Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Johannesburg (Fides Service)- In 2006 Fr Manu Tsasa and Fr Léopold Kalubende of Kasai in central Democratic Congo, Scheut Missionaries, members of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary left for mission Klerksdorp, Western Transvaal, South Africa.
It was not easy to settle in the new surroundings Fr Manu Tsasa writes in a report in Chronica CICM magazine. “When we arrived we were taken to the Diocesan Pastoral Centre, where we expected to spend a few days before going to our assigned parish. However we remained at the Pastoral Centre for five months. The first thing we did was to take a language course for ten days with four other priests. You will agree that 10 days are just not enough to learn Setswana, the language spoken in the diocese. After the course it was up to each to increase his vocabulary with new words and expressions”.
“At last on 1 September 2006 we reached our destination. In keeping with CICM tradition, our mission was a remote parish far from the town and we were the first resident priests. The people are 90% black and live in precarious conditions. There is much to be done but there are a number of active Basic Ecclesial Communities started by Oblates who visited the parish regularly”.
The missionaries found they were not immediately accepted by the parishioners. “At first the people here tend to be diffident and indifferent towards any stranger; even on our way to say Mass we rarely meet anyone who greets us. This is because people have learned to see a stranger as someone who could take away an opportunity for work”.
The parish area is vast and there are logistic difficulties: “Our house is in the city, an area which used to be reserved for white people under apartheid. Whereas black people lived in “townships”, some way from the city. This is why very few people come to visit us. The diocese has given us a car for our apostolate and Fr. Kalubende soon learned to drive on the left. He celebrates Masses in villages and I serve the central area for the moment, then we will change places as planned”.
Despite the difficulties, Fr. Tsasa is enthusiastic: “When apartheid ended, South Africa began a process of forgiveness and reconciliation to become a new multiracial country, referred to by some as the “rainbow” nation. We hope the young black clergy will be capable of taking up the challenge to serve this new multiracial and multicultural people (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 3/3/2007 righe 39 parole 485)
