Letter: Gentle and kind approach

Jane Souchon of Ballito writes:

On behalf of All Saints Parish, Ballito, we wish to thank you most sincerely for the delightful news item published in The North Coast Courier of the 21 June, introducing our new Parish Priest, Fr. Stephen Tully, to the Dolphin Coast Community.

Thank you for your gentle and kind approach and your reporting skills which portrayed Fr. Stephen just as he is – kind in his words, caring in his actions and modern in his approach.

For our community he is like a breath of fresh air bringing with him a loving and non-judgemental nature to boost our Parish life. Fr. Stephen’s transfer to Ballito took place at a most inopportune time with major renovations just getting underway; the relatively new parish motor car under repair and still not back in use; Mass times disrupted by building operations ….. the list of negatives is endless and yet he faces each day with an extraordinary, positive approach as if nothing were amiss! We are astounded that he has accepted all these obstacles completely in his stride.

At the beginning of August Fr. David Hubert, a young, recently ordained Diocesan Priest arrives in the Parish to assist Fr. Stephen in the running of the two parishes i.e. All Saints, Ballito, and St. Anne’s Parish, Shakaskraal. Fr. David will concentrate more on St. Anne’s where he hopes to improve his command of the Zulu language amidst shepherding a growing flock which has lacked a full time Parish Priest for numerous years.

Hot on the heels of Fr. David will be two visiting Priests of the Holy Redeemer Order, known as Redemptorists. Fr. Larry Kauffmann is well known in the Archdiocese of Durban and is now based in Cape Town whereas Fr. Gary George is a South African Priest living in the U.S. where he is primarily involved with something like 2,000 or more American Youths spread throughout the U.S. Frs. Gary and Larry will be with us from the 24th August to the 1st September conducting one of their outstanding Missions. Both Priests are well known to our Ballito community having conducted two earlier Missions, one in 2010 and the other four years later in 2014.

All Saints, Ballito, is certainly a hive of activity right now and will remain so as we complete our building renovations, and progress from our Mission at the end of August to an ALPHA course in early September whilst concentrating on our five year Divine Renovation Programme, a programme devised in the US to successfully bring new life into a somewhat wilted Parish.

Once again we extend our grateful appreciation of the time you spent with Fr. Stephen,

With God’s richest blessings, “Aspiring Saints” of All Saints Parish, Ballito.