By Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA<\/p>\n
At the opening of the 14th<\/sup> Plenary Assembly and the Golden Jubilee of the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA), His Eminence Stephen\u00a0Cardinal\u00a0Brislin has emphasized that it is time the \u201cChurch must rebuild trust to renew hope for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the aftermath of many disappointments, trust has been broken in our communities,\u201d Cardinal Brislin told bishops, clergy, religious, and lay faithful gathered for the Jubilee Mass. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jubilee marks fifty years of IMBISA\u2019s 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 \u201c<\/em>a season of hope that will never disappoint us.\u201d<\/p>\n Referencing St. Paul\u2019s assurance to the Romans in the scripture and echoing Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s words: \u201cWe must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Within the Church itself, he noted, there are sins against peace, creation, migrants, women, youth, and the misuse of doctrine as \u201cstones to be hurled.\u201d These realities, he added, demand a renewal of trust through transparency, compassion, and integrity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d The Cardinal emphasized, disclosing the need for constant spiritual renewal for bishops and priests.<\/p>\n The Thursday homily also echoed Pope Francis\u2019 call for a Church \u201cof the poor and for the poor,\u201d where the Cardinal stressed the mission of empowering the marginalized to move from being passive to becoming \u201cactive agents and architects of a new, different future.\u201d<\/p>\n Encouraging the faithful to move beyond comfort zones and old securities, the Church official highlighted trust in God\u2019s providence as the anchor for the next fifty years, quoting Dutch missionary Corrie ten Boom, who said, \u201cNever be afraid to entrust an unknown future to a known God.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs 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,\u201d the Cardinal said.<\/p>\n IMBISA is a regional body of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) that brings together six episcopal conferences: The Confer\u00eancia Episcopal de Angola e S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 (C.E.A.S.T.), Confer\u00eancia Episcopal de Mo\u00e7ambique (C.E.M.), Lesotho Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference, Namibian Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference (N.C.B.C.), Southern African Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference (S.A.C.B.C.), and Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference (Z.C.B.C.).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA At the opening of the 14th Plenary Assembly 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