A former Roman Catholic priest and current Anglican Bishop of Zululand, the Rt. Rev. Dino Gabriel, has been elected bishop of Natal.
A former Roman Catholic priest has been elected Bishop of Natal in the Anglican Church in Southern Africa. On 19 July 2015 the Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town announced that a special meeting of the diocesan synod on 16 July 2015 had elected the Rt. Rev. Dino Gabriel as bishop of the Pietermaritzburg-based diocese — the country’s second leading see after Cape Town. A native of Italy, Bishop Gabriel was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church and in 1987 came out to South Africa to serve as a missionary. After working for Operation Hunger in Mpumalanga in the early 1990s he was received into the Anglican Church and served as a parish priest in the Diocese of the Highveld. A fluent Zulu speaker, Bishop Gabriel was appointed Dean of Zululand in 1999 and elected bishop of that diocese in 2005. In September he will be installed as bishop in succession to the Rt Rev. Rubin Philip, who has served the diocese since 2000. Bishop Gabriel and his wife Elizabeth have four children.
