Bishop Dutari

04 September 2000 15:07

Bishop Julio Dutari from Ecuador attended the TLIG conference and pilgrimage in the Holy Land earlier this year. As he was preparing for a journey to South Africa with an invitation from the General Assembly of the International Association of Universities (linked to UNESCO) he received John Lee’s report about Vassula’s visit to South Africa in July. He decided he would like to visit the TLIG group there and the following is John’s report of the visit

Auxiliary Bishop Julio Dutari SJ, of Quito, Ecuador, was in South Africa from 20th to 29th August, 2000.

Bishop Dutari was able, while in Durban, to meet with Archbishop Wilfred Napier of Durban and with the now retired and well-known former Archbishop of Durban, Dennis Hurley OMI. Archbishop Hurley’s interventions during Vatican 2 (1962-1965) are well known. He was a tireless defender of South Africa’s oppressed people during the apartheid years in this country.

We were able to put Bishop Dutari «in the care of» a special friend of our committee living in Durban, Clare Daly, who flew up to Johannesburg especially in July to be present at Vassula’s presentation at the Standard Bank Arena. This is just another example of the «network» of friends the Lord is creating among those who spread the messages of True Life in God. Clare was able to show the Bishop around Durban during his free time there.

Archbishop Hurley and Bishop Dutari have much in common since they have both been Chancellors of Universities at one time and are both admirers of the late great theologian, Karl Rahner.

Members of the TLIG committee were delighted to greet Archbishop Dutari at Johannesburg’s airport on Saturday 26th August, from where he was taken to the parish of Our Lady of the Cedars of Lebanon in Midrand, where he was the guest of Maronite Father Nadim, another Vassula «devotee». The Bishop was chief celebrant at the evening vigil liturgy which was his first participation in the Eucharist of the Maronite rite. In the evening he was a guest at a Lebanese party where he was overwhelmed by true, warm Lebanese hospitality and entertained till the early hours of Sunday morning.

On Sunday 27th August, the Bishop was guest at the home of Martin and Junel Vermeulen of the TLIG committee at Henly-on-Klip together with all the other members of the committee. Much of the time was spent in most interesting conversation with the Bishop, a most cultured, intelligent and sensitive pastor of God’s Church where we were able to bathe in the sunshine of his «Spanish/Ecuadorian charm».

On Monday 28th, Bishop Dutari was the guest of the Provincial of the Jesuits, Fr Tim Smith SJ, and was shown the work the Jesuit fathers are

doing in Soweto, the sprawling apartheid created city of 2 million people,
near Johannesburg. Bishop Dutari is, of course. also a Jesuit. And the
Jesuits are well known for their work of evangelization in South America,

especially during the 17th and 18th centuries, as portrayed so poignantly in the film «The Mission».

On Tuesday 29 August, Bishop Dutari was introduced to Sister Edith Raidt of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary in Bedfordview. Sister (Doctor and Professor) Edith was already known to Bishop Dutari and they conversed fluently in German. Bishop Dutari is proficient in several languages.

Sister Edith is the founder of the newly formed Catholic St Agustine University college in Johannesburg. She was recently honored with a special Doctorate from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg for her special work, research and interest in the Afrikaans language, the mother tongue of many South Africans. The language (one of the world’s newest) has its roots in Dutch, introduced by the Dutch colonists under Jan van Riebeeck, Governor of the Cape in 1652. Sister Edith Raidt is considered the world authority on the Afrikaans language.

The visit of Bishop Dutari to our shores came upon our small, dedicated, team of TLIG like «a smile from the Lord». We feel strongly that in the Bishop we have gained a special friend across the Atlantic in Quito, Ecuador.