulations to Mrs. Motshega, the minister of basic education and a member of the flock (she is a practising Catholic), would be in order. 

I also express gratitude to our own Catholic schools, which have contributed significantly to this overall improved pass rate. Our schools are doing well; we must support them. Thanks to the Catholic Institute of Education, which is doing a lot to help our school maintain a high standard of education. 

Finally, I would like to mention two very talented artists, Bulelwa Mkutukana, known as Zahara, and Mbongeni Ngema, who passed away last month. 

Zahara was a good role model for the youth. Coming from a poor background, she was a rising star who cooperated with world-renowned artists like Kirk Walom in producing music. Her music has meaning with a message to communicate and is durable. 

Yet she was very human, with many personal struggles amid the temptations of the music industry, but she was very formidable in facing and overcoming them. She was about to get married when she died. She was an ambassador of feminine dignity with graceful and dignified self-presentation, not succumbing to the pressure of validating herself by showing too much skin.

Mbongeni, with his Sarafina musical drama, with the theme “Freedom is coming tomorrow”, provided the platform for many to articulate the quest for freedom. To this day, young girls in townships and villages continue to act Sarafina, giving hope for freedoms still to be achieved. Contrary to the hope of 1994, most of our people still live in the oppression of poverty, oppressed now not by apartheid but by the corruption, inefficiency, and sheer thuggery of those in leadership, the foxes in sheepskin.

Mbongeni’s music and drama are not only about severe political and social concerns but also have an aesthetic aspect. Who among those of us who were young in the 80s does not listen with nostalgia to such songs as Stimela saseZola, Woza my fohloza, isiqgebhezana, but are now inhibited by lack of agility to dance to them, or inhibited by the dignity of the office or status?  As much as his art made one conscious of social and political issues, it also elicited playfulness and enjoyment that lifted the soul. 

He leaves a good example of conversion against women abuse and gender-based violence.

We thank Zahara and Mbongeni for helping us with their art and song to express the joys and sorrows of life. May they now enjoy the fullness of this life they sought to express. 

Brothers and Sisters, as we begin this year, we are aware of the challenges ahead of us. But let us also recall that while our time is the worst of times, it is also the best of times because the Lord listens to our prayer to “Give us joy to balance our affliction for the years when we knew misfortune” (Psalm 90).

Welcome to you all.