INKAMANA NEWSLETTER 1/2016
1 February 2016
Year 2015 - Review
The most important event of the last year for our community was certainly the change in the
leadership of our monastery. After the twelve-year term of office of Abbot Godfrey had come to an
end on February 7, the 28 finally professed monks of Inkamana elected Fr John Paul Mwaniki to
become Prior Administer for a period of three years. On July 12, he left for Rome. On his journey
back he visited his family in Kenya and the confreres at Ndanda Abbey in Tanzania. On 16
November he went by car to Namibia to meet our confreres at Waldfrieden Mission and to discuss
the future of our presence in Namibia with Archbishop Nashenda of Windhoek.
One of the highlights of the year was the temporary profession of our two novices, Br Michael
Stevens and Br Adrian Bisika, on July 11, the Feast of St Benedict. Soon afterwards, two of our
junior professed monks, Br Francis Kuutondokwa and Br Emmanuel Suntheni, flew to Nairobi to
study for the priesthood. They stay at the international study house of our Congregation in the
suburb of Karen. Fr Victor Chavunga and Fr Rafael Chonde, the two confreres who looked after the
two parishes in Vryheid where they also had their residences, were replaced last year in July by
diocesan priests. Bishop THaddeus Kumalo of Eshowe appointed Fr Victor administrator of the
cathedral and Fr Rafael parish priest of Nkandla. As Eshowe is 180km from Inkamana and Nkandla
140km, we do not see nearly as much of them as we used to when they were still in Vryheid.
Two former Inkamana monks, Fr Patrick Bonner and Fr Johannes Neudegger, died last year. Fr
Patrick, born in 1933, entered St Paul’s Abbey, USA, pronounced his vows in 1954 and received his
mission assignment for Inkamana in 1975. He remained at Inkamana, teaching at our high school
until the end of 1989. In January 1990, he returned to St Paul’s Abbey. Fr Johannes was 87 years
old when he died. He came to Inkamana in 1992 and spent some time in charge of the boys’ hostel
before moving to Waldfrieden Mission in Namibia where Inkamana opened a new house in 1998.
Fr Johannes and Fr Patrick are well remembered at Inkamana.
At the end of January 2015, Inkamana Abbey had:
16 finally professed priests: 6 Germans, 1 American, 4 Malawians, 2 South Africans, 1 Namibian,
1 Kenyan and 1 Indian. Eight of the priests were stationed at the abbey: Fr Prior John Paul
Mwaniki (48), Fr Pius Paul (79), Fr Leo Eireiner (78), Fr Godfrey Sieber (75), Fr Ambrose
Mshengu (46), Fr Boniface Kamushishi (39) and Fr Dominic Onasseril (36). Fr Hermenegild
Maier (74) is the parish priest of Twasana and chaplain to the Twasana Sisters. Fr Victor
Chavunga (46) is the administrator of the cathedral in Eshowe and stays at the bishop’s house in
Eshowe. Fr Rafael Chonde (46) is the parish priest of Nkandla. Fr Maximilian Jacobs (48) is
stationed at Inkamana’s dependent house at Waldfrieden. Fr Peter Blue (84) stays at Maria
Ratschitz Mission in the Dundee Diocese where the Nardini Sisters have their novitiate. Fr
Gérard Lagleder (60) is the director of the Blessed Gérard Care Centre in Mandeni, Fr Pacificus
Mwale (50) is assisting the community of Katibunga, a dependent houase of Hanga, and Fr
Oswald Gomani (46) is a student at the Catholic University of Nairobi. Fr Eugene Badtke (74)
who is also a monk of Inkamana on account of his stability works at present at St Ottilien.
13 finally professed brothers: all of whom are stationed at Inkamana:
Seven of them are South Africans: Brs Benedict Ntshangase (85), Clement Sithole (74), Maurus
Khumalo (65), Mark Govender (67) and Anselm Sayer (68) live and work at the abbey. Br
Gabriel Thompson (47) is stationed at Waldfrieden Mission in Namibia while Br Leonard
Dlamini (32) is a student at Stellenbosch University.
Three are Germans: Brs Ansfried Machatsch (80), Bernard Pachner (80) and Br George
Ostheimer (75).
Two are Malawians: Brs Edward Namwiri (40) and Kevin Thumbalabwazi (37).
One Namibian: Br Alphonse Amutenya (44).
9 temporary professed brothers. Among them are:
Four South Africans: Brothers Isidore Mabaso (34), Vincent Ngwane (28), Damian Mkhwanazi
(33) and Michael Stevens (52).
Three Namibians: Brs Polycarp Taukondjele (34), Bonaventure Johannes (32) and Francis
Kuutondokwa (25).
Two Malawians: Br Emmanuel Suntheni (27) and Adrian Bisika (35).
0 Novices: (A postulant will be admitted to the novitiate on the Feast of the Presentation of the
Lord, 2 February 2016).
Of the 36 finally and temporary professed members of our community only 24 are actually
living and working at the abbey, whereas 12 live and work or study outside the abbey.
Events of December 2015 and January 2016
On Sunday, 6 December, we gathered in the chapter room for the introductory talk of our five-day
annual community retreat. Our retreat master was Fr Elias Pfiffi, a monk of Dormition Abbey in
Jerusalem. Allowing us to share in his comprehensive knowledge of the life and times of the Old
Testament Prophet Elijah, he encouraged us to remain faithful to the commitments we have made as
monks and to persevere in times of trial, just like the prophet Elijah. He presented this prophet to us
in such a reality-related way that, at times, we felt as if this fearless fighter for the world of Yahweh
was suddenly appearing in our midst, 2800 years after he had caused so much stir and holy unrest
among the people in the Holy Land. The last day of the retreat ended with a solemn mass during
which we renewed our monastic vows.
At the beginning of December we had a little celebration in honour of our oldest confrere, Br
Benedict Ntshangase, who celebrated his 85th birthday. He is not as fit as he used to be. Until he
turned 80, it was quite common to see him walking from Inkamana to Vryheid and back, covering a
distance of 12 kilometers. He is no longer able, and seems to have no desire, to do that. Although
still fit enough to walk around in the monastery yard, he now has to rely more and more on a
confrere to accompany him so that he finds his way to church, to the refectory and back to his room.
There is always a smile on his face when he meets people on the way and he always greets them
with a friendly “ngiyabonga”, the Zulu word for thank-you.
On December 27, Fr Boniface Kamushishi flew to Namibia to preach a retreat to the
Benedictine Sisters of Oshikuku at their motherhouse in Owamboland near the border with Angola.
On his way back he visited Fr Maximilian Jacobs and Br Gabriel Thompson who are running
Waldfrieden Mission in central Namibia. Our four confreres who are at university and training
colleges respectively have spent Christmas with us at the abbey. Br Leonard Dlamini returned in
mid-January to Stellenbosch University where he is doing his Master’s degree in philosophy. Br
Bonaventure Johannes, who finished his three-year course in agriculture at the Ulundi Agricultural
College with excellent results, will now have to do a practical stint at the College to obtain his
certificate as agricultural expert. Br Vincent Ngwane has completed his training in catering. He now
works in our monastery kitchen and looks after the guest house. Br Polycarp Taukondjele, who was
training to become an electrician and is now waiting for the results of his final exam, works at the
moment with Br Bernard Pachner, our Jack-of-all-trades.
There was great excitement on January 6 when the Department of Education announced the
2015 matric results. All 28 students who sat for the exam at Inkamana High School obtained a
bachelors pass which allows them to study at a university. 5 achieved an A aggregate, 13 a B
aggregate and 10 a C aggregate. All subjects written were passed. The overall class average was
74%. The student who did best managed an average of 87% with 7 distinctions. During the
Christmas holidays, the science laboratory facilities of the school as well as the computers were
upgraded. Computers also were installed in the hostels. It was very quiet at Inkamana over
Christmas and New Year. Because the high school students were not around, there were hardly
more than twenty people at Mass on Christmas Day, at New Year and on the Sundays that followed.
The students returned from their holidays on January 12 and the new school year started the
following day. There are now altogether 170 students in the 5 high school classes (Grade 8-12), 65
boys and 105 girls. All of them are accommodated in the hostels. There are no day scholars.
We welcomed several visitors over the last two months. The visit by Fr Elias Pfiffi, who
preached our community retreat, has already been mentioned. Abbot emeritus Joel of St Paul’s
Abbey, Newton, spent ten days with us early in December. He participated in the retreat and went to
Maria Ratschitz to see his Newton confrere, Fr Peter Blue. Bishop Zolile P. Mpambana S.C.J. of the
Diocese of Kokstad came to Inkamana on 21 January and stayed overnight here. Bernadette
Cussmann, the niece of Fr Godfrey Sieber, came from Germany to celebrate Christmas with us and
to visit Little Flower Mission where she had helped Sr Martina Waltenberger in the boarding house
ten years ago. The “Lasallian Youth Group”, boys and girls from the De La Salle – Holy Cross
College in Johannesburg came to Inkamana for a weekend retreat in January. .
Like many other parts of South Africa, Zululand is suffering at present from one of the worst
droughts in living memory. The level of the Klipfontein Dam, which surrounds our abbey on its
western and northern boundary, has dropped alarmingly. The thousands of egrets (tick birds), which
come to Inkamana each year at the beginning of October to breed and leave again at the end of
March, have suddenly and mysteriously disappeared shortly before Christmas. Maybe the lake
could no longer provide enough food for them on account of the drought.
From a sunny but drought-ridden South Africa I send greetings to all who read this newsletter.