Let’s Continue Praying for “a shared peaceful future”: Catholic Bishop in South Sudan

“We need to continue praying because it’s God who will protect us and remove us from all the challenges we are going through,” he emphasized. 

Making reference to the October 19-25 SCBC Plenary Assembly Bishop Carlassare said that he planned to present “four pillars that focus on evangelization, justice and peace, education, and human development to the other bishops.”

“In the Diocese of Rumbek, we have mostly four pillars, the first pillar is evangelization, (through) the formation of the pastoral agents, and also formation of our seminarians,” the Italian-born Bishop who has been at the helm of Rumbek Diocese since his consecration on March 25 said.

The second pillar, Bishop Carlassare said, “is justice and peace which is an important ministry where we want to bring together all communities within the Diocese.”

“The third pillars is education because in the Diocese, we have a great investment at school level with 21 primary schools, seven secondary schools, three vocational training centers, the teacher training and also now the desire to have a Catholic University and the last pillar is Human development,” he said.

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Making reference to the weeklong Plenary Assembly in Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum, Bishop Carlassare said, “The conference is an opportunity for me to share ideas about the Diocese and the Catholic Churches in Sudan and South Sudan.”

He looked forward to the encounters during the Plenary Assembly, saying, “My expectation is to sit together with my brothers and the elder Bishops of the different Catholic dioceses in Sudan and South Sudan to discuss the strategies and the pastoral plans.”

The 44-year-old Bishop added, “The conference will help us to propose all together to prioritize evangelization in our country and evangelization that takes the name of reconciliation.” 

“This is because evangelization and reconciliation is very important for the people of this country because they have been going through many difficult things in life,” Bishop Carlassare said during the October 18 press conference.

On October 18, SCBC members convened their weeklong Plenary Assembly in Khartoum to review the achievements and challenges the people of God are facing in the two-nation Dioceses. 

In an October 18 interview with ACI Africa, the Social Communication Coordinator of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC) said the October 19-25 Plenary Assembly will see Catholic Bishops in the two neighboring countries deliberate on approaches to their pastoral ministry among the people of God.

“The Bishops will come together as the (Local) Ordinaries of Dioceses to talk about pastoral issues that they have in their various Dioceses,” Fr. John Gbemboyo told ACI Africa.

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.