Strive for “values of peace, respect, hard work”: Catholic Bishop in South Sudan to Youth

Tombura-Yambio, 04 July, 2023 / 4:05 PM

Young people in South Sudan need to strive for values that positively contribute to a good future, the Bishop of the country’s Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio (CDTY) has said.

In his Sunday, July 2 homily at St Theresa’s Cathedral of South Sudan’s Juba Archdiocese, Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala highlighted some of the values that the youth in the world’s youngest country need to embrace. 

“Our young people need to have values that are good, the values of peace, respect, and hard work, and avoid those things that will ruin their future,” Bishop Hiiboro said.

He added, “Youth are the majority in this country and the world; that’s why we as elders are looking up to you for a better future for the nation.”

The South Sudanese Catholic Bishop said young people are sometimes “misled” by the protracted violent conflicts in sections of South Sudan, going after issues that do not contribute to a better future for them. 

He urged youth in the East-Central African nation “to take care of their future by being of exemplary behavior.”

“The card is in your hands,” the Catholic Church leader said, and urged the youth to identify and draw inspiration from “good mentors in South Sudan”.

He continued in reference to mentors in South Sudan, “We have a lot of them, not those who will mislead you to lose your life and your future in a wrong way.”

The Catholic Bishop who has been at the helm of Tombura-Yambio Diocese since his Episcopal Ordination in June 2008 further cautioned young people against differences on the basis of region and tribe, saying, “You should stick together and go beyond this issue of regional divisions and tribal issues that can make your future very bad.”

“South Sudanese people, and particularly young people, need to be able to feel that they own independence, and they own the future,” he said in his July 2 homily at St Theresa’s Cathedral of Juba Archdiocese.

In appropriating the independence of their nation and taking control of their future, the country “will be able to have youth ready to lead us to have a better future,” the 59-year-old South Sudanese Catholic Bishop said.

He emphasized, “Young people in South Sudan should love this nation, build it, stick together, and work for peace to make this beautiful country a better place for all.”