Faith and institutional silence: Organ donation and moral ambiguity within Gqeberha’s Roman Catholic Community

Terry Adams ORCID iD 

Issue: Vol. 12 No.9 2026 Issue Article 2 pp. 395 – 407
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261292 Published online 23rd October 2026.
© 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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This article explored how Catholic parishioners in Gqeberha conceptualised organ donation to understand the moral, theological, and emotional dimensions of donation. Despite South Africa’s critically low organ donor rate and the Church’s official endorsement of organ donation as an act of ‘brotherly love’ or ‘agape love’, there was a significant gap between the doctrine and practice. Drawing on qualitative data from eight focus group discussions, 15 semi-structured interviews, and participant observations across five urban parishes, this study argued that the choice to become an organ donor was not purely biomedical, but a moral practice shaped by individual agency and lived experience within a broader, often unspoken public health crisis. The findings highlighted that the ‘institutional silence’ from the pulpit— often mistaken for irrelevance existed within a theological vacuum filled with ambiguity about doctrine and other social issues, such as distrust in the medical system. Although narratives of living donation among family members were framed as sacred agape love, some parishioners did not readily favour deceased donation. By anthropologically exploring these entanglements, the study offered a lens into how parishioners negotiated biomedical advancements through their faith, lived experiences and their beliefs, suggesting that addressing silences is important for effective advocacy.

Keywords: Catholicism, Organ Donation, Institutional Silence, Lived Religion.

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Terry Adams (PhD Anthropology) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg and is currently funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Postdoctoral Fellowship (Grant No. PSTD240422215376). Her research is situated within medical anthropology, with a focus on organ donation and factors influencing health decision-making in South Africa. Her research interests include medical anthropology, organ donation, religion and health, and socio-cultural determinants of health decision-making. Terry Adams is a member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and has presented at local conferences and presented internationally in July 2026. She continues to develop scholarly work on the historical, cultural, and ethical dimensions of organ donation.

Adams, Terry. “Faith and Institutional Silence: Organ Donation and Moral Ambiguity within Gqeberha’s Roman Catholic Community.” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 12, no.9 (2026): 395 – 407 https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20261292

© 2026 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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