All Evangelisation Portfolio Leaders & Teams, Alpha Adult & Teen Ministry members, Small Christian Community Group Leaders, Ecumenical Outreach, Vocations Team members, and interested parishioners are warmly welcomed.
Join us as we reflect and grow in our shared mission of evangelisation.
Please RSVP via the registration link: https://forms.gle/AneLu9hu77yj3bBe7
“Go and make disciples…” (Mt 28:19–20)
Theology Course 2026 Registration is officially open!
To find out more and to register, please use the following link by 4 February.
https://adct.org.za/theology-course-2026/
A joyful congratulatory message from Cardinal Stephen Brislin to Archbishop-elect Sithembele Sipuka, and to the people of the Archdiocese of Cape Town.
Cardinal Brislin Invites the People of God to Welcome Christ’s Light Amid Global and Local Uncertainty
Please read his Christmas message HERE
With deep sorrow the Archdiocese announces the passing of Bishop Edward Risi, OMI. We give thanks for his faithful ministry and his compassionate service to the People of God. We ask the clergy, religious and lay faithful to keep Bishop Risi in their prayers and to remember his family and the Oblate community during this time of mourning.
May he rest in eternal peace, and may perpetual light shine upon him.
https://sacbc.org.za/bishop-edward-risi-south-african-shepherd-and-liturgical-leader-dies-at-76/
The annual Mass for Deceased Clergy and Benefactors was held at St Michael’s, Rondebosch on Tuesday 25th November 2025. Below is the homily preached at the Mass, by Fr David de Caires e Freitas.
Homily: The Freedom of the Bow
Readings: Wisdom 3:1-9 | Psalm 23 | Romans 8:31-35, 37-39 | John 10:11-16
We gather today around the focal point of our lives: the Altar of God.
It is the place of Sacrifice. The place where heaven touches earth. And as we fix our eyes upon it, we can see how it’s made out of very strong stone, it’s a strong presence. Today we remember two groups of people, united in a single holy purpose – our brother priests and deacons who stood at this altar, and all the religious who served and prayed in the presence of this altar, and then also the generous benefactors who made it possible for that altar to stand.
There is a mystery in that partnership. Because the benefactor builds the stone; the priest calls down the Spirit. The benefactor gives from his substance to raise the altar; the priest stands at the edges to defend the flock. Both are true benefactors – from the Latin bene-facere, “doers of good” – united in glorifying Jesus Christ.
The Wolf Among the Sheep But if we speak of those who raise the altar, the Gospel of John compels us to speak also of those who would tear it down.
Christ tells us plainly: the Shepherd is not alone in the meadow. There is a Wolf. There is a thief who comes to steal, slaughter, and destroy.
We know this enemy. We’ve seen him in every age, though he wears different masks. Sometimes he appears as open persecution. Sometimes as the voice that whispers, “Don’t be extreme” or “Surely there’s a way to do this without too much inconvenience.”
This is the voice of the Hireling – the one who has no skin in the game, for whom truth is negotiable. The Hireling sees the Wolf coming, calculates the cost to his comfort, and abandons the sheep because he has no master worth dying for. And our Master shows us the way, by giving up His life for us.
I think of the young man I heard about recently who, when asked what he would do if threatened with death unless he converted to another faith, shrugged and said, “I wouldn’t mind converting. I’m agnostic anyway.” That is the logic of the Hireling. Truth is a preference, not a reality. Conviction is a suggestion, not a commitment.
The Choice But a priest, a deacon, a religious, a benefactor? These are people who have already made their choice.
They are not an agnostic shopping for the safest option. They are marked by an ontological sign, configured to Christ the Eternal High Priest, through Baptism.
And here is where we discover something beautiful, something paradoxical, something that the world cannot understand:
We bow to Jesus, so that we might stand before everyone else.
Think about what we do every day at this altar. We bow. We genuflect. We kneel. The entire liturgy is a school of bowing. Our lives are spent in postures of submission – profound bows, bent knees, prostrations on ordination day.
But here is the theology of the bow: Because we bow to the Real Presence, we cannot bow to any false presence. Because we submit to the law of the Gospel, we cannot submit to the tyranny of fear or fashion. Because we are slaves of Christ, we can be slaves to no other master.
This is the freedom of being a Christian! By binding ourselves to this Altar, we are freed from bondage to the spirit of the age.
Tested in the Furnace The Book of Wisdom tells us: “As gold in the furnace, he proved them.” To be proved means to be purified in the heat. Those we remember were not perfect people. But they were proven in the furnace. The pressures of their times – whatever wolves prowled their generation – tested them, and they were found worthy because they held fast. They handed on the faith intact. They refused to flee when the hireling would have run.
They preached Christ crucified – a stumbling block to some, foolishness to others, but to those who are called, the power and wisdom of God. If they had bowed to the spirit of their age instead of to Christ, we would not be here today. The altar would be empty.
Today we do not gather in despair, but in hope. We commend our brothers and sisters to the mercy of “God, trusting that the same Christ they served at this altar now welcomes them to the heavenly banquet.”
Our Call Today St Paul asks the question that rings through the ages: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” He doesn’t say “I have stayed off the field”. Instead Paul answers: “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”.
Sometimes knowing the sheep means protecting them from voices they want to follow. Sometimes standing at the altar means standing alone. Sometimes being a benefactor to the next generation means refusing to give them what they want in order to give them what they need.
The wolves of our own day may look different from those our predecessors faced. But the choice remains the same: Will we be Hirelings or Shepherds? Will we calculate the cost to our comfort, or will we remember that we have already spent our lives bowing to the One who spent His life on a Cross?
As we pray for the repose of the souls of our priests, deacons, religious and benefactors, let us ask them to intercede for us. Let us ask for the grace to be good benefactors, doers of good, to those who come after us – to build altars that will stand, to call down Fire that will not be extinguished.
Let us refuse to bow to the Wolf, because we have already, and irrevocably, bowed to the King.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
Welcome to the seventh meeting of the platform for theological dialogue and practical ethics. This dialogue is between Ustadah Iffat Rafeeq and Sr Constance O’Brien ISSM, at the Claremont Main Rd Masjid. All are welcome.
Cardinal Stephen Brislin is interviewed by EWTN on the Catholic Church in South Africa
All are invited to attend, in person or online, this 6th meeting of The Platform for Theological Dialogue and Practical Ethics called “Embracing Otherness: The Legacy of Pope Francis in Christian-Muslim Dialogue and the Call to Human Solidarity in Gaza. A joint venture by the Archdiocese of Cape Town and the Ahlul Bait Mosque Complex, Cape Town. Please see details below. https://www.youtube.com/@afosa3485
Please find the below statement, at the request of Cardinal Stephen Brislin.
A Jerusalem Voice for Justice: an ecumenical witness for equality and a just peace in Palestine/Israel
September 27, 2025
Occupation not PA harms Christians in Palestine
On September 26, 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Netanyahu defended Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and the policies of his extremist government. The Israeli Prime Minister formulated many blatant distortions, traded in Islamophobia, and deliberately confused antisemitism with legitimate critique of Zionism and Israel. Here, we would like to relate to one particular lie that concerns the Christians in Palestine.
Netanyahu said, “Christians don’t fare much better. When Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, was under Israeli control, 80 percent of its residents were Christians. But since the PA (Palestinian Authority) took control, that number has dwindled to under 20 percent.”
Mr. Netanyahu does not speak on behalf of Christian Palestinians and cannot be allowed to twist the truth. Bethlehem was a Christian-majority city until 1948: more than 80% of the population was Christian. With the expulsion of about 750,000 Palestinian refugees from their homeland in historic Palestine during the 1948 Nakba, three refugee camps were established in Bethlehem, changing the demographic make-up of the city. When Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, Bethlehem had a population composed of a majority of Muslims. Decades of Israeli occupation, causing harsh living conditions, provoked many Christians and Muslims to emigrate and this reality continues until today. Bethlehem, a city dependent on tourism, has suffered particularly in the past two years of Israel’s war on Gaza with the almost complete stop of tourism and pilgrimage. Hundreds have left Bethlehem in the past months because of the ongoing ravages of Israeli occupation and military violence.
The reason Christians and many others too are leaving Bethlehem is Israeli occupation and its policies of closures, permits, exclusionary residency rights, etc., and not the policies of the Palestinian Authority.
We insist: Christians and Muslims in Bethlehem and throughout Palestine continue to live together as one people, sharing the same struggles under occupation. The truth remains: Palestinians, Christians and Muslims alike, seek equality, justice, and peace in their homeland.
Signatories:
His Beatitude Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah (emeritus)
His Excellency Greek Orthodox Archbishop Attallah Hanna
His Grace Lutheran Bishop of the Holy Land Munib Younan (emeritus)
Mr Yusef Daher
Ms Sawsan Bitar
Mr Sami El-Yousef
Mr John Munayer
Mr Samuel Munayer
Ms Sandra Khoury
Rev. David Neuhaus SJ
Ms Dina Nasser
Rev. Frans Bouwen MAfr
Rev. Firas Abdrabbo
Rev. Alessandro Barchi Rafi Ghattas
and other members