Catholics mark Bishop Karlen’s birthday

Archdiocese between February 1974 and 1997.
A birthday party was thrown for him on Wednesday and a mass was also held to celebrate his legacy.
Archbishop Karlen was born on 1 February 1922 in Torbel, Switzerland and was ordained as a priest in 1946.
The Archbishop was described as a man of discipline, principle, prayer and a man of the people because of the significant role he played in promoting peace and reconciliation in the country.
He studied at Jesuit College in Austria before he was sent to Rome where he studied for a Doctorate in Theology between 1948 and 1950.
In 1951, he was transferred to South Africa to lecture Moral Theology and Canon Law at St Peter’s Seminary in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
In 1959, Archbishop Karlen was the Parish Priest of Qhumbu in Mission before being appointed the administrator of Cathedral in 1963.
He was then appointed the Bishop of Umtata Diocese 1968 where he worked until 1974.
While he was the Bishop of Umtata as well as chairperson of the Liturgy Commission, he established regional pastoral councils, which enabled greater levels of cooperation in the church.
He was instrumental in the translation of the Sacramentary into local Xhosa language.
When he was posted to Bulawayo in 1974, Archbishop Karlen wrote to the Catholic Church’s headquarters in Rome saying, “It is the greatest honour of my life to give up my diocese, but you make the decision.”
Archbishop Karlen also spearheaded translation of the Lectionary and Sacramentary into IsiNdebele when he became the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Bulawayo.
He contributed immensely to the development of different parishes in the diocese, which include St John’s in Nkulumane 5, Holy Spirit in Nkulumane 12, Our Lady Queen of Peace (Entumbane), Tsholotsho Mission, Nkayi Mission, Dlamini Mission in Tsholotsho, St Bernadette’s Mission and Empandeni Mission.
He taught for one year at Chishawasha Major Seminary.
He said he believed that God had a plan for everyone, just like he had a plan for him to turn 90.
“In my opinion, God has a plan for everybody. There must have been one for me. I do not know why I was not killed during the war as I often travelled alone. I could have been killed on five occasions,” said Archbishop Karlen.
“We must believe in the Providence of God.”
Archbishop Karlen published a pastoral letter during the liberation struggle calling for peace in Zimbabwe.
On 30 March in 1983 he had a five-hour meeting with President Mugabe at which he called for peace in the country.
In 1979, he was the first Archbishop in Zimbabwe to ordain permanent deacons.
Jotsholo Pastoral Centre was built on land given by the Archdiocese of Bulawayo to Bishop Ignatius Prieto, the then Bishop of Hwange and Gokwe Dioceses.
Archbishop Karlen has five brothers and one sister.