The Centenary Celebration of the Comboni Missionaries in South Africa

Some 250 people took part in the event, including diocesan priests of the diocese of Witbank and sisters of various congregations. Among the distinguished guests were Mons. Xolelo Thaddaeus Kumalo, the Bishop of Witbank Diocese and Mons. Dario Paviša, Chargé d’Affaires at the Apostolic Nunciature in Pretoria.

Father John Baptist Keraryo Opargiw, the Provincial Superior in South Africa, in his opening speech thanked God for the confreres who preceded us and gave their lives to the service of God and his people in the area. He also expressed his gratitude for the local people who welcomed our confreres in the past and continue to host us today. Father Fabio Baldan, the Provincial Superior of Italy, in his power point presentation sketched the personal history of many pioneer Comboni Missionaries with their contribution to the growth of the local Church. Father John Maneschg, a guest from the DSP who worked in South Africa for more than thirty years, highlighted in particular the role of Mons Johann Riegler, the first Comboni bishop of the diocese of Witbank, who, ahead of his time, saw inculturation as an integral part of evangelization. In another power point presentation, Father Efrem Tresoldi, showed how the local Church was established, through pictures of parish churches, of confreres and their work in education, health care and development often in collaboration with religious sisters.

The participants were then invited for a prayer to the nearby cemetery where many of our confreres who worked in the diocese are laid to rest. Father Chico de Medeiros recalled the memory of some of them for their dedication in the work of evangelization.

The outdoor Mass, animated by the singing of the choir of the Sacred Heart Parish in Mashishing (Lydenburg), was presided by Bishop Xolelo Thaddaeus Kumalo and concelebrated by diocesan priests and Comboni Missionaries of the South African Province.

In his homily, the Bishop thanked our missionaries who had left their home countries in order to bring the Christian faith to the local people who had not heard of it before. He encouraged our congregation to continue to support the local Church.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, a ninety-year lady from the Sacred Heart Parish spoke in isiZulu and praised the Comboni Missionaries who gave her the possibility to go to school and to become a teacher, in times when education was denied to black people.

The centenary celebrations will continue throughout the year 2024. They will be hosted in the dioceses where we are present: in the Archdiocese of Pretoria on 17 February; in the Archdiocese of Durban on 12 May and the closing celebration will be in the Archdiocese of Johannesburg on 12 October.

Fr. Efrem Tresoldi