By: Sibongile Hlatshwayo (Sts Peter and Paul Parish, Kwaluseni)
The Covid-19 Pandemic took away a number of our beloved family members and during the lockdown the church could not celebrate Mass for any of them because of the strict restrictions by the government. Gatherings of any sort were not allowed and so were the night vigils; the body of the deceased could be collected from the morgue straight to the burial site something that was very unusual to us since the tradition has always been that a Requiem Mass be celebrated for the deceased something that did not happen during lockdown.
It is because of this that Sts Peter and Paul Parish decided to set a day for a joint celebration in honour of all those who died during the lockdown. This was a moment for the families and the church community to come together and honour in a more descent way our departed parishioners. According to the Parish Death Register, a total of twenty two parishioners were recorded to have died between January 2020 to the time when the celebration was conducted on Saturday the 8th of May, 2021. All the families of the deceased were notified of the event and were requested to submit portraits of the deceased. The news was received with great joy by family members even as some mentioned how much they cursed the pandemic for robbing them of the possibility to accord their departed ones a proper and a descent sendoff.
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