Justify Absence from Dioceses by Implementing Plenary Resolutions, Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa Told

Manzini, 28 January, 2026 / 7:10 PM

Members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) have been urged to justify their absence from their respective Episcopal Sees by implementing deliberations during their January 21–27 Plenary Assembly.

In his Tuesday, January 27 homily during the closing Mass of the SACBC Plenary organized under the theme “Synodality and Mission”, Bishop Sithembele Anton Sipuka said, “You guys have been here for more than a week, and now you are going back home. You have to justify your absence from your Diocese by doing something when you arrive.”

In their weeklong Plenary Assembly at St John Vianney Seminary in the Catholic Archdiocese of Pretoria, Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa discussed, among other topics, submitting candidates to participate in the 2027 Sabbatical Programme by the end of February 2026, ensuring mass production of Altar Mass, and promoting the official Altar wine in their respective Episcopal Sees.

In his January 27 homily, Bishop Sipuka said that from the various deliberations, a commitment to implement resolutions is essential. He noted that “quite often we make these resolutions year by year, and yet very often not many of them are carried out.”

The Archbishop-elect for South Africa’s  Cape Town Archdiocese described the Gospel Reading of the day as “very providential” and explained, “As we conclude our conference, Jesus is telling us that we belong to him not by blood association, but by doing his will.”

He urged his colleagues to not only to pray for guidance to discern what needs to be done, but to also seek the courage to implement. “Very often it is easy to talk about things,” he said, and added, “but the crux of the matter is actually to do them.”

To underscore the teaching that discipleship is measured by action rather than proximity, Bishop Sipuka recalled Jesus’ warning of a time when people will claim familiarity with Him, saying they ate and walked with him, only to be told, “I do not know you.”

What is important for Jesus is action, he said, adding that “it is not enough just to listen to the word of God and not do it.”

“As we begin this year, we are hearing this reading about doing. I think it is providential and prompting us into doing and into action to the best of our abilities and with the grace of God,” the Archbishop-elect for Cape Town Archdiocese, whose appointment was made public on January 9 said.

He emphasized, “We thank God for the inspiration that he has given us about things that need to be done. But we also pray for the courage to do them.”