Almost a year after his episcopal ordination, Bishop Zwane of Manzini diocese in Swaziland [now Eswatini] invited IMBISA to hold its next General Assembly in his home country. The chairman honoured the invitation and from the 26th to the 28th of April 1977, the second General Assembly took place at the Holy Family Convent in Manzini.
In the light of the six concerns noted at the first General Assembly and a study of the summary of the written situational reports that were to be tabled, the Assembly called for verbal reports that gave an up to date assessment of political trends, their pastoral implications and the Church’s pastoral priorities (IMBISA. No date. IMBISA so far. A position paper on the origin, purpose and development of IMBISA as an instrument for evaluating IMBISA and discerning its future, p. 1.4).
It should be noted that the second General Assembly took a new direction altogether. Improvements were made. The reports for this meeting were more comprehensive than previously and had been distributed to the bishops in advance of the meeting. Moreover, a clear need emerged for confidentiality regarding the reports which dealt with some sensitive issues.
The theme taken for this Assembly was “Christian Vocation’. Three papers were presented:
- Basic Christian Communities and Christian Family life, by Bishop Ignatius Prieto.
- The Ministerial Priesthood, by Bishop Stephen Naidoo, and
- Lay Ministries, by Fr. Fritz Lobinger of the Lumko Pastoral Institute.
Fr. Fritz Lobinger of LUMKO presented a paper on Lay Ministries. He was later Bishop of Aliwal.
Delegates to the Second General Assembly
- Angola: Archbishop E. Muaca (Luanda), Bishop Francisco Viti (Menongue)
- Botswana: Bishop Urban Murphy CP (Gaborone), Mgr. Boniface Setlalekgosi (V.G. Gaborone)
- Lesotho: Archbishop A.L. Morapeli OMI (Maseru), Bishop Paul Khoarai (Leribe)
- Mozambique: Archbishop Alexandre J.M. Dos Santos OFM (Maputo), Bishop J.M. Nhangumbe (Pemba), Bishop Alberto Setele (Inhambane)
- South Africa: Archbishop J.P. Fitzgerald (Johannesburg), Cardinal McCann (Cape Town), Bishop M. Biyase (Eshowe), Bishop P. Buthelezi (Umtata), Bishop S. Naidoo CSsR (Auxiliary Cape Town)
- Rhodesia: Bishop Ignatius Prieto (Wankie), Fr. Richard H. Randolph SJ (Secretary General RCBC)
- South West Africa: Bishop Edward Schlotterback OSFS (Keetmanshoop), Bishop Rudolf Koppmann OMI (Windhoek)
- Swaziland: Fr. M.A.I. Zwane (V.G. Manzini)
- Secretaries: Fr. John Coleman SDB, Fr. Smangaliso Mkhatshwa (SACBC)
The Assembly
- “strongly recommended the opening of ministries to women, apart from priestly ordination.” This was a matter to be pursued. (IMBISA so far)
- It recommended that bishops should delegate certain administrative duties to lay persons as part of the lay ministry, and place priority on caring for priests and pastoral personnel.
- It also recommended that there be an agency set up to assist priests in the region to study and understand their vocation.
- Social Communications at Regional level was then dealt with. A Regional Commission for Social Communications was to be set up.
The meeting endorsed the appointment of a full time secretary for the commission. It encouraged the chairman of SARCOM (Secretariat of Southern Africa Region for Social Communication), Bishop Paul Khoarai, to take whatever steps necessary to develop the communications media in consultation with the
Bishop Paul Khoarai of Leribe (1970-2009), chairman of SARCOM
member conferences. He was subsequently co-opted as a member of the IMBISA Executive to further the future interests of SARCOM.
Since political ideologies underpinned much of what was happening on the ground in Southern Africa, the Second General Assembly discussed the role of the Church in the process of change and the influence of Marxist Socialist ideology in the region. The liberation movemebts in the region got much of their support not from the western countries but from Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and China which were Marxist Communist in orientation. South Africa had its own communist party which had strong links with the popular African National Congress of the jailed Nelson Mandela. The implications of this ideological orientation of the region had to be reflected upon.
AMECEA, an older regional grouping of dioceses had made a study on Ecumenism. In view of this concern, a paper on ecumenical initiatives in South Africa was also discussed. However, a more urgent concern was that of refugees. Reports on the sudden increase in the numbers of refugees within the region were given. As noted earlier, these were turbulent years for countries such as Angola, Mozambique and South Africa because of civil war and apartheid, respectively. Christian communities were to be made aware of their duty to receive displaced persons. The Continuation Committee was tasked to explore further possibilities on the issue.
A Secretariat is set up
Following a recommendation of the Second General Assembly, a secretariat of IMBISA was set up. The Continuation Committee appointed Fr. Smangaliso Mkhatshwa as Secretary General. The Secretariat was based in Khanya House, from which he was commissioned to draw up a draft constitution for IMBISA. However, Fr. Mkhatshwa was also a political activist agitating for the dismantling of apartheid in South
Fr. Smangaliso Mkhatshwa (left), General Secretary of IMBISA under banning orders visited by Archbishop Joseph Fitzgerald OMI (right) of Johannesburg (Photo: Southern Cross)
Africa. This landed him in trouble with the Pretoria regime. In fact, he could not attend this assembly because of state bans restricting him to Pretoria and Mabopane East. Fr. Scholten therefore acted as Secretary in his absence.
Around the time of the second general assembly in 1977, a further escalation in the number of refugees, including 50 000 to Mozambique from Rhodesia was noted (IMBISA so far, 1.6). This development brought to the fore the concern for refugees at IMBISA. Since refugees moved into neighbouring countries, inter-country cooperation was no longer an option but a necessity if these people were to be effectively assisted. This was to be an issue in the agenda of future meetings and of the first plenary meeting later. This crisis necessitated the establishment of the IMBISA Refugee Service as yet another permanent department of IMBISA. It marked out a programme of assisting refugees.
Sources
Marizane, Antonio Santos. 2001. A history of the Inter-regional Meeting of Bishop of Southern Africa: from 1974-2001. IMBISA, Harare, pp. 17-21.
Featured image: Chapel of the Little Flower, Manzini (photo: Diocese of Manzini)
On synodal journey for 50 years
In celebration of the golden jubilee of IMBISA, formed in 1975, we publish snippets of history once a week.