The Church and the Democratic Process: Lessons from South Africa

Address to the Theology Week of the Catholic Institute of West Africa

Port Harcourt Nigeria

9 April 2003

Stuart C Bate OMI^[1]

(“The Church and the Democratic Process: Lessons from South Africa”. Address to the XIVth Theology week of the Catholic Institute of West Africa. Port Harcourt, Nigeria, April 2003.)

Introduction: beware simplistic approaches

The story of democracy in South Africa is dominated by the issue of race. On the surface, the issue seems quite simple: democracy in South Africa could only be achieved by substituting the illegitimate, undemocratic, white minority regime by a black majority government.

When I was a student, I spent a summer in France attempting to learn the language. This was in the 1970s. I remember meeting someone from Cameroon in the student hostel refectory who, on hearing I was from South Africa, looked at me in horror and said: “Mais vous, vous etes racistes!”: (“you are racists!”). The analysis of the problem was that simple. Simple analyses like this are satisfying. They help us to neatly identify the problem and marshal our resources to overcome it. But, in fact, if the goal is a democratic society we will have to recognize that this kind of analysis and action has not produced the desired result. All of our societies have dealt with the principal obstacle to democracy that was perceived a generation or two ago. Yet today we still find ourselves in search of the promised utopia of the common good, peace and joy in our time. Removing colonial powers or white racists has not been the solution anticipated. It has not worked because the situation is more complex than that.

The simplistic analysis tends to identify one enemy or obstacle and proposes a solution in terms of resolving that one issue. The introduction to a recent book called Democracy and Reconciliation: a challenge for African Christianity (Magesa and Nthamburi eds. 1999:1) disappointingly repeats the refrain of simplism when it suggests that “[t]he crisis facing democracy on this continent seems to arise partly from the unwillingness of political losers to concede defeat and partly from the eagerness of political winners to punish their opponents and reward their supporters”.  In other words there is one problem: political intolerance. Solve that and you’ll have democracy.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, for knowledge is power, we have discovered in our more cynical, postcolonial, post-modern, global world that simplistic analyses of complex social issues whilst satisfying to the heart, rarely result in workable solutions. They reduce complex problems to models which ignore significant issues and factors. Even worse, simplistic models often generate a negative consequence of allowing one group to arrogate right to itself and to scapegoat the other. All this does is polarize society and create a situation of strife and enmity. The principle of scapegoating and its role in creating social violence has been at the centre of the works of Renee Girard.^[2] He has shown in a range of publications how scapegoating works in human societies. Tellingly, he has also demonstrated the central role of religion in this process.

I want to insist that the nature of democracy is pluralist, with many centres of power, each of which plays a vital role in the maintenance of the whole. This has been referred to as a Pluralist Diffusion model (Bilton 1981:185). The democratic society is a network of competing interest groups which remain in creative tension with one another. Power in the society is spread amongst these groupings. Each group serves a different set of interests which it strives to safeguard and serve. Groupings include big business, farmers, political parties, parliament, labour movements, the military forces, educational institutions, cultural groupings, religious groups, those in the media and many others. Groups sometimes enter into alliances with one another when their interests coincide and sometimes they are in competition when they do not. The effect of this tension within society is to raise the quality of what all the groups have to offer. This is because besides satisfying their own needs, they are constrained to respond to the needs of society since without doing so they lose power. The essence of creating democracy is ensuring the diffusion of power within a society so that no single group is able to exercise hegemonic control.

The role of religion in democracy

Religious institutions, like the Church, can play an important role in democratisation. Religious organisations are also centres of power in society. This means that they can exercise a political role in the ability both to convey their views and to engage their resources for the implementation of their interests. The notion that religion and politics do not mix is naïve in the extreme and no Catholic with any knowledge of Church history could ever believe such nonsense. Religious institutions are especially powerful because they play a major role in forming the consciousness of people. In the African context in particular, religion is a major source of the development of worldview and values.

But religions can also be counterproductive to democracy, as the history of the world has shown us. So part of the process of democratisation is the ongoing reformation of the religion itself from within. Elites within a society often have the ability to control religious power. When this happens, the worldview and activity of the religion reflects the worldview and activity of the elite in society. Such religion is unlikely to be a force for democracy. Apartheid emerged in this way from the Christian religion founded on Calvinist notions of election, predestination and nationhood.

But as Langefeld (1993) has pointed out, the Church can also be a site of struggle. Religion has a greater openness to prophetic voices. Jesus was such a voice in the Jewish religion he belonged to. So was Muhammad within the religious mix that he found in Arabia. Bonhoeffer challenged the Nazis and Mahatma Ghandi was a prophetic figure against the British Raj. Liberation theology in Latin America challenged a Catholic Church that had become too tied to ruling elites. Prophetic voices are often heard more powerfully within religious structures because one of the functions of religion in society is to create sites which can deal with human limitation (Geertz 1973: 100). Religion responds to the limits of our analytical capacity in questions like where the world comes from. It responds to the limits of our human endurance in situations of unbearable suffering like the death of a loved one. And it responds to the limits of our moral capacity in dealing with things like why bad things happen to good people or the problem of evil. For this reason, religion can be an important catalyst for social transformation in situations of social chaos.

South African democracy is a complex business

The example of South Africa can also be understood simplistically. It was a society of white racists who oppressed black people. Then the Marxist revolutionary forces of the ANC liberators were able to defeat the capitalist exploiters of Apartheid and the New South Africa was born. A nice story to tell. But this nice, neat analysis doesn’t really explain the facts. One of the principal forces for the collapse of apartheid was the disinvestment campaign by international capital. Why did multinational companies act like that to force the Apartheid regime to capitulate? Why were religious organizations at the forefront of a struggle to mobilize forces for “atheist Marxists”? What about the role of the media which continually kept the events of South Africa in the national and international arena? Why was there a long drawn out negotiation process (1990-1994) with all parties, even though the battle had been won? How do we explain that the Marxist-Leninist ANC is pursuing a capitalist economic growth policy with at least six communist party cabinet members including the Minister of Trade and Industry? Why are the South African communist party, the labour movement and many civil organizations still in a formal alliance with the government whilst they oppose them in street demonstrations and other civil action on almost every economic issue as well as on Government HIV/AIDS policy? Questions like these remind us that reality is complex and that many diverse forces operate within a society today.  They also help us conclude that a pluralist diffusion model of democracy is more able to explain the reality of the South African context giving a lesson from South Africa for other parts of the continent.

My words today are about a journey of the people of South Africa during the last half of the twentieth century. It is a good timeline because it includes many important steps in our journey to democracy. I will weave my story around five important moments in this journey. These moments represent signposts which must be read if one is to gain lessons from the South African experience in Church and society. I have chosen the starting point in 1950 for it links with a historical referent in the establishment of the Southern African Catholic Hierarchy in 1951. But it is an arbitrary time line for the story began long before that and still continues.

The first moment: The Church in some conformity to the hegemonic group.

The Catholic Church was established in South Africa to “attend first to the wants of the children of the household of the faith.  When the wants of this portion of your flock have been provided for, turn your attention to the native population”.^[3]  Consequently, as Flanagan (1982:84) points out, “right from its beginning the Catholic Church shows a two pronged approach:  a Settlers’ Church for whites and a Mission Church for blacks”.^[4]

In 1950 the Settler Church held a clear hegemony in the ethos and praxis of the Catholic Church.  The Bishops were all whites: either missionaries from overseas or South African sons of immigrants.  The Settler ethos was rooted in the belief of the superiority of Western civilization and the “white man=s burden”^[5] to educate and civilize the native but at the same time to “keep him in his place”.  The Settler community looked to Europe for its identity, values and justification and indeed its members were called “Europeans” including all those born in Africa of African born parents (Bate 1999a:10). In the South African Catholic Church, Europe meant England as the colonising power, Ireland since a large number of Settler Catholics and clergy^[6] came from there (See Higgins 1972: 36) and Germany, the home country for many bishops, clergy and religious working in the mission dioceses.^[7]

The Settler Church reflected the attitudes of white people in South Africa for whom blacks were a relatively unimportant appendage.  For example, in 1952, a Marian Congress was organised in Durban to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of the first missionaries to Natal. This, an event of the whole church, was clearly rooted in the life and culture of the Settler Church.  All the organisers were white and in the seven days of celebration there was one “Africans’ day” where the African majority of Catholics had “a special congress day devoted to them”^[8] (my emphasis) (Bate 1999b:152)

When the first black Bishop in South Africa was appointed in 1954, under pressure of the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith, a new diocese was created. There was an immediate outcry from the white Catholics of the area who protested most “vehemently against having a non-European as bishop of Europeans”  (Abraham 1989:87). They could not conceive of how a black man could have charge of white people and so the campaign was started to “Keep your church White” (:87). 

The strategy of the Mission Church in South Africa was similar to that in much of the rest of sub-Saharan Africa and indeed in European colonies worldwide. Larger mission stations were equipped with a number of institutions for the “upliftment” of the local population like the school, clinic or hospital. The “main mission” was surrounded by a number of smaller communities or “outstations” where a church would be built and the priest would visit to say Mass (Bate 1999a:18). 

Education was the principal means of evangelisation. Black people were attracted to the Catholic Church because membership gave access to the institutions. Most Catholic institutions also accepted non-Catholics if the number of Catholics was not enough and many became Catholics during their years at the mission school. In 1953, the Catholic Church controlled 15% of all black schools  (Abraham 1989: 62).  This was by far the most visible Catholic outreach into South African society. 

In the systematisation of racism that apartheid became, the government and its allies developed a clear set of ideologies, priorities and laws which affected all aspects of South African life. Initially, the principal Catholic protest against the Apartheid system was through pastoral letters of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ conference. The message was quite subdued for the Church had reason to fear offending the government too much. The Calvinist government was strongly anti-Catholic wishing to restrict the Catholics to not more than 5% of the population.^[9] The Mission Church was almost entirely staffed by foreign missionaries and was afraid of a restriction on its supply through the refusal of entry visas.

But besides this, settler Catholics would not accept too strong a message since this reflected neither their belief nor their practice. Indeed the bishops’ statements^[10] reveal a culture which held that “non-Europeans” are “in various stages of cultural development . . . still totally unprepared for full participation in social and political life patterned after . . . Western Standards” (1952 statement). For this reason, the messages were principally addressed to white South Africans in the hope that they would see the injustice of apartheid and perhaps vote against it. They failed gloriously, being almost entirely ignored by the Settler Church who often considered their bishops too idealistic or worse, misguided by the seduction of “Communist” and “Socialist” ideas. 

Black Catholics initially applauded the Church leadership’s anti-apartheid stance but the more radical amongst them realised that the statements were of little value and what was required was action and not words (Bate 1999b: 156). 

However, there were a few occasions in this first period when there was a more articulated response in social activity. These were when the conduct of the government impinged directly upon the interests of the Church itself. One was in the attempt to segregate the churches which was strongly and unanimously rejected by all bishops (Bate 1999b:167-168). Another was when the government devised and enacted its “Bantu Education” policy which removed the State subsidy from mission schools and placed all of black education under direct government control. This prompted a much more powerful response from the Church. Catholics were mobilised nationwide and, extraordinarily, more than £1 million was raised to finance the schools, a sign of activated latent power. It was during this period of turmoil that the Bishops issued their strongest condemnation of apartheid where it is called, for the first time by a Christian body, “something intrinsically evil” (SACBCD 1957). But it was increasing activity within black South Africa including black Catholics that was to precipitate the next moment.

The second moment: Prophetic signs in word and deed from Catholics on the underside

A new moment was precipitated during the 1970s by a number of social factors emerging from black South Africa. Black consciousness was certainly a major one of these. Another was the growth of the labour movement and especially the success of labour to mobilise against government in the Durban strikes of the early 1970s. A third factor was the growing anger of black youth symbolised by the “Soweto riots” in 1976. Members of the Church were involved in all of these events.

Black consciousness had a growing influence on the Catholic Church during the 1970s. One of the most publicised actions of black consciousness groupings was the disruption of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference in August 1971 by twelve black Catholics protesting racism in the Church (Abraham 1989:131).  The Bishops were accused of acting largely for white interests and the group objected to the paucity of blacks in Church leadership. The “Black Priests’ Solidarity Group” was formed in 1973 when a group of black priests seceded from the South African Council of Priests to focus on black concerns in the Church (:131).

The legitimate concern and task of Black Consciousness and Black Theology was to get the context, hopes, aspirations and interests of black people onto the agenda of society. A white dominated church, even with the best will in the world would, because of culture, think in terms of white Western categories, values and approaches. Black consciousness wished to express the daily life of black people from their own perspective and in this way evangelise the Church itself (Bate 1991:27ff; 45f). Bishop Zwane (1982:120) asked: “Do Bishops and religious superiors recognise militant priests as true witnesses to the Christian message”.  He feared that since such persons are not acceptable in church structures, they often leave the Church dismissing it as uncaring and irrelevant. Zwane continued (:122): “The Church must come out very strongly in defence of “Man” - men, women and children...for us what is at stake...is man, the African man, irrespective of the colour of his skin, his ethnic origin, his social condition...” 

Church involvement in the labour movement in South Africa is not sufficiently recognised. The Young Christian Workers movement had been involved in the training of worker leaders from the early 1950s. Many of these leaders currently hold senior positions in the labour movement and in government. In 1973, the YCW published a document under the aegis of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference which dealt with workers’ rights and duties (YCW 1976).^[11]  Leaders from the YCW movement and others were part of a “Catholic Network” that “helped to produce the UTP” (The Urban Training Project) (Lowry 1999:23-30) which was to begin the black Trade Union revival in the 1970s. Tito Mboweni the current Governor of the South African Reserve Bank wrote, when he was Minister of Labour: “when the Apartheid regime was at the zenith of its power…unions were needed to bring organisation and direction to [the] struggle. As this history documents, by 1976 the UTP had launched or revived nine unions, and it had begun to fashion the tactics which would make the unions such a force for the achievement of democracy in the country” (:xv).

In June 1976, student protest and police violence erupted, starting from Soweto. Many Catholics were involved in the protests. The SACBC reacted strongly to the events and made its “Declaration of Commitment on Social Justice and Race Relations within the Church”. Corijn (1987:5-6) sees this as “an important step in the direction of greater socio-political engagement and concrete actions with the Catholic Church at all levels”. A much clearer “identification with the poor” and with those fighting apartheid is evident from now. This was also the beginning of greater collaboration with other groupings of Christians such as the South Africa Council of Churches (SACC).

The events in these three areas of social life during the 1970s were the principal prophetic forces which caused the Church to re-examine its priorities and activities. The conviction deepened that the Church had to empower itself to make choices within the current context. It was time to play a more active role in society. 

Third moment: listening, hearing, seeing and beginning to act

After the 1974 Bishops’ Synod in Rome, and fuelled by the powerful papal document Evangelii Nuntiandi as well as by the events we have described, the Catholic Church in South African proposed a study of the state of evangelisation in the South African context.^[12]  The study, conducted by a prominent pastoral theologian, concluded that the principal problem faced by the Catholic Church in South Africa was that it is “[s]tructured along lines that are foreign and white in a country which is overwhelmingly black” (Hulsen 1976:113). Besides this it was also too inward looking and needed to be more involved in society (:141). Evangelisation was needed to change this mentality, to conscientise the faithful, to Africanise the Church, and to encourage it to get involved in the struggle against apartheid (:145-155).

In a major democratisation of the Church’s praxis, the Bishops decided to develop a pastoral strategy based on the views of the whole community. They called a “Pastoral Consultation” bringing together Catholics from all over the country in order to determine, together with the Bishops, “a policy on Church life and Apostolate” (SACBCD 1977 'E21).^[13]  During 1979, various national and diocesan groups and organisations were asked to indicate their own needs and priorities.  These findings were then summarised in a base document for an “Interdiocesan Pastoral Consultation” in 1980. This meeting brought together 178 delegates from all over the SACBC region.  More than one hundred recommendations were made in six basic areas. These were Catechetics; Liturgy and Sacraments; Lay Responsibility and Formation; Justice; Family Life; and Youth (SACBCD 1980:48-53). Acting on these recommendations was going to be a long-term process requiring ongoing consultation and pastoral planning. This meant the development of an effective “Pastoral Plan” which would respond to the complex needs of the South African context. The results of the consultation were summarised as follows  (SACBCD 1987:4):

a)         We need a Pastoral Plan in the Church in Southern Africa inspired by the understanding of the Church which emerged in Vatican II.

b)         The life of the Church must be related to the realities of life in Southern Africa.

c)         There should be a key theme for the Pastoral Plan and this can be formulated as “Community Serving Humanity”

d)         The basic element in the plan must be FORMATION of all people in the Church:  bishops, priests, religious, laity, adults, youth and children in terms of the vision expressed by the theme.

The Pastoral Plan was formally introduced to the Church in 1987 by means of a process of consultation and discussion right down to parish level. It continues to inspire much of the praxis of the Church even today.

The significance of this step on the ecclesiological level is that, for the first time, the whole Catholic Church, white and black, Settler and Mission, was set on the path of common purpose and vision. The Church had itself participated in a major exercise in democratisation by involving all Catholics down to the parish level in the process of pastoral consultation. The use of small group discussions and action enhanced the emergence of large numbers of small active Christian communities throughout the region.

From now on the Church was to play a far more powerful role in responding to issues affecting people in society.

Fourth moment: A more active, coordinated participation in the struggle for democracy

As a group becomes more active within society, it becomes a centre of power and promotes the process of democratisation by contributing to the diffusion of power. As the 1980s wore on, the response of the Catholic Church to apartheid was increasingly activity based. It is impossible to give more than a few examples of this change in focus.

1. Democratisation of the hierarchy

In 1974 there were very few black Bishops in the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Within the next ten years and beyond more than 15 black bishops were ordained.^[14]

2. Integration of Catholic Schools

The integration of Catholic schools took off in the 1970s by admitting “non-White” children into “White” schools in flagrant disregard of the law. The government vigorously resisted every attempt to do this and consistently refused permission when it was asked. In 1976 the Bishops Conference resolved in favour of “a policy of integration in catholic schools” (SACBCM 1976:20) encouraging individual schools to implement the policy. Gradually this was achieved.

3. Fighting black resettlement

The Apartheid resettlement policy moved black people from established communities on so-called “white” farmland to inferior resettlement villages in black areas in the most appalling conditions. Many priests and religious joined with people to fight this policy. Fr. Cosmos Desmond’s (1970) poignant book on this evil resulted in his being served with a five year banning order and the book=s withdrawal from circulation (Abraham 1989:129).  Another Franciscan was deported for his work in this area.

4. Conscientious objection to military service and military chaplains

Conscription was compulsory for white males. Those white Christians who opted for conscientious objection were jailed. The SACBC collaborated with other church organisations to look for ways to “help safeguard the position of conscientious objections” (SACBCM 1976:7).  Related to this was the whole question of whether priests should be involved as military chaplains.  This issue, too, tore the Church apart along political lines with some advocating chaplaining to the liberation movements as an option. It was decided to stop chaplains serving as military personnel as this seemed to give tacit approval to the military. But the military refused this option.  The matter remained unresolved and, in the end, events overtook the situation as the war against the liberation movements was abandoned.

5. Support for the armed struggle against apartheid

In 1979 the bishops set up a commission to study the Church’s moral teaching on war and peace. The document, The Things that Make for Peace, dealt with the whole question of the militarisation of South African society and the Church’s response.  Drawing on just war theories it provided some underpinning for the morality of an armed struggle against apartheid (TAC 1985:117-126) and advocated the legitimacy of both universal and selective conscientious objection as a Christian response (:166).

6. Economic justice

Economic issues such as sanctions, boycotts, worker issues and disinvestment became a major concern in the 1980’s.  Protestant church leaders such as Rev. Frank Chikane (General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches), Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Beyers Naudé were seen as the main spokesmen for the campaign to encourage economic sanctions against the South African regime (Mutambirwa 1989:115).  This campaign was very successful and forced the government to see that South Africa would be unable to continue along its current direction.  The Catholic hierarchy eventually entered the fray in 1986 with two documents on economic pressure (SACBCD 1986a; SACBCD 1986d).  They justified the use of economic pressure for justice but fell short of direct support and advocacy of the sanctions and disinvestment campaigns. Nevertheless, the international power of the Church was important here. Many Catholic advocacy and lobby groups were set up worldwide to support disinvestments and sanctions.  Disinvestment was quite marked, especially of US companies where the lobby was much more effective. Many Catholic institutions disinvested during this time and Catholic investment groups lobbied for disinvestment from South African stocks and shares. Some of these groups are now actively involved in promoting re-investment in South Africa to encourage the reconstruction process.^[15]

7. Suffering of Church activists

By 1987 the situation in the country had reached crisis proportions.  A “State of Emergency” had been in force for two years, people had been arrested and detained and many were being tortured.  Protest marches, rioting and clashes between students and police or workers and police were endemic. In this crisis the Bishops stated “let there be no mistake. . . we are not neutral in the current conflict in South Africa.  We support fully the demands of the majority of the people for justice. . . .  We oppose the continuing refusal of the present government and its supporters to give meaningful political power to those who rightfully should have it” (quoted in Corijn 1987:8). Many Catholics were detained, tortured and killed during this period.  Some of those were full-time church personnel of whom more than forty were in detention at one time (:11).^[16]

8. The “New Nation” Newspaper

Media is an important centre of power with a society. During the height of the struggle against apartheid it became increasingly clear that there was need for a national newspaper which would bring an alternate voice to the media. The Catholic Church made the decision to respond to this need and established the New Nation newspaper in 1986. The newspaper lasted until 1997 when it closed. In a statement to mark its final issue the ANC^[17] said:

The New Nation was among a fraternity of courageous newspapers and journals that came into existence in the course of the hard fought struggles of the mid - 1980s. [It] was established by the Catholic Bishops Conference and staffed by some of South Africa's most daring black journalists, led by Zwelakhe Sisulu. The paper quickly carved out a niche as an authoritative voice among the anti-apartheid forces coalesced in the Mass Democratic Movement. [I]t came to be regarded as the flagship of democratic media. While many other newspapers wavered and prevaricated, the New Nation stood firm; where many other editors and journalists compromised their principals, those at the New Nation refused to be cowed…

The SACBC offices were bombed in 1988 by State security forces. It was a fitting sign that the Church had become part of the process of democratisation in society.

Fifth moment: Post Apartheid South Africa; Recognition of an ongoing role

The 27^th of April 1994 marked a turning point for the democratic process in South Africa. That was the day when, for the first time, all people over the age of 18 were allowed to vote for the government of their choice. The results of the election are well known and, on May 10, Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first democratically elected president of the country.

Only the naïve believe that this is an end point in South Africa’s journey to democracy. In many ways it is only the beginning and the Church must continue to participate in the ongoing democratisation of our society. The history of postcolonial Africa teaches us that hard won freedoms can be rapidly eroded by the emergence of new elites who wish to arrogate power to themselves.

The Catholic Church has learned from its involvement in the struggle for liberation in South Africa. It is determined to continue its role as a social player in the South African context. This, after all, is the vision of Gaudium et Spes.  It collaborates with many other nongovernmental organizations in the development of civil society which is essential to democratic success. It has institutions, structures and organisations which operate in areas like labour affairs, education, health including HIV/AIDS, parliamentary affairs, justice, media and many others.

Democratisation must also continue within the Church. In this regard, I would like to quote from a recent study by a Rwandan priest, Prudence Hategekimana, of the catechetical programme of the Southern Africa Catholic Church from 1965 to 1991. He wanted to discover why the Catholic Church in South Africa seemed to have avoided extreme participation in ethnic and racial conflict. In largely Catholic Rwanda, “the 1994 genocide was a tragedy for this Christian nation where people filled and still fill churches every Sunday, and yet ended slaughtering one another. It appears that the way catechesis was organised and taught did not succeed in liberating people from ethnic hatred and vengeance” (Hategekimana 2002: 3). 

In South Africa, he discovered, the People of God Series for primary school children, which was the official catechism of the SACBC during the 1970s and 1980s, “tried to sensitise young people progressively to the social problems existing in South Africa” (Hategekimana 2002: 34). The “Pastoral Consultation” that we described earlier recommended that “at all levels of catechesis greater attention should be given to justice and liberation” (:58). This resulted in a greater emphasis on a catechesis for liberation in the development of the “Pastoral Plan”, inaugurated in 1989, and in the “Catechetical Directory for Southern Africa” approved by the SACBC in 1990. Hategekimana found that that the great contribution of catechesis in South Africa was its focus on the link between faith and life experience. “Catechetical efforts in South Africa indicated that without a life experience approach or life centred approach, catechesis will remain meaningless to the people…” (:87). Despite many shortcomings with the programmes, this focus had the effect of helping South African Catholics to realise the relationship between what they believe and how they behave. He summarises his study in the following way.

The Catholic Church in South Africa gives us an example of a Church struggling to put across its message in a troubled situation, a situation of tension, of division, violence, racism and even hatred. This is where I think it can serve as an example to other churches which find themselves in the same situation (Hategekimana 2002: 83-84).

Conclusion

The Catholic Church’s role in the democratisation of our society occurred on many fronts as it became more involved in the social and political life of the country. It involved activity within various structures of society including education, health, labour, media, and politics. It was done in collaboration with other groups. The struggle for liberation brought churches and religions together in a way that religious discussions about doctrinal distinctions and similarities never can. But the building of a democratic society is the work of the whole of society: churches, religions, business, labour, media, youth and other groupings including political parties. But democracy left to politicians will never succeed since there are no checks and balances from the rest of the people. So when you ask me what are the lessons that can be learned from the South African experience, I would suggest the following eight points:

1.         Democracy occurs when power is sufficiently diffuse within a society. This allows many centres of power representing different interest groups. These groups will be in conflict and competition on matters of disagreement and dispute. They will make alliances on matters of common concern and when it is in their interest to do so. Democracy is always destroyed when one or two centres of power in a society are able to arrogate all the power to themselves. This is why simplistic or dualistic analyses of democracy are never correct.

2.         The Church over time will tend to adopt the conventional wisdom of the hegemonic group. If this group is exploitative of others in society and destructive of democracy then there is a need for a prophetic group from other parts of society to challenge the Church and society. When the society is directly destructive of opposition that has to go underground, then prophetic witness is likely to emerge in religious groupings like churches because of the nature of religion which responds to the limit conditions of human life.

3.         All societies have cultural blindness and no less the Church. It may take some considerable time for the Church to listen to, and respond to, the prophetic voices within it. Society at large will be even slower.

4.         The Church’s role in democracy requires a change of mindset from the making of statements by leadership, which rarely carry much weight, to active involvement in the society as a centre of power within that society.

5.         The Church cannot do this alone. Rather, in terms of the model I have outlined, it needs to ally itself with other forces working for democratisation within the society.

6.         The Church’s response has to be on the different levels of society where democracy is constructed. It should participate with other agents in responding to immediate needs on the ground. Then, it should be a player in the restructuring of society through the construction of democratic institutions. This the Church does through reviewing and adapting its own institutions and advocating for public institutions which serve the common good. Finally, it makes a contribution to cultural change particularly through its own educational institutions especially on the tertiary level. A catechesis which helps Christians, particularly children, to develop an understanding of faith which is linked to life is an essential component of this cultural change.

7.         The Church’s role in democracy is to open itself to change from within as it transforms itself into an institution which, while respected in society, is not too tied to the ruling elite. It must participate as a centre of power within the society of which it is part. It must seek to build alliances with other Christian groupings as well as with other religions and other civil groupings in the construction of such democracy.

8.         Martyrdom is a necessary condition for the building of anything worthwhile. We should not underestimate the power of evil in the world.

In 1977, there was a special consultation on matters of social justice and race relations at the plenary session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference. In the introductory address to the consultation, Bishop Fulgence Le Roy, said:  “A country in crisis, a continent in crisis, demand our attention. The Church of South Africa in the year 2000 and later will either praise our leadership or shamefacedly bow their heads and rather forget the Shepherds of the Seventies” (SACBCM 1977). 

Now that we look back from 2003, we can say that the leadership of this church was able to interpret the signs of the times and exercise, in some measure, the leadership which was given to them. But this was not a work just of leaders. The principal agents were usually ordinary men and women and especially youth who determined to make their world a better place and accepted the consequences of their commitment. That is a lesson for all Christians and people of goodwill.

Bibliography

A. Primary Sources

Butelezi, P 1976. Statements on Black Consciousness and Human Rights. Pretoria: SACBC.

The Catholic Directory of South Africa 1950. Cape Town: Salesian Press.

Kairos Doc 1986. The Kairos Document: Challenge to the Church. Braamfontein: Skotaville.

Kelly, M 1991, 1993, 1994. The Catholic Church and Apartheid. Three Documents by Sr Margaret Kelly collected together under this title and published by the SACBC.

Marian Congress. Video copy of 16mm movie made of the Marian Congress Durban 1952.

Nkosi, J et al. 1976. Questions we are asking.  Pretoria: SACBC.

SACBCD

Documents of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC).

SACBCD 1957. Statement on Apartheid.

SACBCD 1977. Declaration of Commitment.

SACBCD 1980. Interdiocesan Pastoral Consultation: Report.

SACBCD 1985. An Initial response to the Kairos Document.

SACBCD 1986a. The South African Situation and the Question of Economic Pressure: An Explanatory Paper.

SACBCD 1986b. Pastoral reflection on Certain Issues Raised by the Kairos Document.

SACBCD 1986c. On Christian Hope in the Current Crisis.

SACBCD 1986d. On Economic Pressure for Justice.

SACBCD 1987. Community Serving Humanity: Theme Paper for the Pastoral Plan of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa.

SACBCD 1989. Community Serving Humanity: Pastoral Plan of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa.

SACBCM  (1947-1997)

Minutes of Plenary Sessions of SACBC 1947-1997. These are cited together with the year. In years when more than one meeting was held the reference is to the February meeting unless otherwise stated.

TAC 1985. The Things that Make for Peace: A Report to the Catholic Bishops and the Church in Southern Africa from the Theological Advisory Commission of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference. Pretoria:

YCW 1976. Call to workers and employers. Pretoria: SACBC.

St Augustine College 2003. St Augustine College: A Higher Education Manifesto. Johannesburg: St Augustine college of South Africa.

B. Books and Articles

Abraham, G 1989.  The Catholic Church and Apartheid. Johannesburg: Ravan.

Bailie, G 1997. Violence Unveiled: humanity at the crossroads. New York: The Crossroad Publishing company.

Bate, S C 1991. Evangelization in the South African Context. Rome: Centre ACultures and Religions@ Pontifical Gregorian University.

Bate, S C 1996. Serving Humanity: A Sabbath Reflection: The Pastoral Plan of the Catholic Church in Southern Africa after Seven Years. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications.

Bate, S C 1999a. One Mission, Two Churches, in Brain, J & Denis, P eds. The Catholic Church in contemporary South Africa, 5-36. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster.

Bate, S C 1999b. The Church under apartheid, in Brain, J & Denis, P eds. The Catholic Church in contemporary South Africa, 151-186. Pietermaritzburg: Cluster.

Bilton, T et al. 1981. Introductory Sociology. London: Macmillan.

Corijn, D 1987. The Catholic Church and Apartheid. OMI Documentation 153/87 Rome: Oblate Information Service.

Desmond, C 1970. The Discarded People. Johannesburg: Christian Institute.

Flanagan, B 1982. Education: policy and Practice. In Prior, A ed. 1982. Catholics in Apartheid Society. Cape Town: David Phillip. pp 83-96.

Geertz, C 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. N.Y.: Basic Books.

Girard, R 1996. Mimesis and violence, in Williams, A (ed), The Girard reader, 9-19. New York: Crossroad Publishing Company.

Girard, R 2001. I saw Satan fall like lightening New York: Orbis.

Hope, M & Young, J 1981. The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation.  NY: Orbis.

Hulsen, C 1979. The Churches and Apartheid in South Africa, with Special Reference to the Catholic Church. Cyclostyled bound book np.

Higgins, E 1972. Les roles religieux dans le contexte multi-racial sud-africain. Social Compass XIX,1: 29-48.

Langefeld, C 1993. An Emerging Ecclesial Practice: A Socio-Theological Study of the Theory and Practice of a Church Youth Group in the Period 1980-1988. Unpublished M.Th. Dissertation. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal.

Magesa, L and Nthamburi, Z eds. 1999 Democracy and Reconciliation: a challenge for African Christianity. Nairobi: Acton.

Mutambirwa, J 1989. South Africa: The Sanctions Mission. Geneva: WCC.

Nolan, A 1988. God in South Africa: The Challenge of the Gospel. London: CIIR.

Nxumalo, J 1982. Church, Salvation, and Politics. In Prior, A ed. 1982. Catholics in Apartheid Society. Cape Town: David Phillip. pp. 45-53.

Prior, A ed. 1982. Catholics in Apartheid Society. Cape Town: David Phillip.

TAC (Theological Advisory Commission) 1985. The Things that Make for Peace: A Report to the Catholic Bishops and the Church in Southern Africa. Pretoria: SACBC.

Verkuyl, J 1978. Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Verryn, T 1982. Catholic Bishops and Apartheid. In Prior, A ed. 1982. Catholics in Apartheid Society. Cape Town: David Phillip pp. 54-66.

Walshe, P 1983. Church Versus State in South Africa. NY: Maryknoll.

Zwane, M 1982. Black Catholics. In Prior, A ed. 1982. Catholics in Apartheid Society. Cape Town: David Phillip pp. 113-123.