The Capuchins in Cape Town
Report on the Irish Capuchin mission in South Africa. It is noted that ‘much of the Fathers’ time is taken up with convert work, pre-nuptial courses and teaching Christian Doctrine to children attending the public schools’. Statistical information (population, racial composition, and number of priests) is given in respect of the friars’ work in Parow, Athlone, the Welcome Estate, Belgravia and Langa. It is affirmed that the ‘bulk of the non-white people, i.e. the poorest of this diocese, is atte
Details
- Level of description
- Item
- Date
- c.1965
- Reference
- 2
- Extent and medium
- 1 p.; Typescript
- Scope and content
- Report on the Irish Capuchin mission in South Africa. It is noted that ‘much of the Fathers’ time is taken up with convert work, pre-nuptial courses and teaching Christian Doctrine to children attending the public schools’. Statistical information (population, racial composition, and number of priests) is given in respect of the friars’ work in Parow, Athlone, the Welcome Estate, Belgravia and Langa. It is affirmed that the ‘bulk of the non-white people, i.e. the poorest of this diocese, is attended by the Capuchin Fathers’.
- Repository
- Irish Capuchin Archives
- Context
- Irish Capuchin Archives > Papers of the Irish Capuchin Missions in Africa > South Africa > General Administration
Annotations
Rights
- Rights
- Copyright held by the respective institution. Contact the archive for reproduction permissions.
Related Items
Extracted Mentions
People, places, and terms identified via handwriting recognition and named entity recognition.
Sample passages
- 1 : Parow : 11 miles from the centre of Cape Town. The parish here takes in besides the municipal area of Parow, the townships also of Elsies River and Vasco (or rather a great par…
- All these places are parishes in the Archdiocese of Cape Town, of which His Eminence Owen Cardinal McCann is the Bishop, and which is mostly staffed by secular priests. The Redempt…
- Capetown is distinct from the mission in Zambia. The conditions in which the friars work are entirely different from those in Zambia. General duties, outside of their domestic hora…
Full Transcript (OCR, 1 pages)
Machine-generated OCR transcript. Handwritten material may contain recognition errors.
Page 1
CAPUCHINS IN CAPETOWN Capetown is distinct from the mission in Zambia. The conditions in which the friars work are entirely different from those in Zambia. General duties, outside of their domestic horarium, consists in the offering of public Masses, attending sick calls, promoting the cause of temperance. At night there may be a meeting of the Third Order, Legion of Mary, or conference of St Vincent de Paul workers. Much of the Fathers' time is taken up with convert work, pre-nugtial courses and teaching Christian Doctrine to children attending the public schools. 1 : Parow : 11 miles from the centre of Cape Town. The parish here takes in besides the municipal area of Parow, the townships also of Elsies River and Vasco (or rather a great part of them). The population of the parish, all religions included, would be about 75,000. There are about 4,500 catholics. There are three capuchin priests and one capuchin brother. Besides the main Church, there is a Church of ease at Tiger Valley (also part of this parish). Races - White and coloured. 2 : Athlone : 6 miles from Parow, and about 12 miles from Cape Town. Total population is about 100,000. The Catholic population is about 4,500. We have one Church: Two priests: Race - coloured. 3 : Welcome Estate : also a church of ease at Bonteheuwel. Population is around the 100,000 mark. Two priests: Catholic population about 5,000. Race - coloured. 4 : Belgravia : the population here is around 50,000 and of this the Catholic population would make up 2,500. Two priests: race - coloured. 5 : Langa : Population about 20,000. The Catholic population about 1,000. One priest. Race - african (black). All these places are parishes in the Archdiocese of Cape Town, of which His Eminence Owen Cardinal McCann is the Bishop, and which is mostly staffed by secular priests. The Redemptorists also, and the Dominicans and Salesians have parishes. The bulk of the non-white people, ie. the poorest, of this diocese is attended by the Capuchin Fathers. (Some are served by Seculars, Redemptorists and Dominicans. However, the Capuchins have the great majority of them.