Church was bulwark against brutality

Above: The rector of St Mark's, The Rev. Stanley Gray, stands before his church in this, the brick-strewn landscape of District Six.

Above: The rector of St Mark's, The Rev. Stanley Gray, stands before his church in this, the brick-strewn landscape of District Six.

Published Feb 14, 2016

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Cape Town - As we mark 50 years since District Six was proclaimed a white area and more than 40 000 people were forcibly removed from the area, St Mark’s church, once again is at the centre of the action, where the triumphs of the people of District Six can be celebrated and where their heartbreaking sadness can find comfort.

The church, established in 1867, 29 years after the formal abolition of slavery, is embarking on an exciting new venture with the appointment of Father Austin Jackson, its rector elect.

When the bulldozers tore down their homes, St Mark’s parishoners and community members who used its facilities rejected the government’s offer to erect a replica of the church in Athlone and the R2 million that had been offered as compensation.

Instead they resolved to make “the pilgrimage of promise to the place they called their home” every Sunday to attend the 9am mass from the townships to which they had been exiled.

One of the parishioners who kept that “appointment of promise” was Wendy Josephs, nee Daniels.

The mother of four, who was forced out of District Six in 1974, said the church “is home to me, and I had to come home again. I am still one of the parishioners at St Mark’s, because much of my own history and my family is located in this space”.

It was not easy making the pilgrimage to the church every Sunday, she said.

“Two of my children were born here and I had to be an example to them, so we had to walk half an hour to get the bus at the Havover Park terminus, but even though our removal from here meant being affected physically, financial and psychologically, I had faith which made me strong as a person to look forward to the next day.”

Now, Josephs said, the homecoming is more spiritual than physical. “When I come home here, to St Mark’s and to the place that was my home, it is a reminder of the promise that is in the essence of my faith.”

Father Jackson said Josephs, like many of the parishioners of the church, represented its true values. “She is one of the thousands who were expelled from this mountain and her narrative represents an amazing journey, which is absolutely inspiring, because it is a story of resilience.”

Jackson grew up in Bonteheuwel, side by side with many of District Six’s uprooted families.

Soon after being ordained he was arrested and detained with his congregation at St Nicholas Anglican Church in Halt Road in Elsies River in 1986.

He had similar experiences when he took up positions as priest in Grabouw, then Klawer, then Botrivier, followed by St Joseph the Worker in Macassar, as Anglican chaplain at Stellenbosch University and finally as parish priest in Cloetesville, before his position at St Mark’s was confirmed.

“All my work as a priest has prepared me for this task, of reintegrating St Mark’s into the life of the city and of re-integrating it with the many powerful institutions that were founded here.”

Jackson said he wanted the church to celebrate the many renowned people of letters such as Richard Rive and Alex La Guma, the many musicians who built the rhythm of the city, the dancers, the artists and so many other spheres of human endeavour where District Six made a noteworthy contribution.

“This building, this simple stone church on this mountain is a physical sign of a community that refused to die and even after apartheid physically obliterated it, it would not be crushed, because what is inside this building is a reminder of an appointment with a promise, which so many families faithfully kept, when they made the journey here every Sunday, on buses, walking, in cars and on trains to worship in this space.”

Weekend Argus

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