The history of the parishes in the Diocese of Eshowe
Nongoma, some 100km northeast of Inkamana, was founded by the Benedictines on August 1, 1926. They started the mission east of the NongomaVryheid road, about one kilometre north of the Nongoma village. In 1935, the station was moved to a new and much larger property west of the main road. Over the next forty years, Nongoma became by far the biggest mission institute in Zululand. The mission hospital was at the centre of the whole complex. It was started in 1937. By the time it was handed over to the government in June 1976, it had developed into of the largest mission hospitals in the country thanks to the efforts of the Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing. They arrived at Nongoma on October 6, 1937, and devoted themselves mainly to the care of the sick. In 1938, they opened a maternity wing. Further sections were added in the course of time: a general hospital, a children's ward, a large department for TB patients and, finally, a training school for nurses. African Benedictine Sisters, better known as Twasana Sisters, came to Nongoma in 1940 to assist the Tutzing Sisters in their apostolate. They became engaged in nursing the sick and teaching the children of the Christ the King Primary School, which was founded by the Benedictines in February 1927. On April 1, 1977, the school was taken over by the Kwazulu Government. The sisters continued to teach at the school and to look after the children who were boarders.
There was always a large number of sisters at the Benedictine Mission of Nongoma. The average number was about thirty between 1950 and 1975. The number of priests and brothers, although smaller than that of the sisters, was equally impressive. Nongoma had a string of outstations so that three to five priests were fully occupied with pastoral work. After 1968, when a home for retired missionaries was opened at Nongoma, the mission had up to half a dozen priests. There was also a good number of brothers. Their skill and expertise were required to run the mission farm, the garden and the various workshops. Their services were absolutely indispensable as far as building and maintenance work were concerned, especially with regard to the hospital the facilities of which were constantly expanded and updated. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Benedictine community of Nongoma comprised about a dozen priests and brothers right up to the time when the hospital was handed over to the government in 1976.
Among the many priests and brothers who were stationed at Nongoma for shorter or longer periods of time, there are a few who deserve special mention. It was mainly due to the initiative of Fr. Ignatius Jutz (1897-1993) that the Benedictines were able to open a hospital at Nongoma in 1937. As superior of the mission (1947-1960) and as hospital secretary (1947-1967) he devoted all his strength and his considerable organizing talent to the promotion of the Catholic Church and to the improvement of the health service in the district. Bro. Alan Geiger (1899-1947) who served as the first secretary of the hospital (and later as general secretary of the Catholic Hospital Board) was known far beyond Zululand as a tireless crusader in the interests of the Benedictine Mission Hospital of Nongoma and other mission hospitals in South Africa. He was stationed at Nongoma from 1940 to 1947. Bro. Candidus Mayer (19011968) drew up the plans for the first building phase of the hospital. Bro. Jacob Riedmann (19131980), who spent nearly forty years at Nongoma, designed and built most of the other buildings of the mission. Bro. Romulus Rothdach, who was at Nongoma from 1943-1977, ran the engineering workshop attached to the mission hospital. He also was responsible for the installation and maintenance of the large power plant which supplied electricity to the whole station. Bro. Stephen Ebert, an electrician by trade, assisted him (from 1957-1977) in this task. For seventeen years (1961-1978) Nongoma had an accomplished master carpenter in the person of Bro. Heribert Heiss (18991988). His workshop manufactured all the furniture, window and door-frames required for the new buildings. Bro. Epimach Würstle (19061978) and Bro. Almarich Schöb looked after the farm and the garden. The former spent thirty-five years (1943-1978) at Nongoma, the latter fifteen (1960-1975). All these brothers were withdrawn from Nongoma after the hospital became a government institution in 1976.
The Catholic parish of Nongoma is one of the biggest in the Diocese of Eshowe. It extends over an area with a diameter of about one hundred kilometres and includes some very remote places along the Umfolozi river where the traditional way of life is still much in evidence among the Zulus. No fewer than twenty-five outstations belonged to the parish in 1990. In 1960, it had about 1800 Catholics, in 1970 their numbers increased to 4 600 and in 1980 to 5 500. However, a census, taken in 1990, showed that many who had been baptized in the Catholic Church no longer considered themselves as Catholics. The membership of the Nongoma Parish dropped to 4000 in 1990. One of the reasons for the decline in mumbers is the fact that missionaries tended to baptize babies, born at the hospital, if they were so weak that they seemed to have little chance of survival. Although the baptism was only performed with the permission of the mother or of both parents, the children were often not brought up as Catholics. This was not surprising as the parents themselves were in most instances not Catholic and did therefore not fully appreciate the implication of infant baptism. Whereas the missionary thought that they might do everything in their power to raise their child in the Christian faith, the parents did not really see this as an obligation. The baptism of children received another boost between 1960 and 1975 when the government insisted that only Catholic children could attend a Catholic mission school. Because there were relatively few Catholic children, it would have been difficult to run a mission school just for Catholics. Missionaries were inclined to overcome the problem simply by baptizing pupils and registering them as Catholics. It was easy to get the consent of the parents. All they were interested in was that their children get a good education. Many of these children drifted away from he Church after they left school.
The outward appearance of the Nongoma Mission underwent a major change when many of the buildings became government property in 1976. The priest's house was transferred to a place called St. Alban's. It is situated one kilometre east of the old mission and hospital complex on the main road from Nongoma to Vryheid and comprises a convent and a number of former hospital staff houses. The buildings are now used to accommodate the priests. The convent is occupied by Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing. One of the houses served temporarily as an old-age home for missionaries. The following Benedictines lived there:
Parish Priests of Nongoma
Assistant Priests at Nongoma
Benedictine Brothers at Nongoma
This page was last updated on Tuesday, 24 October 2006 17:51:42
