1937-2005

Father Giovanni was the son of Guido Berté and Maria Zeni. He was born on March 5, 1937 in Prada di Brentonico (Trent). In 1956 he entered our Congregation and made his first profession in 1957. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1963 and then went to study business administration in Pittsburgh (USA) for three years. In 1966 he was assigned to Kenya where he worked in the Laisamis Mission in the diocese of Marsabit.
In 1971 he was sent to South Aftica. Father Berté was 34 years old when he opened a new missionary territory with Father Giovanni Viscardi in Kwa-Zulu Natal – now the diocese of Dundee. His missionary zeal and administrative ability was immediately apparent. He was the assistant pastor in Piet Retief (1971-1972) and then pastor of Ermelo (1979-1984) and Dundee (1985-1996). From 1996 to 1999 he was the Delegation Superior of our Missionaries in South Africa. He then returned to the job of pastor at Newcastle (2001-2004).
For more than twenty years Father Giovanni acted as Vicar General and Administrator of the Prefecture of Wolkrust which became the diocese of Dundee. In this capacity he conferred constantly with missionary personnel offering advice and encouragement. He was especially gifted in the area of construction and was directly involved in building churches, schools, orphanages and assistant centers in the parishes. Among his major achievements weres the Consolata Missionary Pastoral Center in Damesfontein and the Diocesan Pastoral Center (the apple of his eye) where diocesan pastoral workers were trained.
Training leaders, visiting families, starting prayer groups and small communities – these things constituted the essence of Father Berté’s missionary activity. He was good natured, open, welcoming and easily made friends with everyone.
Father Giovanni lived for the missions; his whole life was devoted to the missions and he worked without reserve until his health gave out. He was forced to return to Italy in 2003. After a prolonged stay at the Motherhouse a serious breakdown forced him to retire to Alpignano. The desire to return to Dundee continued to haunt him.
With great patience Father Giovanni submitted to the care of Father Genta and the Infirmary personnel. On January 5, 2005, shortly after breakfast he had difficulty breathing and suffered cardiac arrest – he died immediately. Father Genta administered the Sacrament of the Sick.
His funeral was held at 3:30 PM on Friday, January 7, 2005. Father Franco Gioda, the Regional Superior, presided at the Mass. Father Gioda read the condolences that came from Father Giovanni’s confrères in South Africa. Fathers Giovanetti and Discepoli offered testimonials.
The following day Father Berté’s body was taken to Prada di Brentonico where Mass was celebrated and and Father Giovanni was laid to rest.
Editors of Da Casa Madre




TESTIMONIALS

On October 16, 1975, Father Giuseppe Rinaudo and I arrived at the airport of Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa) and were met by Father Giovanni Berté – a short, sunburnt and cheerful priest. “This is a real missionary and a brother,” we thought. Our first impression was borne out in subsequent years. Father Giovanni was everyone’s brother – from the very first moment of their arrival.
It was his custom to introduce personally newcomers to the communities and places where they would work. This would involve a visit to the Bishop and to all the other priests and pastoral workers in the diocese of Dundee.
Personally I felt truly welcome and at home. Father Giovanni’s fraternal concern was further evidenced by his frequent visits and small gifts. He was genuinely interested in our health, the progress of our language studies and how we were fitting into the missionary and pastoral community.
On the trip from Johannesburg to Ermelo (his headquarters as Delegation Superior) he talked about the Fathers, their work, their mission programs, the need for an understanding of local languages and culture. It was a really engaging welcome!
“The evangelization of Africa,” he told us, “involves three activities: visiting families - all families, establishing prayer groups that met regularly and training leaders (“animators,” guides).” These “animators” or guides would lead Sunday prayer when priests could not reach the community; they would be the eventual leaders of the local community. “We must train local leaders; they are the ideal means of evangelizing their own people.” He was convinced of this.
His missionary enthusiasm was appreciated by the Apostolic Prefect of Wolkrust and later the Bishop of Dundee when the Prefecture became a Diocese. Both the Apostolic Prefect and the new Bishop asked the Consolata Missionaries to allow Father Berté to act as the Vicar General. He performed this task as long as his health allowed.
As Vicar General one of his first accomplishments was the Pastoral Center in Damesfontein. In 1976 he established the first training courses for lay people and invited the clergy to take part. This would guarantee unity of purpose and method among those involved in pastoral work.
Father Giovanni took a special interest in building and over the last 30 years there is no church, school, orphanage or missionary residence in the diocese in whose construction he was not personally involved. He was well aware of his limitations and was not ashamed to admit that he did not enjoy the gift of languages. Missionary enthusiasm however kept him from letting this discourage him. He learned how to exploit his limitations. He worked primarily in missions where English was the predominant language and at the Bishop’s directive he made continual visits to all the missionary personnel offering suggestions, advice and encouragement.
Among his many successful projects I remember the St. Jude Thaddeus male-only group devoting to help men learn more about their faith and to bring back those who were drifting away from the Church. He used this group to approach family to which he would otherwise have no access. This group was launched in 1974 and is still active and productive today.
From the beginning Father Giovanni was aware of the many single mothers in the “locations.” They were a tragic result of the race laws. To help them Father Giovanni promoted the Confraternity of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart. His enthusiasm and devotion to this group has made it one of the most vital in the diocese even today. In Newcastle, Father Giovanni’s last mission, he launched and personally led for two years a Bible School that sponsored frequent meetings between Catholics and Protestants.
Father Giovanni was especially sensitive to the needs of orphans and abandoned elders. Under his direction an orphanage and a home for the aged were established. In the 1990s he became especially interested in setting up permanent formation courses for missionaries and lay people. His conviction led the Bishop to initiate the Diocesan Pastoral Center which is admired and envied by other dioceses in South Africa. Father Giovanni lived for the missions. He spent his every energy for the missions until his health gave out and he had to leave South Africa. He returned to Italy in 2003 hoping to recover, but his sickness was incurable. He left us on January 5, 2005.
Father Francesco Discepoli

Homily of Msgr. Michael Rowland, Bishop of Dundee, at Father Giovanni Berté’s funeral.
We are gathered here to celebrate the death of a brother to whom we were close and whom we loved. When Giovanni left South Africa to recuperate in Italy we never expected that he would leave this vale of tears so precipitously and that we would never see him again.
He loved the mountains and often said he would retire there – to his own Prada. He is now buried there and we know it is the place he would have chosen.
Before coming to South Africa he worked in Northern Kenya among the Samburu and other local populations. From there obedience led him to South Africa with Father Jack Viscardi. They were the Consolata vanguard who had come to work in the prefecture of Volskrust which later became the diocese of Dundee.
We lived together for a few years in Ermelo and got along well. I then went off to work elsewhere but John remained there for several more years. When I became Vicar of the Prefecture he began working in the diocesan construction projects.
He considered himself primarily as a “missionary” and for this reason enlarged the school I had established at Damesfontein. He then devoted himself to the catechetical center for training lay leaders. He insisted that as missionaries we were obliged to train catechists and leaders for all the missions and parishes in the prefecture.
Later when the prefecture became a diocese I succeeded in getting John to join me in Dundee as Vicar General. We had a shared project: to establish a pastoral center. Gradually this became a reality. It was John’s dream. Above all he wanted this chapel to be a gift from the Consolata Missionaries to the pastoral center. This is why it is so appropriate that we gather in this chapel today.
There is no parish nor mission in our diocese in which John was not involved. He was engaged in every building project over the last 21 years. From Pomery to Mhlumayo, from Besters to Evander Secunda – we see his hand everywhere.
These buildings are a marvelous monument to a priest who worked so intensely – perhaps even too intensely – to help the Church grow and the faith spread in this diocese. We are grateful for the work he has done.
As soon as he was appointed Vicar General he came to tell me: “We have nothing in this diocese – our cash drawer is empty. You must go to America to collect funds while I take care of things here.” This is what we did and it worked out very well.
Allow me to recall the great work he accomplished, his love for the Consolata Missionaries, his continuous reference to Blessed Allamano and his sincere devotion to this diocese. For the sake of successful evangelization he did all he could to engage all the efforts and personnel of the diocese in the training of catechists.
I am sure God has given him a warm welcome into his eternal home on the mountaintop; on the mountain of God where food and good wine are served and where – I am sure – John is repairing the hinges on the heavenly gates and telling God and St. Joseph which buildings are in need of repair.
We pray for the Consolata Missionaries and for John’s family in Italy which were always so very much involved in his mission and who have contributed so much to our diocesan projects. To them let me offer our condolences and prayers that God will comfort them.

Closing words of Father José Luis Ponce de León, Delegation Superior
I want to thank the Bishop for having brought us together and having provided this occasion to commemorate Father John with the whole diocese.
John came to South Africa – which he loved with his whole heart – from Kenya. He spent 32 years in this country – all of that time in the prefecture of Volskrust, now the diocese of Dundee. Even though he liked going to the mountains in Italy for his vacations he never stopped thinking and speaking about South Africa.
For some time he had not been feeling well and while he was in Italy the Bishop and I prevailed upon him to prolong his stay until his health returned but John wouldn’t hear of it. He had a ticket and planned to return as soon as possible thinking about what he would do next in South Africa.
He showed his love for southern Africa in other ways. Each country is different and has peculiar situations all its own. At the international meetings that John attended as our delegate he did his best to explain our own peculiar situation in South Africa. This is how he showed his love for this country and for the diocese of Dundee.
He spoke willingly of our Founder and often quoted Allamano’s words, “we must be a gift to the local church.” He lived out this tension between being a Consolata Missionary and completely at the disposition of the diocese. This tension was sometimes evident in his relations with us – when we found it difficult to understand his thinking, when he felt himself committed to certain projects for the growth and development of the diocese.
He was a true pastor: we could call him at any time to tell him that one of our parishioners was in the hospital at Newcastle and he would immediately go and oversee the situation. This was his way of sharing God’s consolation.
When I heard the news of his death I thought of what he himself had said: “Recite the rosary to Our Lady for me and I will say one for you.” This is what I did. I prayed for him as I am sure he is praying for us.