"Group photo" of the bishops of the SACBC

Our Conference (SACBC - Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference) gathers three countries: Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland. 

We have just finished our plenary session. We meet twice a year for one week, in Pretoria (January) and Mariannhill (July - August).

This time we "updated" our personal photographs. The last time we did it was four years' ago. At the end we took a "group photo".

We were 23 bishops (one has taken a sabbatical) plus Bp Zolile ordained on Saturday who will join us at the next meeting. One will be ordained bishop in a month' time and one diocese has a diocesan administrator. Two of us are at the service of two dioceses until new bishops are appointed.

I think that 16 out of 25 were appointed in the last five years. 

Sr Hermenegild Makoro is our Secretary General. We are one of the very few Catholic Bishops' Conferences who has a Sister as a Secretary General. In most of the places a bishop or a priest takes that service. We are deeply grateful for her service to the Church in Southern Africa.