Friday morning, a new day and slowly but surely the clouds of uncertainty are fading away. As it looks in the moment, I will stay in Cape Town to continue my work in the fields of HIV and AIDS with HOPE Cape Town and the Catholic AIDS Network (CAN) of the Archdiocese of Cape Town. This would enable me to built on the last more than 8 years of work in this portfolio. I must admit that I would be very happy to dedicate my time and energy for this cause and to create, develop and foster relationships in this field between Europe and South Africa.
Regarding the German speaking Catholic Communities in Cape Town and Durban the future is now also decided. I accept the fact that there is a termination of contract and I will not take the matter for a juridical review within the church. It would damage the church, waste a lot of energies and I cannot see the need to fight those, who decided to get me out of this portfolio. I don’t feel any need to have a dependency of any kind to them. My farewell in Cape Town will be on the 4th of October 2009, in Durban on the 13.9.2009.
I feel sad about leaving the communities – I felt home with the people in the last 12 years, but I guess, for a priest it is normal to change positions – and in our days, it applies for a lot of professions. The good old times, where priests where sitting for ages in one little village are gone….
But I am also looking forward to the new challenge and I know that I can continue to build on a good foundation – life is good and at the end, the bible is right: God can write straight on twisted lines. Light at the end of the tunnel…
Filed under: General, Reflection, Uncategorized, Aids, can, cape town, catholic aids network, Church Matters, durban, german speaking catholic community, hiv, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, priest