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Article: African priest finds racism, grace in Galilee. (Fr. Tom Tshabalala; Lake Galilee, Israel) (Interview)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- December 16, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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GALILEE, Israel -- Fr. Tom Tshabalala, a South African Franciscan, likens himself to Moses. Both men wandered far from home out of obedience to God. Each longed to return to his spiritual home before he died.
Tshabalala has lived and worked in Moses' Promised Land for the past 16 years, serving at Christendom's holiest shrines. For the past few months, he's overseen the Shrine of Peter's Primacy, a little garden church on the shore of Lake Galilee. Here is where Jesus supposedly named St. Peter as the first pope.
This would seem to be a plum position. But even in this sculptured garden, filled with pilgrims and history, the middle-aged priest pines for ...