AFTER having lived in South Africa for more than 20 years I was puzzled by a small paragraph on your front page of September 6, referring to a ruling in Waterfalls, Rhodesia, on mixed congregations.
Whatever one hears to the contrary, Rhodesia is a multiracial country far broader in outlook than South Africa. Yet in all my years in Natal I never once went into a Catholic Church which did not have a mixed congregation.
During one period when we attended Mass each Sunday at a church in Hillcrest which came under the jurisdiction of the mission station at Inchange we were part of a handful of Europeans. The singing and prayers were all in Zulu and 1 have seen older Zulu altar servers teaching young Eurbpea ns.
Later, when living in Durban and attending the Cathedral and other churches in the diocese we found multi-racial congregations in every case. "I here was no discrimination. It was not uncommon to see pews shared by natives, Indians and Europeans.
It is true that the Dutch _ Reformed Church has allwhite congregations and the Methodists have separate establishments, but this was never the case in Catholic churches.
There must be some explana
tion for this decision in Rhodesia, where white and native children attend the same schools. We always found the majority of white Catholics most tolerant, taking multi racial congregations for granted in Natal. and I cannot think Rhodesian Catholics are different.
There are many injustices in South Africa, but after living in this country I see it all from a different angle and now know that I would rather be a native in Rhodesia or South Africa without a vote than one in any of the other African states, complete with vote.
E. Parry (Mrs.)
Sale. Cheshire.