How the South Sudanese bishops are working to promote peace

According to the president of the Sudanese Bishops’ Conference, in order to achieve peace in South Sudan, patience and humility must be shown by both its leaders. The conference’s president Bishop Kussala recently spoke with the Catholic News Agency about the current situation in Sudan and what local bishops have been doing to promote peace in the area.  “We have tried to keep the momentum, to continue to work harder and make sure peace is actually in this country…. It has again energized us to serve the leaders and the people,” said Kussala.

Kussala says the two sides will have to work through years of mistrust and violence. He believes there is no quick fix to peace and it will take a great amount of time to progress fully.  Even in the midst of this bleak situation, Kussala and the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio have hosted peace retreats for around 10,000 young fighters who have been involved in the country’s violence.  Their hope is to prepare the communities for reconciliation and forgiveness.

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Record number of South Sudanese face critical lack of food

Almost seven million South Sudanese civilians are at risk and face a critical lack of food according to a new report released by the South Sudanese government and the United Nations.  Almost two million people are near starvation nine months after a peace deal ended the five-year civil war.

The report suggests the food shortages are exacerbated by delayed rainfall, economic crisis and a year of strain from a conflict that killed almost 400,000 people.  Some South Sudanese, including children, have reported eating only once per day.

Breaking the hunger cycle will rely on whether the fragile peace deal signed in September of 2018 will hold.  While the fighting has decreased, combats have still broken out between government and rebel groups in the Central Equatoria state.  In May of 2019, the government and opposition delayed the next steps in the peace deal by six months.  Progress remains slow.

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100 Killed in Sudan, Dozens of Bodies Pulled from Nile

More than 100 people have been killed and more than 325 people were injured after a violent crackdown by Sudan’s security forces on pro-democracy protesters in the capital.

According to the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, an organization that helped organize protests, 40 bodies had been pulled from the River Nile after the attack. The death toll makes it the deadliest attack by security forces on the protesters since April, when longtime President Omar al-Bashir was toppled by his generals.

After the coup, the generals of Sudan formed a Transitional Military Council to rule — to protesters’ dismay — and tense negotiations began. The protesters continued to demand a transition to civilian control. The generals resisted, but continued to talk about potential compromises.

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In war-torn South Sudan, priests build a shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary

Ave Maria, the parish church outside Mupoi, South Sudan, was abandoned at the beginning of Sudan’s civil war and then ransacked. Now, two strong-willed Spanish missionaries are working to rebuild it, and hope to turn in a continental Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Combonian missionaries built the massive church almost a century ago, and soon became the leading evangelizing force of Sudan. But their churches, rectories, and missions were either abandoned or transferred to young native clergy after Sudan’s first prime minister, Ismail al-Azhari, expelled all Catholic missionaries from the country.

Most of the regions Catholic population fled, and the Ava Maria church was left to crumble.

“Now that people have returned to this area, our goal is to rebuild physically, but most importantly, spiritually, with a comprehensive vision” says Fr. Avelino Bassols, pastor of the mission parish.

Bassols and his vicar, Fr. Albert Salvans, belong to the Missionary Community of St. Paul de the Apostle (MCSPA). While the priests work in the slow rebuilding of the shrine, a building for a secondary school has been started with financial help from the Sudan Relief Fund. The Catholic school will cater to all the students from the nearby towns.

“We need schools, drinking water, a healthcare facility, issues we are addressing with the help of the Sudan Relief Fund. But what we have in abundance here is a deep faith. Our people have survived persecutions, the expulsion of the missionaries, many decades without priests, but their deep faith remains,” Fr. Bassols said.

Fr. Bassols and Fr. Salvans are hopeful that the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary will be completely restored by 2023 and will attract Catholics from all over the world.

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I was ‘almost trembling’ as Pope Francis begged me to make peace

In a surprising gesture, Pope Francis knelt and kissed the feet of several South Sudanese leaders in a plea for peace in the country.

During the two-day retreat at the Vatican, Pope Francis told South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar that he was praying for them to become peacemakers despite difficulties.

Kiir said the exchange left him “almost trembling.”

“I felt humbled at the humility of the Holy Father,” Kiir said in an interview. “I was almost trembling because that thing has not happened before, except at the time when Jesus knelt down to wash the feet of his disciples. And it should have been the opposite; his disciples should have been the ones to wash his feet. This is what came into my mind when the Pope knelt down.”

“The feelings that I had at the moment was that I should try my best when I come back to South Sudan. I should try my best to bring peace to my people, so that people reconcile among themselves, and people do not think of fighting again,” Kiir said.

A five-year civil war began shortly after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan. The war has left 2.1 million people internally displaced, with another 2.5 million refugees, according to the United Nations.

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Bringing hope to abused women in South Sudan

The Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary were founded three decades ago in southern Sudan. But to most who know them, they are called the “Blue Sisters” for the bright color of their habits.

In the South Sudanese Diocese of Tombura Yambio, Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala tasked them with providing permanent assistance to the many women, including young girls and teenagers, who have been raped, abused or abandoned amid the violent conflicts that have plagued the region for years.

“There is a major stigma that falls over these mostly young women who are victims of the violent civil war,” said Sister Ester, local superior for the small community of the four Blue Sisters. “Several of the women remain in a state of shock, barely aware of their reality.”

The sisters currently help around 100 women living in the facility with recovery from the terrible suffering they have endured, through love, patience, prayer and therapy. Although the civil war has significantly decreased in Yambio, the shelter still welcomes abused women every day.

“Thanks to the significant financial help of the Sudan Relief Fund, we are a few months away from finishing a brand new facility, where the sisters, our experts, and volunteers will be able to provide the best treatment possible to our women,” added Sister Ester.

“Our goal is to gradually integrate these women into society with the adequate spiritual and mental stability, and with a clear plan for their future.”

The sisters also help women cope with AIDS, and others to raise their children, many of whom were conceived in rape. According to Sister Ester, “the connection with their children, surprisingly, is a significant part of the healing process, and not part of the trauma, as some tend to believe.”

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Pope says Sri Lanka attacks are “cruel violence” and pledged solidarity

Pope Francis has described the Easter Sunday attacks on churches in Sri Lanka as acts of “cruel violence” and has pledged his solidarity with the country’s Christian community.

During an Easter Sunday, Urbi et Orbi address – “to the City and to the World” – Francis responded to the wave of violence that was waged against churches and some hotels across the island nation, killing more than 150 people.

“I wish to express my close affection to the Christian community, struck while it was gathered in prayer, and to all the victims of such cruel violence,” he told a crowd of thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square.

He addressed the Easter message to South Sudan, where thousands have been killed in a brutal civil war and millions have been left starving.

“May the Risen Lord accompany the efforts of the civil and religious authorities of South Sudan, sustained by the fruits of the spiritual retreat held several days ago here in the Vatican. May a new page open in the history of that country, in which all political, social and religious components actively commit themselves to the pursuit of the common good and the reconciliation of the nation,” the Pope said.

His words came after he hosted a retreat for South Sudanese leaders at the end of which he made a dramatic appeal for them to continue their peace efforts by kissing their feet.

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