'Where culture ends and the occult begins' — Priest faces ancestral veneration in rural South Africa

South Africa's bishops' conference is studying some traditional religious customs. Here's why

Father Michael Wojciechowski is a Polish missionary priest of the Koinonia John the Baptist community, currently serving in rural South Africa.

A Koinonia sister with children in South Africa. Courtesy photo.

His work among the Zulu and Xhosa people has brought him face-to-face with traditional religious practices, and the priest is now part of a task force created by the South African bishops’ conference, aimed at addressing the growing presence of ancestral veneration in the country.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Father Michael Wojciechowski lifts a child during his baptism.

How long have you been in South Africa?

I had spent a few months in Zimbabwe before being invited to South Africa by Bishop Stanisław Jan Dziuba, who oversees the Diocese of Umzimkulu. He's a Polish bishop, and the area was in great need. It’s a very rural and underdeveloped diocese — at the time, there was only one diocesan priest and a few missionaries.

A diocese with just one diocesan priest is truly mission territory! But since Bishop Dziuba’s appointment, the diocese has really flourished. Many local young men have answered the call to the priesthood, and the church is growing.

One diocesan priest! So this is a very rural part of South Africa?

Yes, it’s a part of South Africa that most tourists don’t know about. But there are millions of people living here, and I’ve experienced firsthand the difficult conditions they face. There are no paved roads, many houses are still made from mud, and during winter, people heat their homes with open fires which lack proper ventilation.

Courtesy photo.

How Catholic is the local community?

Overall, only about 6% of South Africa’s population is Catholic. In our area, however, it’s a bit higher — around 10% to 15%. That’s because the region was more actively evangelized in the past, thanks to the work of Austrian and German Trappist monks, including Abbot Francis Pfanner. He was an Austrian monk who founded the Congregation of Mariannhill. His mission work was incredible, and our community is working in one of the missions he started.

And other religions in the area?

In the cities, you find a lot of Pentecostal churches, along with other Protestant denominations like the Dutch Reformed Church, Methodist, Lutheran and Anglican churches. But in more rural areas, you don't see as many of them. Occasionally, some will come through, but they don’t usually stay for long.

That said, there are still a lot of traditional beliefs and practices, even among Christians. Many Catholics, for example, still visit local shamans.

The issue is that culture is often mixed with the occult, and that's a huge problem. Very few people make a clear distinction between the two. Even among Christians — even pastors — it's hard to tell where culture ends and the occult begins. This is often tied to invoking spirits, which they believe are their ancestors. The discernment of spirits is very needed.

I note some skepticism in your voice.

Is it that you don’t believe in any of it, or that you believe there is a real spiritual danger here?

Well, there are certainly spirits — people will tell you things they couldn’t possibly know by natural means. The actual question is, what kind of spirits are communicating with them? Is it the Holy Spirit? Angels? Saints? Souls? Or demons? If it’s supposed to be their ancestors, which ones? Are they from hell, purgatory, or heaven?

There are a lot of questions, but I don’t hear many people asking these. People just accept it because they don’t want to offend anyone or be politically incorrect.

That said, based on the fruit and the effects these spirits have on people - often separating them from the faith, especially during long initiation periods, and the fear they bring - I think, in some cases, it's demons we are talking about.

Is the Church trying to do anything about this?

The South African bishops’ conference set up a commission to study this phenomenon, and I was invited to join it. It’s an important work. I’m actually doing research now, talking to local shamans, or Sangoma, and analyzing the initiation rites they go through, as well as the beliefs behind them.

After 15 years here, I have some experience. I’m also an exorcist for the diocese, so sometimes we deal directly with spirits and see the effects of spiritual attacks on people.

Most people believe these spirits are their ancestors, so we have to go through a process of discernment. But usually, people are not doing that. They just say “This is our culture,” and they continue consulting their shamans, invoking spirits, and following their instructions.

Is this a generational thing? Is it also practiced by the younger people?

Oh yes! Right now, there’s a huge wave of [younger] people returning to these traditional practices. Many young people are becoming Sangoma — shamans.

They’re told they have a “calling,” and if they don’t answer it, they’ll get sick or even die.

This “calling” usually comes with sickness and visions of spirits — what they believe are their ancestors — summoning them to become a Sangoma. Often, they don’t want to do it, but they feel they have no choice. So, they go through the initiation process. It's very common — it’s not something rare or hidden.

Holy Thursday liturgy. Courtesy photo.

What does becoming a Sangoma, or shaman, entail?

Becoming a Sangoma means undergoing a rigorous initiation process to become a traditional healer in Zulu culture. They believe it’s a sacred calling from their ancestors, usually through a period of illness or intense dreams. It involves undergoing a lengthy apprenticeship under a senior Sangoma to learn how to communicate with ancestors, interpret divination tools, and heal people through spiritual practices and herbal remedies; this is considered a sacred calling and a significant responsibility within the community.

Part of the process includes animal sacrifices, pouring animal blood on the initiates, drinking the blood, and going into a trance while invoking spirits. During that year, they are not allowed to go to church.

I once asked one woman who was going through the initiation process if I could pray for her and bless her, but she refused. She said that if I did, she’d have to start her initiation all over again. So you have to ask: What kind of spirit is so disturbed by a priest’s blessing?

What happens if people try to resist?

A few years ago, a friend, Gloria, [was told she had this] calling, but she was a committed and prayerful Catholic and didn’t want anything to do with it. She started experiencing spiritual attacks. Despite her intensifying prayers, the attacks only got worse. She felt sicker and began seeing more visions of spirits. It felt like she was losing her mind.

One particularly difficult night, she decided to pray to the Holy Spirit for help. While praying and singing to the Holy Spirit, she heard a voice telling her to go to the mission. I remember that night clearly — Gloria’s screams woke us at two in the morning. We prayed for her, and the attacks stopped for a few days. But then they came back.

After a few weeks, I went to bless her home, and after that, the attacks stopped completely. She felt free, healthy, and happy again. Today, she’s one of the most passionate evangelizers and catechists at the mission, sharing her testimony about Christ’s power and the newness of life in the Holy Spirit.

And is this a specifically South African issue, or is it the same in the rest of the region?

It’s a big issue here in South Africa, not just in KwaZulu-Natal province, but across the whole country. It seems to me that at least some other African countries have dealt with it better. They’ve done more work with inculturation, clarification, and liturgy.

I think it’s partly a response to historical wounds, like colonization, apartheid and others... There’s this feeling that people’s identity was taken away, so now they’re returning to their roots as Africans. That’s where we need to step in, to help people find freedom in Christ while respecting the numerous positive aspects of the local culture and costumes.

But in South Africa, many are afraid to speak up or challenge things for fear of being politically incorrect. Sometimes, we could end up accompanying people to hell with a smile because we’re afraid to seek for the truth and courageously speak it.

It's a big issue, and the Church is still confused. For years, Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg defended ancestral veneration, but recently he admitted that he was wrong. He said in an interview that “the ancestors are enemies of Christ.”

It was a powerful statement from him.

The idea of inculturation is to express Christianity through local cultures, accepting those things where are not incompatible with the faith. Can that be done?

Of course, but the first step is to identify what’s acceptable and what’s not. The next step is to apply that truth in a pastoral way. We need a pastoral approach, and wisdom to then apply it without damaging what’s good.

What is the best approach to this situation?

The best approach is simply to proclaim the Gospel, to help people get to know Christ and the Word of God, and to pray with the Bible.

We’re running evangelization and Bible courses, and we’ve even got online courses. We also distribute children’s Bibles in Zulu through Aid to the Church in Need. It’s so important that they have resources in their own language. You have to give people the tools they need.

Take Gloria, for example. She was able to fight off the spiritual attacks because she had an experience of Christ and the Holy Spirit. She used the Bible and prayer and she came to her priest and community for help. Unfortunately, many people first turn to a shaman, not a priest.

Another key step is exposing the rituals of Ubungoma. Most people don’t even know what’s involved in them. Once you know the rituals — like invoking spirits, getting drunk, drinking animal blood, offering sacrifices to the spirits of rivers and oceans and so on — you’ll think twice before going to a shaman for advice.

Once you expose the truth, the job is already half done, because people will think that this is weird, that there is something wrong about it. Do you really want to get advice from a person who went through these kinds of rituals?

Regarding this idea of the spirits of the ancestors, can you take that belief and adapt it to the idea of the intercession of the saints, for example?

Yes, that’s actually something that’s been done before.

Originally, the idea of an ancestor was someone who was an example — almost like a saint. And, of course, there are some ancestors who are saints, both in our families and in the families of the Zulu, or any other nation. There are people who are in heaven now, and we can ask for their intercession.

That’s why I focused my research specifically on the initiation process of Sangoma — because I wanted to understand what kind of spirits they communicate with, and what their rituals and beliefs are. We can’t just lump everything together in one category.

Are there any other local customs that are in conflict with Christianity? Is polygamy a problem, for example?

Polygamy isn’t a huge problem, but it’s still present. A bigger issue is lobola — the traditional practice where a man has to pay a certain number of cows, and other dowry practices, to marry a woman.

Initially, it was meant to protect the woman; if a man was serious about her, the families would meet, and the payment was a sign of commitment. But today, unfortunately, it’s led to fewer sacramental marriages.

I baptize around 300 children every year, but I only marry maybe three or four couples. Many couples live together for years, have children, and are still paying lobola. Out of all the couples I’ve married in the last fifteen years, only one or two weren’t already living together and had children.

Sadly, even Catholics tend to prioritize lobola over the sacrament of marriage.

You seem to have a lot of work to do in your diocese. What plans does your community have for the future?

We recently bought a large piece of land near Pretoria. There we have a house for the sisters and one for the brothers, and we plan to build an evangelization center – a place where people can come for retreats, Bible studies, and various courses.

We also want to invest more in education. Through our Koinonia Orphans Project, we have 30 caregivers taking care of about 900 children. We’ve also started the Lourdes Educational Center, where we teach computer skills, English, and other subjects to more than 600 kids. Some have even gone on to university and are now getting good jobs, which is a real blessing for them and the local community.

There’s a huge need for this kind of work because many young people in rural areas graduate high school but have no idea what to do next. Our center helps them make better decisions for their future. We are raising funds to build the evangelization centre in Pretoria. People in helping are always welcome to contact us at the mission.

Of course, we also hope some of these kids will choose consecrated life and one day become priests, brothers, or sisters.

You are originally from Poland. How did you get all the way to South Africa?

Yes, I’m from Poland. I grew up in a Catholic family, like most people in Poland, but my faith wasn’t very strong when I was a teenager.

I was considering walking away from the Church and my faith. Then, during a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa, I had a life-changing experience. I went there thinking I’d give the Lord one last chance. It was during that pilgrimage that I met some amazing people who were really living out their faith and testifying to Christ in a very direct and powerful way.

For the first time in a long time, I found myself praying wholeheartedly, and I said: “Lord, if this is true, if You really exist, I want to know You.” That’s when I had a personal experience of Christ’s presence. It felt like all my sins were wiped away by the blood of Jesus on the Cross. I felt an incredible freedom, forgiveness, and joy in my heart.

That experience completely changed the course of my life. I started to enjoy my relationship with Jesus, and I wanted more of Him. I began going to Mass every day, taking my studies and work seriously, and then the Lord surprised me with the call to consecrated life and the priesthood.

How did you come to know the Koinonia John the Baptist community?

I met some of the Koinonia brothers and sisters from Italy when they came to visit communities in Poland. At first, I thought about becoming a Jesuit, but after praying about it, the Lord made it clear that this wasn’t His plan for me. So, I went to Rome to meet with Koinonia, and after several weeks of prayer, I felt very strongly that this was the place God wanted me to stay.

I lived in Rome for five years, then went to the Koinonia School of Evangelization in the Czech Republic, and later to community in the United States.

We started a community in Los Angeles with a few brothers and sisters. Eventually, the Lord led us to St. Michael’s parish, where we met Fr. David O’Connell, who would later become an auxiliary bishop.

He became a great friend of ours. He always said that his life was changed in the Koinonia community, that he had experienced a real renewal of faith. We were overjoyed when we heard he became a bishop.

We worked together in South Central LA, an area known for gang violence, and Fr. O’Connell did a lot of great work helping young people get out of gangs.

Tragically, he was murdered in 2023. I was with him just days before he was shot. It’s not at all clear why he was shot. I believe that he was killed because of his work of getting young people out of the gangs, but the truth is that we don’t know.

I stayed in Los Angeles for about three years before my superiors asked me to go to Zimbabwe to run some evangelization courses. While in Zimbabwe, we got the invitation to come to South Africa.