Jesuit Missions UK

Holy Trinity is an inner city parish situated in Braamfontein on the west of Johannesburg. It has been staffed by the Society of Jesus since 1973. The Parish is also the home of the chaplaincy to the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg. The Parish serves a plethora of people and is home to many African immigrants – some who are ‘legal’ and others who are in South Africa ‘illegally’.

One big outreach programme of the Parish is a daily soup kitchen. A number of people who live on the streets attend Holy Trinity everyday for food. Food is provided through the kindness of parishioners and local businesses. On Monday evenings the St. Vincent de Paul Society run a large soup kitchen (often serving around 250 people) and medical students from the university run a clinic to provide primary health care for those who do not have any other access to such services. In addition people are also given clothes, shoes, soap and candles. In the winter blankets are provided. These items are collected from the Parish Community. Recently there has been a sharp increase of Zimbabwean refugees using this centre.

A major renovation is needed in order to provide a better and more hygienic service to the street people of Johannesburg. The soup kitchen currently runs out of a basement under the Church. The kitchen is inadequate and the facilities cannot cope with the growing need. There are no decent wash-rooms for those who come to the soup-kitchen. Medical consultations are done in a public space as there is no private place for them. When it rains (especially when we have thunder-storms in summer) the soup kitchen and medical service cannot function as most of it is conducted in the open.

Because of the growing need and inadequate facilities the Parish urgently needs to renovate to make this area functional and hence able to better serve the growing inner-city needs.

To renovate the existing area would cost the Parish about R800,000.00 (£50,000). This would involve the reconfiguration of the space so that adequate store-room, kitchen, wash-room, meeting and consulting (for medical purposes) space would be available. The Parish Finance Committee is willing to raise funds to make a contribution but additional help is needed if we are going to do this project well. Any help would be much appreciated by Holy Trinity but most especially by the people who come here daily for food and other help.