Bishop's 2012 Programme

Year: 2012	First Week	Second Week	Third Week	Fourth Week
January	On leave:1-7 Cape Town	On leave:8-14 Cape Town	In Office:15-23 Tzaneen	SACBC meet:24 -31 Pretoria
February	Youth leaders:4 Ave Maria Past.Centre Finance Committee:7 Tzaneen	Retreat:12-17 Ave Maria Past.C. Youth Animators:18	Diocesan Pastoral Council: 25 Ave Maria Past.C.	Priests Meeting:28-29 Ave Maria Past.Centre
March	In office:6-8 Makhado:9 St Brendan’s:10	Lenyenye:10-11 St Scholastica:14 In office:15-17	Olifants Riv:20 St Patrick Feast:21 Ave Maria Past. C.	Dep.for Seminaries, Pretoria:25-28 Siyabhabha JHB:29-31
April	Holy Week:Tzaneen Mass of the Oils:3 Cathedral Tzaneen	Easter Sunday:8 In Office: 9 - 13	Sibasa Parish: 15 Dioc. Priests:16 In office:17-20	Modjadjiskloof:22 Dio. Fin.Com:24 Consultors:25 Musina:29
May	Pretoria:1-4 St Scholastica: 6 Priests Meeting:8-9 Ave Maria Past.Centre	Ofcolaco: 13 In office:14-18 Diocesan Finance Council meeting:19 Ave Maria Past.C.	Olifants River:20 AMPC:22 In office:23-25	In office:29 -1 June
June	St Brendan’s:3 Confirmations In office:5-8	Cathedral:10 Conf. Dioc.Priests:11 catechesis :13 In office:12-15	Ordain deacon:17 CIE meet:19 In office:19-22 Tzaneen	JHB:24   -27 J&P meet 27 Meet CWA 30
July	Tzaneen:1 On leave:3-9 Cape Town	On leave:10 -17 Cape Town	Return to Tzaneen Finance:19 In office:19-20	Malamulele:22 Consultors:24-25 In office:26-27 Priests meet:31
August	SACBC:1-8 Mariannhill Tzaneen:12 Conf.	Retreat   Sisters:13 -20 Pilgrimage:18-19 Ave Maria PC	In office:21-24 SGB St Brendan 25	Giyani:26 Dioc.Priests:27 Pretoria metro28-29 priests-sisters:30
Sept	Makhado:2 In office:4-7	IMusina:9 n office:11-14 Sacred Hrt:15	In office:18-21 LaityForum:22	Ngwabitsi:23 Consultors:25 In office:26-28
October	Priests Meeting:2-3 Ave Maria Past.Centre In office:4-5	Dioc.Priests:8 In office:9-12	Phalaborwa:14 In office:16-19	Nhzelele:21 In office:23-26 SGB:27 Dwars River:28
November	In office:1-10 St Brendans:4	Emalahleni:11 In office:12-17 Vision 2020:18	In office:20-23 Dioc Finance Council:24	In office:27-30 Tzaneen
December	Thanksgiving Mass for end of year: 6 AMPC	Dioc.Priests:10 In office:11-14	In office:18-21 Tzaneen	Christmas:25 End of year break.

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL

A new priest for the Diocese of Tzaneen

On Saturday 10 December 2011 Emmanuel Ngoako Maroale was ordained a priest by Bishop Joao Rodrigues at the Lenyenye Stadium in the Parish of Tzaneen.

Musina Parish - Confirmations - 4 Dec 2011

The last group of young catholics confirmed with the anointing of the Holy Spirit in 2011 took place at St Martin church,Nancefield,in Musina Parish on Sunday 4 December 2011.

Diocese of Tzaneen website address

Please visit our official diocesan website at
http://dioceseoftzaneen.mariannhillmedia.org

God bless,protect and guide you throughout 2012.

The Meaning of Christmas?

Christmas – Family life in the Spirit of Christ – December 2011

Beloved Catholics and people of good will

Christmas is about the beginning, the beginning of the life of the Child Jesus embraced by his loving parents, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Joseph. The actual moment of Jesus becoming flesh, the actual beginning of the human life of Christ, took place under the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in her womb, when she accepted in faith the message of the archangel Gabriel and responded saying:

"Let it be done to me according to your word. And the Eternal Word became flesh.

Natural life became sacred life. The Divine united with the human. This is the moment when we can celebrate the beginning of the life of the Christmas Child and we can sing with the Blessed Virgin Mary her song of praise and joy to God, just like the glorious song of the angels singing before the shepherds after the Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus at Bethlehem.

Christmas is not just about one Child. It is about all people with whom that Child is identified. We come from God. Our beginning is sacred. From the moment of conception we are children of God with a sacred dignity and a life which is destined for eternal life. Every faithful catholic parent and family understands this and ensures that their unborn are protected and that their children are given the grace for their eternal destiny to become a reality by initiating them into the life of Christ through Baptism and the Eucharist. Christmas is about the most humble and sacred beginning of what will eventually grow and blossom into the most glorious end with the death and resurrection of Jesus. This glorious end reminds us of how sacred the beginning of life really is, even though it is also so humble and vulnerable. This is what Christmas is all about  - about recognising the sacred dignity of the most humble and the most vulnerable in our world and there is no doubt that the unborn babies are at the top of this list in today’s ruthless world.

Christmas is about those who are at the beginning of their life's journey, who need to be protected and nourished, who depend on loving adults for their survival and development in a spirit of truth. Christmas is about parental responsibility and the irreplaceable importance of parental love and care for their children to grow more and more in the Image of God who becomes flesh in them.

We are in great need for this mystery of Christmas in our family life. I implore you dear Catholic parents to celebrate Christmas with your children, sing with them and pray with them and tell them how wonderful and sacred their lives are because of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a season for reminding your family about the sacred dignity of the unborn and about the sacred dignity of sexual love in your married life. Christ  restores our marriage and family to the way it was always meant to be in the beginning. Yes Christmas is about the beginning, the beginning of sacred life, humble and vulnerable and destined for Glory in Christ. May the Holy Spirit help us all this Christmas to embrace this sacred gift of Christ personally and lovingly in our lives.

Holy Mary,pray for us. St Joseph,pray for us. Lord Jesus,have mercy on us.

May God bless you all with the peace of the Divine Child Jesus.

+Joao Rodrigues

Bishop of Tzaneen Diocese

Africae Munus

Read the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation «Africae Munus» of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on the Church in Africa in service to reconciliation, justice and peace; following the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, held at the Vatican from 4 to 25 October 2009. The PDF file can be downloaded from http://bishopjoaorodrigues.yolasite.com

Simply click on the "The Church in Africa " in the homepage menu or you can go to the SACBC website http://www.sacbc.org.za

Benedict XVI to Present Conclusions of Africa Synod

Benedict XVI will travel to Benin this November to sign the postsynodal exhortation of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.

The Vatican press office released the itinerary of the Pope's three-day trip to the West African nation, which marks the second time the Holy Father has traveled to Africa during his Pontificate. In 2009, he traveled to Cameroon and Angola to present the "instrumentum laboris" for the African synod, which took place later that year.On Friday, Nov. 18, the Pope will depart Rome in the morning and arrive at 3 p.m. in Benin's capital, Cotonou  and complete his itinerary on Sunday, Nov. 20 before returning to Rome.

Mission Sunday 23 October 2011

22 Sept 2011

WORLD MISSION DAY –  23 October 2011

Dear Faithful Catholics

The grace and love of God be with you all.

We are aware that the Good News of the Lord Jesus is for everybody

As the month of October draws near we are once again reminded about our holy communion with God’s active love for the salvation of the whole world in Christ Jesus. We who enjoy the saving blessings of God because of our faith in the Lord Jesus are called to share these blessings and thus give glory to the Divine Giver. The Holy Spirit impels us to tell others about the wonderful spiritual benefits we enjoy because of Jesus Christ’s Self-gift to us in the Church. We are not able to keep quiet about such Good News and we want everybody to see and hear about Christ Jesus’ saving love so that everybody can enjoy what we enjoy. This desire is what can be called the fundamental missionary spirit of all faithful members of the Catholic Church.

World Mission Sunday is a reminder to all of us that as members of a particular Christian community and local Catholic Church, we recognise and give witness to this universal outreach of God in Christ Jesus.

We pray for missionaries of the Catholic Church of our Lord

And so we pray for Catholic missionaries especially those who are in very difficult and oppressive situations in different parts of the world. We intercede for them before God knowing that “nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8,35) unless they themselves abandon their faith in Christ. We join our intercessions with the prayers of the October saints namely: St Therese of the Child Jesus, St Daniel Comboni, Blessed Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa Martyrs, St Francis of Assisi, St Theresa of Avila, Our Lady of the Rosary, St Luke the Evangelist and Saints Simon and Jude Apostles.

We support financially the missionary work of the Catholic Church

We also contribute from our financial resources to the World Mission Sunday collection and we do so with joy knowing from our own experience how we continue to benefit from this same fund for many of our missionary projects in this diocese. And we are also aware of the many and often greater missionary needs in other countries and nations of the world. May we be as generous as we were last year.

I wish to thank you for your spiritual and material support of the Church’s mission.

May St Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us and protect our missionaries in Tzaneen Diocese.

Bishop Joao Rodrigues

Diocese of Tzaneen