Parish of St Simon of Cyrene

RELIVING THE GROWTH OF ST GABRIEL'S WITH THE NEW BIRTH OF ST SIMON OF CYRENE
Early Years: Form the Meeting Minutes Book of the ST. Katherine's Parish Council, the agreement was recorded on 25 August 1954 that the Vestry meeting accepted the motion that the building of St. Gabriel's be completed. It is interesting to note that by reading between the lines of ST. Gabriel's early history, one cannot be happy with all the reasons for its founding, nor with the wisdom of hindsight, does one hesitate now to decry much of the paternalism of those early days. We, at the Church of St. Gabriel has many years served our Lord Jesus Christ with all His blessings. We were blessed in those years with many Artisans who over lengthy years were able to do much needed alterations and maintenance to our building with low or no labour costs. Many people were blessed by serving the Lord in this small building. After the historic minutes recorded by the St. Katherine's Council, the infant Chapelry was beginning to make very adult noises, making a bid to stand on its own feet, being responsible for its own decisions and being prepared to pay for what it wanted. This new awakening began when Father Cyril Muller challenged and spurred the people of St. Gabriel's to a new awareness of their privileges and responsibilities.
The Future: The dedication of this new church to St. Simon of Cyrene is not without significance when we remember that Simon of Cyrene was a black man who carried the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ at a time when it was the most unpopular thing to do. If the Congregation that will worship in this new building is to emulate the principles of its Patron Saint, then it will be a cross bearing community, a place of worship, a spiritual powerhouse, to feed the hungry, heal the sick, teach the ignorant and powerfully proclaim the love of God to the unevangelized and generally to be a congregation which demonstrates in its lifestyle the costly loving of Jesus who is its Saviour and Lord. One can only pray that this spirit will never wane.
We worshipped for many years in a small Church. St. Gabriel's, situated on the corner of Sass and Taylor Streets in the central area of Uitenhage. We were a Chapelry to St Katherine's; Rev Peter Bowen was the rector and Rev. Cyril Muller was the priest-in-charge of St. Gabriel's. Because of the Group Areas Act, many of our people were relocated to Rosedale and Gambleville, in the so-called coloured township. Another reason was that the Church building became too small to accommodate the fast growing congregation. We were now faced with the difficult task of relocating th Church closer to its people. We were also forced to apply for a loan from the Diocese to build a new and bigger Church.
The building of a new Church started in the latter part of 1978 and after completion in the early months of the following year was consecrated by the late Bishop Bruce Evans on 29 April 1979. When the plans for the Church were drawn up, provision was already made for the extension of a hall. A fabricated wall was erected where the glass division is now. many times when we had our family days and shared our lunches we would sit outside on the grass and dream about days when we would have our hall erected on this space. Due to the hard work of the-priest-in-charge, Father Cyril Muller and the congregation, the church was paid in full in less than nine years. Our rector and senior priest in the Diocese has many times used our Church as a benchmark for other Churches. They would send priests to St. Simon's knowing that when they leave this parish they would have grown spiritually and stronger individual persons. St. Simon's had a wide perspective of people and a wide knowledge of leadership. After many meetings with the Diocese, Parish Council, Chapelry Council and the late Archdeacon Neville Witford it was decided to give the parish their full Parish Status. Some of the criteria used to gauge the strength of a parish before they were considered, were the number of communicants on a Sunday morning Eucharist and whether the congregation was financially sound. We eventually received our parish status during the latter part of 1983.
With the people of St. Simon's being so productive, Sunday School accommodation soon became a problem. A committee were elected and they were taken to a number of churches in Port Elizabeth to view other buildings. Plans for a hall and Sunday School accommodation were drawn up. The building commenced and the hall was consecrated by Bishop Eric Pike on 10 November 1996. Dreams that started early in 1979 were now realized.
THE PRIEST WHO SERVED OUR PARISH DURING THE LAST 30 YEARS:
Father Cyril Muller 1979 to end December 1980: You have read in the article above of the reliving, the birth of St. Simon's about the person who inspired and moved this small congregation to reach high values.
Rev. Henry Serfontein: 25 January 1981 to 6 April 1986: Father Serfontein came to our Parish as a priest in a wheelchair. This came to us as a congregation as a big challenge. He did all his pastoral visits under difficult conditions, but fulfilled his duties to the best of his abilities. Praish Status was obtained in the latter part of 1983 and on 27 November 1983 Rev Serfontein was inducted as the first Rector of St. Simon of Cyrene. Father Serfontein has since passed on and our prayer is for him to rest in eternity and one day rise in Glory.
Rev. Trevor Adams -22 June 1986 to 31 May 1987: Father Adams studied in America and when he came back to South Africa was appointed to our parish. Whilst serving as a Priest in our Parish, it was discovered that while he was in the USA he applied to immigrate to New Zealand and was awaiting approval.
Re, Mervyn Castle: 11 October 1987 to 24 June 1990: Father Castle believed that his primary role was to preside at worship and train the laity to do their share in the life of the church fro reconciliation and peace and to prepare them for future changes in South Africa. After a productive time at St. Simon's he moved to Cape Town to take up senior positions.
Rev Raynard Schovell- 3 February 1991 to 24 September 1995: When Rev. Raynard was appointed he did not come as a total stranger to our parish. He helped to start the St. Simon of Cyrene Outreach program to feed needy school children. Due to Father and Mervyn Cohen's hard work this program grew stronger and were able to feed children when the Dept. of Education' feeding scheme came to an end. This program grew and is currently feeding more than 350 children on two days of the week.
Rev. Johannes Hardnick: 2 December 1995 to 28 February 2001: Rev. Johannes and his wife started a tree planting ceremony and they laid a good looking garden. After some time, Bishop released him to the Grahamstown Diocese in the Queenstown Archdeaconary.
Rev. Rudolph Marais: 18 June 2002 to 18 October 2002: Bishop Bethlehem appointed rev. marais as our new Rector. After a few months of waiting and delaying, rev Marais requested Bishop Bethlehem to assign him to another parish. He did however before his appointment take a number of services as a visiting priest.
Rev. Madoda Hlwatika- 1 february 2003 to 31 January 2004: rev madoda moved in on the 20 February 2003 from the Transkei. Many times, left without transport, he would do many of his house visiting by foot. Rev Madoda went on vacation during December and unfortunately had a fatal accident. He is sadly missed by all at St. Simon and we pray for his soul to rest until all rise again in Glory.
rev Sipambo Ludidi: 1 October 2004 till 30 April 2016: Rev. Sipambo, who many years ago was Rector of ST. Andrews in Kwa-Nobuhle came to our parish as Rector. He comes from the Parish of Alexandria where he worked with Rev. Peter Bowen. he is enjoying serving our Lord in this part of His vineyard. At the time he hoped to retire here knowing he has fulfilled his calling. This hope was granted to him by our Lord and he retired in style at the end of April 2016.
Rev. Garfield Jacobs: 16 December to 22 March 2009: rev Garfield was seen as a son of the soil of St. Simon's He grew up here as a youth member, studied to become a teacher and while teaching he heard the whispering voice from the Lord calling him to the priesthood. In the days before he studied theology he was a youth leader and also served on th eparish council, became lay minister and then studied to be a deacon. He had for many years served our parish as a self-supporting priest. This young man became a rock on whom we could lean on during many interregnums. For many years he was a pillar of strength to us. Bishop Bethlehem in an open letter to the parish thanked them for producing a man with the caliber of Rev. Garfield. We at St. Simon of Cyrene would like to take this opportunity to wish him and his wife Shereen, God's richest blessings and many happy years in Pretoria.
On the 1 August 2016 our newly appointed Priest-in- Charge joined the St Simon family and we wish him all God's blessing in this vineyard!