By Br. Alfonce Kugwa
The Episcopal Conference in Zimbabwe has taken yet another bold step by transforming the former St. Augustine’s Seminary into a Private Catholic school. The private college, which is based in Bulawayo will open its doors in January 2024 for both boys and girls.
The Secretary General for the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Fr. Tryvis Moyo confirmed that St. Augustine’s Seminary has been converted into a Private Catholic College and that enrolment was in progress.
“St. Augustine’s school will open its doors in January 2024 with Forms 1,2,3 and 5. The recruitment of the school head and teachers is complete and the school is busy with the enrolment of learners,” said Fr. Moyo.
The priest said the Bishops decided to turn the former seminary into a private school at an administrative meeting held in Masvingo in August 2023. Four months down the line, St. Augustine has all it takes to be a state of the art academic institution.
“The Bishops decided at their administrative meeting held in Masvingo in August 2023 to turn the former seminary into a private college. Since then, efforts have been made to renovate the place, hire the school head, an administrator and teachers,” Fr Moyo stated.
St. Augustine will be the first Catholic School project collectively owned by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference as most catholic schools belong to individual dioceses and religious congregations.
He said: “Although the school is located in the Archdiocese of Bulawayo, it belongs to the Bishops’ Conference.”
The initiative becomes the second bold step after the creation of Stella Mundi which is the business economy of the Church.
The school whose thrust is to offer holistic education informed by Catholic ethos will be driven by its motto: “Sapienta, Amor et veritas” which speaks of Hope, Love and Truth. While the school fulfils the Church’s goal to provide quality education that targets the formation of the whole person, the initiative will also support the local Church’s financial needs.
St. Augustine’s Seminary, which was built to enhance the proper formation of local priests was closed in 2016 due to the decline of vocations to the priesthood. The whole faculty of philosophy was moved back to Chishawasha Major Seminary. The Catholic Church News published an article on the closure of this facility in its March/April 2016 edition when the then Bishop in charge of Seminaries, Archbishop Robert Ndlovu confirmed that; “the bishops have reached the conclusion to close the institution after realizing the expenses involved in the running of the two half-empty seminaries.”
Archbishop Ndlovu said that with the significant drop in vocations, it was considered practical to close St. Augustine.
When St. Augustine’s closed as a seminary, the Catholic University of Zimbabwe (CUZ) moved in for about five years and later left, leaving the complex unoccupied. This resulted in the decision to turn it into a private school by the bishops.
The school has an interim board to run the affairs of the institution composed of Bishop Raymond Mupandasekwa and Rudolf Nyandoro, Fr. Tryvis Moyo, Sr. Angela Mugwenhi, Sr. Maxima Phiri, Sithabile Moyo who is the school head, Dr. Vongai Chakanyuka and Dr. Cris Chitambira.