In 1971, the director of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency was born in Pretoria, South Africa. That same year, another South African, my Dominican brother Albert Nolan, was 1,000 miles away, mentoring students at Stellenbosch University on the country’s southern coast. Stellenbosch was the center of theological study for the Dutch Reformed Church, the epicenter of the theological constructs upholding South Africa’s apartheid, white supremacist, structures.
Freshly returned from Rome where he studied at the time of the Second Vatican Council, Albert was ready to “read the signs of the times” and help South Africa’s university students do the same. This work led him to write a classic, Jesus Before Christianity: The Gospel of Liberation, published in 1976.
Albert wanted his students to encounter the historic Jesus. Critics thought this was a fool’s errand, but he succeeded in mobilizing young people in South Africa and around the world, teaching them that knowing Jesus of Nazareth was the key to dismantling deadly systems of oppression in their nation. For tens of thousands of young people in South Africa and beyond, Albert’s theology, worked out in collaboration with many others, was the framework which ultimately toppled South Africa’s racist regime.
One of Albert’s students, Lois Law, is now liaison for the Southern African Bishops Conference with the South African Parliament. In a tribute to Albert after his death in 2022, she wrote that he “adopted a nonjudgmental attitude to those with whom he engaged and he was judgmental of systems but not of individuals, which made him such a powerful change agent.” She continued, “Albert believed that we all have the capacity to be part of the transformation of both the Church and of society.”
So why wouldn’t my thoughts turn to Albert while his fellow South African, a beneficiary of Apartheid and, apparently, its proponent, is systemically eviscerating structures that support our democratic government? What can we learn about being agents of change from this humble Dominican brother?
First, be grounded in the principles of your faith. I am aware of no religious tradition that proclaims a gospel of white supremacy or holds the doctrine that some people are more valuable than others. There are Christian Nationalists, of course, but they seem to have conveniently forgotten Jesus, who favored those who lived on the margins of society and challenged religious and political leaders to serve them, not themselves.
Second, challenge systems and falsehoods, not the people who proclaim them. I’ve discovered how difficult this is, made more challenging by a communications infrastructure that is manipulated by the head of DOGE and others like him. Too many of us live in silos of misinformation, disinformation, nefarious Bots and manipulative algorithms that have made it challenging to discern truth.
A third lesson from Albert: to successfully uphold human dignity while transforming systems, we must work together with people of good will across religious traditions and ideological divides. Albert made common cause with anyone who valued the lives of South Africa’s Black citizens even when they professed no brand of Christian faith.
My one privileged encounter with Albert occurred in 2007, when he gave a retreat at our motherhouse. It so happened that two of the leaders of the Iraqi Dominican sisters were in Springfield, visiting the young sisters of their congregation who were living with us at the time. Several other Dominicans who had connections either to Albert or the Iraqi Sisters joined us for retreat.
One day we released ourselves from the bond of silence that normally filled retreat days so this global cohort of Dominicans could delight in one another’s company. Around the table with Albert were the Iraqi Dominicans, our Maltese Dominican brother Joäo Xerri, and at least four U.S. Dominican Sisters who were accompanying the Iraq Dominicans through the period of the 2003 U.S. invasion and its aftermath.
That moment remains one of the spiritual highpoints of my life. Albert transformed our encounter into a sacramental healing of the wounds we each bore as a consequence of our experiences accompanying the poor and oppressed.
Albert gently coaxed stories out of us. The Iraqi sisters spoke of their struggle to support Christians and other oppressed minorities while Iraq convulsed over the fall of a strongman at the hands of an incompetent U.S. governorship. Joäo shared the pain of his life with the Dominican family in Brazil in the aftermath of a brutal military dictatorship that left the country – and the Brazilian Dominicans – wrenched by an economic and moral crisis. Albert opened a safe space for him to tell his story. And for the U.S. Dominicans – for me, at least – this time helped me deepen and recommit to solidarity with suffering people throughout the world.
We have come to such a moment of need again, have we not? I find strength by turning to this brother of mine, a great South African change agent. Albert Nolan, presente!
Sister Beth Murphy, OP, is director of communications for the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, and a member of the Cor Unum House anchor community.
This article appears in Combating human trafficking.
