Homily at the ordination to the priesthood
of Deacon Dabulamanzi Ntshangase
Not sure you know, our Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference has about 30 bishops. We meet twice a year and – as we have daily Mass – we take turns to preside and preach. Our plenary session in Gaborone in 2016 was one of those times when I was asked to do it.
I shared with the bishops that in my childhood I used to watch a series called: “the lone ranger”. The old generation of bishops knew it. Not sure any of you do know it. The Lone Ranger was a fictional character, a masked Ranger, riding a white hourse, who fought outlaws, fought against injustices in the American Old West. A film was then done in 2013.
I wonder if we could say that priests are called to be: “lone rangers” too because of the way they live. Many times they live alone and even when a bishop appoints more than one priest to a parish, it might happen they live as if they were alone.
I remember once – when I was bishop of Ingwavuma – arriving at a parish where two priests were serving together. I asked one priest where the other one was. He knew he was gone but did not know where or for how many days. What surprised me is that he felt that was “normal”.
Someone might think I am talking about diocesan priests but I am not. I am talking about priests in general: could be diocesan or religious.
Not sure where it comes from.
It could be a matter of personalities. It could be something with our formation. I wonder if it is linked to the way we see our call. Many times at an ordination we take God's call to one of the prophets as the first reading. Prophets do look like “lone rangers”. Their call is addressed to a singular person and we do not see them working with anyone else. They seem to be preaching and suffering alone.
The New Testament though is different. Jesus sometimes calls brothers like Peter and Andrew or James and John. Most of the times though, he called single people like Matthew… The fact to me is that no matter if they were brothers or a single person, he brought them into the community of the twelve.
Think of today's Gospel passage taken from Luke. He calls 72 and sends them in pairs. The call to be a community and to be sent as a community points out not to the call or to the mission entrusted but to the “how” we are called to witness to it.
In the book of the Acts of the Apostles we have been reading during the Easter season, we see Barnabas been sent by the Church in Jerusalem to see a new Christian community in Antioch. Having seen it, he goes and looks for Paul and they worked together in Antioch. They would in fact work together for a long time until they had a serious fight (holy people do fight too!).
Interesting enough as Paul continues to proclaim the Gospel he takes Silas with him and Barnabas chooses Mark. They never go alone. Paul's letters always testify to other people he was proclaiming the Good News of Jesus with.
Moses, in today's first reading is also a beautiful example (and maybe a rare exception in the OT). Uyathandaza kuNkulunkulu ethi: “Anginawo emandla ekwetfwala bonke labantfu, ngobe bangamtfwalo lomatima kakhulu lapha kimi” (v. 14) Asimboni uNkulunkulu emukela amazwi kaMose akhethe omunye onamandla kunaMose kodwa uthi kuye: “Letsa baholi bema-Israyeli labangema-70 lobatiko kutsi babaholi netiphatsimandla emkhatsini walabantfu (…) Batakusita ekwetfwaleni umtfwalo walesive kanye nawe, khona ungetikwetfwala wedvwa” (v. 17)
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses the image of the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ. The image could apply to the whole Church, to our diocese, to each parish. If priests are to preside over that community, they should not be the head of a decapitated body but they are to be one with the body.
In a funny way, if it helps you, we need to remember we cannot scratch our heads without the hands, we cannot move without the feet and we cannot live without a heart!
As usual, these readings were not chosen by me but by our soon-to-be-ordained-priest. He moved away from the usual called to the prophets, to underline his own experience here at the Cathedral where he has been serving the community in a team of four people: two priests (a diocesan and a religious, a local and a foreigner) and (no less than) a bishop!
Asking him why he chose these readings he said: “One gets to understand that for better results one needs to share responsibilities and communication is the key to effective ministry.”
Our call as priests – my own call as a bishop – is a personal one but it is to be fulfilled “in” a community and “with” a community. A community that includes not only priests and deacons but religious sisters (many times not taken seriously by priests), diocesan pastoral councils, parish councils and many others.
In the months I have been able to serve in the Cathedral I enjoyed the fact that when available you would find the four of us (Deacon Dabulamanzi, Fr Ndwandwe, Fr Mark and myself) attending a parish council executive or a liturgy committee meeting but when not possible, we made sure we were all aware of what was spoken.
Father Ntshangase,
if your time as a deacon is the foundation of your priesthood, there is much we can be grateful to God for and much more we will be looking forward to see and to receive from Him through you.
Make sure you continue working with the priests of the Cathedral where you will remain, with the religious and the laity.
Work with me as your bishop with the same spirit you have been doing up to now.
Be in our diocese a source of unity among priests. Do not think it is someone else's responsibility because is a Vicar General or a bishop's secretary. It is because of this call you have received that you should do it.
Encourage the people to put their lives at the service of others and work with them, encouraging them and being grateful to them.
Pray to God like Moses did to help you identify those he has called.
Sengathi Nkulunkulu losacale lomsebenti lomuhle kuwe angawuphumelelisa
