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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - On May 4, 2020, the Holy Father Francis appointed as Bishop of Oudtshoorn, South Africa, the Reverend Noel Andrew Rucastle, of the clergy of Cape Town, currently parish priest of the Our Lady of Fatima parish in Bellville and judicial vicar.
The Reverend Noel Andrew Rucastle was born on 22 April 1968 in Kimberley, in the diocese of the same name. After attending the Saint Patrick’s Christian Brothers College in Kimberley, he studied civil law at the University of the Free State, South Africa.
In 1993 he entered the Saint Francis Xavier Preparatory Seminary in Cape Town. He studied philosophy in Saint Peter’s Major Seminary in Garsfontein (1994-1995) and theology in the Saint John Vianney National Major Seminary (1996-1998). He subsequently completed his theological formation at the Cape Town Archiepiscopal Seminary, obtaining a bachelor’s degree at Saint John’s Theological Institute in Cedara in 1999. He was ordained a priest on 14 July 2000, and was incardinated in the archdiocese of Cape Town.
From 2000 to 2003, he served as parish vicar of the Corpus Christi parish in Wynberg, and from 2003 to 2006, parish administrator of the Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Kraaifontein. From 2006 to 2010 he studied at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada, obtaining a licentiate in canon law. From 2010 he held the office of parish administrator of Saint Mary’s Cathedral and, at the same time, judicial vicar of the archdiocese of Cape Town (2011 to the present); and from 2012 to 2018 he served as parish priest of Saint Anthony’s parish in Hout Bay. He is currently parish priest of the Our Lady of Fatima parish in Bellville. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 5/5/2020)
