IMBISA: Plenary, Golden Jubilee Kicks off with a Call to Rebuild Trust
IMBISA conference
By Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
At the opening of the 14th Plenary Assembly and the Golden Jubilee of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), His Eminence Stephen Cardinal Brislin has emphasized that it is time the “Church must rebuild trust to renew hope for the future.”
Delivering the homily at the opening Mass on Thursday, September 25, Cardinal Brislin of Johannesburg Archdiocese, South Africa, urged the over 120 delegates attending the event in Manzini Diocese, Eswatini, not to allow the disappointments of history to define them but to anchor themselves in hope and recommit to building authentic relationships rooted in faith and integrity.
“In the aftermath of many disappointments, trust has been broken in our communities,” Cardinal Brislin told bishops, clergy, religious, and lay faithful gathered for the Jubilee Mass. “We are challenged in the fifty years ahead to build and rebuild trust. Trust is a foundational pillar of unity, and in a fragmented and polarized world, our striving for unity will only be achieved through building trust in honesty.”
The Jubilee marks fifty years of IMBISA’s ministry, discernment, and accompaniment of the Church in Southern Africa. Reflecting on the five decades of existence, Cardinal Brislin, the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC), acknowledged both the joys and the sorrows of the past, including times of violence and peace, hunger and security, hope and fear, all woven together into what he called “a season of hope that will never disappoint us.”
Referencing St. Paul’s assurance to the Romans in the scripture and echoing Martin Luther King Jr.’s words: “We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope,” the Cardinal said that the spirit of Jubilee compels the Church to face the brokenness of society and the failings within its own structures without despair.
According to Archbishop Brislin, who also serves as the Apostolic Administrator of Cape Town (Kaapstad), South Africa, since January 2025, the challenges affecting societies include, among others, corruption, poverty, unemployment, family breakdown, environmental degradation, and violence, alongside the scourges of genocide, authoritarianism, and war across the globe.
Within the Church itself, he noted, there are sins against peace, creation, migrants, women, youth, and the misuse of doctrine as “stones to be hurled.” These realities, he added, demand a renewal of trust through transparency, compassion, and integrity.
“We can only build trust and reduce the deficit by keeping our promises, being transparent, ministering compassionately and with genuine care, and ensuring that our actions align with our words,” The Cardinal emphasized, disclosing the need for constant spiritual renewal for bishops and priests.
The Thursday homily also echoed Pope Francis’ call for a Church “of the poor and for the poor,” where the Cardinal stressed the mission of empowering the marginalized to move from being passive to becoming “active agents and architects of a new, different future.”
Encouraging the faithful to move beyond comfort zones and old securities, the Church official highlighted trust in God’s providence as the anchor for the next fifty years, quoting Dutch missionary Corrie ten Boom, who said, “Never be afraid to entrust an unknown future to a known God.”
“As we enter the next fifty years of discernment and ministry in service of this regional Church, may we too soar like eagles, run and not grow weary, and walk and not grow faint, until the kingdom of this world is transformed into the Kingdom of our God,” the Cardinal said.
IMBISA is a regional body of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) that brings together six episcopal conferences: The Conferência Episcopal de Angola e São Tomé (C.E.A.S.T.), Conferência Episcopal de Moçambique (C.E.M.), Lesotho Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Namibian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (N.C.B.C.), Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (S.A.C.B.C.), and Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference (Z.C.B.C.).
