The Synod has underlined many aspects of the Episcopal ministry. I only wish to use two words to

describe the collegiality of the local bishops: the words ‘servant’ and ‘communion’.

The first word: COMMUNION.

"The Bishop lives his communion with the other Bishops by exercising Episcopal collegiality’. The

Episcopal Conference is one of the greatest means through which the Bishops express this collegiality.

Our Episcopal Conference is very young – it was established in 1951 by Pius XII. From the very

beginning the Bishops of the following countries – Botswana, Swaziland and South Africa – expressed

their collegiality in a very tangible manner.

1) In 1948 they had already established the Major National Seminary.

2) They made the first pronunciation against apartheid in 1952, a very prophetic stand that caused a great

deal of problems for the Church.

3) In 1987 they created a single Pastoral Plan so as to direct their local Churches in one single direction

and so it would become a ‘Community at the Service of Humanity’.

But let us look at the word SERVANT.

Bishops have always been servants, not only at the service of communion between each other, but also at

the service of the communion between their Churches, and this in a formidable way.

Because of the lack of priests, many Bishops also work as parish priests.

This of course puts them in contact with the suffering of the people in a manner that would be otherwise

have been impossible. For example, just as their priest do they personally observe the disaster

caused by AIDS. This crisis has induced them to act collegially, alongside many other projects,

with a letter addressed to the people of God and filled with compassion.

It is obvious that in this precarious condition the local Bishops have has neither the time not the resources

for calmly taking into consideration the great ecclesiological questions of our times.

They have however described the Church as

- a ‘Community at the Service of Humanity’.

- moved from a Church mainly composed of missionaries to a real local Church.

As far as this is concerned, their collegial effort sees them moving the Conferences towards a real

Africanization of the Church, which is God’s family, God’s home.

This commitment will be successful only if they remain servants, if their collegiality will continue

to be so tangible and if they shall receive sufficient room for action and trust.

Thank you.