Zimbabwe: President mourns Catholic Sister Janice McLaughlin

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Zimbabwe: President mourns Catholic Sister Janice McLaughlin

8:59 CAT | 12 Mar 2021

Picture: The Chronicle

President Mnangagwa has sent a message of condolence following the death of a Roman Catholic nun, who died on Sunday.

Sister Janice (77), a member of the Maryknoll Sisters International, died at the association’s headquarters in New York.

She had a deep and abiding love for Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular and used her devout Christian faith to boldly and fearlessly fight for the just cause of Africa freedom and independence.

President Mnangagwa described the late Sister Janice as a luminary in education and black empowerment as she worked closely with nationalists during the war of liberation which saw her being deported by the then minority Rhodesian government.

“The news of the death of Sister Janice McLaughlin came to me as a great shock. A devout Catholic for whom faith meant the quest for human freedoms, Sister Janice was deported from the then Rhodesia for opposing racial colonial occupation and injustices and for supporting our just liberation struggle.

“On behalf of the party Zanu-PF, Government and on my own behalf, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the McLaughlin family and to the family of the Maryknoll Sisters who have lost a loving daughter and devout members respectively. Her leadership in both secular and spiritual realms will be solely missed,” said President Mnangagwa.

He paid tribute to Sister Janice for her conviction as she “chose to leave an otherwise quiet life of an American nun to join rough and dangerous camp life in the jungles of Mozambique where she worked with refugees in our education department”.

“Alongside educational work in the camps, she also worked with our Publicity and Information Department where she helped give the liberation struggle an enhanced international voice and reach.

After our independence in 1980 she would resume her higher studies until she attained her doctoral qualification. Her field of study related to frontline missionary work in African struggles, a subject she knew intimately well from personal experience and commitment. She continued to offer her expertise in reshaping schools curricular for a post-colonial Zimbabwe.

“Above all she worked closely with the likes of the late Herbert Mahlaba to foster and strengthen solidarity between sister peoples of Zimbabwe and Mozambique under the Zimbabwe-Mozambique Friendship Association (Zimofa),” added President Mnangagwa.

Sister Janice first came to Rhodesia in 1977 and found herself at cross lines with the Ian Smith regime as she worked as press secretary for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace.

She witnessed first-hand the atrocities committed by the white regime in rural war zones where members of the Catholic Church including missionaries were also some of the victims.

She was thrown into jail before being deported outside Africa for sympathising with blacks.

She found her way back and settled in Mozambique where she went to the Zanla guerilla camp where she also helped in the freedom fighters’ information department.

One of her works was an interview with the late Josiah Tongogara which was aired in Voice of Zimbabwe in Radio Mozambique.

The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association also described Sister Janice as a unique missionary who embraced the armed struggle and boosted morale in the guerilla camps with her presence.

“We will be writing to President Mnangagwa requesting that the ruling Zanu-PF accords due recognition and fitting status to the life of sacrifice and the immeasurable good works of Sister Janice McLaughlin to the cause of the national liberation movement of Zimbabwe in particular and Africa at large,” said the ZNLWVA in a statement.

Source: The Chronicle