Not business as usual for Durban church

THE congregation of St Aidan’s Church in Durban took to street in silent protest against the various injustices facing South Africans as part of their Sunday service recently.

This came after the congregants observed the theme for the week – Prisoners of Conscience. According to the parish priest, Rev Vernon Hammond, they could not continue church as usual when there were such injustices and people being imprisoned for standing up to injustice all around the world.

To embrace the theme, Hammond invited church members to wear black in solidarity with victims. The church also created posters highlighting issues of injustice which they held high in a silent protest on the street outside the church during the normal worship period of the service before returning to mass.

Mandisa Zwane, a criminology and forensics student and a member of the St Aidan’s Youth involved in the service, said it was a great initiative and something she and other youth were happy to be part of.

“Most of the killings and violence that have occurred recently had young varsity victims so it was us as youth speaking out against this violence together with the church. I think because the victims are not able to speak for themselves we decided to protest in silence, but yet are speaking out for them. The church with its silence is sending out a loud message of prayer for all this cruelty to stop. We pray for all this cruelty to end and justice to prevail.”

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Bernice Nareen said it was good to be part of the church making a statement without saying a word.

“It is good that the church is stepping out of its comfort zone and showing support for real current issues. This visible show of support is important because often we as individuals show support on other platforms. Today we as a congregation showed our support with victims of crime and gender based violence, especially when violent abuse is not often spoken about, yet as individuals many of us experience it, so we are glad to make a public statement.”

Tylor Hammond, a learner at Curro Heritage House who is part of the church’s Sunday School, felt the best thing about the protest was getting positive reactions from people, especially those in taxis and cars driving past.

“You usually don’t see people quietly protesting in town so I think even in silence we got our point across and made an impact with people slowing down to read our posters and hooting in support. It was very empowering for a whole church community to fight for the rights of people,” he added.

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