Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference


The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference is an episcopal conference consisting of all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland, and their equivalents under canon law. It is a collegial body approved by the Holy See and has as its particular aim:
In recent times, the Conference's application of the revision of the English translation of the Mass liturgy has been criticized as premature.

Organization

The conference is led by a president and two vice presidents, each elected by an absolute majority of the members for three year terms. The members also elect chairmen and vice-chairmen for the departments of the conference. All office holders must be diocesean ordinaries; coadjutor bishops, auxiliary bishops, and bishops emeriti may not be elected. The president, vice presidents, department chairmen, and any Cardinals who do not hold a conference office form an administrative board which coordinates the conference's activities between its plenary sessions.
The Conference mandates a Secretariat to Coordinate Conference activities. The Secretariate is made up of Departments, Offices and Associate Bodies. It has a 51% share in the region's only Catholic weekly newspaper, "The Southern Cross".

Presidents