Golden Jubilee For Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference Fr Noel Kinnane OFM (Secretary General), assisted by Fr Shaun Dunne O.Carm (Education) and Fr Richard Randolph SJ (Communications). From the start the bishops met every two months for an administrative meeting. In addition there was the annual plenary session, held shortly after Easter, when the bishops heard and discussed reports from their various commissions Office space was kindly provided by the Dominicans, who made available two small red-brick, colonial style houses on the corner of Simon Muzenda Street and Selous Avenue, just opposite their convent. Later, as the number of commissions employing permanent staff grew, additional accommodation was found in two other houses, 65 Herbert Chitepo Avenue and 98 Central Avenue. An unexpected donation from Rome enabled the Conference to purchase the Selous Avenue site, paving the way for the future demolition of the two original houses and the construction of the purpose-built office block we know as Africa Synod House. The first years of the Conference coincided with the years of Ian Smith, the Rhodesia Front Government and the move towards apartheid with legislation such as the notorious 'Land Tenure Act.' The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, under the chairmanship of Bishop Lamont was formally established in March 1972 and took on an increasingly important role, soon employing permanent staff. Even before the Conference was established the Bishops had published five letters on race relations and between 1969 and Independence in 1980 were to produce a further nine about the political situation. In August 1970 the secretariat produced its first 'News Sheet of the RCBC' to keep Catholics informed of the teaching and leadership of their Bishops. The Justice & Peace Commission produced two damning reports, 'The Man in the Middle'(1975) and 'Civil War in Rhodesia' (1976) documenting human rights abuses by the regime. The Conference was also instrumental in setting up the 'Heads of Denominations', a 15