THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF HIV AND AIDS IN ZIMBABWE
2.7. The Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Methodist Churches
2.7.1. The Roman Catholic Church in Manicaland
The presence of the Roman Catholic Church missionaries in Zimbabwe can be traced as far back as the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Jesuits and the Dominicans set up missions in the kingdom of Munhumutapa at Musapa, Ruhanje and Dambarare as well as in the neighbouring kingdom of the Manyika.401 The area mentioned as Manyika refers to Manicaland located in the eastern part. The predominant tribe is the Manyika people who speak chimanyika, a dialect of Shona,
401 For this see P. Denis, The Dominican friars in southern Africa: A social history, (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 12-54. See also P. Denis, ―South East Africa,‖ in P. Denis, (ed), Dominicans in Africa: A history of the Dominican friars in sub-Saharan Africa, (Pietermaritzburg: Cluster Publications, 2003), 33, 36.
See also J. Weller and J. Linden, Mainstream Christianity to 1980 in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, (Gweru, Mambo Press, 1984), 2.
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one of the major indigenous languages of Zimbabwe. Though it fell under British colonial rule, the close proximity of Manicaland to Mozambique exposed it to Portuguese influence especially prior to 1900. Denis has shown that the role of the Portuguese missions in South East Africa gradually diminished due to moral decline and that many of the Jesuits and Dominicans were either withdrawn or sent back by the colonial administrators. By the late nineteenth century, however, the Portuguese liberal government re-established the missions.402 A strong relationship between church and colonial authorities was evident in the fact that the Roman Catholic missionaries were chaplains of the Portuguese and the Pioneer Column. The Dominican sisters provided medical services to colonial setters though they often expressed the need to work independently of the government or its administrators.403 One of the oldest Roman Catholic Church centres established at the turn of the twentieth century circa 1893 was Triashill mission in Mutasa district north of present day city of Mutare. The mission was selected as one of the research sites for the present study.
In 1955, the Roman Catholic Church in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) attained the status of an Ecclesiastical Province with five dioceses of which the Catholic Diocese of Umtali (Mutare) formed part.404 In line with changes in names after Zimbabwe attained political independence in 1980, it assumed a new name as the Catholic Diocese of Mutare.405 The first bishop was Donal R. Lamont who was consecrated on 15 February 1957. After Lamont‘s resignation on 5 November 1981, Alexio C.
Muchabaiwa became his successor. Patrick M. Mutume was installed as auxiliary bishop on 15 March 1972 and with Bishop Muchabaiwa they were the current bishops.406 Within the Roman Catholic Church, important decisions and statements on ecclesiastical matters were made by the bishop(s) in a diocese, at the bishops‘
conference in a particular ecclesiastical province, and the synod led by the Pope.
These decisions might be done with ‗prior consultation‘ with the laity (but not mandatory) and were always to be in conformity with the social teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the hierarchical and centralised nature of the
402 Denis, The Dominican friars in Southern Africa, 60-65. See also Denis, ―South East Africa,‖ 41-45.
403 Weller and Linden, Mainstream Christianity to 1980, 53.
404 Weller and Linden, Mainstream Christianity to 1980, 62.
405 Catholic Diocese of Mutare hierarchy, <http://www.catholic-heirarchy.org/diocese/dmutr.html/>
[Accessed 20 January 2010].
406 Catholic Diocese of Mutare hierarchy.
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church means that decisions on church programmes and activities are usually done from the highest position through to diocesan bishops and finally to the clergy and the laity.
In 1980, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mutare had eighteen parishes served by thirty-one priests and twenty-four years. In 2004 the number of parishes had increased to thirty-six and was served by fifty-one priests.407 Parishes and mission stations include St. Joseph‘s Sakubva, Triashill, Kriste Mambo, St. Joseph‘s Rusape, St.
Michael‘s Tanda and Regina Coeli in Nyamaropa, to name some. Some examples of Roman Catholic Church healthcare centres are: St. Joseph‘s Sakubva, St. Theresa Chiduku, Triashill, Regina Coeli, Mount Mellery and St. Michael‘s Tanda. Only St.
Joseph‘s hospital, Sakubva is located in Mutare urban and the other ten healthcare centres are located in rural settings throughout Manicaland. Two main religious orders that have served in different diocesan institutions include the Dominican sisters and the Carmelites. The present research study will indicate the extent to which the wide network of mission stations and historical track record of the church‘s involvement in the provision of social services influenced its response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Manicaland.
The establishment of an Episcopal conference under a Roman Decree on 1 October 1969 meant that Catholic bishops in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) could exercise ordinary jurisdiction and authority over the welfare of members of their dioceses.408 The membership of the ZCBC includes the bishops of Masvingo, Hwange, Gweru, Chinhoyi, Gokwe, Bulawayo, Harare, and Mutare. Africa Synod House in Harare houses the secretariat currently headed by Father Frederick Chiromba.409 In 2007 the ZCBC had a total of ten commissions all of which were to assist the bishops in leading the Roman Catholic Church in Zimbabwe. Healthcare is one of such commissions and the HIV and AIDS commission or desk got established in 1988.410 It is therefore important for the reader to be aware of the fact that while individually, the church‘s dioceses such as Mutare established HIV and AIDS interventions, the
407 Catholic Diocese of Mutare hierarchy.
408 ZCBC, <http://www.zcbc.co.zw/> [Accessed 22 January 2010].
409 ZCBC HIV and AIDS Commission archives, Harare, (ZCBCH), ZCBC, ―Responsibility – honesty – solidarity,‖ A joint pastoral statement of the ZCBC, April 1997.
410 ZCBC, <http://www.zcbc.co.zw/> [Accessed 22 January 2010]. See also Information supplied to the present researcher by C. Mtize by email, 26 June 2011.
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ZCBC‘s HIV and AIDS commission also featured at national and diocesan levels. It aimed at promoting values of life meant to prevent the spread of HIV and also carried out AIDS mitigation interventions targeting OVC at the church‘s schools.411 The primary focus of the present research study is to explore responses to HIV and AIDS by the Roman Catholic Church in Manicaland. However, input by the commission constituted an integral part of the church‘s response to HIV and AIDS in Manicaland, Zimbabwe (1985-2007). The present study is also aware of the input of other role players from the church in including the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar as well as the Vatican.412