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• PE priests visit Queen’s Foundation
• Out of Africa
• Letters to the ed
• RIP Bryan Bartleet
• Trust only in the Lord
• Golf Open
PE priests visit Queen’s Foundation
Two
recently ordained priests, Lovemore Mofu and Mark Derry, have returned
from an immersion academic experience at thg Queen's Foundation College
in Birmingham, UK.
Queen's foundation is an ecumenical
college based in Edgbaston, and is one of the oldest Theological
colleges in the United Kingdom. Mark said that they left Port Elizabeth
in mid-October for the month-long visit with three major
expectations. "It was important for us to immerse ourselves in a
college environment for a period of study. Both Lovemore
(Certificate Course) and I (Degree Course) have studied through ihe
Theological Education Extension College in Johannesburg," Mark said.
"At no point in our theological academic education did we have
the Opportunity to be part of an intense college study programme." Mark
said it was also significant to be challenged academically by courses
at the Queen's College that are on the cutiting edge of academia,
and to be exposed to current Western theological trends and issues in
the United Kingdom. "Our environments are different. Whereas in
South Africa the AIDS pandemic and the focus on rectifying past
historical injustices have huge repercussions for ministry, in the
United Kingdom we were exposed to issues such as Christian-Islamic
dialogue, consumerism, and the human sexuality debate, amongst others,
that have become priorities for them," he said. "There
was an opportunity to raise African issues during the various lectures
on women's theology, black theology and interfaith dialogue,
while Lovemore and I were invited to run 3 workshop on 'Doing Ministry
in our Environment'. The final Tuesday we also led the worship and
preached at the main Queen's College weekly chapel gathering." He
said it was also important to be exposed to 'church and cultural life'
in the United Kingdom. "It was a unique opportunity to be exposed
to church life in England, and we probably got a broader 'snapshot'
than most. Our visits to cathedrals: Brecon, Salisbury,
Birmingham, Coventry - as well as St Martin's in the Bullring, had been
inspirational.
It is significant how each cathedral has tried to make itself relevant
in a changing environment in post-church UK," he added. "We also
had the opportunity to visit numerous churches in the area. It was a good
cross section. From rural churches in Wales to vibrant, charismatic St
John's in Harborne; from middle-class town churches in Coventry
district to a church with a large refugee and housing estate
congregation in Birmingham; from the wonderful chapel
service at Queen's Foundation to a progresive synagogue in Central
Birmingham; from a house group (small faith community) in southern
Birmingham to a Franciscan outreach in the housing estates. "There
were also opportunities for other cultural exchanges like celebrating
Guy Fawkes, visiting the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, shopping in the
redeveloped Bullring central area in Birmingham, travelling on buses
and trains, and doing our own washing, using industrial washing
machines! "The national dish of England is no longer fish and chips, or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, but chicken tikka!" Pic: Mark Derry and Lovemore Mofu outside Queen's Foundation in the UK
Out of Africa
This
year St David’s in Bushmans River Mouth changed the thrust of
their annual fair and had a food fair with the theme of ‘Out of
Africa’, reports Janet Holcroft.
The convenor and
fund raiser for the parish, Jean Rudman, had a vision: “Have a
Food Fair with an African theme,” she said. So that is just what
happened on Saturday 24 September 2005.
"When I first took the
idea to our church council I was a bit worried how it would be
accepted, but I was not disappointed. The council loved it. I asked for
volunteers to paint murals with an African theme, and I must
congratulate the women who did the paintings. They were outstanding."
Decorating and setting out the Kenton Town Hall was done on the
previous afternoon. The Tea Garden was the focal point in the main hall
with palm trees and blocks of wood arranged in a circle. All the tables
were decorated with hessian cloths.
As one entered the hall, a
large zebra skin was in the entrance and a table decorated with a
wooden African head and African bowls. The stall holders had a free
hand in decorating their stalls, and some wore African dress. This had
to be seen to be appreciated - it was enough to out-dress Eastern Cape
premier, Nosimo Balindlela.
There were 14 stalls and, as usual,
the cake stall sold out in record time. Curry bunnies and vetkoek were
made on site and filled with “hot” or “medium”
mince. The mince was very good, and was named “Beadon’s
Ama-Zinz” as it had been made by the rector, Terry Beadon. Photo
Match was a new idea that went down well, matching a photo of a baby to
an adult photo. The big prize was a four day holiday for two.
Among the other stalls were produce, deli and preserves, samp and beans, pancakes and tombola.
Letters to the ed
Thank you
In
June I wrote to you asking if you could find space for an article about
the start of St Mark’s and District Fund, and you published an
excellent article about it in Vol 16 No 5 in June 2005. As a result, we
have received generous donations from four parishes, and the Christmas
Cheer Fund and the Children’s Feeding Trust are continuing to
support us.
We would like you to know how greatly we
appreciate your response, and the generosity from these parishes. There
are so many calls on the church these days that it is wonderful to find
that congregations are prepared to contribute.
We would like to
thank Iindaba and all your readers who have helped us over this
difficulty, for we were afraid that the scheme would have to close, but
we are now in a position to increase the number of articles in each
parcel to 11, and provide a special Christmas one, and, with a little
more fund-raising, the Fund is once more in a very healthy position.
With sincere thanks to all of you, and with best wishes for a blessed Christmas and peace in 2006, from the whole committee.
Yours sincerely,
Beth Denton (secretary).
RIP Bryan Bartleet
Students
at St Paul’s College in Grahamstown were amazed to be joined on
the opening day of the 1958 term by Bryan Bartleet, who was rather
older than most who offered themselves to be trained for the priesthood
in those days.
Theological students then were well
versed in the Ten Commandments, which they all tried to keep
assiduously. However, it was obvious that the sin of covetousness was
rampant in most of their lives when Bryan arrived at College behind the
wheel of his Triumph TR3 convertible Sports coupé. Unlike other
students who had arrived at St Paul’s sponsored by bishop or
diocese, Bryan paid his own way through College, negotiating his
examinations without any trouble. When his three year course was over
he took the courageous step of announcing: “Any Bishop who would
like me, can have me”. A delighted acceptance came from the
Bishop of St Helena. Accompanied, of course, by his famous sports car,
he set sail for the island.
Returning after four years, Bryan
joined the staff of the Collegiate Church of St Mary in PE with
particular oversight of the old church of St Peter’s, South End.
He was then appointed first rector of the recently built parish
of St Mary Magdalene in West End. Establishing the life of
this parish from scratch could be said to have been the main thrust of
his priestly work. He lived on the premises, among his
people. He was reputed to play a mean game of bridge, and could
outdo any woman in the parish when it came to making marmalade. His
vocation, his parish, and his people were his life. PDAB
Trust only in the Lord
Geoff Booth of Zwartkops River Valley Parish writes:
In
the December issue of Iindaba, Lawrie Wilmot, priest in charge of
Christ Church, Kamma Park, gives a timely warning of the dangers of
astrology, fortune-telling and other occult practices. The devil can no
doubt use people’s desires for supernatural signs to lead them
astray. It should also be noted that most occult practices are pseudo
science, and that there is little objective evidence of their efficacy.
Take astrology, for instance. The planets of the solar system appear to
travel through a band of twelve constellations, which we call the
Zodiac, each of which is regarded as the birth-sign of those people who
were born as the sun travelled through the constellation in question.
Of course we now know that the planets are nowhere near the stars which
make up the constellations; they are merely in a similar line of sight.
Light from the planets takes at most hours to reach us, whereas that
from the stars (other than the sun) takes decades or centuries. And the
stars in a constellation may be at vastly different distances, so that
they are not physically associated at all. It is extremely difficult to
see how such random alignments can have any influence whatsoever over
the lives of individuals.
The planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto
regularly appear in horoscopes nowadays. They did not do so prior to
their discovery, which is not surprising. But is it not possible that
if there was anything in the casting of horoscopes (the ones done by
serious astrologers, not those in the newspapers), then somebody would
have noticed the influence of these then undiscovered bodies? The
discoveries of Neptune and Pluto in 1846 and 1930 respectively were
largely a result of variations which had been observed in the orbit of
Uranus. Painstaking calculations estimated the masses of the unknown
planets,
and where they could be expected to be found. The planets
do make their influence felt at a distance, but through their
gravitational fields, not by some mystical effect on the lives of us
mortals.
Astrology offers little to humanity. It is, at worst, a
route to demonic bondage, and at best a pseudoscientific waste of time.
Much the same can be said of most other occult practices. Astronomy, by
contrast, is a well established science, and to me, a wonderful way of
experiencing the splendour of God’s created universe, even with a
very modest telescope. It has taught us that celestial events can
indeed influence the course of history. There is some convincing
evidence that the extinction of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago
was at least partially the result of the impact of a sizeable comet or
asteroid with the Earth. The tsunami of 26 December 2004 pales into
insignificance when compared to an event of this magnitude. A similar
event today would result in the deaths of tens of millions of people,
perhaps even the extinction of humanity. It would be a global
catastrophe of the most unimaginable proportions.
This article has been shortened.
Golf Open
The challenge is out!
The
fifth annual All Saints’ Golf Open will take place at the Shark
River Golf Club on Saturday 15 February. Once again All Saints' are
challenging teams from other parishes to compete for the floating
trophy and many other prizes. The past four golf days have proved to be
great fun for those who have entered. Even first-timer golfers
are welcome, with prizes for the best novice up for grabs. The
organiser, Ronnie Harker, said he knew many of the clergy play golf,
and thought a clergy team would add spice to the competition. "Perhaps
we'll find out if they're more blessed than the lay folk," he
quipped.
Contact Ronnie Harker for further details on: 041 367 3761.
The Royal School of Church Music
will be holding their annual Thanksgiving Service
at the Cathedral on
Sunday 5 February at 18h00.
Cost: Members R10,
non-members R15
Centre of Christian Spirituality
Spiritual Directors' Course
Begins 12 March
Leader: Br Andrew CR
Contact Brenda 041 581 5733 Quick Links: Page 1 | Page
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