New priests’ council in South Africa lauded for fostering collaboration with bishops

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The new Council of Priests (COP) of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has been lauded for fostering collaboration between its members and bishops and promoting a synodal approach to addressing issues affecting the priesthood.

Speaking to ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, in an interview at the council’s first strategic planning meeting held Sept. 9–11, COP vice chairperson Father Alex Beukes said the new structure responds to the need for closer collaboration between bishops and priests.

Beukes compared the COP structure with the former Southern African Council of Priests, saying: “The one reason for the change to COP is that we found that there was not much collaboration between bishops and priests.”

He said COP was established by the bishops as a collaborative and synodal body through which priests can share their experiences and concerns.

Beukes said the previous arrangement brought priests together for meetings but did not give them sufficient space to address issues affecting their ministry in the different dioceses.

“Itʼs COP which changed that, because itʼs a collaborative ministry, and itʼs also synodal in its inception, that priests and bishops work together in solving various issues that are fundamental to the priesthood in the different dioceses in southern Africa,” he said.

Held under the theme “Strengthening Priestly Communion, Stewardship, and Mission for a Sustainable Church,” the meeting focused on strengthening collaboration between bishops and priests, establishing priorities for the period 2026–2029, and addressing key challenges affecting priestly life and ministry.

The two-day meeting brought together representatives from dioceses and archdioceses across South Africa and Eswatini, representing diverse experiences of diocesan, religious, and missionary priesthood.

In the interview, Beukes said the broad representation at the first strategic planning meeting provided an opportunity for priests and bishops from across South Africa to share their experiences and discuss issues affecting the priesthood.

“The beauty of this first encounter is that every diocese and archdiocese in all of South Africa is represented,” he said, adding that many dioceses had embraced the idea of closer collaboration between bishops and priests.

He explained that the discussions were not limited to bishops, with priests also contributing their experiences and concerns.

“And we could then speak together synodally, if you can actually call it that, and we can have a conversation in the spirit about issues that really affect the whole priesthood in the southern African diocese,” he said.

Beukes said COP’s structure, which brings together chairpersons of priests’ councils from different dioceses, would also support the implementation of the synodal process at the diocesan level.

He said the structure gives the chairpersons access to bishops, vicars general, and other members involved in the council of priests, enabling them to communicate issues raised by priests and follow up on their implementation.

On the priorities discussed during the strategic planning meeting, Beukes said participants had addressed several issues that priests had previously identified as important.

“Weʼve gone through a lot of priorities; we call them strategic priorities. And the ones that we have touched on are also ones that the priests in the general meeting had also asked us to look at. And we did,” he said.

He added that the meeting also brought in people with expertise on the issues under discussion, with finances among the priorities examined.

“We started with the priority on finances and how finances have changed over a period of time, and how it also affects parishes and affects priests who work in parishes,” Beukes said.

He said the discussions were intended to provide practical insights that priests could take back to their parishes and dioceses.

“All the priorities, those who speak to us, are things that we can take back to a parish council, but also to the diocese itself,” he said.

For priests from the participating dioceses, the meeting also provided an opportunity to address practical challenges affecting priestly life and ministry.

Father Sandile Mswane of the Diocese of Manzini, Eswatini, said the discussions covered finances, revenues, the changing face of the Church, healthcare, and self-care, describing the meeting as “an eye-opener” that would provide insights to share with priests in his diocese.

Father Albert Post of the Diocese of The Hague identified financial pressures, retirement policies, and mental stress among the concerns requiring attention, while Father Lawrence Kamala of the Diocese of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, said the meeting had highlighted the need to strengthen the bond between bishops and priests as well as among priests themselves.

This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.

Source: https://www.ewtnnews.com/world/africa/new-priests-council-in-south-africa-lauded-for-fostering-collaboration-with-bishops