Creating a Missionary Vicariate Economics in Catholic Missionary Culture

Stuart C Bate OMI^[1]

(2003  ‘Creating a missionary vicariate: Economics in Catholic missionary culture. Part II The Economics of a new vicariate in Roman Curial culture”. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae 29,1:1-35)

                       Part 2. The Economics of a new vicariate in Roman Curial culture.

1.  Economic issues within the SCPF^[2] curial culture.

1.1       Introduction

The first part of our study examined those sections of the ponenza, a collection of papers compiled by the Roman curia to investigate the establishment of the Vicariate of Natal and some other matters, which emerged from a report by Bishop Devereux, the Vicar Apostolic of the Eastern Cape and a member of settler society in South Africa. The mediating lens of the study was economics and the purpose was to see what this revealed about Catholic Missionary culture in settler society. In the second part of our study we investigate the other pole of the conversation between the missionary bishop and the SCPF. Our study of the Roman curial  perspective will focus on that part of the ponenza written by the curial officials themselves. This is numbers 1,2 and 4 (V) of the list in section 2 of part 1 of the study.  These are the “Ristretto”, the Nota di Archivio and part V of the “Sommario”. We will follow the same methodology as in part 1. First we shall identify those texts in the narrative which focus on economic issues. After these have been abstracted, an attempt will be made to cluster them around common themes in order to create a cultural map of the Roman curial narrative indicating those cultural domains that are impinged upon by the various texts. In this way we hope to reveal some of the motivating symbols and forces within the Roman curial pole of Catholic Missionary culture.

1.2       Economic topics in the “Ristretto”

The Ristretto is a five page document numbered as 20 paragraphs followed by 7 queries (dubbi)^[3]. Its purpose is to give a synthesis of the matter at hand. The author is probably a curial official from Propaganda though the “Ponente” (the one presenting the matter) is Cardinal Fransoni, then Prefect of SCPF.  Eleven economic culture texts were found in this document. They are presented below. The reference refers to the paragraph number in the “Ristretto”.

1.         The Vicar Apostolic gives an idea of the ten districts of his Vicariate posing the particular needs of each (§3).

2.         The Vicar Apostolic has neither residence nor funds for living (§4).

3.         He only has three priests of which two receive £100 from the English government and the other gets a living from his school ('4).

4.         They need vessels and religious objects for liturgical purposes as well as a printing press to spread Catholic books ('4).

5.         Not being able, in the difficult contingencies of 1849, to hope for financial  help from the SCPF he asked the Prefect to recommend his mission to the Pious Work for the Propagation of the Faith (OPF)^[4] and to all the bishops and faithful of the world (§5).

6.         Both requests are well supported by the Eminent Prefect ('6).

7.         The Prelate then left Naples for a journey through Europe and the United States and then returned to his mission supplied with the means necessary to defend and cultivate it (§6).

8.         Looking at the material means [for a proposed Natal vicariate] as yet there is only a small salary from the English government for one priest in Pietermaritzburg ('11).

9.         In order that the proposed operation might succeed we would need to supply the Vicar Apostolic with some means of subsistence so that as soon as elected he doesn’t find himself (as did Mgr Devereux) with having to take long voyages to provide the mission with what it needs ('11).

10.       If the Vicariate comes to birth you [the members of the ordinary meeting of SCPF]^[5] must decide if it should rely exclusively on the Pious work of the Propagation of the Faith or if Propaganda^[6] should use its own funds for a partial sponsoring of the needs of the new mission ('11).

11.       Which means could be used for the subsistence of the projected mission? (Query 4)

1.3       Economic topics in the “Nota di Archivio”

The Nota di Archivio is a document prepared by the curia to furnish some back ground to the seven queries ( “dubbi”) posed to the members of the ordinaria^[7] (See below no. 3 for the list). The officials examine the questions and then look back in the archives to see how matters which are related to these were dealt with in the past. This recourse to previous cases and decisions forms part of the Roman curial style of dealing with problems.  The “Nota” deals only with queries 5, 6 and 7 since for the other queries “there is nothing in the archive relevant to the issues” (Nota p.1).^[8]

Query five requires a choice between, on the one hand, a vicariate under a religious corporation where the vicar is chosen from the corporation and on the other hand that just a vicar be appointed who will then, himself, have to find missionaries to staff his vicariate. The latter was the case with the first two vicariates in South Africa. A number of economic issues are brought to the fore by the archival note on this point. In particular, examples are found where religious corporations offered to accept new vicariates with the proviso that the vicar come from one of the members of the corporation. However in the cases cited permission was only given for this if the corporation was prepared to guarantee the financial requirements of the new mission. The following are the relevant economic culture texts:

12.       In 1746 the priests of the Seminary of the Missions in Paris offered to maintain at their expense Vicars Apostolic and however many priests SCPF thought necessary for the three Chinese provinces of Sur-chuen, Hu-quag, and Yun-nan to be divided into two vicariates if the Vicars Apostolic were chosen from their seminary under the dependence of the SC^[9] (Nota p. 1).

13.       A plan was made....that the SC agreed to assign these three provinces divided into two vicariates to the Seminary of Foreign Missions in Paris and that the vicars were to come from their body with the obligation that both the missionaries and the vicars must be maintained at their cost and also that in both vicariates there should be not less than six missionaries (Nota p. 1).

14.       The spiritual regime of Korea was confided to the same seminary under the same conditions in 1833 (Nota p. 2).

Query 6 of the Nota concerns just three (1, 2 &7)  of the seven “applications and queries”^[10] brought  by Devereux to the Prefect (Sommario p. 6). Two of these, nos. 1 & 7, concern matters of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and sacramental law and there are no economic issues amongst them. The other,  no. 2, concerns the application for a Sister Maria Stanislaus Augustinus Lenny to leave the Convent of the Presentation Sisters in Wexford, Ireland and to set up a convent in Grahamstown. The issue is dealt with in the “Nota” by reference to other cases of Sisters from Ireland who have had to adapt to missionary conditions both in regard to closure^[11] and to the acceptance of fees in their schools. So whilst the query does not have an economic connotation the precedents referred to in the Nota do. They are included to show how economic issues influenced religious discipline in new contexts. The relevant texts are:

15.       [Citing an  1829 case in the USA] The prelate explained further that as it was not  the custom in the United States that rich people send their children to school for free, it was necessary that the religious sisters be enabled to receive this money...adding further the motivation that without such help the monastery could not survive (Nota p. 8).

16.       He added that as it was almost universal that people sent their children to school for some hours a day then it should be licit for the sisters to receive them and to teach them according to the practices of the place as well as to receive the normal fee without which the Catholics would have to send their children to Protestant schools leading to religious damage and danger (Nota p. 8).

17.       Sisters educate for a fee those who are ignorant of the faith. They bring them up in moral principles. They also sustain and encourage the poor and deprived. They visit the sick and console them. They assist the dying and care for them. Through all of this the congregation acquires benefits, serves piety and spreads religion for the glory of God (Nota p. 8).

Another economic matter covered in the Nota di Archivio concerns the relationship between financial support from the English government and power over the appointment of priests. Devereux has expressed concern about whether it is acceptable to the Church that the English government makes an official appointment of those priests to whom it gives stipends.  This is the third query of Devereux’s report.^[12] This matter enters into the delicate area of the relationship between Church and State in the colony. The Nota provides a number of cases where this political matter has arisen over financial issues elsewhere. There are a large number of texts referring to the situation in Ireland at the beginning of the nineteenth century when the British government wished to place Catholic clergy in Ireland on a State payroll.

18.       It is usual for the English government to give annual subsidies to some Vicars Apostolic and missionaries who live in various cities of the world under their dominion (Nota p. 11).

19.       Amongst these is the Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope who has a stipendium of 1000 sterling whilst a missionary gets 100 (Nota p. 11).

20.       This government does this not for the goal of the propagation of the Catholic religion but for that of civilization which Catholic religion does successfully (Nota p. 11).

21.       One can never doubt that it is useful to accept similar subsidies even if coming from a non Catholic power because they are not linked to irreligious conditions (Nota p. 11).

22.       In 1843 Mgr Antonucci who was in charge of the Dutch missions wrote that the Dutch government had offered...to reimburse postal expenses of superiors of Catholic clergy...almost all were of the opinion to accept the offer (Nota p. 11).

23.       The decision of the SC sent to Mgr. Antonucci was the following: “In the general congregation held on the 27 January we discussed your query regarding whether or not to accept the offer made by that State to reimburse postal and secretarial expenses. The Most Eminent Fathers after hearing the report judged that there was no reason not to. Indeed not accepting this offer could give to this government a just motive to take offense in refusing a benefit requested by an Archpriest and not linked to any grave condition” (Nota p. 11).

24.       Today however the matter presents itself in a somewhat different guise since the British government arrogates to itself, at least in words, the authority to nominate Catholic missionaries. But this nomination is only apparent, since the Vicar Apostolic is the one who in fact nominates. Now besides the fact that a nomination appearing to come from a lay power which is also Protestant may not please Catholicism, the fact remains that such apparent evil could one day turn into reality especially since British ministries have at other times claimed and shown their intention to fix a provision or annual pension for Catholic clergy and thus make some headway in taking part in the choice of Bishops or parish priests as below [See no 25] (Nota p. 12).

25.       In 1799 Pius VI, of holy memory...in a calamitous time for the Church when the Roman funds for the Propaganda had been destroyed... [was advised] to sustain as much as possible the rights of the Holy See and that an occasion to defend these rights had not been slow to present itself since the English government was developing a plan for the payment of the clergy and of entering in part into the nomination of bishops and parish priests (Nota p12).

26.       [The proprefect of the congregation] immediately realised that this plan tended not only to ruin the ancient system but also to remove the spiritual rights of the Holy See. Even though he thought the information might be false he wrote to the Archbishop of Dublin on June 15 to advise him to remain firm in the traditional process and not to admit any new procedures (Nota p12).

27.       The Archbishop of Dublin replied that there was a concern in the government about the conduct of some Iberian priests who took part in the repressed rebellion.^[13]  He added that the sovereign had thus begun to suspect the loyalty of the clergy. So to remove their fears and link themselves more closely to his government some bishops and priests worked out a plan to give to each one a suitable annual stipend taken from the public purse and thus save the clergy from dependence on the public since this dependence had caused them to embrace the cause of the people to rebel instead of to oppose it. And that it was entirely acceptable that the King of Great Britain have the privilege, as in Canada, to present subjects to the Pope who he felt would be fit to be Bishops (Nota p. 12).

28.       The Archbishop had not left this suggestion without a reply...a paid clergy would be less respected by the people and considered as mercenaries and slaves of the government; it would require an immense sum to pay the clergy; and only the Pope could change the current procedure. To this the prime minister replied that the government did not want to attack the jurisdiction of the Pope recognised by Catholics but merely to work out a concordat with him on the exercising of that jurisdiction (Nota p. 13).

29.       ...the Archbishop consulted the other bishops of the kingdom who responded unanimously that unhappily, but given the circumstances of the times, it was necessary to make some concession in order not be suspected by the government. But they objected to any conditions which could offend the authority of the Pope and their own rights (Nota p. 13)

30.       [At a meeting of the] bishop administrators of St Patrick college...ten came: four metropolitans and six suffragans. After mature deliberation and a protracted three day reflection given the constraints of the circumstances, they decided that the plan was admissible salvis juribus etc^[14] and under certain conditions contained in the articles...and that this be communicated to the Viceroy. They wanted to keep everything secret but the Archbishop of Dublin reflecting more on the importance of the affair sent a copy to Mgr. Erskine for transmission to the Pope (Nota p. 13).

31.       After the legislative union of Ireland with England^[15] the issue was taken up more strongly and a full report was given to Rome. The most Eminent Prefect wanted to hear the opinion of Father Conacen who was the agent of the Irish bishops and who on the 17^th March 1801 gave his judgement on the plan of the British government to give stipends to the Catholic clergy of that country. He primarily regarded the plan:

a.         As insidious and suspect in its origins.

b.         As injurious to the religion and discipline of the Church.

c.         As harmful to the top of the Catholic faith in its governance.

d.         As tending to division and discord in the hierarchy of the Church of Ireland (Nota p. 13).

32.       This plan takes away and destroys the influence of the clergy on the people ...and the attachment of the people to their pastors...who could consider them mercenaries...sold to the government (Nota p. 14).

33.       ...the ministers of the gospel will become functionaries and pensioners of the government (Nota p. 14).

34.       Once paid by the government and made almost independent from the people they may become more neglectful in their duties to them... (Nota p. 14).

35.       Becoming more independent from their Bishops they may dogmatise and teach the errors of the Anglican church without any danger of losing their stipend (Nota p15).

36.       Once parish priests and missionaries are paid the government can more easily limit them and restrict their number with irreparable damage resulting to the vast Catholic population (Nota p.15).

37.       We also see how dangerous to Catholicism would be the role that the government would have, once the subsidy was fixed, in the nomination and institution of bishops and parish priests. Giving to the British government the sole veto or negative that they request... could easily degenerate into a congé d’elire^[16] following the  Gallican practice (Nota p.15).   

38.       Finally this proposed plan tends to the destruction of the concord and peace between the bishops and clergy of the church of Ireland (Nota p. 15).^[17]

39.       Some bishops have already protested against the proposed plan one of whom writes that he would never accept any pension or provision from a Protestant government and that he would content himself with the means the Lord had provided for subsistence (Nota p. 15).

40.       Informed of the new plan of the British government in supposed advantage of the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Catholics of Ireland, His Holiness did not hesitate to show his most lively recognition towards the spontaneous generosity of the government and wishes to express the maximum gratitude for the assistance and favours given to the Catholics of that country...Since the faithfulness of the Roman Catholic clergy to their legitimate sovereign derives entirely from the principles of our holy religion which can never be subject to even one change, the Holy Father wishes the government to know that the Metropolitans, bishops and clergy of Ireland will always know about such a strict duty and will fulfil it in every meeting (Nota p. 16).

41.       The Holy Father craves however that these clergy follow the workable system that has obtained up to now and that they scrupulously abstain from having any kind of temporal advantage; and that demonstrating with their views and deeds the sincere invariability of their attachment, recognition and submission to the British government; and that they show to it more and more their gratitude for the offered new benefits, dispensing themselves from profiting by them and giving by this a clear proof of the constant disinterest esteemed as so conforming to the apostolic zeal of the ministers of the sanctuary and so precious and decorous to the same Catholic religion; and which gives in a particular way esteem and respect to ministers rendering them more venerable and more dear to the faithful committed to their spiritual direction (Nota p. 16).

42.       The English government’s project to give stipends to Catholic clergy and to participate in their nomination is also in the archives but as the reply was identical to the above it seems unnecessary to present it. The above  was presented as it has some similarities to the last query of the Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope (Nota p.17).

Our analysis has revealed 42 texts about economic issues in the Roman curial narrative. Our next task is to try to analyse these texts. By examining the areas, issues and concerns around which they cluster we should discover something of Roman curial concerns, presuppositions, values and motivations for behaviour. As they emerge from this culture, these texts tell us something about it. It is evident that these economic culture texts also reflect non-economic concerns coming from other areas of Roman Curial culture like the political domain, the ecclesiological domain, the colonial domain and a number of others.  These cultural semiotic domains are themselves aspects of larger cultural regions like Catholic Missionary culture and Roman Curial culture. Consequently the investigation and articulation of these domains will illuminate aspects of both Roman Curial culture especially in its missionary aspect and Catholic Missionary culture especially in its Roman curial aspects.

2.         Clustering the culture texts

An examination of these 42 culture texts suggests that they cluster around five principal matters. The first is the financial relationship between Devereux and SCPF. The texts help us to identify aspects of the nature of that relationship which is one of governance and management within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The second matter concerns financing the new Vicariate of Natal. Here we shall see what values and strategic priorities were important in making decisions about how that was to happen. The third matter concerns issues of Religious women. Mission and ministry were to be important motivating factors in the gradual change of the status and role of women in the Church, a change which continues today with important consequences for the Church’s own self understanding. Here we find ourselves at the beginning of that journey.  The fourth matter concerns the religious symbols and discourse of this culture. It is perhaps important to stress, particularly here, that we shall only examine the religious understandings and priorities as they emerge within the economic culture texts of the narrative. Finally we shall focus on the matter of the relationship between the Catholic Church and civil governments. The role of the Catholic Church in Western society was somewhat different role to that which civil governments played at that time. The metaphor of colonial power does not really do justice to this role. It finds itself present throughout the colonial world in relationship with a number of colonial powers. Sometimes these are Catholic like Spain, France and Portugal but at other times they are not, like Britain and Holland. It is also present in some other large non colonial states within the world like for example China, Japan, the USA and Russia. In all of these the dynamics are different. The increasing ubiquity of Catholic presence in this period prefigures the emergence of a world global religious player. In this regard Catholic religion is somewhat different to other so called “world” religions since it is the only one which was so widely spread. The Roman curial discourse is at the centre of Catholicism and so is important in providing some insights into the symbols and values within these arenas.

Each of the five matters presented above is informed by its own meta-narrative discourse: a discourse informed by shared beliefs, values symbols and rules. So we can once more speak of five semiotic domains. The fact that the culture texts we have identified also participate in these domains allows us to investigating each of these at least to a small extent. In this way we can develop some  idea of what lies behind the Roman curial cultural pole of Catholic Missionary culture.

2.1       Paternal concern for the young missions: SCPF responses to needs from the local church

In this section we see the other side of what was reported in part 1 of the study (3.2.5). From our portrayal there of “The Vicar and the Vatican” we move to examine the other pole of the conversation which could be called  “The Vatican and the Vicar”. Clearly these two domains show considerable overlap. But they are not exactly the same. Those who believe in nicely bounded cultural groups would tend to identify them and so cut off the roots and branches of each side. It is of course true that the vicar’s conversation with the Roman curia is integrated into the commonality of their Catholic Missionary culture. But is also true that Devereux’s cultural roots and branches extend into and are influenced by  the other six semiotic domains we identified in Devereux’s cultural world (see part 1 section 3.2). In this way Devereux’s cultural world is not the same as Fransoni’s. It is this latter world we are interested in now. Fransoni finds himself plugged into the cultural world of Rome, the Papal States, European Catholicism and the curial governance of the Church. Europe is in turmoil in 1850. The revolutions of 1848 had a major impact on the Papal states and Pius IX fled to the Kingdom of Naples until April 1850.

Very little of this is explicitly reflected in the ponenza. Fransoni’s first concern is merely to pass on the main points of Devereux’s report to the members of the ordinary meeting (ordinaria) of Propaganda who will discuss the issues.  In this respect he exercises a managerial function of sifting and synthesising. The purpose of this synthesis in the “Ristretto” is to help the ordinaria in its judgements on the requests and queries presented by Devereux. There are seven requests and three queries. The first request concerns jurisdictional power of a vicar apostolic in another vicariate during the absence of its own vicar apostolic. The second concerns a permission for a sister in religious closure to travel. The third fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh requests concern issues of worship including requests for indulgences and faculties for religious objects, places of worship and in the sacrament of penance. The first two queries are also about religious matters pertaining to dispensations and faculties for papal blessings. The third query concerns the status of an appointment by the colonial government of a Catholic priests to a particular task. The nature of these requests shows the focus on centralised power within the Catholic church at this time. Though Devereux is a bishop he is strongly circumscribed in what he is empowered to do. Many issues of worship and personnel and the exercise of ecclesiastical power had to be referred back to Rome for permission, something which remains the case today.  Roman Curial culture is then a centralised, managerial and executive culture within a very large worldwide hierarchy. This executive power which ultimately resides in the Pope is administered in the area of missions by Fransoni as Prefect of SCPF.

Only Fransoni’s abstraction of what he considers to be the essential aspects of Devereux’s report are included. This abstraction illuminates something of Fransoni’s preoccupation and concerns. In this way we get a peep at some of the values and views of the Roman Curial culture of SCPF. Devereux has struggled hitherto to access the resources he requires for his work and in order to be more effective. In a show of support and fatherly concern for the vicar he concedes the recommendation to both OPF and to other bishops and faithful in the world (text 6).^[18] A similar concern to help Devereux succeed in a manifestly difficult situation is shown when he includes in the synthesis both successes in Devereux’s current sources of finance (texts 3, 7). He also supports the identification of possible future sources of finance (text 5). His interest in Devereux’s needs (text 1) also demonstrates a certain paternal concern in including the residential needs (text 2), living expenses (text 2) and needs related to the liturgical and evangelical mission (text 4). 

Clearly the report of Devereux has revealed problems regarding the current approach of SCPF in the South African mission. Now is the time to help in solving the more immediate problems as well as searching for new strategies in setting up vicariates in this part of the world. Devereux’s suggestion of confiding the new vicariate to a Religious Institute looks like a promising response to this strategic problem.

2.2       Forward Planning for a new foundation: Financial planning for the Vicariate of Natal

The second set of issues (texts 8-11) refer to the proposed Vicariate of Natal. The texts give us an insight into the methods employed by the curia as it looks at the possibility of missionary  expansion. Fransoni has been convinced by Devereux that the time is now apposite.  His principal concern is the financial viability of the mission. All four of the culture texts are

concerned with issues of the financial subsistence of the new mission. This has become the major concern for he wishes to avoid a repetition of the experience of Devereux who on his appointment as vicar Apostolic had to embark on voyages to Europe and the USA to look for support in finance and personnel (text 9).  One text indicates the only current existing source in Natal: a promise from the colonial government to give a stipend to one Priest in Pietermaritzburg (text 8). The other two texts are comments directed directly to the members of the ordinaria asking them about possible sources of finance. There are two are available to them: OPF and Propaganda’s own financing which can only be given in cases of great need since they are meagre. Should one or both be offered (text 10)? This is an important decision they must make. The last text (11) is a specific query to the ordinaria, query 4 out of the 7 which will be posed to them (infra 3), asking what other means could be used to support the proposed mission.

Confiding the vicariate to a Religious corporation^[19]  could resolve the financial problem. Past experience has taught that they are often prepared to bring their own financial resources to their mission work. A stipulation could be made that the vicariate would only be confided if the corporation would be responsible for its financial sustenance. If SCPF can follow this strategy the financial constraint will not be their problem. Curial management style requires the search for precedents in history which can justify the proposed strategy. The Nota di Archivio presents a number of such precedents for this approach in the mission history of the Church. These relate to three vicariates confided to the Seminary for Foreign Missions in Paris (texts 12-14).  In substance the plan was that the SCPF agreed to assign the vicariates to the Seminary with the vicar Apostolic coming in all three cases from one of their number. There were two provisos: that the Seminary would be responsible to finance the vicariates and their personnel; and that a minimum number of six missionaries be appointed (text 13). A possible strategy emerges: confide the vicariate to a Religious corporation with the proviso that they are responsible for the finance.

The texts suggest that the decision to change the pattern in the establishment of vicariates in South Africa arose from these financial concerns. The previous model used with the two Cape vicariates was to choose a vicar and then leave him to work out how to recruit personnel and defray the material expenses incurred. This possibility is not fully abandoned in the establishment of the Natal vicariate. In the ponenza we find a proposal that a vicar be appointed in this way. The candidate is M. L’Abbe de Montaigut (Ristretto no. 12, 17). This suggestion came from Devereux in a conversation with the Prefect (Ristretto no. 12).  Information about Montaigut is supplied by his bishop in Limoges (Sommario p. 4-5).  It seems that Devereux’s idea was that the vicar should be appointed and then a religious congregation asked to supply missionaries. However finding a Religious community to accept the vicariate proves difficult. The Jesuits refuse as do the Spiritans (Ristretto p. 3) both because of a lack of manpower. Finally a request to Bishop De Mazenod, the founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate results in a favourable response but only if the vicar is appointed from the ranks of the Oblate missionaries sent. (Ristretto p3).^[20]   He is only prepared to accept the foundation if the vicar Apostolic is an Oblate (Sommario p2).

In the end there are only two alternatives: Abbe de Montaigut or the OMI nominated Father Allard. The financial question is not removed from Fransoni’s desk. He will have to look for ways to support the proposed new vicariate. The  members of the ordinaria are merely asked to choose between the two proposed vicars Apostolic (Q 5 Ristretto p10; see infra 3).  

2.3       The start of a long journey: legal and financial concerns regarding religious women

The growth of Catholic missionary activity in the nineteenth century raised a whole series of new factors governing the life of religious women. During this period rules were very strict about the movement of religious women who were “confined by laws and petty restrictions both as to their life style and in their work” (Boner 1998:6).^[21]  It may be difficult for us in this age to understand the restrictions placed on women, and especially women religious, by the Catholic Church at this time. All religious women were subject to enclosure until the seventeenth century and even by the nineteenth century only certain forms of communities of women were allowed to conduct apostolic works outside the convent. This issue appears in the ponenza in one of the formal requests of Devereux to SCPF  (Sommario pp. 6-7). The second of these is a request that

for the good of religion and particularly for the good of the poor and orphaned that Sr Mary Stanislaus Augustinus Lenny a professed religious at the Convent of the Presentation of our Lady in Wexford Ireland...may have the faculty to go out of the convent in the company of the Bishop or any other worthy priest in order to go to the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope to set up her own institute of Our Lady...or if it is found that the requirements of the place fit more to the Institute of the Mercy sisters, in these circumstances she receive a dispensation to transfer from her own Institution to the Sisters of Mercy.^[22]

The Sister has been asked by Bishop Devereux to come to South Africa to set up a community in Grahamstown. The request is for a dispensation from the cloister that the constitutions of her religious order requires. Specifically these are that a cloistered nun may not leave the cloister without a papal dispensation and that this is only granted if she is accompanied by a bishop or “worthy” priest. The Nota di archivio (pp. 6-8) provides a number of precedents for this. They refer to mainly to foundations in the United States. However, the requirements of her order may have made it difficult for her to do the kind of mission work she is going to do in the Eastern Cape. For this reason a request is also made for a possible transfer to another, more open, order of sisters should this be the case.

Requirements of the cloistered life made it difficult for a new foundation to set up schools and orphanages especially in mission territories where the sisters were often required to be outside the convent to meet the needs of their apostolic work. The “Sisters of Mercy” were founded to work with the poor in this way and the requirements of their rule were much more adapted to missionary life. It is for this reason that the request to transfer to the Mercy Sisters and set up a foundation of theirs was also made if circumstances would warrant it. Once more the Nota (pp. 6-9) provides precedents where religious congregations of women have been given permission to adapt their rules to the realities of missionary life. Indeed the reality of religious life for women was to change considerably during the 19^th century and the requirements of missionary work were to play a pivotal role in this. Sisters had to adapt their rules to respond to the new realities. Some women set out to avoid these problems by setting up organisations which were not religious institutes. Already in the 17^th Century, St Vincent de Paul had set up the “Daughters of Charity” and deliberately insisted  that they were not to be Religious in order to avoid cloister. This was the first group of a new kind of women’s congregations. The “Sisters of Mercy” were also not initially set up as a religious congregation for the same reason. But church authorities frowned on this kind of independent action. The Archbishop of Dublin, in this case, insisted that they make vows and in 1831 the congregation was established . However the value of the work they did meant that compromises had to be  found where vows could be taken and apostolic work carried out. In this way the powerful apostolic religious congregations of women grew and the more restrictive orders of women’s religious life gradually became less numerous.

Just three economic culture texts in the Roman curial side of the ponenza provide a glimpse into the existence of this whole cultural area (text nos. 15-17). The first two concern the situation in the United States where the sisters were prepared to accept the children of rich people in their schools and to accept fees from them. In the USA the custom was for rich parents to pay for the schooling of children. But for some Religious communities charging fees for work in this way was not acceptable and in conflict with their rule. The rule, emerging form European culture, clashed with North American practice. The sisters in question had an obligation to closure and to teach the children of the poor. But the bishop responding to the needs of his own context wanted them also to accept children from rich families including Protestants “in the hope that these might embrace the Catholic religion” (Nota p.8).  Hence the request that the sisters be enabled to do so. It appears that such enabling had to be done by the Church authority. So whilst initially the Bishop gave permission, eventually the matter had to go to Rome in terms of the legal culture concerning of women’s religious life of the time. “The result of the this request to the Holy Father on 19 May 1833 was that ‘His holiness assents to the judgement and prudence of the Bishop’” (Nota p. 8). The final text (18) is an affirmation of the work of the Sisters of Mercy by the Bishop of Kildare in Ireland indicating also that the sisters had the right to charge for their educational facilities.

The background to these cases is that in Europe, organisations of religious women had been mainly funded by the families of the members through the dowry system. Women entering from poorer families unable to pay dowries entered as “lay sisters” who were at the domestic service of the “Choir” sisters in the convent enclosure (Boner 1998:25-30). The first apostolic associations of women tended to be established by women from rich families who were able to fund their own apostolic activities.^[23]  In the constitutions of the institution, their apostolic works were usually designated which led to difficulties when new contexts in mission countries raised new needs. The strong restrictions placed upon women religious by the law of the Church seem somewhat surprising to us today. Issues of payment for services in order to sustain the new foundations were major issues in mission territories (Bate 2000b). The texts show how the process of the transformation and the gradual removal of these restrictions was only beginning at this stage but that economic and social circumstances in mission territories played an important role in this transformation.

2.4       Religious discourse in Roman Curial culture.

2.4.1    Ecclesial focus

Much of the religious discourse in this part of the ponenza mirrors that in Devereux’s narrative.^[24] Once more we find a strong ecclesiological focus in the texts with similar concerns about church implantation and missionary outreach (texts 7, 9,10,11, 12, 17, 20), personnel (texts 1,2,3,7,8,9 12, 13, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 38, 39, 41, 42), ecclesial institutions like SCPF and the seminary of the missions in Paris (texts 5, 10, 12, 13, 14, 26)  and structures like vicariates (texts 8, 12, 13,  26, 37, 38) as well as the application of sacred terms to ecclesial institutions (texts 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 15, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26). This latter group is particularly strongly represented and there are some new terms in the curial discourse. The  “Holy See” (text 25, 26) refers to the episcopal see of Rome but also refers to the primacy of this see and the role of its bishop, who is the pope, in the general governance of the Church. It has  “spiritual rights” (text 26). A deceased pope is referred to as of  “holy memory” (text 25). We also meet up with the ecclesiastical title “Monsignor” (my lord) (text 22). The local church in Korea is called  “the spiritual realm of Korea” (text 14) whereas apostolic work is referred to as  “serving piety” (text 17). 

2.4.2    Inter-confessional relations

By contrast there is less on the issue of inter-confessional antagonism and the language is much more diplomatic in this regard though sending Catholics to protestant schools would “lead to religious damage and danger” (text 16) and priests accepting stipends from the English government “may dogmatise and teach the errors of the Anglican Church” (text 35). But there is much more about the relationship with civil power given the large number of texts in the Nota about receiving stipends from the British civil state. Nonetheless the language reveals that the concern here is the danger of the influence of Protestant Britain in Catholic Ireland. The plan proposed by the British government to provide stipends for Catholic clergy is called “insidious and suspect in its origins...injurious to the religion and discipline of the church...harmful to the top of the Catholic faith in its governance...tending to division and discord in the hierarchy of the Church of Ireland” (text 31). The clergy will become “less respected by the people and considered mercenaries and slaves of the government” (text 28). Strong stuff! And even receiving such stipends where the religious problem is not so great could be an “apparent evil which could one day turn to reality” (text 24).

2.4.3 Missionary spirituality

There is much more in the curial narrative about what we could refer to as a missionary spirituality which focuses on the spiritual gifts and attitudes required for mission. These are reflected in the work of the sisters who educate^[25] “those who are ignorant of the faith. They bring them up in moral principals. They sustain and encourage the poor and deprived. They visit the sick and console them. They assist the dying and care for them” (text 17).  Missionaries and clergy must by their behaviour cultivate respect and trust by those they serve (text 28).  for they are “committed to their spiritual direction” (text 41) . They must be careful to teach truth and not error (text 35, 31). They are called to “apostolic zeal” (text 41).  Finally they are not to look for financial gain from their ministry and should “scrupulously abstain from having any kind of temporal advantage” (text 41).

Finally, there are a few texts which refer specifically to religious teaching, worship and cult: the ministry of word and sacrament. The clergy are “ministers of the Gospel” (text 33) and sisters are called to teach people the faith (text 17). A printing press is required “to spread catholic books” (text 4).

2.5       From Roman Church to Global church. Catholic dealings with non Catholic state powers.

By far the largest number of economic culture texts in the Roman curial narrative are concerned with relations with the British government. The principal concern is the relationship between the financial subsidy of Catholic clergy by the English government and its role in appointing Catholic clergy to positions. There are twenty five separate texts on this issue. All except one (text 8) are found in the Archival Note (texts18-42). All of them respond to the query of Devereux about whether he can accept colonial practice regarding the clergy appointments. This query is culture text no 35 in part 1 of this study. Devereux is concerned that the colonial government seems to want to appoint those Catholic clergy that it subsidises to the tasks it is subsidising them for. To Devereux this looks like State appropriation of Church power and so he is concerned whether quietly accepting this practice may set a problematic precedent. The twenty five texts in this domain deal with a number of issues around the relationship of government subsidy to government involvement in church affairs.

This matter has political consequences which far outweigh the economic issues as the texts show. As a result the texts lead us into the world of politics and the Church’s relationship with State powers. We find here an excellent example of how the Catholic Church through its Roman leadership was adapting to a role of being a world presence. The early missionary approach had been to accompany Catholic powers in their colonisation of the world through the system of padroado^[26]. Dissatisfaction with the lack of church control in the padroado system and the rise of the Dutch and the British, both non Catholic colonial powers, meant that Rome had to adapt new missionaries strategies on an increasingly worldwide arena in contexts of Catholic Christian, Non-Catholic Christian and non Christian hegemony. The creation of SCPF in 1622 was a way of wresting back control of Catholic mission from civil powers into the hands of the Church.

Obviously the Catholic Church’s political role on the world stage was not new.  Throughout its history contact and diplomatic dealings with powers and potentates within its own known world had been part of its ethos. Nonetheless these texts provide us with insights into the process of ongoing strategising, clarification of priorities and diplomatic action. The goal of all this was the struggle to preserve autonomy, and missionary success: the hallmarks of politics. At the same time we also observe the beginnings of probably what would today be called globalization in the approach of Rome to secular authorities. As the world opened up, the Church found itself having to deal with contexts and concerns from all over. The texts in this section reflect the financial, political and social issues around growing global presence.

2.5.1    Financial Issues

A number of financial issues emerge within the political domain of the Roman curial pole of Catholic Missionary culture. The principal one is whether or not government financial support for Catholic mission can be accepted. We discover that the way in which this question is answered depends on a number of factors. In the first place it seems clear that there are circumstances when financial aid from a colonial government can be accepted. There are three value systems which determine this judgement: support for promoting “civilisation”, support not linked to irreligious conditions which means the promotion of non-Catholic religions (including other churches) and finally a diplomatic solution where there are no conditions attached and a refusal could be seen as giving offense. The relevant culture texts are as follows:

1.         When government financial support can be accepted:

a.         The English government has a policy to fund Catholic missions when they are involved in promoting “civilisation”. This support is acceptable (texts 18-20).

b.         Support from non Catholic powers is acceptable if not linked to “irreligious” conditions (text 21).

c.         When the government’s offer of help has no apparent conditions and to refuse could give offense as in the case of the Dutch missions  (texts 22-23).

There is however a series of circumstances when funding cannot be accepted from a civil government. These are all concerned with conditions which link Catholic officials to the state and disturb the relationship between the clergy and the people. The texts are as follows:

2.         Unacceptable conditions linked to government funding:

a.         When a power wants the authority to nominate Catholic missionaries and bishops (texts 24, 25, 26, 31, 37, 42).

b.         When such funding will give the impression that Catholic clergy are now officials of the state  (texts 28, 32, 33).

c.         When such funding will militate against harmony in the relationship between Catholics and the clergy (texts 27, 28, 32, 34).

d.         When such funding can increase government control who could limit clergy by limiting funding (text 36).

e.         When allowing a non Catholic power to fund Catholic priests could lead to such priests teaching the “error” of the religion supported by the power: in this case Anglicanism (texts 31, 35).

f.          When it divides Catholics including the clergy into two groups: supporters and dissenters of the funding with its conditions (text 38).

Thirdly, there are some circumstances where it is not clear which is the correct strategy. The issues are not always cut and dried and some leaders will see values in one strategy whereas others will oppose it. The relevant texts are as follows:

3.         Contrasting views:

a.         These views indicate the uncertainty regarding some issues concerning the British governments proposal to give stipends to Catholic priests in Ireland. The dissenters here suggest that accepting government support will improve relations between the Catholic church and the Non-Catholic State (texts 27, 28, 29, 30). This position was eventually not accepted in the Irish situation.

Fourthly, we see the emergence of different strategies in dealing with the same situation. This requires a clarification regarding the “correct” strategy and based on this a final decision will be made. Such final decisions are made in Rome.

4.         Possible strategies to employ:

a.         Accept some kind of concordat with the government to maintain peace and a less tense situation to work in (texts 27, 28, 29, 30).

b.         Refusal to accept any support from non Catholic governments (texts 31, 39).

c.         A diplomatic solution in terms of thanking the government for their help but affirming the traditional system of independence of the clergy  (texts 26, 40, 41, 42).

Finally the decision must be applied to the current context: the query of Devereux. The relevant culture text merely makes this connection once more illustrating the importance of precedent in curial decision making.

5.         Application of the precedents to the query of Devereux:

a.         The information was presented since it has some similarities to Devereux’s concern (text 42).

2.5.2                            Political Issues

The economic culture texts reveal a set of differing political strategies towards different kinds of political states. The identity of the country in question and the Church’s own religious goals within the polity of that country combine to determine a political strategy. The culture texts reveal four main political issues within these diverse strategies.

The first of these concerns the relationship between the Church and particular secular states. The three secular states in question in these texts are the Dutch State (texts 22, 23). The Papal States^[27] (text 25) and the English State (texts 8, 18-21, 24, 26-42).  Most of the texts dealing with the English Government actually focus on the situation in Ireland which was amalgamated with the United Kingdom in 1851. The Irish situation thus raises a very important political issue for the Church since it deals with Catholic subjugation by a non Catholic coloniser.

The second issue is about geopolitics. Here we find a church that is increasingly embroiled in political issues on a global level. In the ponenza we find references to missions in USA, China, Korea and Africa as well as relations between the Church and the European powers of Holland, Germany and France. Besides this there is a much on the situation in Ireland. Here then are signs of a polity, the Holy See as represented by the Roman curia, having to reflect and plan on a wide number of geopolitical fronts about widely varying issues in a world where it does not hold formal political power but disseminates religious power. A number of praxes have obtained throughout Church history. Strategies such as the Padroado, the adaptation approach of the Jesuit eastern missions in the Chinese and Japanese empires and now the growth of European colonialism reveal a body which has to continually clarify its vision and strategies in order to make political decisions which will allow it to achieve goals which are beyond the confines of the various empires, and polities of the world. This is an example of first steps in globalization: playing a role on the world stage.

Thirdly the ponenza provides us with some insight into an important mechanism of the process of political strategy and diplomacy. This mechanism is the identification of precedents in the past and demonstrates the importance of the Nota D’Archivio in the ponenza. The Nota is clearly the fruit of some considerable research and provides invaluable data to help in the current decision making process. This appeal to tradition forms part of Catholic ethos and is also part of Catholic theological method.

Finally we note some signs of the Roman curial approach to religion and politics which also carries through into Catholic theology. This is the insistence on the interpenetration of religion and politics. We cannot conclude to a religion which leaves politics to the secular state in these texts. Indeed this document of Catholic Missionary culture is strikingly aware of the political dimension of the religious issues it is concerned with. These are political issues which reflect the human condition at this time and in order to ensure its religious goals the Church is clear that it has to clarify its political position as well. In this way we see how the Roman curia has always seen itself as having a political and economic role and we recognise here the Catholic theological position which does not recognise a separation of church and state.

2.5.3                            Missiological issues

A number of missiological issues emerge from the increasing globalization of the Catholic Church. In the first place the culture texts we have identified show the existence of an active political role for the Church in society. Such a role has to be considered, planned and strategised but nonetheless we must recognise its clear and present reality. From this we may conclude that the various political stances taken by the Church in different contexts in the world during the twentieth century are nothing new. They reflect a continuing concern that the Church has for the world and its betterment.

Secondly we recognise the importance of finance in mission. The church is called to make religious and missiological judgement in financial matters. This is a duty imposed by the reality of the world and the survival of the Church in the world. Often financial matters are held to the side or remain “confidential”. Yet they are of the essence of mission and so need to emerge more clearly under the light of the Gospel.^[28]

Thirdly we note the use of tradition and precedent in coming to financial decisions. This is indicative of a missiological method.

Fourthly we recognise the complexity of motivation in the Church’s missionary endeavour. The texts touch on a wide range of human life. It is clearly false to conclude to one or two factors in describing the motivation of the missionaries and officials found in these texts.

3.                                 The ordinaria and its decisions

The ponenza is a document whose basic purpose is to help the members of the ordinary meeting of Propaganda (the Ordinaria) to make judgements about the queries Fransoni has abstracted from the matters raised by Devereux’s report. These queries (dubbi) appear at the end of the Ristretto and are essential to try to understand the process. They are reproduced here as an aid to the reader to understand what issues Fransoni finally considered to be important.  What follows is the authors translation of the Italian text.

The EE. VV. RR.^[29] are requested...to deign to resolve the following queries (dubbi):

1.         If and which source of funds could be used to ameliorate the current condition of the Vicarate Apostolic of the Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope?

2.         If and which means could be adopted to introduce the light of the gospel amongst the Kaffir tribes which are to the north and east of the Vicariate?

3.         If one should proceed to the erection of a new Vicariate Apostolic for the Land of Natal according to the borders suggested by Mgr. Devereux?

4.                                 With what means could one provide for the subsistence of the projected mission?

5.                                 Which of the two proposed people would you choose to be named Vicar Apostolic?

6.         What replies can be given to the three issues raised by Mgr Devereux [found in the Sommario no.5. The important issues are 1,2 & 7]?^[30]

7.                                 What reply can be given to the three questions raised by the same prelate? 

The ordinaria met on the 20^th of August 1850 to consider the ponenza and specifically the queries posed above. The hand written minutes record only the common decision on each of the six points as follows:

1                                  Sources of funds to ameliorate the situation in the Eastern Vicariate?

To the Eminent Prefect with the Secretary.^[31]

2                      Means to introduce the Gospel to African tribes in the north and east of the Vicariate?                    To the Eminent Prefect with the Secretary.                

3                                  Erect the New Vicariate of Natal according to Devereux’s suggested borders?

Affirmative.    

4                                  Means to support the new vicariate?

To the Eminent Pefect with the Secretary

5.                                 Montaigut or Allard as Vicar Apostolic?

Allard.

6                                  On the three issues of Mgr. Devereux?^[32]

2.         Concerning the issue of Sr Kenny.

According to the judgement and prudence of the Vicar Apostolic.

7.                                 The three queries of Mgr Devereux?^[33]

3.                     Concerning conditions for accepting English government stipends.

There is no problem with accepting them.

As a result of this deliberation the request to establish the vicariate was transmitted to the Pope and the decree establishing the vicariate was dated 5 October  1850 (Brain 1975:27). Allard was appointed Vicar Apostolic and the staffing of the vicariate was confided to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate as De Mazenod had requested (Sommario p3). On June 1851 Mgr. Allard records that an amount of 10000 francs was received from the OPF in Lyons and 2000 francs was received from the SCPF in Rome.^[34] With this sum and a few other donations, the missionaries set sail to establish the new vicariate.  The stipends of support from the English government were accepted when offered.^[35]

4.         Some final Missiological considerations

4.1       Finance and Mission.

It is the contention of this series of studies that financial considerations are very important in missionary endeavour and that theological reflection about the role of money and economic issues in missionary affairs is a necessary though understudied area of missiology. This particular study once more demonstrates the validity of this contention. Our study of a written text from Catholic Missionary sources namely the Roman curial “ponenza” for the establishment of the Vicariate of Natal drawn up in 1850 has revealed a large number (92) of separate culture texts dealing with a large range of economic and financial matters.

A further contention of the studies is that economic issues are profitably studied from a cultural perspective. Here we have considered Catholic Missionary history in South Africa from the perspective of what can be variously, jointly or separately be referred to as Western, settler and colonial cultures. In these particular cultures the economic domain is very powerful and whilst it is true that economic and financial matters are important in all cultures I would suggest that they tend to be more central in these particular cultures. Therefore it is important to recognise the cultural power of economic signifiers amongst people in these societies and for that reason a cultural study of mission from the perspective of economics becomes an exercise in inculturation and the theological method of inculturation can help us develop tools for making judgements about these issues.^[36]

This particular study will not move to a theological judgement but wishes to present the information using the cultural hermeneutic lens as propose in the introduction.

4.2       Catholic Missionary culture

The document we have studied is a product of Catholic Missionary culture particularly in its hierarchical dimension. We have discovered that like all cultures, this culture is not a monolith but in flux and change and influenced by a range of participating cultural domains. In parts 1 and 2 of this study we identified a number of these, like the Roman curial political domain, the Roman curial diplomatic domain, a Catholic domain of religious language which is symbolic and incarnational in its use of sacred terms to refer to people and human institutions, the English Colonial domain, a Settler cultural domain, the domain of Catholic religious women and the domain of interfaith antagonism to name just a few. It should be obvious that this does not exhaust the complexity of the cultural map of Catholic Missionary culture. Discourses which treat cultures as monoliths ordered by a few founding principals are clearly simplistic reductionistic and distortive.

The study is an illustration that all religions operate within complex cultural paradigms which allow them to interpret meaning and to express vision, strategy and action. Very often much of the misunderstanding and conflict between social groups result from a lack of understanding of the complexity of other peoples cultures and symbol systems. Even today Catholics in South Africa are popularly considered to worship statues and force their ministers to live an unnatural (i.e. celibate) lifestyle! Many Christian ministers regularly preach that Catholics are “not saved”.

The study has shown that financial and economic issues were a very important dimension of mission in Catholic Missionary culture. Financial and economic information regarding the progress of mission territories and possibilities for the future were communicated to the very highest level of the Catholic hierarchy. Decisions were both influenced by and taken about financial and economic matters. Finance and economics were powerful symbols within Catholic Missionary culture at this time. They were powerful because they affected praxis so strongly. “Take nothing with you for the journey” (Lk 9:3) would not appear to apply to Devereux’s trip back to South Africa in 1849. At the same time it applies quite strongly to the refusal to accept that Catholic clergy be paid by the English State in Ireland since this could lead to a conflict of interests.

We have seen many examples of how the recourse to tradition and historical precedent forms part of the management style of Catholic Missionary culture particularly in the curial domain. This procedure turns up time and agin in the document and is indeed the “raison d’etre” for the Nota di Archivio.

We have also discovered incipient elements of a global dimension in Catholic Missionary culture. Whilst many other Churches in South Africa were linked to one or other particular country especially, Britain, America and Holland (Elphick 1997: 2-3) this document is strongly multinational. Fransoni is Italian, Devereux is Irish, settled in South Africa. Allard is French and will come from Canada to take up his post as Vicar Apostolic of Natal. There are references to Britain, Ireland, China, Japan, Korea, the USA, India and Holland in the document. Catholic Missionary culture as found in the ponenza was concerned with matters of relations with states and of guarding the interests of its own organisation within those states. It was also concerned with extending its influence within those states through missionary endeavour and extension.

This culture is also exclusivist. Extra ecclesiam nulla salus^[37] refers to the Catholic church at this time. It was the firm belief that the other Christians had lost there way, were heretics and schismatics, and had to be won back to the Church by conversion. Catholic mission was also to these. The other churches were strongly anti-Catholic for historical reasons related to Catholic persecution of Protestants in Europe and anti-Catholic feelings in Britain tied up with events like those around Henry VIII, Guy Fawkes, and the Cromwellian reforms.

Finally we note that this culture was about to undergo a process of change with regard to the status of women. At this point many of the medieval rules about religious women still apply. Religious women are about a make a powerful impact on the life of the Catholic missionary church particularly in North America but also throughout the world. We have seen the seeds of some of these changes in this document though this culture is strongly male dominated at this stage. All the active role players in the ponenza are men. Only one woman figures: the sister for whom a request is made. The decision to be made is about her and will be taken for her.

4.3       Catholic mission and Colonial settler culture

Devereux was an Irish priest who came to South Africa to help Bishop Griffith in The Cape Vicariate. He found himself amongst many of his compatriots as there were a number of Irish immigrants as well as large numbers of Irish troops in the colonial army. It is clear that he imbibed much of settler culture with its values of a better life and economic opportunities of land and trade as colonies were established. He accepted the myth of the British colonial effort in acquiring foreign lands in order to develop them and civilise the natives. As a Catholic Bishop his principal motivation was to implant the church and in particular its structure so that Catholics could practice their faith. Secondary to that was his wish to participate in civil society providing Catholic structures and institutions, especially schools, and even accepting conversions of Protestants if and when they occurred. Thirdly he wished to bring Christ to the indigenous people of the country whom he considered to be in the darkness. It should be noted that these motivations considerably outweighed the influence of cultural factors coming from colonial and settler discourses. It is this fact that is often overlooked by those who wish to simplistically lump together the missionary effort as part of the colonial thrust. This article has demonstrated the complexity of the cultural map of Catholic Missionary culture and has attempted to indicate the place and depth of the colonial and settler domains within that culture. Missionaries have been referred to as the “natural associates of the colonial government....who served the prevailing ideology of imperial expansionism...[and] propagated a selective Christianity consciously modified and adapted for export to the colonies” (Cuthbertson 1987: 15-16).  This simplistic materialist approach does not take cultural factors sufficiently into account. Said (1993) has emphasised the importance of “cultural imperialism: in which a “colonial discourse” as the principal narrative of society and which has as goal or consequence the ideological subjugation of colonised peoples. Comaroff and Comaroff (1991) have examined the role of Christianity in this process suggesting that missions and mission schools in which “colonial evangelism ....impose[d] an entire worldview upon their would be subjects” (:17). These views have been criticised by Andrew Porter (1997) who suggests that the goals and strategy of Christians were at odds with those of British Imperialism in at least two ways. The first of these is the fact that the “sources for the planning of missionary strategies and generation of the missionary movements fervour far transcended Britain itself” (:18). We have shown that this internationality is even greater in Catholic missionary discourse which could hardly be said to be participating in the same project as that of the British empire. Porter also shows that “missionary expansion and support for culture change often departed from the mainstream of imperial sentiment” (:18). This led to the “tendency of colonial authorities to make life difficult for them” (:18).

We have tried to demonstrate that the colonial and settler domains form part of Catholic Missionary culture but simplistic equating of these leads to a distortion of the facts and a new ideological construction of truth. Anachronistic missionary bashing is the flavour of the year in much of current missiological and historical study but this fails to take into account the complexity of the signifiers and motivation in the practice of missionaries. A study of Catholic Missionary culture in South Africa is helpful in that regard as it is not so easy to make the cultural identifications so necessary for this ideological position.

There is no doubt that studies of English churches in South Africa and Catholic mission under the padroado system in Latin America can increase the overlap between the cultural map of colonial culture and the cultural map of Christian missionary culture. It is also true that Catholic missionaries had colonial designs. For example Bauer (1994:420) reports that “the Holy Ghost Father Augouard worked along the river congo for Catholic France in order that ‘his’ Africans should not fall into the hands of ‘heretic’ Protestants”. But studies where the overlaps are not so clear help us to see that the matter was not as simple as that and Porter’s (1996) article provides an important corrective to the valuable work of the Comaroffs and others. Political, financial, ideological and religious issues are firmly intertwined in this discourse but the intertwining is not to create one thread but rather to create a cultural fabric which requires mapping to investigate the relationship between things. This study has been an attempt to show some of the important landmarks, boundaries, rivers, flora and fauna on that map.

                                                                Works Consulted

Bate, S C 1998. Method in contextual missiology.  Missionalia 26,2:150-185.

Bate, S C 2000a. Points of contradiction: money, the Catholic church and settler culture in southern Africa. Part 1 The leaders of the mission.  Studia Historia Ecclesiasticae 26,1: 135-164.                       

Bate, S C 2000b. Points of contradiction: money, the Catholic church and settler culture in southern Africa. Part 2 The role of religious. Studia Historia Ecclesiasticae 26,1: 165-188.                       

Bauer 1994. 2000 years of Christianity in Africa: an African history, 62-1992 Nairobi: Paulines.

Boner, K 1998. Dominican Women: A Time to Speak. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster.

Bonk, J J 1991. Missions and Money. NY: Orbis.

Brain, J B 1975. Catholic beginnings in Natal and beyond. Durban: T W Griggs.

Comaroff, J & Comaroff, J 1991. Of revelation and revolution: Christianity, colonialism and consciousness in South Africa. Chicago: Univ. Chicago press.

Cuthbertson, G 1987. The English speaking churches and colonialism, in Villa-Vicencio, C ed. Theology and Violence, 15-30. Johannesburg: Skotaville.

Elphick, R 1997. Christianity in South African History, in Elphick, R and Davenport. R eds. Christianity in South Africa, 1-15. Cape Town: David Philip.

Leflon, J 1970. Eugene de Mazenod Vol IV 1838-1861. NY: Fordham.

Porter, A 1996. ‘Cultural Imperialism’ and Missionary Enterprise. North Atlantic Missiology project Position paper number 7. University of Cambridge.

Said, E 1993. Culture and Imperialism.  New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House.

Sheils, W & Wood, D eds. 1987. The Church and Wealth. London: Basil Blackwell.

Stanley 1997. Money and missionary policy : Robert Arthington's million and the direction of Protestant missionary expansion. Cambridge: North Atlantic Missionary Project.

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