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Enroll Your Sons in Seminary for Integral Formation: Rector in South Sudan to Parents

St. Lawrence Minor Seminary - Juba. Credit: Courtesy Photo

The Rector of St. Lawrence Minor Seminary of Juba Archdiocese has encouraged parents in the South Sudanese Metropolitan See to consider enrolling their sons in the Archdiocesan institution of learning and formation.

Fr. Jackson Yugusuk who was speaking during the celebration of the Feast Day of the Minor Seminary on August 10 assured parents that their sons would receive human, intellectual, and spiritual formation in the Minor Seminary.

“My message to the faithful of the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba, especially to the parents, is to encourage our children to come to the seminary,” Fr Yugusuk said.

He added, “Sometimes we have a negative perception thinking that if we send our children to the Seminary, they would not be able to do other things like those who have never attended the Seminary.”

“I would like to tell parents that the Seminary is a good place, because we give human formation, intellectual formation, and at the same time there is spiritual formation,” the Rector of St. Lawrence Minor Seminary of Juba Archdiocese said during the August 10 event.

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The years of formation in the Minor Seminary will contribute to the growth of the enrolled Seminarians, and should they proceed to the Major Seminary for the formation to the Priesthood, they will be more mature at Ordination, the South Sudanese Catholic Priest said.

The benefits in the Minor Seminary are realized when one is already enrolled in the learning and formation institution, Fr Yugusuk said.

He added, “I am encouraging the parents to send their children to seminary because when you look at the situation outside, it's discouraging, especially the youth gang groups across Juba.”

“This is happening because they didn’t get the right person who will direct them to the right path of life,” the Minor Seminary Rector said about the youth who are associated with criminal activities in South Sudan’s capital city, Juba.

Some youth join the criminal gangs “without knowing what is happening in life,” he said, adding that the integral formation in the Minor Seminary makes those enrolled in it “know that when you do something wrong to your brother or sister it’s a sin.”

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“Let the boys come to seminary so that we train them when they become Priests, we will send them outside to preach the word of God,” Fr. Yugusuk emphasized. 

The South Sudanese Priest said while missionaries from European countries and others were relied upon for evangelization in the East-Central African nation, they are no longer available and “it’s now time to evangelize ourselves.”

“If we don’t send our children to the Seminary, we will not have such Priests in the future,” he said, and continued, “Those who have been here have died” while others are serving in specific missions. 

“This is the right time for us to evangelize ourselves alone; that is the reason why we have set up Seminaries in the Archdiocese of Juba,” Fr. Yugusuk said, adding that through the Seminaries in South Sudan’s only Metropolitan See, the country has had its own Priests.

He went on to underscore the need to pray for vocations to Priesthood and Religious Life, saying, “Let’s not forget to mention the name of the Lord in our prayers; we should continue to pray hard as Jesus said the harvest is rich and harvest are few.”

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Patrick Juma Wani is a South Sudanese journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. Patrick holds a Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from Makerere Institute for Social Development (MISD) in Uganda. He has over 7 years of extensive experience in leading the development and implementation of media, advocacy, communication and multimedia strategy and operations, with an excellent track record of editorial leadership, budget management, and stakeholder outreach. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.