The North Coast is home to a great many places of worship, each offering its own form of guidance and community.

If you are new to the area, just visiting or simply looking to try a new option, it can be overwhelming to know where to look.

Over the next few months, the Courier will be visiting churches between Umhlali and Ballito in no particular order, meeting with leaders and getting a feel for their congregations.

All the individual stories will be added to on overall online church guide, which we hope will prove useful for you when trying to decide where to visit.

All Saints celebrates 40 years of service in 2024, but Catholicism has thrived on the North Coast for much longer.

The original Catholic church, St Anne’s, was built by French-Mauritian farmers at Shakaskraal and still services the community today.

But as Ballito grew, so did the demand for a Catholic church closer to town and an outpost was created in the early 1980s.

The church was later formalised and dedicated as All Saints Catholic Church Ballito in 1984 at its current location on Townsend Road.

All Saints and St Anne’s fall under the Archdiocese of Durban and within the North Coast Deanery, which also includes churches at Ekukhanyeni, Matikwe, Mt Edgecombe, Oakford, Phoenix, Stanger, Tongaat and Verulam.

Fourteen priests have served All Saints, including current church leader, Father Stephen Tully.

Originally from Pietermaritzburg, Tully was raised Catholic but initially pursued a career in chemistry, earning his diploma in 1985.It was while spending time with non-Catholic Christian friends that he realised God was calling him and he never looked back.

“I felt a strong personal conviction that my life should be led by Jesus Christ. So I decided to go into the seminary in 1986 and see whether this was a place where I could grow,” said Tully.

He was ordained as a deacon in 1993 and ordained into the priesthood the following year, with his first appointment taking him to rural Montebello.

He has since spent time at many churches across KwaZulu-Natal, including 14 years at the Emmanuel Cathedral in Durban and three years ago in Pietermaritzburg at Pelham.

Tully’s passion has been to help the less privileged and he had a strong focus on community service while in Durban, overseeing the building of the Denis Hurley Centre for the homeless.

It was for that reason he was posted to Ballito in 2019 to be close to a drug rehabilitation centre that was opening near Verulam for which he could provide guidance.

He has served the Catholic community of Ballito ever since and is passionate about the idea of ‘divine renovation’.

“There’s a perception that the Catholic church does not make newcomers feel welcome. I think it’s important we become a place where people are comfortable and divine renovation gives practical steps on how to achieve that,” he said.

“I want to change it from a maintenance church into a mission church. It’s about figuring out how to live our Christian lives within the tradition, but outside of the box.”

Tully has pushed for growth within the youth ministry and All Saints recently hired a youth co-ordinator.

He thanked Linc Church and Grace Church Ballito Campus for their help and guidance in engaging the youth.

“I don’t prescribe that everyone must be Catholic, it’s important to find a place where you feel comfortable expressing your faith.”

All Saints will be launching a new programme called ‘Take up the challenge, mind, body and soul’ on Ash Wednesday. Visit allsaintsballito.co.za to find out more.

The church has a registered congregation of around 750 members, with between 300 and 400 people joining the Sunday service on average.

There is a mass held every day of the week. Find the times on the website.

Contact details: allsaintsballito.co.za | 087 460 0387 | secretary@allsaintsballito.co.za | 61 Townsend Road, Ballito.

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