#SACBC - At the end of a very intense day

Archbishop Mario Cassari (Apostolic Nuncio) and Cardinal Napier OFM

During our plenary session in Pretoria the Apostolic Nuncio to Southern Africa always invites us one evening for supper at his place. We were all there this evening.

As it was pointed out by Archbishop Brislin, we were grateful because the invitation was not just to the bishops but also to our closest collaborators: Sr Hermenegild Makoro (the Secretary General), Fr Emmanuel Grant (the Associate Secretary General), Fr Gordon (newly appointed PMS director), Sr Jordana, Fr Sean O'Leary (director of the Dennis Hurley Peace Institute).

Bp Jan de Groef and Fr Sakhi

It had been the end of a long day. During the day we had worked on around twenty different matters which included the Aids office, our finances, the laity council, the inter-diocesan consultation, family life, youth, media, consecrated life, the celebration of the World Youth Day in Poland and a national one to be held in December in the diocese of Bethlehem (South Africa)...

This not only points to an intense day but also to the amount of work being done before the plenary session so that, by the time we come here, we have already been updated through reports on the progress of the different areas and the matters expecting us to make a decision.

Two important matters were also considered in the afternoon: the beatification of Benedict Daswa (we hope and pray it will be during 2015) and the 51st Eucharistic Congress to be held in the Philippines in one year time (http://iec2016.ph/).