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News of Cardinal Brislin’s Transfer from Cape Town “left us with heavy hearts”: Auxiliary Bishop in South Africa

Stephen Cardinal Brislin (left) and Bishop Sylvester David (right)

It was “with heavy hearts” that the people of God in Cape Town Archdiocese (ADCT) received the news of the Papal transfer of their shepherd, Stephen Cardinal Brislin , the Auxiliary Bishop of the South African Archdiocese has said.

Bishop Sylvester David, who was addressing participants in  the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council meeting on November 9 said that despite their “visceral discomfort”, they have come to accept the transfer of Cardinal Brislin to the Catholic Archdiocese of Johannesburg as part of the functioning of the Church. 

“Although such transfers are part of Church life, the news left us with heavy hearts and with a visceral discomfort. There was unease. It was difficult to articulate exactly what one felt because in many cases the right words could not be found,” Bishop Sylvester said.

He added, “We now find ourselves in a liminal space i.e. in a state of transition. But liminal spaces are not only negative because an essential dimension of the liminal space is that it affords us an opportunity for transformation.”

“Both His Eminence and I know that this transfer is not about us and our working together,” he went on to say, adding, “It is about the Church and the opportunities of living the faith in different contexts.”

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The South African member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) challenged the people of God in Cape Town Archdiocese to find ways of making “the transition more meaningful for our local Church, for me personally, for the Cardinal, and also for his successor.”

In working towards a meaningful transition, Bishop Sylvester said, “we will do well to remember that a liminal space is not the same as a vacuum. It is a vibrant space calling us to rise above self and to embrace a new reality.”

The transfer provides an opportunity for the people of God in Cape Town Archdiocese to examine their spirituality in the face of transition, he went on to say and cited the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and the restlessness that characterized the experience as an example of the reality of a transitional process.

There is need to “embrace the restlessness that is natural to this time of transition,” the Auxiliary Bishop of Cape Town Archdiocese since his Episcopal Consecration in August 2019 said.

“This is a rather difficult time – we are literally in-between times during this transition. We will experience restlessness. That is natural. There is after all a season for everything,” he said referring to the book of Ecclesiastes.

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Bishop Sylvester continued, “We often think of the calm nature of prayer and at times even use calming music during our meditation times but restlessness, helplessness, and even despair ought to be natural to our spirituality simply because these aspects are inescapable and necessary parts of our human existence.”

In a video posted on YouTube on November 8, Cardinal Brislin weighed in on his appointment to succeed Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale as Local Ordinary of the Metropolitan See that is headquartered in South Africa’s biggest city and the capital of the country’s Gauteng province, Johannesburg.

“I’ve come to know the Priests, Deacons, Religious, and the people of Cape Town Archdiocese very well, and it will be painful to leave them,” Cardinal Brislin said about the people of God he shepherded since February 2010, following his transfer from South Africa’s Kroonstad Diocese, where he started his Episcopal Ministry in January 2007.

“I owe them so much; they have given me such great spiritual support, and I will truly miss them,” he said. 

In the video recording, the 68-year-old South African Cardinal expressed his readiness for the Papal transfer from Cape Town Archdiocese, adding that he hopes to get the support he needs from the people of God in Johannesburg Archdiocese. 

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Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.