Catholic Church in South Africa

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Catholic Church in South Africa is part of the worldwide

Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference and the Pope in Rome. It is made up of 26 dioceses and archdioceses plus an apostolic vicariate
.

In 1996, there were approximately 3.3 million Catholics in

Coloured and white South Africans each account for roughly 300,000.[2]

Roman Catholic evangelization efforts have traditionally focused on

Afrikaner converts, most of whom were from professional backgrounds.[3]

Most

descent, is extremely small.

Organisation

Jurisdictions

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—

Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference

The

Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference
is a collegial body approved by the Holy See and has as its particular aim:

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.

Apostolic Nuncio

The

]

Catholic Church and apartheid

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]

People

Education

In popular culture

  • White South African
    Catholic girl, during the Apartheid era and its aftermath.

See also

References

  1. ^ GCatholic.org
  2. ^ Catholics in RSA Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 1996 census statistics posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Bloemfontein.
  3. ^ Afrikaans-Speaking Catholics in the Rainbow Republic, Catholic World News, 14 November 1996.
  4. Library of Congress
    , 1996.

Sources

  • 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 links