Archbishop Siegfried Mandlenkosi Jwara wrote in the Durban archdiocese’s October bulletin that local media had misreported the bishops’ guidance, presenting it as a blanket condemnation of ancestral veneration, a deep-rooted custom in South Africa.
Jwara said that headlines in a Zulu-language newspaper based in Durban had “created the false impression that by issuing this statement we were in some manner attacking the belief in ancestors, which is absolutely not the case.”
“To be clear, literature on this topic confirms that Africans do not worship ancestors but may seek from those esteemed members of their family, now passed from this world, who lived virtuous or holy lives worthy of respect and recognition, some guidance and support in times of need,” he noted.
“The main thrust of our recent joint statement was to address priests who engage in the practice of ubungoma in the Church/in parishes, and by doing so generate confusion among the faithful, as well as commit liturgical or pastoral abuses.”
Ubungoma is a Zulu term referring to traditional healing and divination practices of the Nguni people, a cultural group native to Southern Africa. It is practiced by a traditional healer or diviner known as a Sangoma, who is considered a mediator between the physical and spiritual worlds.
The Sangoma is believed to communicate with ancestral spirits through rituals such as throwing bones for divination, burning a sacred herb, or entering a trance state. There are said to be 69,000 registered Sangomas in South Africa.
In their Sept. 16 joint pastoral letter, eight KwaZulu-Natal bishops cautioned priests against syncretism, which they defined as “the blending of Catholic beliefs and practices with traditional African practices (esp. ubungoma) in ways that contradict the Gospel.”
The letter’s first two signatories were Archbishop Jwara, who has led the Archdiocese of Durban since 2021, and his predecessor Cardinal Wilfred Napier, who currently serves as the apostolic administrator of Eshowe, a diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Durban.
The letter said: “It is particularly grievous and a source of profound sorrow that some Catholic priests and religious are reported to engage in these practices. It is also a source of pain and confusion to the laity. We remind all priests of their sacred calling, rooted in their baptism and strengthened by the sacrament of Holy Orders.”
The joint letter expressly prohibited priests, deacons, religious, and lay people from participating in any syncretic religious practices, “including but not limited to slaughter of chickens, use of colored water, colored candles, blessing of non-liturgical wild dancing, and healing ritual services outside of Catholic liturgical practice.”
It said: “Any priest or religious found to be promoting or participating in such practices will be subject to immediate correction, including ultimately suspension from ministry. If unrepentant, he or she will be removed from ministry, in accordance with canon law.”
The letter urged Catholics to honor their ancestors by “praying for their souls, not invoking them as deities.”
The bishops’ intervention reportedly provoked a backlash among Catholics in KwaZulu-Natal. The South African news website Independent Online quoted a prominent lay Catholic who said he was considering an appeal to Pope Leo XIV. It said that some priests were also understood to be opposed to the guidance, “as some of them fully embrace ancestral rituals, while others are even traditional healers.”
In 2019, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference asked its theological advisory committee to research ubungoma in its member countries of Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa, in response to growth in the practice, especially among young people.
The bishops’ conference discussed the committee’s research at a January 2025 plenary meeting.
Committee member Fr Thulani Joel Skhosana said in April that the evaluation of ubungoma would have two phases. In the first, a report was submitted to the bishops based on interviews with Sangomas and observation of their rituals.
“We are moving to the second cycle, which will be debating the content of that report and then comparing it with the Christian faith, so that bishops can see what position they can take in response to ubungoma,” he said.
Skhosana said priests were divided over the practice, with some accepting Sangomas, allowing them in church, and blessing their work tools.
“Others, maybe because of their background, are against it. But you can’t blame any of them. The reason that happens is that the Church in Southern Africa has not had a common position,” he commented.
In his October message, Archbishop Jwara wrote: “A representative of Christ cannot serve two masters, and so his pastoral responsibilities, and his liturgical ministries, must be carried out exclusively in Christ’s name. His very life must be a witness and testament to the person and message of Christ, admitting of no duality that would diminish or displace Christ or the Gospel, or lead to scandal among the faithful.”
“In this context, I remind all that the Church’s role is not to condemn culture, but rather to seek its purification through prayer.”
“Our cultures are realities that are inherently dynamic and alive, being neither static nor fixed, they possess both beneficial and harmful elements, and it is the latter that requires the purifying power of Christ.”
He added: “As bishops, we have no control over what people do privately in their homes, rather our concern is that whatever ancestral rituals are practiced privately at each family should not be brought into our liturgical celebrations.”
“Let us pray that, just as the vine is pruned by the vinedresser, our cultures may be pruned by Christ of any practice incompatible with our faith.”