Newest Catholic Diocese in South Sudan Announces 2025 Centenary Celebrations with Calls for Hope and Peace

In his attempt to describe the devastation that the people served by the South Sudanese Diocese, whose erection was made public on July 3 experience, Bishop Carlassare says, “We witness much suffering within our communities. People are displaced because of conflict and floods. There is so much poverty and famine in the land.”

In his pastoral message, he says that the South Sudanese government had not yet found a proper solution for the thousands of people, who had been displaced by violence and were languishing in camps.

“Life is hard,” the Italian-born member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) says, emphasizing the hardships in the region that is also welcoming refugees from the neighbouring war-torn Sudan. “In this situation, hope seems hopeless because we don’t see a change,” he adds. 

The people of God in South Sudan face numerous challenges stemming from years of civil war that broke on in December 2013, just over two years since the country gained independence from Sudan.

But Bentiu, the capital of South Sudan’s Unity State, is harshest. It has been estimated that 90 percent of the town, which hosts one of the biggest refugee camps in the South Sudanese State is submerged. 

Those displaced by years of flooding are living under severe humanitarian conditions in camps that also host victims of South Sudan’s protracted civil war.

Amid these challenges, Christianity is not a new concept to the Nuer, and other groups of people who inhabit Bentiu.

In an interview with ACI Africa on July 5, two days after news of his transfer from South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Rumbek was made public, Bishop Carlassare lauded the long years of faith and resilience of the inhabitants of Bentiu.

He said, “Nuer people are a resilient community that live in very harsh conditions due to conflict and marginalization. Despite that, they have great strength and have a positive attitude towards life. Generosity and solidarity are their assets. They never give up.”

“I am aware of the long journey of faith of the Church in Bentiu from the first mission founded in Yoanyang back in 1925, almost 100 years ago, to the growth of the Church especially in the nineties till now,” Bishop Carlassare told ACI Africa.

In his December 8 pastoral message, Bishop Carlassare notes that Bentiu’s centenary is a celebration of the foundation of the first mission station in Yoanyang. 

The Comboni Missionary Bishop, who spent all his life as a Priest in Malakal Diocese, where he arrived in 2005 following his Priestly in September 2004 says that Yoanyang mission, and in the whole of Bentiu, had been built on “the rock of a firm and secure hope.”

Acknowledging the heavy work that goes into any Church mission, Bishop Carlassare says, “Mission is not the work of one day; it takes centuries. Mission is not the work of a single person, rather it encompasses the lives of many people.”

He notes that the missionaries who arrived in Yoanyang in the year 1925 left their respective countries, coming to a land that they did not know, to a people that they did not know. “These people became their family and friends. They were moved by the love of God.”

“The love of God moved many other people after them,” the Local Ordinary of Bentiu, who doubles as the Apostolic Administrator of Rumbek Diocese says, adding that faithful Christians, Catechists, lay pastoral agents, and local Priests had followed suit, seeking to continue with the early missionaries’ work of evangelization.

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“Their participation in the mission of God wrote a beautiful story of faith, hope, and charity.  Their active contribution made the Church to be truly the family of God where every person finds a home,” he says in his two-page pastoral message ahead of the centenary celebration in his Episcopal See.

He says, “As we celebrate 100 years of faith, we come to understand that we are all part of this mission. We receive the baton from our elders, so that we may continue the work of evangelisation. Mission needs all of us.” 

Reflecting on “Hope”, the theme for the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, Bishop Carlassare says, “Hope is very relevant for our life… If we lack hope, we become discouraged, pessimistic, and cynical about the future. We lose sight of the path we have to walk ahead of us.”

He goes on to describe hope as “not just a wishful fairytale”, but “a confident expectation rooted in the promises of God.”

Hope, he says, is the assurance of the faithfulness of God even amid challenges. “As we place our hope in Him, we can rest assured that He is with us. He guides us and leads us to a future filled with His blessings,” Bishop Carlassare adds.

Pope Francis appointed him Bishop for Rumbek Diocese in March 2021. His Episcopal Consecration that had been initially scheduled for Pentecost Sunday that year (23 May 2021) was postponed indefinitely after he was shot in both legs on 26 April 2021. He started his Episcopal Ministry in Rumbek in March 2022.

In his pastoral message dated December 8, the second Sunday of Advent, Bishop Carlassare calls for preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ.

“We wait for God. But He also waits for us, that we convert from our sins, that we change our divisive way of living, and we finally join hands to build a more fraternal world in preparation for His kingdom,” he says.

The 47-year-old Catholic Bishop appeals, “Let us open new ways of encounter, reconciliation, and fraternity. Let us welcome Jesus in our midst by responding generously to our vocation.” 

Meanwhile, Bishop Carlassare has unveiled a prayer for hope and peace in his Episcopal See ahead of the Diocese’s 2025 Centenary celebrations. Here is full text of the prayer:

Heavenly Father, I am your humble servant,

I come before you today in need of hope.

I need hope for a calm and joyful future.

I need hope for love and kindness.

I pray for peace and safety.

Some say that the sky is at its darkest just before the light.

I pray that this is true, for today seems stormy and dim.

I need your light, Lord, in every way.

I pray to be filled with your light.

Help me to walk in your light, and live my life in faith and service.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.