Larry Simply Larry


It was on the Christmas' vigil last year when Mr Elias Masilela came to see me at the bishop's house. He told me about a project by the Salesian Past Pupils to write a book on Fr Larry McDonnell SDB and the Salesians in Manzini. 

I was happy with the idea because it would help us all become more and more familiar with the history of the Catholic Church in the Kingdom of Eswatini. 

There was, though, one little problem. He wanted me to write the foreword to the book. I do write sometimes (like in this blog) but I normally do it when I have something to share, not when someone asks me to do it! I knew though I could not refuse to do it being the bishop of the Diocese.

The first thing I did was to drive to Ngwenya Glass. In 2012 visiting the shops around the factory I had come across something I found interesting. A shop called "Imvelo Eswatini" had a small board with the history of the project. It said: "The Director of Manzini Youth Care, Fr Larry McDonnell, saw a parallel between many women in Swaziland today and Mama Margarita" (St John Bosco's mother). That board made me curious about the number of initiatives Fr Larry had been involved in. 

Back at Ngwenya earlier this year, I started going in and out of every shop looking for the same little board. I could not remember which one the shop was. Going into each one of them more than once made everyone wondered what I was looking for because it was clear I was not going looking for something I wanted to buy. 

I became disappointed thinking it was no longer there. Someone even told me shops had been restructured. When I nearly gave up, I realised there were other shops I had not seen and... there it was! Both the shop and the metallic board:



The book was launched on Saturday at the Salesian Chapel in Manzini and on Sunday at the Cathedral. Fr Larry was able to be present at both events. Most of the talks on Saturday were done by people who shared their lives with Fr Larry. Mine, instead, was from someone who only came to know him in the last few years and is grateful for this initiative. I do hope that others will follow. We all look at history in different ways and there is a lot this diocese must be grateful for.

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Larry McDonnell