Johannesburg, 02 September, 2020 / 9:26 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) have sent a message of gratitude to the people of God under their care for “being faithful to the Church” during this challenging time of the COVID-19 pandemic and for contributing towards the conference’s coffers despite the harsh economic times.
In their collective message shared with ACI Africa on Tuesday, September 1, the Prelates highlight some of the challenges that the Church is facing during the pandemic and the new changes the people had been forced to adapt to, key among them popularizing virtual prayers and financial challenges.
“This has been a real challenging year for all of us, two weeks of Bishops Lenten Appeal collections and over 150 days of lockdown on different levels, leaving us now on level 2,” the Bishops say in their message signed by Bro. Ashley Tillek who serves as the SACBC National Director of the conference’s Lenten Appeal.
They add, “This has truly been a hard time for you the laity adopting to use social media for Holy Mass as well. But we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the true dedication shown throughout this pandemic and your commitment shown to being faithful to the Church during this challenging time of the covid-19 pandemic. I thank the Lord for your generosity.”
They reported that a total of R.3,867,651.49 (US$232,059) has been collected in 2020 towards the Bishops’ Lenten Appeal as compared to R.9,809,346.90 (US$588,560) that different dioceses and Church groups in South Africa contributed last year, translating to a 61 percent plunge.