St George's Cathedral, Cape Town

Dr. Mamphela Ramphele: key note address at the opening of The Crypt Memory and Witness Centre and Café St. George on Sunday 30 May 2010, St. George Cathedral, Cape Town. A DESERT IN THE MARKET PLACE We are privileged to be able to celebrate the re-dedication of The Crypt as a space for witness, reflection and nurture for our Cathedral and the community it serves. St Georges Cathedral has become known over the last few decades for its witness in the dying days of Apartheid. It became a place of refuge for those who were under attack such as the women and children of Crossroads, student and other activists who protested against the unjust system, as well as homeless people or those fallen on bad times. It is a good time to ask ourselves today what we would like our Cathedral to be remembered for in future decades. What would be the contribution we would have made to the task of strengthening our democracy and healing a nation that remains sorely wounded and divided? What would future generations say was the role we played in remaining watchful lest St. George’s dragon “effects an evil resurrection” in the words of late Fr. Ted King? The human race wrestles with finding the balance between the imperatives of connectedness and those of solitude and inward focus. Throughout history those called to spiritual life have sought to retreat into places where the daily distractions of life can be kept at bay as they immerse themselves in a life of prayer. “The desert fathers” ventured into the harsh reality of the desert to find that place where a life of prayer and reflection is nurtured without the intrusions of everyday life. St. Georges Cathedral does not have the luxury to withdraw from the life around it. Its location in the heart of the city: sharing a boundary with Parliament; across the street from the seat of government of the Western Cape Province; a stone’s throw from the Slave Lodge and the Iziko Museums. We are at the centre of the life of this city, province and nation. There is no escape. The former Dean of the Cathedral, Fr. Ted King’s book on our Cathedral, A Good Place To Be, ends on a prophetic note that could serve as a platform for renewal of our commitments to remain watchful witnesses in our young democracy: “Any government in power, especially one which won through against injustice and oppression, will undergo the temptation to power and self-aggrandisement and dividing the spoils of victory. The Church, and Cathedrals specifically, must continue to be broadcast stations for the voice of the poor, and scrutinize without fear what is going on in the country’s social and political life. Above all, they have to be beacons of hope, or to use one more expression of Van Heuvel, ‘to be clinics for the public exorcism of pessimism.’” Today as we rededicate this Crypt we need to be bold enough to reflect individually and collectively on how well we have been an effective “broadcast station of the voice of the poor”? How effective are we as watchful witnesses against abuse of power by those in public office? How much of a beacon of hope are we? Are we an effective, accessible clinic for the public exorcism of pessimism? As someone who wrestles continuously with striking a balance between my life as an active citizen and the need for silence and reflection, I find comfort in the insights of Catherine Doherty who wrote a classic, Poustinia, a Russian word for desert. She acknowledges that for most of us escape from the pressures of life with its unending demands on us may not be possible nor desirable. She proposes that each one of us has to create “a poustinia – a desert” in our hearts – a portable place of silence and meditation which becomes a source of inner peace and nurture for our souls. St. Georges Cathedral needs to renew its ministry in this city, this province, this nation that remain broken and wounded by past and ongoing inequity and humiliation of many. Our Cathedral needs to be a place of refuge for those working in our neighbourhoods to come for moments of silence and reflection as they wrestle with the challenges of their lives. How can we become the place of hope and renewal for Parliamentarians who face crises of conscience in dealing with loyalty to party versus loyalty to their consciences? How can we be more relevant to workers in our neighbourhood who are often abused and humiliated by racism and sexism or other chauvinisms? Where is our voice in the midst of ongoing xenophobic attacks? Our Cathedral needs to explore how it can be the “Poustinia – the desert” in the marketplace for all who live and work here. Sister Wendy Beckett writing on meditations on Silence encourages us to explore the possibility of the ministry of being “a desert” in the midst of this city with her insights: “We enter into silence to let the holiness of mystery take possession of us. We do this not in the absence of thought, but beneath thought. .....It is only when we are still, when we open up to our inner reality that the things in our life fall into coherence for us...... Silence is making friends with time. It does not fight it or waste it, it refuses to run after it. In silence we break the hold time has on us, and accept in practice that our true home is in eternity. ” As a Cathedral community we need to witness by example. Our lives and practices need to reflect that we are a people who strive to “enter into silence to let the holiness of mystery take possession of us.” Our witness needs to be felt where it matters most – in the lives of those who remain outside the doors of power and opportunity in our new democracy. Ours needs to be a ministry that exemplifies the unity in diversity enshrined in our National Constitution. Our nation is at a crossroads. We can become the great African nation that we dream of, a beacon of hope on a continent associated with failure. We could also slide into chronic under-performance and lose the dream. The Cathedral is called to keep the hope of greatness alive. But to do so needs rededication to a ministry that makes the Cathedral a place for all in the city, the Province and the nation to make friends with time and to break the hold that time has on us. Are we ready for that ministry? The first exhibition of St. George Cathedral Crypt Memory and Witness Centre Glimpsing Hope, Marching for Peace, the 20th commemoration event held on 13 September 2009 and renovation of the crypt space were made possible by the financial, material and intellectual contributions of: Trinity Church Wall Street, New York; The Office of the Mayor of Cape Town; Carl Lotter; Di and Don Oliver; HCI Foundation; Henry Bredekamp; Patricia Davison; Desire and Arthur Martin; Carol and Vincent Hendriks; Santam; Franklin James; Pieter le Roux; Cape Town Partnership; Iziko Museum; Mary Bock; Dean Rowan Smith; Prof. Ndebele; The Photo Journal; Jakes Gerwel; Brimstone; Food Prop; Lion of Africa; Rashied Seria; Mr and Mrs Hill; Brick ‘n Brack Shop; Focus (Dr. Surve); Steve Lawry; Sarah de Vanzo; George Gibbs; Prof. Links; Old Mutual Retail (Marshall Rapiya); Old Mutual Corporate Affairs: Marketing and Communication (Crispin Sonn); Café St. George and the Cathedral congregation for supporting the Dean’s benefit concert and Fish and Chips evening; Sandy Prosalendis; Tracy Prosalendis; Stefan Blom, W.G. Dixon, Andries Claassens and Tobie Heyns. We salute the spirit of voluntarism that permeated this entire exhibition project. Many more people from the Crypt Memory and Witness Centre and the Cathedral clergy and parishioners have contributed in a myriad of ways….you know who you are… THANK YOU!!!

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