In 1996, there were approximately 3.3 million Catholics in South Africa, making up 6% of the total South African population. Currently, there are 3.8 million Catholics.[1] 2.7 million are of various black African ethnic groups, such as Zulu, Xhosa, and Sotho. Coloured and white South Africans each account for roughly 300,000.[2]
Roman Catholic evangelization efforts have traditionally focused on Black South Africans. In the 1950s, however, an effort began to evangelize Afrikaans-speakers, who had previously been ignored by Catholic missionaries. Success in the Afrikaans Apostolate remained minimal until the death throes of Apartheid during the mid to late 1980s. As Catholic texts began to be translated into Afrikaans, sympathetic Dutch Reformed pastors, who were defying the traditional anti-Catholicism of their Church, assisted in correcting linguistic errors. By 1996, the majority of Afrikaans-speaking Catholics came from the Coloured community, with a smaller number of Afrikaner converts, most of whom were from professional backgrounds.[3]
The Catholic Church in South Africa consists of five Archdioceses (Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, and Pretoria), 22 Dioceses, 2 Vicariates Apostolic and a Military Ordinariate. The five Ecclesiastical provinces are—
Leadership: Archbishop Stephen Cardinal Brislin appointed 18 December 2009 and Auxiliary Bishop Sylvester Anthony John David OMI, appointed 6 June 2019
to provide the bishops of the territories mentioned above with facilities for consultation and united action in such matters of common interest to the Church as consultation and co-operation with other hierarchies; the fostering of priestly and religious vocations; the doctrinal, apostolic and pastoral formation of the clergy, religious and laity; the promotion of missionary activity, catechetics, liturgy, lay apostolate, ecumenism, development, justice and reconciliation, social welfare, schools, hospitals, the apostolate of the press, radio, television, and other means of social communication; and any other necessary activity.
Denis Hurley, Archbishop of Durban and a member of the Central Preparatory Committee of Vatican II, stands perhaps as the most eminent Catholic cleric in South African history. He was appointed bishop at the age of 31 and was a leader in opposing the apartheid regime. Like him, many senior officials within the Catholic Church in South Africa opposed apartheid, but a group of white Catholics formed the South African Catholic Defence League to condemn the church's political involvement and, in particular, to denounce school integration.[4]
The Syringa Tree, an award-winning stage play by Pamela Gien, relates the life story of Elizabeth Grace, a White South African Catholic girl, during the Apartheid era and its aftermath.
^Catholics in RSA Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 1996 census statistics posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Bloemfontein.
^Afrikaans-Speaking Catholics in the Rainbow Republic, Catholic World News, 14 November 1996.
^Country Studies. "Religion and apartheid". Source: Rita M. Byrnes, ed. South Africa: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1996.
Sourcesedit
St Joseph's theological Institute (Cedara)
Provides links to the structure and personnel history. Used heavily for diocesan and personnel information in the section on structure and leadership.
External linksedit
http://www.sacbc.org.za is the website of the South African Bishops' Conference
http://www.adct.org.za is the website of the Archdiocese of Cape Town
http://www.staugustine.ac.za is the South African Catholic University