FOCUS • CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

TIME TO BE GRATEFUL, TIME TO MOVE FORWARD!

The centenary celebrations of the Comboni Missionaries in South Africa and of the Diocese of Witbank reach their conclusion

BY FR EFREM TRESOLDI MCCJ

MORE THAN three thousand faithful congregants packed the Emalahleni Civic Centre on Sunday 27 October 2024 to celebrate one hundred years of evangelization in the Diocese of Witbank. Lay people, members of sodalities and church choirs from all the parishes of the diocese joined a solemn thanksgiving Mass presided by Bishop Xolelo Thaddeus of Witbank. Four bishops, among whom Cardinal Stephen Brislin, concelebrated the Eucharist together with over thirty priests. 

“The Church must be owned by the people and be rooted in their culture.”

Representatives of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, the initiators of the diocese, were present, as well as religious sisters, deacons and four local seminarians. 

Moving forward

During his homily, Fr Linda Zwane, the communications officer of the Diocese, paid tribute to the Combonis who first arrived in South Africa in 1924 and spearheaded the work of evangelization. Through the years, other congregations, both male and female, offered their help in the establishment of the Church by contributing personnel and finances in the fields of education, health and social development. “Now—in Fr Zwane’s words—the Church must be owned by the people and be rooted in their culture.” At the end of the festive event, Bishop Kumalo summed up the meaning of the anniversary: “It is not about the past, but it is more so on how we move forward from here, as we are the foundation for the next centenary.” 

Two weeks before the event in Witbank, the commemoration of the one hundred years of the presence and service of the Comboni Missionaries in South Africa were celebrated during separate events in the dioceses of Johannesburg and Pretoria. 

Interculturality

At the Cathedral Parish of Johannesburg, a large group of congregants of St Charles Lwanga Parish in Orange Farm as well as other Catholics from Phiri in Soweto, enthusiastically participated in the feast on 12 October. The guest of honour was Fr Jeremias dos Santos Martins, formerly Provincial Superior of the Comboni Missionaries in South Africa, who presented a reflection entitled: “The Church open to the gift of communities from different countries. A Comboni perspective”. In his articulate speech, Fr Jeremias, who is currently working in Mozambique, explained how the plurality of cultures and nationalities present among the members of the Comboni Institute must become intercultural, that is, endowed with the ability to “live together and accept the diversity of each person with his or her specific individual cultural differences”. That means “walking together, deepening interpersonal relationships, listening to each other and enriching one-another and living in unity”. “Only in this way —added Fr Jeremias, quoting Saint Comboni—can our communities become small Cenacles of Apostles that irradiate the light of the Gospel in Africa and in the rest of the world”. Finally, Fr Jeremias challenged the local Church, primarily the missionary institutes present in the country, inviting them: “to convene a national missionary Congress in South Africa, involving bishops, priests, religious men and women and lay people who would help rediscover the mission of the Church today, called to ‘go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’ (Mk 16:15).” 

Comboni Institute must become intercultural, that is, endowed with the ability to “live together and accept the diversity of each person with his or her specific individual cultural differences”.

The Mass in the cathedral was presided by Archbishop of Johannesburg Buti Joseph Tlhagale, who in his homily invited missionaries to renew their commitment, imitating Blessed Carlo Acutis, and whose feast coincided with that exact day. The teenage saint—commented the archbishop—placed the Eucharist at the centre of his life, making it the source of irradiation of Jesus Christ’s love. 

A Jubilee dedicated to the people of South Africa

On Sunday 13 October, a centenary celebration took place in the Parish of St Daniel Comboni in Mahube Valley (Mamelodi, Pretoria). The Christian community filled the multipurpose hall, which has served as a church since its inauguration in 2007. In his opening address, Fr John Baptist Keraryo Opargiw, Provincial Superior of the Comboni Missionaries in South Africa, presented an in-depth reflection on the theme: “The Comboni Community engaged in the mission ad intra and ad extra in the context of South Africa today”. Regarding the mission ad intra, Fr John Baptist emphasized: “it is our task as missionaries to help the local Church grow and free itself from dependence on money and foreign personnel.” Moving on to the mission ad extra, Fr John Baptist launched the invitation to work together with other agents of evangelization to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable, the migrants and refugees, the unemployed youth… and to reach out to ‘non-believers’ and to those who have abandoned the Church. In conclusion, the Provincial Superior dedicated the Comboni Jubilee to the people of South Africa “who have hosted us and walked with us missionaries for 100 years, from Mpumalanga to the Eastern Cape, from Gauteng to Kwazulu-Natal.” 

The Provincial Superior dedicated the Comboni Jubilee to the people of South Africa “who have hosted us and walked with us missionaries for 100 years”.

It was then the turn of a group of young people from St Daniel Comboni Parish to entertain the assembly with the representation of the life and mission of Saint Daniel Comboni. Through songs and biographical anecdotes, they helped to better understand the message and the relevance of the charism of the founder of the missionary institute. 

Trust in Africans

The episcopal vicar of the archdiocese of Pretoria, Fr Amos Masemola, who presided over the Eucharistic celebration, also dwelt on the relevance of Comboni’s legacy. “In his motto ‘Save Africa with Africa’, Saint Daniel Comboni showed his complete trust in us Africans”—the Episcopal Vicar emphasized forcefully. At that point he launched the following challenge: “If he had trust in us, why don’t we also rediscover our self-esteem and work together to build the Kingdom of God?”. 

The centenary celebration in Witbank, on 27 October 2024, brought to an end the Jubilee Year which was launched on 14 October 2023 in Maria Trost (Lydenburg, Mpumalanga), and subsequently commemorated in Silverton (Pretoria) on 17 February 2024, Orange Farm (Johannesburg) on 16 March 2024, Pietermaritzburg on 12 May 2024, and Johannesburg Cathedral and Mahube Valley on 12 and 13 October 2024 respectively.