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

Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of the South Sudan's Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio (CDTY). Credit: ACI Africa
ACI Africa Staff

By ACI Africa Staff

Tombura-Yambio, 04 July, 2023 / 4:05 pm (ACI Africa).

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. 

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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.

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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.”

ACI Africa Staff

ACI Africa was founded in 2019. We provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, giving particular emphasis to the words of the Holy Father and happenings of the Holy See, to any person with access to the internet. ACI Africa is proud to offer free access to its news items to Catholic dioceses, parishes, and websites, in order to increase awareness of the activities of the universal Church and to foster a sense of Catholic thought and culture in the life of every Catholic.

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