Amoris Laetitia – the Joy of Love, Pope Francis’ letter on love in the family, was the subject of a CPLO lecture by Dr Jan Jans, held at St Michael’s parish, Rondebosch. Dr Jans, a regular visitor from Belgium, noted that the animating theme of the letter, as it is for everything Pope Francis says, […]

Climate change is affecting land, water, and biodiversity in a variety of ways. Higher temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, increasing extreme events (droughts and floods), and increasing disturbances are occurring across South Africa, with negative effects on already sensitive systems. These kinds of changes, combined with other ongoing stresses, highlight how we need to better our […]

On 5th April CPLO hosted a roundtable discussion on ‘Hidden Economic Burdens’. The guest speakers were Ayabonga Cawe, co-founder and chairperson of Rethink Africa; Pippa Green, journalist and media consultant to the Research Project on Employment, Income Distribution and Inclusive Growth (REDI); and Andrew Kerr, senior researcher at DataFirst, UCT. The three panellists spoke to […]

The CPLO, in collaboration with the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA), hosted a roundtable discussion on policy and legislative changes to the Refugee Act. The first topic to be discussed revolved around the National Health Insurance (NHI), which is intended to provide South Africans with comprehensive health insurance irrespective of socioeconomic status, […]

The Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office and the South African Learning and Transformation Alliance recently held a Roundtable Discussion on ‘STATELESS CHILDREN’. Cleopas Maseko Director of Thembalethu Nkomazi and Charlotte Manicom Advocacy Officer of the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town made presentations.  It was clear from these that in terms the Children’s Act and the Bill of […]

The CPLO hosted a Round Table discussion on “The Race Debate: Where to from here?”. On the panellist were Andile Mngxitama, former member of the Economic Freedom Fighters and current National Convenor of the Black First, Land First Movement; Mary Hames, the Director of the Gender Equity Unit of University of the Western Cape and […]

Ambassador Mohamed Dangor former ambassador to Libya, Syria and Saudi Arabia met with Archbishop Brislin and Fr Peter-John to be briefed about their recent visit to Palestine and Jordan. They spoke particularly about the situation in Gaza. Ambassador Dangor is at present the special envoy of the President to the Middle East. He has vast […]

The CPLO in collaboration with the EU-Delegation to South Africa hosted a discussion on refugees and migrants. The two main speakers were Sergio Carciotto of the Scalabrini Institute, providing a brief overview of the evolution of migration policy in South Africa, why migration policies fail and the various immigration and refugee legislation. The second speaker, […]