Category: Diocese of Manzini News

Slowly, people start to accept that I appear anytime… anywhere… unannounced! It is something I learnt from another bishop many years’ ago. He had just been appointed bishop of the Diocese of San Martin (outskirts of Buenos Aires) where I was living. One day he told the people: “let me know when you will be having a meeting. I cannot promise to be there but if I can, I will visit you”. We did. We were having a meeting of young people on the missionary dimension of the Church and he just appeared for a short while, listened to what the young people were saying and then continued somewhere else. By the way, his name was Luis Villalba and he has just been named Cardinal by Pope Francis.

Last Saturday (January 17) there was a training session for the catechists of the Hhohho region (St Peregrine’s, Regina Mundi, Mater Dolorosa and St Mary’s parishes). It was the first of this year and also the first organised by Fr Ncamiso Vilakati since he was appointed catechetical coordinator.

I was busy in the morning but I made time to join them soon after lunch at Piggs Peak (90 kms away from Manzini).

On the way I was wondering how many catechists would have been there considering it is somehow “early” in the year and the training had just been announced. Picture my joy when I found 60 of them in a quite packed hall. As I wrote that day on the social media, the attendance and the spirit was excellent.

After a session on the catechist himself / herself (have a look at the picture above) the rest of the day was dedicated to the material to be used, ages for the celebration of the sacraments and practical problems (we now call them “challenges”!) being experienced in the different parishes and outstations.

I quietly sat down at the back of the hall listening to what they were saying. Any diocesan catechetical policy needs to deal with these practical situations and with the fact that it is not the same to do this journey in a rural area or in town, in a small or in a big community.

People at the back smiled at the unexpected visit of the bishop. Just before the end of the day I spoke briefly (yes, bishops can speak briefly!) sharing with them what the first bishop I worked with in South Africa (Michael Pascal Rowland OFM) used to tell his catechists: “you are the hands of the bishop”. I also thanked them for their presence, service and dedication.

There are four regions in Swaziland. The next three will be having their training sessions in the next month.

By Fr Mark James OP

At the opening Mass of the Catholic Deaf Conference held in Cape Town from 12-15 December 2014, Archbishop Stephen Brislin welcomed all the participants from Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Mariannhill, Manzini, Pretoria and Lesotho. He encouraged each one to recognise their mission as baptised disciples that fits with the conference’s theme: ‘Building a Deaf-aware and Deaf-friendly Church together; celebrating our Catholic Faith in Sign Language’. However, our Catholic mission goes beyond the boundaries of the Church, because – as Catholics – we are called to witness to Christ throughout the whole world, including both the Deaf world and the hearing world.

During deliberations participants shared on the challenges facing Deaf Catholics in Southern Africa today. ‘In Cape Town our Catholic Deaf members have dropped over the years,’ explained Stephen Lombard, the PRO for Deaf Community Cape Town (DCCT) and facilitator of the Conference. ‘We still have about 120 people coming to Mass on the Third Sunday of every month. This conference is important to help develop ways in which we can promote the Catholic faith among Deaf people. We are losing out to many of the new Deaf Fellowship churches which are strong in the Western Cape’.

‘One of the biggest problems within our own Church,’ he said, ‘is that priests in hearing parishes need to become more Deaf-aware. Many priests don’t even know that they have Deaf people in their parishes. Most of the Deaf feel pastorally neglected. We need to develop an awareness programme for priests and hearing parishioners to make them more Deaf-aware and Deaf-friendly’.

Makeni Myanga and Christine Magongwa, two representatives of Deaf youth from the Archdiocese of Johannesburg, believe that ‘the biggest challenge facing Deaf Catholics is the lack of young people in our church communities. We need to develop dynamic Deaf youth groups which make the faith appealing and understandable to Deaf youth. It has to be done through the medium of Sign Language, the language of Deaf youth today. We need good signing choirs and a youth camp to stimulate the faith of our Deaf youth’.

This conference is partly a realisation of Zanele Mbothwe’s dreams. ‘As Deaf Catholics, we felt lost after the death of Fr John Turner CMM last year. In Mariannhill, we didn’t know what we were going to do,’ she said. ‘God has been good in sending us a new chaplain in Fr Lufeyo Mpaha CMM. Thankfully this conference too, helps us get to know other Deaf Catholics and it gives us courage. Now we can build up a better future for Deaf Catholics in KZN’.

‘Since the death of Fr John, many of the Catholics in Swaziland were being lured to join the Jehovah Witnesses’, says Sibusiso Zulu from Manzini. ‘We lost our interpreter at the Sunday Masses because another church could pay him a salary. We were in desperate trouble. Fr Mark James OP has been visiting us to help build up the community again’.

Father Charles Phoofolo OMI, a hearing priest from Lesotho, believes that ‘Deaf awareness is a crucial task in Lesotho, just as in South Africa. Many people in my country still think Deaf people can’t do anything important. Hearing people are very patronising and paternalistic towards Deaf people. Deaf people are not allowed to drive motor cars in Lesotho. There is much prejudice and discrimination to overcome’, he said. ‘I am encouraged by this conference to build support between Deaf Catholics in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland’.

A working committee of seven members was elected comprising: Eric Mahamba (Cape Town); Zanele Mbothwe (Durban/Mariannhill); Makeni Myanga (Johannesburg); Sibusiso Zulu (Manzini); a representative from Lesotho; Father Lufeyo Mpaha CMM; and Father Mark James OP. The committee will clarify and implement the recommendations of the conference over the next two years.

Among the recommendations passed were the organising of a Catholic Deaf Youth camp during 2015; promoting Deaf Awareness in our parishes and dioceses; provision of interpreters for hearing Masses to ensure the inclusion of Deaf people in liturgical celebrations; improving our signing choirs and Deaf liturgy; encouraging Deaf people to become extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist; and to investigate the possibility of programmes like Marriage Encounter and Alpha being made accessible to Deaf Catholics.

In closing, a word of appreciation was expressed to the Deaf Community Cape Town (DCCT) and especially Fr Mark Foster, the chaplain to the Deaf in Cape Town, for agreeing to host this ground-breaking event. A firm foundation has been laid for a Church that is Deaf aware and more inclusive of Deaf Catholics throughout Southern Africa.

Fr Mark James OP

28 December 2014

Fr Ncamiso Vilakati’s address at the Fundraising gathering

“The honourable Bishop of the Diocese of Manzini, Your Excellency Bishop Jose Luis Ponce de Leon, Minister of Finance, Mr Martin G Dlamini, and your beautiful wife Make laLephoto, The Vicar General and the Clergy present here today, religious, members of the Diocesan Pastoral Council, PPC members, all protocol observed, brothers and sister in Christ good evening.

It gives me the honour and pleasure on behalf of St Mary’s Parish, the gateway and receptionists of the Diocese of Manzini to welcome you all in this fundraising gathering. St Mary’s Mission is as old as a museum, as it was established on the 25^th January 1925 when the Order of the Servants of Mary arrived at KaLobamba area with a dream to establish a Catholic community. It was full of hope and promises and amongst those dreams achieved so far, has been the great number of the local produced clergy and religious alike. The faith has been deepened to this community in such a way there has a been a gradual increase of congregants which has compelled us and our predecessors to fundraise with the aim of constructing a bigger church in order to accommodate the higher number of congregants. The present structure that we have is a prefabricated one, a kind gesture from Fr Rurpel, which is not only dilapidated but has proven to be too small to cater for all congregants in our lifetime.

As people who discerned about what befell us, we have listened to the directive given to Solomon by his father David in 1 Chronicles 22: 11- “Now my Son, may Yahweh be with you and give you success in building a house for Yahweh your God, as he has promised about you”. Thanking our immediate predecessor, Fr Christopher Maseko, the PPC who established a Church Building committee, we are indeed indebted to them for having come up with a strategy to sell raffle tickets for a car. Indeed on the 6^th July 2014, Lobamba area was sent abuzz as Manyeva streets and KalaFaro road in ululation rejoiced as the St Mary’s Catholic Church launched a Chevrolet utility van. It was the beginning of a tedious job, where they embarked on the sale of raffle tickets. It was never easy but worth it as we purchased 240 batches of which one has 20 tickets at E50.00 each. As early December with God on our side, we eventually managed to get even and obviously, our Youth played an important role in this achievement. Because of the zeal of these young people, we are praying unceasingly that God accompany us as we endeavour in his ministry and ensuring that the house of God comes to a completion. As earlier stated in our previous gathering, we engaged one of the renowned local Architects to help us with a suitable plan that can accommodate the number of congregants in our parish. The number we thought of was 600 people. That building which could sustain us cost around 1.5 million emalangeni. From the amount, we had last time we have added a E100000.00 and once more, we reiterate the fact that be rest assured we will not sleep until God’s house comes to a completion.

In conclusion as I welcome you to this free and fair draw, I would like to add that it pains us to see ourselves sleeping in a mansion when our Lord and Saviour lives in tatters. We can assure you that we will not lie idle whilst Jesus in the most holy sacrament of the Altar lives in a tattered house, whilst we enjoy ourselves in houses built on cedar trees. We seek for your prayers as the community of St Mary Mission continues to solicit some funds in order to build God’s house.

May the Lord bless you as you continue with your generosity of heart.

Welcome to this event.

Amen”

Fr Ncamiso Vilakati
Priest-in-charge of St May’s

In the past 20 years, the Catholic Church has celebrated a couple of synods for Africa. The first one was in 1994 and the second one in 2009.

“The Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) is an agency of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference which is responsible for maintaining contact and communication between the Catholic Church and the parliament and government of South Africa. It does this by making formal submissions to parliamentary committees, by setting up meetings between Church leaders and government Ministers and officials, and by conducting and publishing research on a wide variety of subjects.

The CPLO bases its activities on the values of Catholic Social Teaching, and seeks in this way to contribute to the common good of all South Africa’s people by helping to develop legislation and public policy that promotes and respects human dignity and freedom.”

On the 04^th to the 07^th of September 2014, the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, commonly known as the “Children of Mary”, held their Annual Conference at Christ the King Mission (Hlathikulu).

The sodality had as its theme the first part of the Marian prayer “Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with you…” which was explained by Fr. Sandile Mswane during the opening Holy Mass.

The conference was attended by more than 200 young girls and boys.

The sodality was honoured to have its guest speakers Rev. Fr. Dumisane Mazibuko who spoke of the importance and stages of Holy Mass; Sr. Lindiwe Sithole  expanded on the topic “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor 6:19).

The sodality made sure that the young girls and boys are assisted to grow spiritually, generally (human development) and more on the understanding of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the last day of the conference, the sodality was honoured to have the bishop of the diocese, the Rt. Rev. José Luis Ponce de Leon, who presided over holy Mass and welcomed knew members into the sodality.

At the last plenary session of the Bishops of the SACBC (Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference) it was decided to express our solidarity with the suffering people in Gaza. We would do it by:

• supporting the call for a Week of Prayer for Peace to be held in all our dioceses from 21 – 27 September;
• taking up a collection in all dioceses by the end of September to support a children’s home in Gaza, to be sent through the Catholic Patriarch in Jerusalem.

“On the occasion of your Independence Day, I send cordial greetings to Your Majesty and the people of Swaziland. Praying that all Swazis may continue to promote the common good in pursuit of peace and justice, I entrust the Kingdom to the loving providence of Almighty God”

Franciscus PP.