Pope appoints Bishop for Oudtshoorn, South Africa

By Vatican News

Pope Francis has appointed Reverend Father Noel Andrew Rucastle Bishop of the Diocese of Oudtshoorn in South Africa.  Bishop-elect Rucastle is from Cape Town and previously served as judicial Vicar and pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Belleville.

Bishop Noel Andrew Rucastle was born on April 22, 1968 in Kimberley. After attending St. 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 St. Francis Xavier Propaedeutic Seminary in Cape Town. He studied Philosophy at St. Peter's Major Seminary in Garsfontein (1994-1995) and Theology at St. John Vianney National Major Seminary (1996-1998). Later, he completed his theological training at the Archiepiscopal Seminary of Cape Town, obtaining a baccalaureate at St. Joseph's Theological Institute in Cedara in 1999. He was ordained a priest on July 14, 2000, incardinated in the Archdiocese of Cape Town.