Churches hold healing ceremony following policeman’s rampage
-24/04/06
By Michael Croc
Churches hold healing ceremony following policeman’s rampage
-24/04/06
By Michael Crockett
In the aftermath of a policeman running amok and murdering eight people, South African Council of Churches members have conducted a special healing and cleansing service at the Kagiso police station where the incident occurred.
On April 3, Superintendent Chippa Mateane, 42, murdered his girlfriend, and her daughter, grandchild and niece at their home in Tarlton on the West Rand.
Half an hour later, he went to the Kagiso police station and shot dead four colleagues. He was subsequently followed and shot dead by other police officers from Kagiso.
African traditional belief is that in the event of a violent or premature death, the spirits of the victims remain at the scene, and need to be ushered away into the afterlife. Various rites are performed to enable this transition to be peaceful and gentle.
The service is intended to sooth the feelings of those slain, removing their anger, as well as helping fellow police officers to move on through their trauma and grief.
Water is sprinkled at the site, with the prayer that similar events should not be allowed to reoccur.
Bishop Phaswana of the Evangelical Lutheran Church conducted the cleansing rites, and Rev Lipoko Majoe, Methodist secretary for ecumenical affairs preached the sermon.
ìThe Church needs to be present at the sites of violence to offer care and hope. The Church has a major responsibility in combating violence in South Africa,î said Rev Majoe.
Churches hold healing ceremony following policeman’s rampage
-24/04/06
By Michael Crockett
In the aftermath of a policeman running amok and murdering eight people, South African Council of Churches members have conducted a special healing and cleansing service at the Kagiso police station where the incident occurred.
On April 3, Superintendent Chippa Mateane, 42, murdered his girlfriend, and her daughter, grandchild and niece at their home in Tarlton on the West Rand.
Half an hour later, he went to the Kagiso police station and shot dead four colleagues. He was subsequently followed and shot dead by other police officers from Kagiso.
African traditional belief is that in the event of a violent or premature death, the spirits of the victims remain at the scene, and need to be ushered away into the afterlife. Various rites are performed to enable this transition to be peaceful and gentle.
The service is intended to sooth the feelings of those slain, removing their anger, as well as helping fellow police officers to move on through their trauma and grief.
Water is sprinkled at the site, with the prayer that similar events should not be allowed to reoccur.
Bishop Phaswana of the Evangelical Lutheran Church conducted the cleansing rites, and Rev Lipoko Majoe, Methodist secretary for ecumenical affairs preached the sermon.
ìThe Church needs to be present at the sites of violence to offer care and hope. The Church has a major responsibility in combating violence in South Africa,î said Rev Majoe.