GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — On Sunday, January 28 at 08:00, the Rt Revd Paddy Glover, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of George will institute and install the Revd Dr Mark Marais OSPB as Rector of the Anglican Parish of St James, Graaff-Reinet (including the Churches of Holy Trinity, Kendrew, St Mary and All Saints, Aberdeen, and St Paul's, Steytlerville).
Bishop Glover will then proceed to Confirm three candidates.
The three Confirmation candidates are Waylon du Plessis, Lolitha Hans and Cowan Swartz.
Over the past year, the Revd Dr Noël-Jean Creille has been preparing the three candidates, as part of his duties at St James as Assistant Priest.
Dr Marais will celebrate 30 years of ordained ministry this year, having been ordained as a Deacon in 1988 in the Diocese of Natal and priested there in the following year.
He served in four parishes in the Diocese of Natal, two as an Assistant Priest and two (rural parishes) as Rector.
In 2005, he and his family came to the Diocese of George on his appointment as Rector of St Peter, Mossel Bay, and subsequently (2012) as Rector of Formosa Parish in Plettenberg Bay.
Dr Marais completed his theological training through UNISA and the erstwhile St Paul's College in Grahamstown.
In 2012 he became an Oblate of the Society of the Precious Blood (OSPB).
Alongside this, he holds a Doctorate in Development Studies, with his major interests being in rural development and the evaluation of development practice.
He is a champion of Sustainable Development, where for him, after God, the Earth comes first!
People who occupy the Earth need to use its resources in the best interests of future generations and all other species which are integral to its ecology.
The economy is the servant of all created life forms.
The amelioration of poverty is central to the stimulation of the rural economy, which to his mind has a high potential to offer solutions to urban problems, such as unemployment.
These are achievable with the appropriate discernment and spiritual guidance.
'Ons bring jou die nuutst Graaff-Reinet, Karoo nuus'
