The Catholic Church and Apartheid, 1948

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND APARTHEID, 1948 - 1957 Garth Abraham Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History, University of Natal, Durban. December 1984 ii PREFACE • One of the most laudable justifications for writing a history of the Catholic Church was made by Lord Macauley, who, in his review of Leopold von Ranke's Political History of the Popes declared: There is not and never was on this earth, a work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman Catholic Church... She saw the commencement of the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all . She was great and respected before the Saxon had set foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still flourished in Antioch, when idols were still worshipped in the temple of Mecca. And she may still exist in undiminished vigour when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in ,t he midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a br-oken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St Paul's. ( 1) While the early history of the Catholic Church in South Africa has been given a degree of 'well deserved... examination', the response of the Church to the apartheid legislation of the Nationalist government between 19LJa- 1957 is a period which has, thus far, received little attention from church historians. The only detailed study on an aspect of the period is David Bixby's B.A. Hons dissertation, 'The Roman Catholic Church and Apartheid in Education' . - ( 1977), (2) which concentrates primarily on the Bantu Education Act of 1953. An Afrikaans thesis, 'Die geskiedenis en aksie van die Rooms-Katolieke Kerk, veral in die Unie van Suid Afrika' (1 95a), by Edwin Theron, while covering the period 19LJa- 1957, is a very superficial study which completely ignores Catholic sources -and is essentially polemical in tone. The period has also received scant attention in Fr W.E. Brown's The Catholic Church in South Africa 1. As quoted in E.E.Y. Hales, The Catholic Church in the Modern World (1 95a), p , l, 2, For details of this work, and others mentioned in the preface, refer to bibliography. iii (1960). While Fr Brown died before the work was actually completed, the editor, M. Derrick, presented a summary of major issues affecting the Catholic Church during the first decade of Nationalist Party rule. More recently, a number of the contributors to Andrew Prior's Catholics in Apartheid Society (1982), have traced contemporary developments in the Catholic Church back to the 1950s. Special mention must be made of Trevor Verryn's contribution, entitled 'Catholic Bishops and Apartheid'. Two general works on the churches in South Africa, John de Gruchy's The Church Struggle in South Africa (1979) and The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation (1983) by Majorie Hope and James Young, have also been of interest. Given this paucity of secondary sources, this thesis has relied primarily on the material available at the Bishops' Conference archives in Pretoria and the Southern Cross. While it is acknowledged that the hierarchy forms but a small part of what constitutes the Church, it is the bishops, in fulfillment of the mandate given to the apostles by Christ, who guide and teach the faithful, and it is thus they who direct developments within the Church, and have therefore been of primary concern in this thesis. In order to gain some understanding of the thinking within the hierarchy, the minutes of the plenary sessions, some of which have been published, reports, surveys, and statements made by the bishops have all been of crucial importance. Perhaps of greatest importance have been the minutes of the Administrative Board of the Bishops' Conference, for the prelates on this Board have executed policy and entered into negotiations on behalf of the entire Bishops' Conference. The affairs of the Bishops' Conference were, however, confidential. The Church laity received its guidance through speeches, sermons, published statements, and articles - all of which were usually printed in the Southern Cross. The need for a Catholic weekly for instructive purposes was thus the most direct reason for the constitution of The Catholic Newspaper and Publishing Company, which printed the first iv issue of the Southern Cross in 1919. While not strictly the official mouthpiece of the Catholic ordinaries, its views were subject to the approval of the Catholic bishops of South Africa, (3) and it therefore provides valuable insight into the many forces that were at work within the Church. In order to facilitate the understanding of the nature and function of certain exclusively Catholic institutions and clerical personnel, and terms used to describe them, it is necessary at this stage to comment briefly on some elements of the structure and organization of the Catholic Church. Because of the fact that the continent of Africa is deemed a 'mission territory' it is subject, with a few exceptions, to the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide. This Congregation was founded in 1622, growing out of a commission for promoting reconciliation with the Eastern Churches. In mission territories it assumes most of the functions of the other congregations, without prejudice to the competence of the Holy Office. The Congregation usually prepares the way for the establishment, or re-establishment, of an ecclesiastical hierarchy. This is usually done in a series of stages. The first is the erection of a mission, with a mission superior or prefect in control of a number of missionaries but over an area with no fixed boundaries. Once this mission has made sufficient progress it is canonically erected as a prefecture apostolic with clearly demarcated boundaries. The prefect apostolic, however, does not usually enjoy episcopal status. The third stage is the creation of a vicariate apostolic under the care of a vicar apostolic who is usually a titular bishop and is thus referred to as the right reverend. This stage is normally measured by the number · of conversions and operative missionaries. 3. Southern Cross, 19 Oct. 1980, 2. v Vicars and prefects apostolic exercise their apostolic office in place of the pope. The territories over which they have control are thus theoretically regarded as "'appendages of the Diocese of Rome, '"( 4) and the pope himself is thus considered bishop of the mission territory, the vicars and prefects apostolic merely fulfilling his mandate to teach the nations. Up until 1951 this was the position in South Africa. Where possible the title 'bishop' has thus been avoided, . and vicars and prefects apostolic have been collectively referred to as 'ordinaries'. According to canon law ordinaries are bishops, vicars and prefects apostolic with episcopal jurisdiction over a definite and Iimited territory. It is, however, the task of these ordinaries to prepare and develop their allotted territories until such time as they can be constituted as dioceses. The fourth and final stage is thus the establishment of the ecclesiastical hierarchy which takes the form of an ecclesiastical province under an archbishop or metropolitan and a number of suffragen bishops. The archbishop's title is primarily one of honour although he does have the right of intervention in the affairs of a suffragan bishopric under certain circumstances. The hierarchy was established in South Africa in January 1951. On a more technical level, in this thesis, the designations black, coloured, and Asian have been used to describe the various non-white race groups. When, however, a different designation has been used in legislation or quotations this has been retained. The original punctuation has also been retained in all quotations. wish to acknowledge the assistance of a number of people and institutions who have contributed in some way to the completion of this thesis, which, in accordance with University regulations, I hold to be my own original work. Prof. A. H. Duminy and Mr M. G. Spencer £I. J.C. Garner, 'Organization of the Church in South Africa' in Fr Agathangelus (ed.), The Catholic Church in Southern Africa (1951), p.xiv. vi were of invaluable assistance in supervising this thesis, in aiding with the development of certain ideas, and in supplying constructive and helpful criticism. Or Rosalind Posel offered many helpful suggestions, collected a number of interesting newspaper articles for me, and gave much friendly encouragement. Sr Brigid Flanagan, associate secretary general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, made available the material in the Bishops' Conference archives at the Conference headquarters in Pretoria. Sr Michael, also at the Conference headquarters, kindly sent me certain information requested. Fr D.H. St George, OMI, of Emmanuel Cathedral, Durban, allowed me access to his private collection of papers connected with the Church's involvement in black education in Natal. The staff of the Inter-Library Loan section of the University of Natal, Durban, were particularly attentive, and patient, in obtaining source material. The KiJlie Campbell Africana Library, Don Africana Library, University of Natal Library, Westville and Pinetown Municipal Libraries, and the State Library in Pretoria all provided much valuable information. The Human Sciences Research .council supplied financial assistance; while assistance, and, perhaps more importantly, sustenance of another kind was supplied by my friends over the past two years. Norma Hatcher obligingly consented to type this thesis under much pressure. To all of the above I express my sincere appreciation. Finally, I wish to thank my parents, Henry and Barbara Abraham, for their encouragement, support, and love, without which this thesis would not have been possible.

Load more