75 Years Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Our structures have been successful, thanks to the efficient coordination of secretaries and directors of various offices and departments. In 2013, the bishops decided to restructure the Conference towards a more coordinated way of working, informed by the intention to evangelise. The bishops wanted each department to ask and answer the question of how its programmes and activities advance the work of evangelisation. The bishops wanted a more streamlined Conference that would enable a coordinated way of working. The aim is to eliminate duplication and even competition among departments, and to promote collaboration among related departments for effective identification and handling of real issues. The merging of departments, commissions and offices led to a reduction of departments from nine to six, with an overarching Council for Evangelisation, which is a coordinating and monitoring body that seeks to ensure synergy among departments and alignment with the core vision of the Conference, which is evangelisation. The SACBC also looks beyond its borders. How? In the recent past, the SACBC has tried to express its international character of being constituted of three countries — Botswana, Eswatini and South Africa — and occasionally alternates its venue for plenary meetings among them. It also tries to concern itself with issues affecting the three countries of the Conference. The SACBC understands its universal character and extends its attention and participation beyond the borders of its territory. It participates and contributes to regional and continental episcopal conferences, namely the Inter-Regional Meeting of the Bishops of Southern Africa (Imbisa) and the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (Secam). Two of its members have served as presidents of Imbisa, and currently, one member of the SACBC is serving as the first vice-president of Secam [Bishop Sipuka himself]. Through its Denis Hurley Peace Institute, the SACBC continues to collaborate with other similar bodies to facilitate peace in situations of conflict across the African continent. The SACBC is awake to the challenges facing the Church in other African countries, and often expresses support and solidarity through solidarity visits and written statements. So we have a good outward focus towards the world and don’t just focus on ourselves.
Next month: Part 2 of the interview
14
The Southern Cross
A brief history of the SACBC
L
ITTLE FUSS WAS MADE WHEN THE Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) first met in March 1947 in Mariannhill. There was no grand announcement nor a big celebration — other than that associated with the episcopal ordination of Bishop Denis Hurley for what was then the vicariate of Natal. Southern African bishops had been gathering before, usually for purposes of funerals, jubilees and ordinations, such as that of Bishop Hurley, which brought them together 75 years ago. On one such occasion in 1919, the assembled bishops had given the go-ahead for the founding of The Southern Cross as the national weekly newspaper (it became a magazine the month of its centenary in October 2020). But these were ad hoc meetings. In the 1940s, the apostolic delegate, Archbishop Martin Lucas SVD, urged the bishops of Southern Africa to constitute themselves as a bishops’ conference. With travel having become easier than before, this would enable the local Church leaders to meet on a regular basis, to cooperate more closely, and to speak with one voice, if necessary — and the rise of apartheid soon after made the latter frequently necessary. The first pastoral letter by the bishops’ conference was issued after that initial plenary in March 1947. It called on the faithful to build up the Church in
South Africa, for example by modelling their home on the Holy Family, and by sending their children to Catholic schools.
Hierarchy established The SACBC elected its first president with the establishment of the local hierarchy in 1951 (see our January 2021 issue). That moment saw the restructuring of the old vicariates into dioceses, with four metropolitan sees (or archdioceses): Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria. The first SACBC president was Archbishop Hurley, who served in that position until 1961, and again from 1981-87. He was succeeded by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Owen McCann (1961-74), Archbishop Joseph Fitzgerald (1974-81), Bishop Reginald Orsmond (198788), Bishop (later Cardinal) Wilfrid Napier (1988-94, 2003-06), Bishop Louis Ndlovu (1994-2003), Archbishop Buti Tlhagale (2007-13), Archbishop Stephen Brislin (2013-19), and since 2019 Bishop Sithembele Sipuka. The SACBC was slow in opposing apartheid, though quicker than most other Churches. Conscious of the regime’s innate hostility towards the Catholic Church, the bishops often took a conciliatory position towards the government. This was driven largely by a concern for maintaining the Church’s network of schools and hospitals. Though
The SACBC bishops, staff and advisers in 1976. Go to www.scross.co.za/2020/12/ sa-bishops-in-1976/ for identification of all the 40 men and two women pictured. (File photo, colourised for The Southern Cross)
