Priests Banished! Catholic Voices Silenced in South Africa

In a sobering testimony to the trials facing the Church in an increasingly hostile secular world, two Ugandan Catholic priests—Fr. Stephen and Fr. Jude Thaddeus—have been forced out of South Africa due to what they describe as systemic indifference, government bureaucracy, and a chilling lack of communication from immigration authorities. Fr. Stephen, battling heartache over leaving grieving parishioners behind—two of whom were brutally gunned down in the violence-ridden streets of Klerksdorp—expressed anguish over being unable to perform even the simplest pastoral duties due to a lack of a work permit. “My hands were tied,” he lamented, as he recalled the paralyzed state of parish life in a Diocese unable to pay stipends or maintain vehicles for bishops. Denied the legal right to serve, and finally slapped with a five-year expulsion on his departure, Fr. Stephen’s story reflects not just a personal tragedy, but the mounting spiritual vacuum in a country where priestly vocations are plummeting and crime is skyrocketing. Fr. Jude’s experience echoes the same frustrations: delays, denials, and ultimately deportation—all while parishes are left unattended, souls abandon sacramental life, and bishops groan