“Where there is doubt” – Proclaiming the Gospel in South Africa

Tim Marcy gives most of the Sunday homilies at his church in Johannesburg, South Africa. His other ministries include working at the antri-retroviral treatment center and visiting the local hospital. 

“Many people here lead somewhat restricted social lives primarily, I believe, because most homes are walled-in and gated-off, and people don’t casually visit each other.

Deacon Tim Marcy, currently on mission in South Africa.

So after Sunday Mass, it’s understandable that many people hang around and socialize. All too frequently I miss out no much of this visiting because of bringing communion to shut-ins after Mass.

Recently, however, I had no home visits to make and was able to enjoy the give-and-take, joking, and catching up people.

One young man came up to me to tell me how much he appreciated how I read the Gospel of John. 

He exclaimed, almost with awe in his voice that this was the first time in his life that he understood that particular passage, and he said that it was because of the way I read it. Almost as an aside, he later added that my subsequent homily also aided in his new-found understanding of God’s word.

I frequently get comments on my homilies — both appreciative and ‘constructive’ — but this is the first time anyone had expressed appreciation for how I ‘proclaimed’ the Gospel.”