Mater Spei (Mother of Hope) College is one of the institutions given to the Divine Word Missionaries to administer by the Catholic Vicariate of Francistown, Botswana. It’s a co-educational High School with about one thousand eight hundred students. Our task here is management and witnessing.

Having taken a break from our Common Formation Centre in Nairobi, Kenya in 1999, I was appointed to the College as the Bursar. My work here is firstly, to make sure that proper books of account are kept in accordance with general accounting principles and secondly, all expenditures are within the estimates of the financial year in question. These always call for accountability, transparency and dedication among other things. My work in the office brings me to meet people from all spheres of life. Those suppliers who want to supply certain items to the College but are not select for one reason or another, teachers who pop in at anytime to check on one thing or another, utility workers, and students who come in to pay a fee or check if something is left for them by their parents or guardians. Hence, there is always someone at the office door who needs assistance. This is what we have to go through daily but one might ask, what do you do after work and during weekends?

I normally smile at such questions and say, with the youth all around, is there anything like after work! I spend some time with the traditional dancers, who practice everyday after school, play a game of table tennis with students preparing for tournaments, and occasionally join the others on the sports field watching the athletes or those students practicing other sports. In showing interest in the students, in both their academic and leisure hours, they become encouraged and cultivate confidence in themselves. It also gives them an opportunity to learn as well as to ask questions, which they ordinarily might not ask because of fear or shyness.  It also gives me the opportunity to know them and how to best assisty them in any given situation. Hence, together we build mutual trust in each other which leads to the building of a healthy community. A sign of HOPE for a better tomorrow! I enjoy my ministry in the College as each day brings new experiences and insights. And here my appreciation goes to my community members who have always been there for me!

When I arrived in Botswana in 1982,I stayed at Our Lady of the Desert from March until just before Christmas of the same year, trying to learn Setswana. I had as companion Brother Mark Rastall SVD, of happy memory. Of the four confreres, Victor, Peter, Frank (Bishop) and Toni, who had arrived a few months earlier, the latter two had already moved to Maun. Apart from the drudgery of cracking the hard nut of learning the not so easy language, my stay there was uneventful. Occasional trips to the diamond towns of Orapa and Letlhakane somehow brightened my sojourn at this time.

My second “date” with OLD began in the latter part of 1990, not so much by choice, but more in the form of a challenge. I had almost completed 30 years as a priest and all the time I was a “bush missionary”; never worked in a town setting. The Provincial asked me if I would be ready to take over Our Lady of the Desert parish. I had just finished the construction of the chapel and the multipurpose hall at Sebina. To be honest, I hadn’t had the chance of celebrating Holy Mass in the new chapel, more than a couple of times. My answer to the provincial was a definite NO. Like David in the Old Testament, I said: “non usum habeo” (“I’m not used to” town life). After a long discussion the Provincial threw a challenge at me: “Nobody else wants to take it up”. I liked it and I said if that was the case, “I will give it a try” and that trial lasted until July 1998. It took me quite sometime to get adjusted to the new situation, where you were a stranger in your own house. You slept in one place, you worked in another and you ate, yet at another place!

Before even I moved in to Francistown, another challenge was thrown at me, this time by the Bishop: “Thomas, you will have to build a new church, which, eventually, will become the cathedral of the North”. Almost immediately after I moved in, we discussed the new church in the parish Council meeting and every one was enthusiastic. After a couple of meetings we came up with the noble idea towards fund-raising: “Motho le motho kgomo” (One man one beast). I was in for a surprise: the first “motho le motho kgomo” came from a totally unexpected source. Old Mr. Robbinson of happy memory, came up to me, one Sunday after Mass and handed me an envelope saying: “Father, I have been waiting for this a long time and I have been keeping this precisely for this purpose”. The envelope contained P 1,000.00!!!

Not many matched the generosity of Mr. Robbinson, though many in the community did contribute generously. Finally we broke ground on 23rd November 1993. And the church was consecrated in 1996. The project that was, initially, planned for P750.000.00 took all of P1,300,000.00! Everyone, I presume, was happy and proud; I was. Here was a House of God, different from traditional, but really beautiful!

In spite of my initial misgivings, I came to like Our Lady of the Desert. I had two really committed helpers in the persons of Sr. Celina and Sr. Justina. With their help and the help of many generous members of the community, I was able to get many things done - helping the poor (major credit goes to Sr. Celina), visiting and caring for the sick (Justina was great in this). One thing I am proud of even today was that I was able to introduce “Sunday School” in OLD, which has of late become the Vicariate policy. Again Justina had her hands full, with children and teachers not turning up for classes. Anyway she did stick it out. In some circles I was not very popular, especially with the youth -I was too strict with them, I was told. Yes, I did speak out my mind, which was, often not according to the current trend. In the process I even earned the nickname “TAU”, Lion.

After I had been at OLD for almost 8 years, I told my superiors and the Bishop that I was ready to move and move I did in July 1998. I took a year off and went on Sabbatical. I did, really, enjoy my stay at OLD and I am glad that I was part of the developments that have taken place there.

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I am Frank Nubuasah, a priest of the Society of the Divine Word. I first came into contact with the SVD in a Printing Press in Accra, Ghana. Four Rev. Brothers were working in the Catholic Press; two of these are young Ghanaian SVD Brothers. I was so impressed with the joy and fulfillment, which they expressed in their vocation and work.

After a few visits to the Press to visit a cousin who works there, I asked him who the Bothers were. He told me what he knew of the SVD and gave me the name and address of the Vocation Director. The next day, I visited the vocation director with my application letter to become an SVD to share the joy and inner peace I experienced in the young Brothers I met at the Catholic Press.

After doing my Postulancy, I entered the seminary to study philosophy and theology. I did my novitiate at the end of my philosophical studies and professed first vows in 1976, while my final or perpetual vows were on September 8th 1979. 

I was ordained a priest in 1980 and was missioned to Botswana in 1981. In Botswana, I learned Setswana the national language and was posted to Maun where I worked for 8 years. While in Maun, my main task was primary evangelization of introducing Jesus to the people and people to Jesus. I was to help establish the Church in Maun and its surrounding villages and towns.

What keeps me in the Society is the communal vision of the Society of the Divine Word of mission. I love being a messenger of the Divine Word bringing his consolation and joy to others. Our community life is also stimulating.

Looking back, I have enjoyed being a priest and will not think of being anything else. There is so much challenge and fulfillment in the life of the priest that the many frustrations that come with the ministry pale into nothingness.

In 1989, I was recalled to Ghana to help in the formation program there. I served in the Novitiate. My main task there was to introduce young men to the life and vision of the Society of the Divine Word. That was a very challenging ministry but one which gives deep satisfaction to see others profess vows in the same Society.

Our father and founder Blessed Amold Janssen never went to the foreign missions, but his vision and initiative led to the birth of the SVD. He continues to inspire me to reach out constantly to others in need. Blessed Joseph Freinademetz our most famous missionary, who never once returned home, is a constant challenge to my commitment to my vocation as a missionary. From heaven, they pray for the whole Society to continue the good work they started years ago.

God’s plans are not ours. So in 1998, I was recalled from Ghana to be the Bishop of the new Vicariate of Francistown. This is again a call within a call to serve as a missionary to my brothers and sisters in Botswana. At the time of my ordination, we were only two African born SVD Bishops. What a challenge this is for us?

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Maynooth, Ireland, October 12, 2000. The day was wonderful when Gerry Kennedy drove me to Dublin Airport. After a few minutes, I found myself in the waiting room of the airport. The time had come and I realized that I had to go to a new world  where I knew no one, to a country where no one knew me, Botswana. The only thing I had was my longing to be a missionary. Many things filled my heart. I was really happy going to Botswana but I was also sad leaving Ireland. There was no logical explanation to such feelings. It is true that life is an art.

I checked in on time. Gerry asked me to have a cup of coffee. I could say nothing. All my words were locked. I had no words…. I lost my words. Sometimes happiness and sadness do not need words. Gerry served all things. Beside our table, some aircrews and airhostess enjoyed their drinks. They were smiling and laughing. “Gaby, I wish you the best in Botswana,” Gerry said. We said good-bye to each other. Air France had arrived. I passed through “passengers only” sign. Those were the last two words I read in Ireland.

Gaborone, October 13. The day was very nice. I tried to organize my footsteps. At the moment I arrived, I knew something totally new was beginning. Edgardo, Joseph and Pauline brought me to Nando’s Chicken, Tsholofelo Mall. Ah…. wherever we go we will find the same taste of fried-chicken or roasted-chicken.

I started my Setswana Course on October 23, 2000. It was very funny. I spoke so divinely in the first days and weeks. Why? Only God understood it…hahaha… One thing I’ve learned then, “do not expect miracles without working hard.” Together with Simon, Anthony, Samuel, Michael and Felix, we found our lives among the people in the villages, bus rank, schools, bars, bus and train. Slowly but surely, “dumela” could come out from Indonesian, Zambian and Ghanaian tongues.

Shoshong was the place I chose to practise my Setswana after the 3 months course in Kanamo Centre. Fr. Sylvester helped me and I spent the whole March staying there. This village and its people really helped me to learn Setswana. Praying together, visiting people, playing with the children and climbing Shosong hills were some of the activities I really enjoyed there. Next to the house I stayed, there was one family. I spent most of my afternoons with this family learning how to read in Setswana. I read passages of the bible and then the father corrected my pronunciations and explained the words I did not understand. Since he knew that I am a priest he asked me also to explain the meaning of the passages in the bible. There was no way. I had to explain in Setswana. It was a blessing. Later then did I know that he was the “kgosi” (chief) of the area I stayed in.

I got my first appointment for Mochudi before Easter. Everything was new.  I preferred to see and learn first. The priority of our missionary work here in Mochudi is building up the community by regular visitation. The Bishop asked me to work with some couples for the family apostolate. As a beginning we started by promoting Marriage Encounter. Together with John Lugun we went for two ME weekends in South Africa. At present I work with eight couples in the Diocese of Gaborone.

Also in the Diocese, we have the Association of Botswana Catholic Church Choirs, which was established in 1998. The Association was formed to improve the standard of church singing and to encourage the choirs’ deeper understanding of the role of music in the Sacred Liturgy. Since October 2001, I was appointed the Spiritual Advisor of this Association. In the last meeting held in Mochudi, February 2002, the members realized that sooner or later, the Association had the responsibility to reflect the inculturation of liturgical music according to the context of Botswana and the tradition of our Church.

A week before Easter 2002, I was asked to be a member of the new catechetical team of our Diocese. The first step we would like to do is to get inputs and sharing from the Catechists, Communion Givers, Catechism teachers and Funeral leaders. We planned to meet these groups in May-July 2002.

“How could I sing a song of Yahweh in a strange land,” in a strange language, in a strange culture, in a strange way of thinking and in a strange environment? (cf. Ps 137:4). Perhaps the cry of this psalmist is also the cry of many new missionaries. One of the bible passages I like very much is Luke 11:1-4. This passage described how one of the disciples of Jesus came to Him and asked, “Teach us to pray!” As a new comer in this country and mission, I prefer to always ask our people, “Teach me to believe, to have hope, to love and to live.”

read an interview with Gabriel

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When I was born on 14 July 1956, everyone in the family thought I inherited my father’s physical features, and so I inherited my father’s name. I was named Patricio de los Reyes Jr.. But I was never meant to be just like my father. After my High School graduation, my father suggested I should become a lawyer like him. But I said I wanted to become a missionary priest. So I did. I joined the Divine Word missionaries in Cebu City, Philippines and started my training to become a Divine Word missionary.

Ten months from my ordination on 23rd October 1982, my classmate and companion to the mission, Fr. Gerardo de los Reyes and I, left for the Missions on 15th August 1983 through Rome. My one month experience in Rome gave me a glimpse of how big the tree of Catholic faith has grown; and arriving in Botswana on 21 September 1983 I realized how much of its branches have reached out even to the “ends of the earth”.

After 3 months of tongue-twisting language learning, I joined Krystian Traczyk in Serowe. There I started learning, truly learning to be a missionary. One of my experiences in Serowe that has really made an impact on my missionary orientation was our weekly home visits to the sick and the old. Praying is a universal need and gesture of believers and that made me, although imperfectly, one with them.

After three years in Serowe, Botswana, I was asked if I was ready and willing to be sent to Zambia to start a new Mission. Without hesitation, more probably because of my sense of adventure rather than my missionary aspiration, I accepted the offer. So, on 1st April 1986, joined by Stanislaw Zysk from Poland, I left Botswana for Zambia. Immediately we plunged ourselves into another tongue-twisting language learning in the Western part of the country. Then seven months later, joined by another companion from India, Kuriakose Kozhikaddan, we started work in Mukuni, a small and compact village just 8 kilometres from the world famous natural wonder - Victoria Falls.

It was here in Zambia that I stayed longer (1986-1994). I was put in-charge of Mukuni. Some years later, I found myself doing more things for the local church, like retreat directing, animating youth groups, coordinating Diocesan pastoral planning, etc. Then in 19901 was given the task of starting our own formation program. So, in August of 1990, I began our formation program with our first group of seven postulants from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In my initial years as formator, I was still in charge of Mukuni Parish and also doing many other things for the Diocese of Livingstone and for the Society as well, like vocation promotion, coordinating the OTP, etc. But let me say this frankly, doing so many things at the same time made me realize more and more the things that I could not and ought not do. And plunged into formation work without professional training and preparation also brought me to the realization of how little I knew. The tasks I did from 1990 to 1994 created a vacuum in me like a well that had run dry. Fortunately for me, I was sent for studies to the U.S.A. for three years. The time I had in St. Louis, Missouri did not only give me time and space for learning but also for a deeper exploration into myself- my pains, my doubts, my persona and my faith.

With great hopes and expectations, I came back to Botswana in April 1997 to become a Novice master which did not materialize. Well, I was in the Parish where the Novitiate was also and I helped in the formation of the novices and helped in the Parish as well. My ministry in Sebina was short-lived. I was asked after a year, to take Palapye, although I had a choice to remain in Sebina. But I took Palapye because of its challenges. It was a challenge, all right, but I had a wonderful time with the Palapye community. They taught me that I needed to trust them and let them become what they dreamt to be by letting them be and by following their own pace. They re-ignited in me my love for the sick, the old and the poor.

Again, it was planned that I would re-start the Novitiate in 2002. So, to prepare for this task, I was sent to the Nemi Renewal Course in Nemi (Rome), Italy. This was one of the events in my life that has given me a lot of time and space to dig deeper into myself, especially my shadows which prevented me from growing into maturity as a person. I thanked God for this opportunity. But again, another major turn in my life. Just before I returned from my homeleave which I took after Nemi, I was elected Provincial Superior of Botswana-Zambia-Zimbabwe Province for the triennium 2002 - 2005. Presently, this is my task and I am full of mixed feelings. One side of me tells me I have made a mistake in accepting this task and another side is telling me, go on take up the challenge. However, I am confident that with my confreres and with God, there is nothing that cannot be overcome.

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George was born on 2nd February 1958 as the seventh child in a good Catholic family in Kerala, which has Christian traditions reaching back to apostolic times. He learnt about the SVD from one of his relatives and joined the congregation. George wanted to go to the missions but not necessarily to Africa, although that continent was one of his options. He was a little hesitant when asked by the vice general if he would go to Botswana. George agreed and arrived there on 21st June 1987. The SVD mission in Botswana was already established although it was still new and fresh. From the first years George recalls learning the language as a real hardship. At that time it was not organized as it is today; a new missionary had to struggle a lot. George started with the Mass and the Bible. At the beginning he couldn’t understand a thing but slowly his knowledge of the language improved. After two years he gained a lot of confidence in Setswana. Getting used to the culture was not so difficult. George found quite many similarities between the social structure in Botswana and India. Also he made some research and studies before going to the missions.

His beginnings in pastoral work were difficult. He had to do many things on his own; he had to discover the best ways of approaching people. Again the first two, three years were full of struggle, also because of the language. From the very beginning George visited people and has kept this as a priority till now.

George’s first appointment was Palapye. He worked there from August 1987 until April 1994. In Palapye George was also involved in the school. The school provided him with more opportunity to be with the people and also to improve his language. In Palapye George concentrated on two things: bringing lapsed Catholics back to the community by visiting them and building a new church. Although he was not entirely satisfied with the way of constructing and building the church, it is now a visible achievement of the Palapye community and his days of mission work there.

When George came to Tonota in 1994 there were not many people in church. Again he set out to visit all the Catholics one by one encouraging them to take a more active part in the Church’s life. There was also no Parish Council so it became one of his major challenges to form one. In 1999 the community in Tonota was bigger and more active and George can say he left the parish much better then it was at the beginning.

In 1999 George moved to the South, to the Diocese of Gaborone being assigned to the parish in Mochudi with six outstations. In terms of the Catholic population Mochudi is a very small parish, consisting of less than 200 people. Together with the outstations it would come to 600. To date George sees this as his greatest challenge where he finds little enthusiasm on the part of the people for church.  Generally Kgatleng is a difficult area for the pastoral work. However George, now together with Gabriel Faimau try their best and the fruits are coming.

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I was born in Kabwe – Zambia from a strong Catholic background both parents were very committed Catholics. I come from a family of eight and I am the second born. I joined the SVDs because I happened to be in an SVD parish (Dambwa parish Livingstone) during my secondary school education, the then parish Priest Stan Zysk and his assistant John Regalado encouraged me.

I was privileged to be in the first batch of the formation programme in Botswana Province. History was made when the first two Zambian SVD priests were ordained on September 9, 2000 Livingstone. It happened that I was one of the two. It was indeed a humbling experience for me. I felt very small in front of a huge crowd. Thanks be to God I did not collapse due to the tension inside me. After my ordination I was appointed to work in Botswana. I arrived in Botswana in the mid of October 2000. I had my introduction to Setswana language and culture for three months.

Upon completion of my Setswana course I was posted to work in Holy Cross Catholic Mission Mogoditshane, which is about 5 km from Gaborone city. Holy Cross Parish is a very big in terms of the number of Catholics. It may be one of the biggest parishes in the diocese of Gaborone. Being close to capital city we have a lot of challenges. The most challenging thing at the moment is to work with HIV / AIDS patients. The sad fact is that no matter how hard you encourage and strengthened these people they are destined to die.

Unfortunately most of them are young girls; they leave babies behind who are most probably infected. Sometimes I ask myself by saying how can we give hope to such kind of people? Generally my work in Mogoditshane has helped me to grow as young Missionary. Coming from a different church I feel that this experience will always help me in my future Missions. Coming back to the Province as a Pioneer Priest in the Province I have a lot of dreams, hopes and challenges. I am challenged to build up bridges between the up coming local SVD’s and the older confreres. I am also challenged to be exemplary to the young ones because my failure may be bad precedence for the upcoming local SVDs.

My hopes and dreams for the province; I would like to see our province flourish like other provinces of Africa with many good vocations to our society. I would also like to see the day when we shall have the first SVD ordinations from Zimbabwe and Botswana. Finally my dream is to see our Province that only as a recipient in terms by Missionaries and finance but as a major player and contributor in these areas.

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Usually I ignore mission statements because they do not convey any new information. The Botswana Post Office advertises itself: “We deliver”. It is obvious; otherwise I would not go there to post my letters. I go to Cash Build for shopping because they offer the lowest prices. I know it without reading its mission statement. But since I volunteered to be a member of the Justice and Peace Vicariate Committee I have started reading carefully everything published by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Justice and Peace Department. Last year each parish received one issue of ‘Justice and Peace annual Report 2001’. The report begins with a mission statement and I was about to skip it, as I had been used to, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed the following statement: “J&P recognizes and promotes the equal dignity of all persons, irrespective of religion, ethnicity, colour, sex, sexual orientation, nationality, origin, economic situation or standard of education”. For the first time a mission statement has caught my attention. I had some doubts about this statement with regard to “sexual orientation”, but I tried to look at it in the way as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says in the paragraph 2357: “They [homosexuals] must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity”. I finished reading and forgot about my doubts. I did not even think I would have to come back to it in the future.

A couple of weeks later I was browsing on the Botswana websites and I came across the website of the Botswana Centre for Human Rights Ditshwanelo. The second paragraph of its mission statement looked exactly like the mission statement I had found in the ‘Justice and Peace Annual Report 2001’: “The Centre seeks to affirm human dignity and equality irrespective of (…) sexual orientation”. I would not be surprised if a human rights organization identified itself with the values of the Catholic Church, but Ditshwanelo is not a simple human rights organization. Three years ago Ditshwanelo was awarded the 2000 Felipa Awards by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) (the organization claims that it is named in honour of Felipa de Souza, a Brazilian lesbian tortured by the Portuguese Inquisition in 1591) for its contribution to promote gay and lesbian’s human rights in Southern Africa. It shows that the idea of recognizing and promoting the equal dignity of all persons irrespective of sexual orientation may be understood in a different way. Basing on Sacred Scripture the tradition of the Catholic Church has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and homosexual persons are called to chastity (CCC 2359). Was Ditshwanelo awarded for its contribution to promote sexual abstinence among gays and lesbians in Southern Africa? I do not think so. The J&P mission statement looks like the copy of a politically correct form: name, surname, nationality, religion, sex, … and sexual orientation. Putting ‘sexual orientation” together with nationality, religion and sex may be very misleading. Let us have a look at some examples taken only from one issue of the Southern Cross (October 23 to 29, 2002), a Southern Africa’s National Catholic weekly.

The letters of the readers to the editor, and there are many of them, show it clearly. One letter was entitled: “Gay parents are better than no parents”. The author of the letter says: “(…) I have seen happy, loving homosexual homes where children are loved and cared for. They are thought respect and are encouraged to lead normal, heterosexual lives. Surly a loving home such as this is far better and more godly than many broken and hurt heterosexual homes”. To my surprise the letter did not have any comment in the catholic newspaper (but other letters have, for instance, “The devotion to the Divine Mercy depends on a reported apparition. Catholics are free to believe or doubts the veracity of this event or similar apparitions, and are not bound by it. (…). Editor”). The Second Vatican Council teaches us that "God himself is the author of marriage” and marriage is understood as the union of love between a man and a woman, a union open to life and integral procreation. Cardinal Trujillo of the Pontifical Council for the Family, commenting on this subject on Vatican Radio said: "To present the union of homosexuals as a kind of value, at the same level as matrimony, is an attack against the truth of man and woman”.

In the same issue of The Southern Cross, G. Simmermacher, in his editorial Abandon gay ban plan, suggests to the Vatican not to exclude from the priesthood men with a homosexual orientation. He worries that it could be served as a counter-witness to the teaching of The Catechism of the Catholic Church that: “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”. But recently the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments in response to the consultation of a bishop who asked if it is licit to confer priestly ordination to men with manifest homosexual tendencies has expressed its judgment as follows: “Ordination to the deaconate and the priesthood of homosexual men and men with homosexual tendencies is absolutely inadvisable and imprudent and, from the pastoral point of view, very risky. A homosexual person, or one with a homosexual tendency is not, therefore, fit to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders”.

These two examples show that Catholics may differ in their views from the official teaching of the Church on certain moral issues. We need, therefore, to have clear and unambiguous statements with regard to homosexuality. The judgments of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments have convinced me of my doubts. We recognize and promote the equal dignity of all persons and there is no doubt about it, but we must bear in mind that homosexual tendency itself is already regarded as objectively disordered (CCC 2358). Putting ‘sexual orientation” next to, for example, “standard of education” may lead some people to the conclusion that being a homosexual is as good as being a doctor or a teacher. There are homosexuals, and we cannot ignore this fact, who did not choose their homosexual condition and for them it is a real trial to fulfil God’s will in their lives. And I doubt that they want to be labelled “gays” in public. What they need is our prayer that they may gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

Many human rights organizations claim that their mission is to protect the human rights of all people subject to discrimination or abuse based on sexual orientation. Today they are in minority, but both in Greece and in Rome homosexual practices were so common that they had come to be looked on as natural. It is known that many Roman Emperors practiced homosexuality. Nero, for example, took a boy called Sporus and had him castrated. He then married him with a full marriage ceremony and took him home in procession to his palace and lived with him as his wife. When Nero was eliminated and Otho came to the throne, one of the first things he did was to take possession of Sporus. Much later, the Emperor Hadrian's name was associated with a Bithynian youth called Antinous. He lived with him inseparably, and, when he died, he deified him and covered the world with his statues and immortalized his sin by calling a star after him. Although homosexual orientation had been regarded in the eyes of many in Rome as natural, St Paul did not hesitate to write in his letter to the Romans and to the Corinthians warning them that homosexuality, both male and female, was not accepted in the Bible (Rom 1, 24-27; 1 Cor 6,10). Today we must have the same courage to be faithful to the Gospel and not to give in to the pressure of certain dubious human rights organisations. They promote the dignity of all persons including homosexuals, but under the pretence of humans rights they try to present the union of homosexuals as a kind of value at the same level as matrimony that is unacceptable not only from a Christian point of view.

Scientific evidence suggests that the 'causes' of homosexuality are complex, but there is no evidence at present to substantiate a biologic theory that homosexual people are “born that way”. However, some anthropologists (C. Brettell, C. Sargent, Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective) point out that sexuality is neither a static state nor a fixed sexual identity or orientation. They argue that human sexuality takes its form through social processes such as religion, ethnicity, class, family as well as reproduction. In Lesotho, for example, schoolgirls have intimate friendship that is called ‘mummy-baby relationship’. It is an institutionalised friendship between younger and older girls and women. These relationships became popular throughout much of black southern Africa starting in the 1950s. The ethnographic data show that these relationships go to the past when women of an earlier generation in rural Lesotho established intimate friendship with other women called ‘special friend”. This special friendship was long term, loving, and erotic relationships that coexisted with heterosexual marriage. Their relationship was celebrated by gift giving, slaughtering a sheep, and feasting that involved the whole community. In Kung society children learn about sex through observation. Boys and girls play at parenthood and marriage. During adolescence, both heterosexual and homosexual sex play is permitted. Some of the best known work exploring homosexuality in Africa is that of Evans-Pritchard and his studies of the Azande of present day Zaire, beginning in the 1920s. Evans-Pritchard found repeated examples of adolescents prior to the age of 17-18 serving as "boy wives" to older men. They were expected to help their "father-in-law" and "mother-in-laws" to cultivate the fields, build huts and would often sleep with their father-in-laws. All these examples show that same-sex sexuality has been noted in a number of indigenous groups in Africa, but this information does not change anything in the Teaching of the Church with regard to homosexuality. 

The Gospel always comes from “outside” and transmits to the non-Christian cultures its own values and, as John Paul II says in Redemptoris Missio, “at the same time taking the good elements that already exist in them and renewing them from within”. Jesus Christ himself was the greatest original and an outsider to the Jewish people. The Gospel was rejected by the Romans until the time of Constantine the Great (c. AD 274-337), the first Roman ruler who was converted to Christianity, because it was foreign to their system of values and believes. Today we live so many years after the birth of Jesus Christ and Christianity is still stranger to some human rights organisations, indigenous societies and even to some Christians themselves.

After reading the J&P mission statement I have a feeling of déjà vu. It reminds me the mission statements of hundreds of human rights organizations in Europe and the United States promoting gay and lesbian’s human rights. All of them are concerned about environmental justice, democratisation, gender equality, even ecumenism, but there is nothing there about building up a just society on the basis of the family. It is lacking also in the J&P mission statement. Let us ask ourselves if it is just to be brought up in a single mother family. Single mothers have become so common, for example, in Botswana that it does not surprise anybody. This is a real problem we are facing in this part of Africa and I cannot understand why it has not been even mentioned in the mission statement of SACBC. The J&P mission statement has left some room for doubts. Mr Simmermacher worries that the exclusion of men with a homosexual orientation from the priesthood may be served as a counter-witness to the teaching of The Catechism of the Catholic Church. I have another worry. I am afraid that the next Filipa Award of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission may be awarded to the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Justice and Peace Department.

February 2003

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This year I attended the Justice and Peace General Conference which had been held at Sicanani Village in South Africa from 3^rd to 7^th March. The theme of this conference was “Changing Institutions to Meet the Needs of our Society”. The aim of Biannual General Conferences is to continue to develop the Justice and Peace local, national and regional structures through the network across South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland, coordinated through the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference. It was a good opportunity to meet the new Chairperson of the Department, Bishop Pius Mlungisi Dungwane, who had succeeded Bishop Kevin Dowling, there were a couple of interesting inputs, but there was also something else that has riveted my attention.

One of Karl Marx’s prediction was on the inescapable collapse of the capitalist economy. This prediction has turned out to be wrong as well as the others.

On the last day of the conference I found a couple of brochures on my table in the conference hall. I browsed them through during the morning session, and to my surprise, in the NGO Matters (Volume 7 No. 5 / 2002) I came across an advertisement on the Communist Manifesto: “Activists gathered in the Workers Library and Museum in Newtown, Johannesburg recently to launch the first ever publicly available isiZulu translation of the Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Frederic Engels”. The advertisement says that the translation of the over 150 years old Communist Manifesto had been done by Soweto born activist, Brian Ramandiro from the Workers’ Organization for Socialist Action (WOSA), and is available for R 30,00 from STE Publishers. I waited until the first tea break and run quickly with the magazine in my hand to one the organizers of the conference to share my discovery with him. And here I got surprised for the second time at the same morning. “You might not be aware of what I have found in this magazine” – I said exited. I showed him the magazine and asked: “I don’t think that is it the right place for such advertisement at the J&P conference organized by SACBC?” But he seemed to be inflexible by my discovery, and said calmly more or less: “You’re overreacting. Don’t worry. It is not the same communism as it used to be in the past”.

I would not worry if the WOSA and some J&P activists read the Communist Manifesto as one reads many classics. I am not against reading Marx and Engels’ works. They are worthy reading as they constitute a part of European culture. Leszek Kolakowski in his article What is left of Socialism (First Things, 126/2002) says that one should read Descartes’ works on physics, but it would be silly to read them as a valid handbook of how to do physics today. The advertisement shows that the Communist Manifesto for the WOSA activists is something more than a simple classic book. It says: “The publication was hailed by all who spoke as a significant contribution towards building capacity amongst activists working amongst the poor”. It worries me because it remands me the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia which had been carried out under the following slogan: Peace and land for peasants. I thought there would be no need in the future to mention that this slogan had been to be subsequently turned into its opposite. However, after having reading the WOSA advertisement on the Communist Manifesto I see that Marxism is again popular. According to P. Sartre one of the causes of the popularity of Marxism was the fact that in its simple form it was very easy. L. Kolakowski is more precisely with this regard and adds: “Indeed, they enjoyed having one key to open all doors, one universally applicable explanation for everything, an instrument that makes it possible to master all of history and economics without actually having to study either”.  Let us have a look at what has been left of socialism.

In the same article L. Kolakowski shows that all of Marx’s important prophecies have turned out to be false. First, K. Marx predicted growing class polarization and the disappearance of the middle class in societies based on a market economy. This prediction has proved to be wrong, and rather the opposite is the case. Second, K. Marx’s theory predicted the absolute impoverishment of the working class. This prediction was already wrong in his lifetime. Third, K. Marx predicated the inevitability of the proletarian revolution, but such a revolution has never occurred anywhere and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia had nothing to do with his prophesies. His fourth prediction was on the inescapable collapse of the capitalist economy. This prediction turned out to be wrong as well as the others. The fifth tenet of Marxism has been proved to be erroneous too. K. Marx predicted that the market would hamper technical progress, but the exact opposite has quite obviously proved to be the case. The market has turned out to be extremely efficient in stimulating technological progress and creating the greatest abundance ever known in human history. And L. Kolakowski points out that “some neo-Marxists have felt compelled to change their approach. At one time, capitalism appeared horrifying because it produced misery; later, it turned out to be horrifying because it produces such abundance that it kills culture.”

We must bear in mind that not only Europeans tried to implement Marx’s theory in practice in the past. There were also some African leaders who experimented with African socialism and Afro-Marxism in the hope that this would bring prosperity to their countries. Tanzania is probably  the most widely debated country in Africa. Whether the studies are written by the Right or the Left, by Marxists or the staff of the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, the conclusions about Tanzanian socialism are the same. Almost everyone concedes that it was a great idea and there was never more noble social experience. But it failed and there was never a more miserable failure.

Crucial to Julius K. Nyerere's plan was the creation of ujamaa (Swahili, “familyhood”) communal villages where people  should treat each other as brothers  and sisters. His wishful thinking did not happen.

In 1967, Julius Nyerere presented the Arusha Declaration in which he rejected capitalist institutions and announced plans to nationalize and control the economy. Crucial to Nyerere's plan was the creation of ujamaa (Swahili,  “familyhood”) communal villages where the dispersed peasant population could come together in small communities to live and work together on communal farms. Despite energetic efforts by the party and the government to get people to move to ujamaa villages, the response was minimal. Some Tanzanian officials privately admit that out of the 8229 registered ujamaa villages in 1977, fewer than 25 of them actually adhere to the characteristics of ujamaa. In the mid‑1970s, Tanzania's economy was beginning to suffer from its ambi­tious and increasingly unrealistic development policies. Government inefficiency, corruption and mismanagement were widespread and growing. Starvation in 1980 was only avoided by virtue of importing more than 200,000 tons of corn. Shortages were widespread in even the most common items, such as soap, cooking oil and milk. Tourism could be a great source of foreign exchange earnings, but the socialist government argued that rich tourists would undermine socialist values and spread the ideology of consumerism. Thus the vast game parks, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Ngoronogoro crater ‑ potentially the greatest tourist attractions in Africa ‑ remain undeveloped. In 1981 Ross summed up the current perception of the Tanzanian economy neatly: 'By any standard of measurement, the economy of this East African nation is in a mess.' We must admit that according to some scholars there is an element of truth in the argument that the Tanzanian leadership has forced its vision of socialism on the people from the top down. However, it was a failure of socialism itself. In November 1985, J. Nyerere retired and was succeeded in the presidency by Ali Hassan Mwinyi who introduced economic reform programmes aimed at liberalizing the economy.

In all communist societies worldwide, in Africa as well as in the Soviet Block, economic reforms led inevitably in the same direction – to the restoration of the market economy, that is to say ‘capitalism”. Marxism, Afro African socialism and Afro-Marxism failed because of two main reasons. First, socialism was an ideological construction, whereas capitalism has developed spontaneously and organically from the spread of commerce and nobody planned it. Secondly, a social or moral philosophy based on the ideal of human brotherhood has never been so far implemented by institutional means. For J. Nyerere, the good society should be like a family where people should treat each other as brothers and sisters His wishful thinking did not happen. L. Kolakowski points out clearly: “Fraternity under compulsion is the most malignant idea devised in modern times; it is a perfect path to totalitarian tyranny”. It must be underlined that Tanzania under J. Nyerere never experienced the state violence to the same extent as it has been encountered elsewhere in Africa. However, Tanzania was not controlled by ‘workers and peasants” as had been envisaged by J. Nyerere in his Arusha Declaration. The ujamaa villages were, in fact, dominated by authoritarian bureaucrats appointed from Dar es Salaam, and for peasants who still refused to move to the ujamaa villages, coercive methods as extreme as the burning of huts were applied. The state did not hesitate either to act against workers’ organisations and some of their leaders who tried to negotiate better conditions of employment were imprisoned. It shows that even J. Nyerere’s socialism was not as benign as his reputation would suggest

After the Berlin Wall had fallen and Eastern Europe escaped from the shackles of communism, Cal Thomas suggested in the National Review that a "cultural war crimes tribunal" be convened, at which people from academia, the media, government and the clergy who were wrong in their assessment of communism would be forced to confront their mistakes. His advice has not been noticed, but there were some people who made an act of contrition themselves. Among them there is L. Kolakowski, a Polish philosopher who began as an orthodox Marxist, in 1968 was dismissed from the Communist Party and moved to the West. The above-mentioned article What is left of Socialism will appear in his forthcoming book My Correct Views on Everything. Another one was J. Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, who after the collapse of authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe had started speaking out in favors of restoring democracy in his country. One can say that it is easy to be wise after the event. But there were some people who pointed at the errors of socialism at the very beginning after K. Marx and F. Engels had written their Communist Manifesto.

“No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist” (Pius XI, Quadragesimo  Anno, 120)

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII had released his encyclical Rerum Novarum (on the Condition of Labour) in which he rejected communism and the philosophy on which it was based. Rejecting the Socialist solution, Leo affirmed the right to private property as a right that derivers from human nature itself. In the fortieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum Pope Pius XI warned again against a communist solution in his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (Reconstruction of the Social Order). He admits that Socialism, like all errors, contains certain elements of truth, but “no one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true Socialist” (QA 120). In the hundredth anniversary of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church, John Paul II in his encyclical Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year) confirms the teaching of his predecessors. He speaks expressis verbis about ‘fundamental error of socialism” which is based on an atheistic view of humanity instead of a transcendent one. John Paul II says: “Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social order. (…) A person who is deprived of something he can call ‘his own’, and of the possibility of earning a living through his own initiative, comes to depend on the social machine and on those who control it. This makes it much more difficult for him to recognize his dignity as a person, and hinders progress towards the building up of an authentic human community” (CA 13)

This is one of the reasons why I read K. Marx and F. Engels as classics. I suspect, however, the WOSA activists may be ignorant of the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church. But there is also another reason. It is common knowledge that K. Marx, although not an anthropologist, is credited with the “discovery of the law of evolution in human history”. Together with F. Engels he praised the progressive effects of European colonialism and imperialism and held other civilizations in contempt. This is for me the another reason for not using the Communist Manifesto as valid handbook of how, for example, eradicate poverty in Africa. In my bookcase the Communist Manifesto by K. Marx and F. Engels has always been next to the essays on physics by Descartes.  

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GENERAL INFORMATION

The Republic of South Africa is a huge country with 1.223.201 km2 and a population of about 45 million. The country is divided into nine provinces and has eleven official languages. Though South Africa has made good progress in many fields, many are disillusioned with the changes after 1994. It is still troubled with the problem of large socio-economic inequalities and continues to manifest itself in the form of high unemployment rates and wide areas of poverty and crime. South African society is threatened by the HIV/AIDS and is the country with one of the highest percentage of the people infected by AIDS. This is the new South Africa, the post-apartheid one, still struggling to recover from the effects of the apartheid era. There are uncertainties as well as major changes in the society - its value systems and the thinking patterns of people.

The religious picture of the country according to the Catholic Encyclopedia is following: Among the 83,1% Christians the biggest numbers are the Independent churches (45,8%) which are indigenous churches, African Christian denominations. Catholics are 8,4%, Anglicans, and other mainline churches 26,9%.

DIOCESE OF TZANEEN

The geographical area of the diocese of Tzaneen in the Limpopo province of South Africa covers a population of over two million, and has boarders with Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Less than 3% of this are Catholics. The diocese has three language groups and 13 parishes. Two of the major programs of the diocese are: “Call to serve” program of Lumko for lay leadership training and programs connected with HIV/AIDS. AIDS and the effects it has on people are a major concern of the diocese and country. Small Christian communities, lay participation, ministry and leadership, collaborative ministry, AIDS related ministries, financial self-sufficiency, etc. are the principles on which the diocese is trying to build the life and activities of the parishes. Of the former homelands (Black National State, within South Africa, independent from 1979 until 1994 when it was re-integrated into South Africa), all of Venda, the greater part of Gazankulu and some parts of Lebowa are in the diocese. Limpopo province is one of the least developed provinces of South Africa and it is also the hottest place in summer. Though there are great efforts made in the line of financial self-sufficiency, the parishes and the diocese itself are struggling.

PERSONEL IN THE DIOCESE

Bishop, Hugh Slattery MSC and eight MSC Priests (MSC - Sacred Heart Missionaries). Apart from them there are six St. Patrick’s missionaries (Kaltigans) and three local diocesan priests, one Carmelite, two SVDs and three De La Salle brothers. The thirty or so religious sisters belong to the Congregation of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart MSC (13), Franciscans (2), Assumption Sisters (3), Holy Rosary (6), Carmelites (3) and Holy Spirit Sisters. There are four SSpS sisters now at Levubu, in the Venda speaking parish of Sibasa. Their convent is 100 kms from Giyani. There are a few full time pastoral workers, including two permanent deacons, employed in the diocese and in some parishes. The diocese is slowly phasing out the paid atechists in order to encourage the lay volunteer ministries. It is also very much a decision because of the financial difficulties of the diocese.

GIYANI PARISH

Giyani was the capital of Gazunkulu and the language spoken here is Xitsonga. St Augustine Parish is one of the two Xitsonga parishes in the diocese. It is a well-organized little township parish of some 250 Catholics, divided into five small christian communities. At present it has two small outstations, both within 15 kms from Giyani. The Giyani Parish did not have a residential priest for the past five years. The financial administration of the parish is done by the Parish Finance Committee. The average income now covers roughly 60% of the total expenses. Almost all of it comes from Sunday collections and pledges. There are also a few generous individuals and families who buy for us food and other household items.

LANGUAE  AND CULTURE LEARNING

We came here on the 5th of April 2003. When we left Botswana for Tzaneen, we did not really plan to start living in Giyani. We had told the bishop that we would like to learn the language in another place than our place of work. Since there are very few parishes where the Xitsonga is spoken, we had limited choices and had to learn it here in Giyani. Another reason in favour of learning it in Giyani was that the spoken Xitsonga of other places is different from that of Malamulele and Giyani. Accommodation as well as finances was part of our consideration. Luckily for us, the people too showed a lot of interest. I started my formal language learning at the end of April and Chrysostome, in the beginning of July when he came back from his home holidays. We were fortunate to have a catechist and he is helping us well. I should say Chrysostome has a very natural talent for languages and is doing pretty well. I too have made a very good progress.

OUR MISSION

Talking about the rationale and direction of our commitment to the Diocese of Tzaneen Fr. Pernia wrote in his letter in Arnoldus Nota: “The Bishop would want us to eventually take care of the whole of Tsonga speaking area, get involved in the ministry to people with HIV/AIDS, as well as in other specialized ministries, and perhaps collaborate in the pastoral centre for the formation of laity. (...) The initial commitment is for five years, during which a team of three confreres will take over the parish of Giyani. (...) The mission will be under the responsibility of the Botswana Province.” In this letter he has also talked about the bothersome issue of finance. “While both teams (Tzaneen and Gore) will have the support of the Society it will not be easy to find the amount of funds that confreres have grown used to. Tzaneen and Gore will just have to be a different kind of mission.”

The above conclusions and directions from the Society and the Bishop forms the framework within which we plan our discussions and ministries. The Vatsonga people are very friendly and the people of Giyani have welcomed us with great enthusiasm. They understand that they have to support us and they are trying very hard. There is also a limit to what a small community can do. According to the present Generalate plan, initially there will be three or four confreres in the diocese and we will be based in Giyani. Recently the provincial had discussions with the bishop about the possibility of our taking responsibility for Malamulele Parish too. Malamulele is the other Xitsonga parish of the diocese and is some 40 kms from Giyani.

Though some of the areas in Tzaneen Diocese are very good and fertile agricultural land, the Shangan area is not very suited for agriculture and lags behind in development. This area is also very dry and hot, with very little rainfall. There are very little job opportunities here and the people especially young and educated, move to cities like Johannesburg for jobs. These movements also affect the church. Of the approximately 500.000 Vatsonga people, very few are Catholics (perhaps 1.000 or so). We have Sepedi and Venda villages within 50 kms from Giyani, - in fact the nearest Sepedi village is only 15 kms from Giyani. We have people in Giyani as well as in our parish community whose mother tongue is not Xitsonga. Majority of the people can speak and understand quite a few South African languages including English. Though, for practical reasons we have to focus on Xitsonga, we have to learnto adjust and form communities with people of different languages. HIV/AIDS too has no language boundaries and that ministry is also a priority of the diocese.

Looking back, last six months were very relaxed and even enjoyable time. There were lots of newness, meeting new people, a new place and a new language and all that. Now the challenge is to keep growing from there, to keep up the enthusiasm of the people as well that of ours. Now is the time to have our feet on the groung, begin to work among the Vatsonga, the AIDS ministry, the biblical pastoral ministry.

5 Oct 2003  

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Everyone has at least a slight idea what HIV / AIDS epidemic is about? Many of us have already experienced pain and crises of this disease. Many of us live in the midst of daily death of young people. That is HIV / AIDS picture which we can be painted here in the context of Botswana situation. There is a physical pain; there is an emotional confusion and on top of it, HIV / ADIS is strongly accompanied by stigma and discrimination. Many people talk about AIDS, especially politicians and those who are seeking recognition and importance in people's eyes, but unfortunately only a few have the courage to act and fight for the cure. We know that the cure begins with the fight against stigma and discrimination. There is a saying; stigma and discrimination kill before HIV / AIDS does. According to the local tradition and custom, the funerals take place on weekends, Saturdays and Sundays. On those days I can count an enormous number of cars attending the different funeral processions in the village. As a spiritual leader of the Catholic Community I ask myself, facing those pictures, what should be done in order to bring hope and cure? How to fight against this deadly disease? I have already learned that the only way to begin was to get into my knees and pray. Stigma and discrimination became a great challenge for our Community of the church. Personally I felt sorry for my people. There was so fear within them; fear of God, and fear of who they were. I kept on asking myself, how my people could undertake the challenge of fighting against HIV / AIDS crises, while many of them believed that it was a God's punishment. Together with the liturgical Committee, we came up with some action-plan for the season of Advent. The event I am sharing with you took place in December, Advent 2002 in Serowe village, Botswana. The action-plan was to involve the whole congregation and to speak out the issue of stigma and discrimination in the church.

So, the first Sunday of Advent a task was assigned to a priest. I was supposed to tackle the issue of stigma and discrimination from God's point of view. The final conclusion stated that stigma and discrimination was a sin; a human attitude, which had to be considered as an act against God's will.
Second Sunday, a workshop was given to the whole congregation. Its focus was on how to break the silence about AIDS in the family set up and the community of the church. Everybody was involved and actively participated in those experiences. At the end of it, people were requested to speak or rather to share about their personal experience as HIV / AIDS crises were concerned. Of course, we did not expect them to speak about their own infection. The idea was to break the silence and speak openly, at least about relatives or friends who have been infected. Personally I had lots of doubts whether anybody would have such courage to speak openly in front of the whole Congregation. It was on Wednesday, a week before that very Sunday, third Sunday of Advent, I was coming back to the mission for my bicycle exercises. It was almost getting dark, a beautiful African evening. A young woman was waiting patiently for me at the mission. She welcome me with a peaceful and sweet smile spread on her face. We sat outside. She began her story; step-by-step she made clear the point of her visit.

- Father I would like to talk about AIDS - her voice was shaking and uncertain - I want to do so on coming Sunday.
- That is fine - I was not sure what kind of story she had in her mind - that will be good.
- But - her voice hesitated for a while - but I want to talk about – again moment of silence - I want to tell people that I am HIV / AIDS positive.

I remained quiet, not a single word could utter out of my mouth. She was the first person out of our community who broke the silence with at least. There was no sign of fear or shame in her, but rather confidence and peace. I looked at her with a great deal of appreciation and love. It was as if God's love became flesh. The mother of two children became a visible blessing and grace of God among us, people of fear and confusion.

- I want to tell people - the smile disappeared from her face - I want to tell them that I am HIV / AIDS positive.
I felt as if God's love was penetrating all parts of my body. "He has arrived into the midst of the community of the church," I thought. My eyes were closed; I was speechless, but full of God's love, joy and peace. It took a moment I could respond to her. She told me a great deal of the story of her life; everything in details. She spoke about her children, the test they underwent and the results. Her smile was back on her face. Before she left we prayed together, we thank God for his grace and love shown through her. The third Sunday of Advent arrived. Before we began the Holy Eucharist, I was so determined to see her, as we had agreed. I wanted confirmation. She came quite late, almost at the very last moment before the Mass began. She was still full of enthusiasm and willingness to carry out her dream of sharing.

After the Gospel, I made a short introduction to her performance. It was a sort of reminder, as we spoke about it on previous Sunday. When I was busy with the explanation, nobody in the church had any idea of what she was going to share. Surly the speculations arose in people's minds, wondering whether she was going to speak about her friends or family member's infection, or her own crises. I prayed over the congregation for the gift of the Holy Spirit. That the same prayer was said over her by lying hands on her had.
She stood in front of at least 300 people, that is an approximate usual number of Sunday's attendance. The children of God looked at her with puzzled expressions on their faces; curiosity and fear seized their minds. They were still wondering whom she was going to talk about? At the very beginning I could sense that her voice was uncertain, rather shaking, and yet very calm. The whole congregation was unusually quiet, with some expectation hanging in the air.

She was more and more confident, as she was progressing with her presentation. At that very moment nobody knew, except two people, that was her and me, what story she was going to tell?
- I am HIV / AIDS positive - she glanced quickly at the congregation - I am sick and dying, as we know the consequences of this disease.
It looked to me as if the whole universe stopped! Time did not count its seconds and minutes, and all outside nature got suddenly quiet, no music of the wind and the birds. All creation smiled and gave praise the Lord for such a grace in a manner of silence. Only people of God did not know how to react to the grace of God revealed in her openly made statement. For a second they looked at each other with a puzzled expression on their faces, and than bow their heads. They did not look at each other any more. It seemed to me as if they run to read and feel their own reactions in their hearts. The human mind was speechless. It could not comprehend a single meaning out of that very moment of God's love.

- I am positive - she repeated - two years ago I went for a test. It happened that I am positive, dying of HIV / AIDS virus.
She was making an enormous impression on all community. Her words touched very single heart in the church. Every word of her sharing was leading the people to the depth of their hearts. I thought that was only the place they could deal with that very moment; an experience of God's love.
- I am sick and dying - she spoke with a manner of love - and yet I am the beloved child of the Lord, my Lord Jesus Christ, who died for me. He died for all of us, and now I can feel his resurrection, the light ad power of resurrection in my dying body. My  spirit is fully alive.

Maybe there were some people who would like to stop her, even to excuse her of blasphemy, but fear was the rule of their hearts at that very moment. As a matter of fact they could deprive her from many things but it was out of their capability to deprive her from the grace of being God's child. The silence and a feeling of uncertainty that seized all community reminded me of a story I heard some time ago. The story was about one catholic community that had some difficulties to accept one of its members living with HIV / AIDS. It made me scared, I was not sure about how our community would finally react to her story of life.

- I am his beloved child - she repeated, most probably trying to convince herself - and I will live with him with his care and love.
She carried on her sharing for some more few minutes. When she finished it, we remained in silence. That was to take the opportunity to meditate and to "consume" God's grace we just received.
We continued the Holy Eucharist with a feeling of gratitude and joy. One of the people sitting next to our young woman, who just spoke about her story of life, came up to the altar. They had a new idea of how to make the sharing of the sign of peace.
- Do accordingly to the spirit of this moment - that was my only answer to her.

When the congregation was invited to share each other the sign of peace, she walked up to the altar and stood in front of the whole community. It was an amazing view and a deep experience of what was taking place in the church. Almost everybody, men as well, walked to her. One by one gave her a hug and kissed her; by such a manner they shared the sign of peace with her. Tears filled almost everybody's eyes. God literally did touch each single heart of his children, people of the church. It was an experience that went beyond borders of our imagination.
It took place on the 3rd Sunday of Advent. We had still few days to go before entering the celebrations of Christmas. On that very Sunday, the 3^rd Sunday of Advent we experienced already the birth of the only Son of God, Jesus Christ. He was already born in the midst of St. Gabriel's Community.
 

The celebration of Christmas had begun; the joy of welcoming the Son of God overwhelmed our hearts.
At that time God chose a new place for the birth of his Son. It was not a stable for animals. It was a dying body of a young woman, the mother of two children. Her body became the precious place of God's Son's birth in the community of Serowe church. The history repeated again, his place of birth was out of human imaginations. Surly, we could choose something more dissent and luxurious instead of dying body of a young woman; dying of HIV / AIDS a very much unpopular among the crowd.

People were not keen on approaching that body. There was a stigma; there was discrimination instead. Therefore, many of them missed again the opportunity of paying a visit to a new borne Baby Jesus. That Sunday in a manner of reverence we bow our heads paying our homage to the only Son of God, Jesus Christ born in the midst of our community. She spoke, she loved, she smiled and she was there alive. We were blessed with such a touch of God's love.
God chose again something what was small and unworthy in people's eyes as his precious place of adoration and love. After the celebration of the Holy Eucharist I walked straight to my bedroom. I closed the door and went to my keens giving thanks to God for such a blessing and grace granted upon all of us.
My fear about the capability of love of the community of the church vanished for good. I had already experienced the great deal of potential of love existing in the heart of the community of the church. The story once I heard got uprooted and thrown away. Now I know, out of my own experience that any community of God, the church, is capable to love and to be loved because of God's love in them.

Nowadays, our young woman, the mother of two children has become a sign of God's presence among us. She is a living walking Tabernacle of God's presence among us. God made his home in her and become flesh!!

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