Regent in South Africa

Dn. Michael Benedict, SCJ is a member of the SCJ India District who is presently experiencing a regency with SCJs in South Africa. Below is his latest communication to us:

(L to R) Fr. John Strittmatter, SCJ / Dn. Michael Benedict, SCJ / Sr. Cathy

Dear confreres, Vivat cor Jesu

It is very cool here, now it is -5 degrees. I hope I will survive this winter. Jayaraj is coming to enjoy the real chill of the winter. This time I would like to share with you about my community. I am in the Diocese of DeAar. This is a small diocese with nearly 5000 catholics , but I wonder how many are practicing. This first bishop of this diocese was our former general superior, Bp. DePalma from the US province. The present Bishop is also an SCJ, from the United States, Bishop Joseph Potocnak. He submitted his resignation to the Pope recently because he is 75 now. Six priests and 3 sisters are working in this diocese. Once there were more than 20 priests and 70 sisters. But now this is the situation. Among the six priests there are 4 SCJs. Most of us are living alone, so our community is a territorial community. We come together sometimes for discussions and lunch. The distance, and the price of the petrol, is a hindrance for regular meetings.

As I informed you earlier I am in Middelburg. Fr. John Strittmatter SCJ is the Parish priest. The Middelburg community consists of Fr. John, Sr. Cathy and Br. Tsekalalo.

Fr. John: The first day of my arrival here Fr. John told me, "Michael we work on Sundays, and all the six days we take rest." Within a week, I understood that was another joke by Fr. John. He works 24X7. From 8am in the morning, there is a big queue in front of our house, for financial help, for bread, for work, for making photo copies, for washing powder, … for various needs. I will share about the Father's projects another time. He trusts everyone. Sometimes he knows people are cheating him, but he says that if they are cheating me God will ask them. Father John has been a victim of attacks in our own house on two different occasions, before I came. At those times, strangers just released from prison posed as though they were seeking help and tried to rob him at knife point. Both times he escaped luckily. Now at least twice a month I go with Father to visit one of those prisoners in prison. I am sometimes amazed at his ability to forgive, and his patience. He is in South Africa for last 45 years, and in Middelburg for the last 20 years. I am happy to be here with Fr. John, a saint in "his own way", who trusts much in Divine providence, a very intellectual, humorous person. I have learned so much from him.

Sr. Cathy is the member of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. She is 67 years old. She is a professional nurse, with Indian origin. After retiring from the hospital she came to Middleburg and started the Hospice for Aids Patients. Now after 15 years, she has founded or helped to start nearly 16 hospices in nearby towns, which take care of more than 2000 patients. I help her sometimes for typing letters and reports. She is living in a separate house next to ours. She cooks sometimes for us, and I am especially happy because she cooks curries, and also sometimes chappati.

Br. Ntsikelelo, SCJ is the new addition to our community. He completed his theological studies in the institute last December, and is preparing for Final Profession. He will be with us for a few months. He is helpful for me, especially in working with the youth, mainly because of the language.

We have six more members in our community, our security guards, 3 big dogs, and 3 puppies. Now I am taking care of them. Our house is like a prison, with cement fences, capped with barbed wire surrounding the compound. Here, the crime rate continues to climb. People steal whatever they can get. Just yesterday, they stole the bulb from our front porch. I will share with you another time about the life of the people here. I would like to send some pictures to you, but the computer which I am using is very old, and it is very slow, so uploading photos would cost so much time and money, and I don’t want Father to spend so much money for the internet. But when I go to provincialate, I will try to share with you the pictures of the life of the people here.

Yours in Christ.

Michael