OBLATES OF MARY IMMACULATE

NATAL PROVINCE

THE MOTHER PROVINCE OF THE OBLATES IN AFRICA

OMI NATAL Update

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Vol.3 Issue 3        April 2006

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IN THIS ISSUE:

TOP NEWS 

PROVINCIAL'S NOTES

FROM THE PROVINCIAL TREASURER

PROVINCIAL'S DIARY

DATES TO GIVE THANKS

CONTACT

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TOP NEWS

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1. Good News About People:

Episcopal Ordination of Barry Wood

 

10000 people arrived at thet the International Convention Centre in Durban to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of Wilfrid Cardinal Napier OFM. At the celebration Father Barry WOOD, OMI was ordained bishop and appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Durban. The ceremony was delayed for 30 minutes to provide more space for the crowds. The pictures show Bishop Barry waving as the Cardinal applauds his new auxiliary (left). In the centre the new bishop is formally seated on the episcopal chair as Archbishop NASHENDA OMI of Windhoek (left) and Archbishop NXUMALO OMI of Bloemfontein (right), principal coconsecrators, look on with the Cardinal and his deacon. On the right Father Mbheki NGCOBO OMI dressed in traditional dress of the Imbongi, sings and dances the praises of the new bishop.

The five-hour Eucharistic celebration was filled with music and dance, reflecting the diverse cultures of the people of the Archdiocese of Durban. More than thirty bishops from around southern Africa concelebrated in the liturgy together with about 100 Priests. Also in attendance were a large number of representatives of other churches and religions in the area as well as the Mayor of Durban, Obed Mlaba and a number of other dignitaries.

Cardinal Napier was ordained Bishop of Kokstad on 28 February 1981. He was appointed Archbishop of Durban on 29 March 1992 and elevated to Cardinal priest of S. Francesco d'Assisi ad Acilia on 21 February 2001. Bishop WOOD has served as Parish Priest in the Archdiocese of Durban as well as being Superior of St Josephs Scholasticate from 1986-1992 and Provincial of the Natal Province from 1992-1998.

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2. New Life:

Father Sean CONNALLY

Rev. Father Sean CONNALLY, OMI passed away on the 5th February 2006. He was parish priest of Port Shepstone, in the diocese of Umzimkulu.

A large number of people attended the funeral on 16 February including the mayor of the city. 

Father Sean's death was unexpected. He had a heart attack whilst recovering from an operation on his foot. He was much loved by the people of Port Shepstone whom he served for fourteen years before his death. In a tribute to him they wrote: "We knew little that morning that God was going to call your name. In life we loved you dearly in death we did the same. It broke our hearts to lose you; you did not go alone for part of us went with you the day God called you home". Father Sean spent much of his missionary life working for the upliftment of the black people of South Africa. He was involved for many years in lay leadership training and was director of the Esigodini Pastoral Centre from 1978 to 1985. He was also the founder of the parish of Mpumalanga where he built the Church, incorporating many aspects of Zulu art. He will be deeply missed by all of us. RIP.

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3. Good News About People:

Neil FRANK graduates with distinction

Father Neil FRANK OMI obtained his Masters in Philosophy at De Nobili College in Pune, India. He graduated with a distinction. He was the recipient of the De Nobili Scholarship for both years of his stay. In the picture he is seen with some of his fellow students. He returns home on 9 April.

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PROVINCIAL'S NOTES  

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1. Provincial Congress in July

What will happen?

In the next few issues of OMI update I would like to reflect on some of the matters that will be discussed at our Congress in July. The first is youth ministry. Since the beginning of this administration, youth ministry has been identified as our first priority. We wish to develop a specific Oblate youth ministry programme. A Youth ministry committee comprising six Oblates together with Provincial Councillor, Mhlanganisi DLAMINI, has been operating since September last year. Two Oblate Priests have been appointed specifically to this ministry: Fathers Siyabonga DUBE in Zimbabwe and Mxolisi NGCOBO in Kwa Zulu Natal. The musical Forever Home written by Youth Committee member, Father Merlin INCE, is perhaps the most public first fruit of this ministry. It has been playing to great reviews at the Maris Stella Hall in Durban throughout lent. At the Congress, the Youth ministry mission team will report on progress so far and their plans for the future. For now you are asked to pray and to think about this initiative and bring your own contributions to the Congress.

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2. Restructuring of SA Provinces

Local Community Reports

We have received all the comments on district discussions on the report prepared by Father Nhlanhla NKOSI and his team. This report presented the views of South African Oblates on restructuring. The Scholasticate community also submitted its own report. A number of issues emerged. Firstly, the reports strongly commend the work of the team and the time taken to allow people to share their feelings and thoughts. This was seen as a very important step. Secondly, the prevailing view was that unification is going to be a good thing for us and a goal to aim for. Thirdly, there was a strong sense that it should not be rushed. This is because a number of matters have surfaced that need to be addressed. These include racial and cultural tensions in some areas of the South African Oblate world; a lack of information regarding the motivation for unification; and some differences in views amongst the three provinces. These provincial differences could lead to resentment in one or other area that they have been swallowed up and lost their own identity. Fourthly, there was a sense that the process of animation should somehow continue to allow Oblates to know more about unification, the reasons behind it, the values of it and the difficulties to be overcome.

Interestingly, and I hope you wont mind me mentioning this, it seems that we are somewhat confused even about ourselves in our own province. The official names of our three Oblate districts in the Archdiocese of Durban are "Durban", "Pietermaritzburg and "Inchanga". Only one of the three managed to get its name right in their report!

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3. E-Mail Addresses At Provincial Office

The reports were all received by email and highlighted another problem. This is the matter of correct email addresses for all of us at the Provincial office. Please note that since we started our new website, we now have email addresses that end in "omi.org.za". So mine is scbate@omi.org.za. My secretary, Pat Maycock, is admin@omi.org.za. The Provincial Treasurer is pjfoley@omi.org.za and his secretary, Carmel Rothman, is natalfinance@omi.org.za

Please update your address books accordingly.

Some of our older email addresses do still work but we will eventually close the "eject" ones.

However please note that email addresses with telkom in them do not work in our office. It is true that just once a notice was sent out giving email addresses with telkomsa.net. This was a mistake and whilst we have a right to use them, these email addresses have not been installed on our computers. So emails sent to a telkom address will not reach us.

Please use the omi.org.za email addresses from now on.

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FROM THE PROVINCIAL TREASURER  

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1. LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

Could the following people please contact the Provincial Treasurer regarding their Last Will & Testament. I would prefer if you contact me via e-mail (pjfoley@omi.org.za) or, if this is not possible, via cell phone (082 329 5347):

COORAY, Kingsley

HORROCKS, Paul

LUKUBA, Claude

MBANJWA, Zaba

MPUNI, Jean Baptiste

MTOLO, Jabulani

NDLOVU, Bafana

NGCOBO, Mxolisi

NGUBANE, Zibonele

NZAJI, Jean Lambert

PHENYANE, Vusi

SCHRODER, Paul

WHEATLEY, Donovan

ZONDI, Thomas

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2. STIPEND RETURNS

You will be receiving shortly a monthly report of your stipend returns for 2005 and the first quarterly report for 2006. Please check over it and confirm that these are correct. This will need to be an issue we discuss at the Provincial Congress in July.

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3. CHRISTMAS AND PIOUS LISTS COLLECTIONS as at 22 March 2006

Parishes		Christmas			Pious List
			2004	2005	2004	2005
Assumption			10,206	7,743	2,595	3,002
Bergville			518	800	700	1,200
Bluff			6,854	8,150	4,623	3,285
Cedara			1,120	940	5,470
Elandskop			64	200
Estcourt			850	2,000	2,200	4,000
Mpumalanga			1,600		1,200
Imbubu			1,020	1,300	7,093	7,467
Inchanga/ Camperdown			478	757	2,115	1,350
Machibisa				3,260	5,470	4,250
Matikwe			415		1,500	1,400
Merewent/ Clairwood				1,095		1,540
Montclair			6,135	5,898	3,760	7,766
Mooi River				800	2,460	2,600
Ntshongweni			3,024		555	1,000
Ntuzuma			5,290	1,052	4,290	4,720
P Shepstone			2,671
PMB St Mary			11,748	15,800	5,734	5,920
Redhill			10,283
Reservoir Hills			1,575	1,501	775	180
Sydenham			13,349	14,059	8,123	8,634
Virginia			33,386	35,628	7,532	6,620
Wentworth			11,773	12,386	6,005	6,766
Westville			8,700	9,000	4,000	3,800
Sabon House						325
Total			131,058	122,369	76,200	75,825

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