Report says racial divisions remain in South African Catholicism

Published: 2005-01-26

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- More than a decade after the end of apartheid, racial divisions remain in the South African church, said the justice and peace department of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference. Post-apartheid South Africa faces the threat that racial division will be institutionalized, "not only in the local and national social and economic structures, but also in the religious practice of South Africans," said a justice and peace report given to the bishops for discussion at their Jan. 26-Feb. 2 plenary meeting in Pretoria. "We must all still work hard to rid our society of the vestiges of racial division, especially in the cultural and economic spheres," it said. "Our findings, after two years of investigation, are an important challenge to the church to clean up what's happening within it," said Zukile Tom, who coordinates the justice and peace department's democracy and reconciliation program in Pretoria. The 31-page report, based on the program's findings, urges the bishops to actively address racism throughout southern Africa.

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