Fwd: [sudans-john-ashworth] South Sudan church balances prophetic role, practical challenges

[Elisabeth Janaina]

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From: "John Ashworth" <ashwor...@gmail.com>
Date: 22 Aug 2017 08:08
Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] South Sudan church balances prophetic role, practical challenges
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1. South Sudan church balances prophetic role, practical challenges

Aug 21, 2017
by Chris Herlinger
 National Catholic Reporter

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN — Bishop Santo Loku Pio Doggale is not a man to
mince words and he didn't mince words earlier this year when he
discussed South Sudan's descent into a worsening, seemingly
never-ending civil war.

"The government is the orchestrator of the war, and the people are
suffering as a result," he told NCRfrom his office in the capital of
Juba in late May, citing numerous examples of the afflictions South
Sudanese are experiencing: rape, looting and displacement.

"They are being brutally mistreated," the auxiliary bishop of the
capital of Juba said of those who are the victims of violence —
victims who have, at the moment, "no resource to justice. It's a big
mess."

He acknowledges that his critics — in the government and even some,
privately, within the church — wonder if his criticisms are fair,
smart or wise.

But Doggale brushes aside those criticisms, saying, "I'm not afraid."

"My life doesn't matter. I've suffered, too. I've lost members of my
family. But when brutality is the order of the day, someone has to
speak up, especially when you see that the flock is living in fear.
This makes me angry."

Doggale's outspoken stance represents one wing of the church — a
faction that believes that the church needs to be firm in its
prophetic stance not only for the larger cause of peace in South Sudan
but also in calling out the current government for policies and
actions some believe are the cause of the current war.

But in a predominately impoverished, Christian nation where the church
has an outsized role in providing education, social services and even
basic necessities like food, the church's place in society also has a
practical side.

"The Catholic Church has a strong, strong footprint here," said Fr.
Pau Vidal, a Jesuit priest and a project director for Jesuit Refugee
Service in the northern city of Maban. Another humanitarian agrees.
"The churches have credibility here in South Sudan," said Jerry
Farrell, the country representative in South Sudan for Catholic Relief
Services. "In fact, they're the only institutions that do have
credibility, as they touch on so many parts of life: spirituality,
health care, housing, education, food."

Financial figures about the church's role are hard to come by, but
Catholic Relief Services alone has provided assistance of some sort to
more than 1 million South Sudanese, the agency said, and works in
partnership with local dioceses, parishes and religious congregations
of both women and men.

Famine remains a serious problem and 6 million of country's 12 million
people face some kind of food insecurity — the lack of access to food
— according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations. Church-based groups have initiated programs to improve the
humanitarian situation within the country. As just one example, the
Society of Daughters of Mary Immaculate, or DMI Sisters, is working on
local initiatives to assist small communities in agricultural
projects.

Grave problems persist in the country and whether stated in public,
like Doggale, or in private, among numerous Catholics, they revolve
around the current government in power.

The criticisms center on several fronts — that the government has
either not been able to control factions of the government military
forces known as the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which is
predominately made of members of the ethnic or tribal group known as
the Dinkas, or has been purposely targeting non-Dinkas and populations
the government believes oppose it.

Ethnic tensions have been put to use for political purposes, as Human
Rights Watch said in its report on the ongoing conflict, noting that
it began in 2013 when "soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir, a
Dinka, and those loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer,
fought in the capital following months of growing political tensions."

In its 2017 report, Human Rights Watch said that government troops
have "killed, raped, and tortured civilians as well as destroying and
pillaging civilian property during counterinsurgency operations in the
southern and western parts of the country," while acknowledging that
both sides of the conflict "have committed abuses against civilians in
and around Juba and other areas." Some 2.4 million South Sudanese have
been displaced, Human Rights Watch noted.

For its part, the South Sudanese government claims its troops are
trying to battle an anti-government rebellion. It has blamed the civil
war — which began in late 2013 — on anti-government rebels. And it has
said it is committed to finding a peaceful solution to South Sudan's
war with those who oppose the government.

Some within the church, such as Fr. Moses Peter, a diocesan
coordinator for Caritas in the city of Wau — which has faced a serious
crisis, with thousands seeking refuge on the ground of the Catholic
cathedral there — are, like Doggale, government critics. Peter said,
"Nobody trusts the SPLA," and notes that the government has accused
the Catholic Church of being "pro-rebel," a charge he strongly
rejects. (President Kiir is a Roman Catholic.)

Yet the prophetic often mixes with the practical — Peter says in his
humanitarian work, he works cordially with local officials among the
thousands displaced in Wau by the conflict. And the church has a long
history in Wau of involvement with peace efforts among all parties and
factions to help diffuse local tensions.

Everyone in the church is tired of the conflict and is eager to resume
some sense of hope and nation-building that ushered in the creation of
the world's newest nation after it gained independence from Sudan in
2011. Many relish memories from that time, their first taste of
independence, coming after years of war.

"It was a beautiful moment — an independent people felt they could
start afresh," said Vidal. "But the [current] war has worsened the
situation so much and there is no sense of nation unity now."

Some say there is still enough political and humanitarian space to do
needed pastoral work.

"It is certainly better now than in the 1960s when our people were
under Arab rule," Sr. Mary Faida, a member of the Sacred Heart
Sisters, a South Sudanese congregation, said of life under the rule of
neighboring Sudan, which is predominately Muslim. She said the work
now of the church and of religious congregations — whether in
education or in health care — is "giving hope to the people."

Yet there are still deep worries about the church and its future.
Interviewed in May, Doggale said even with all of its problems, he did
not believe that the national government was engaging in systematic
harassment of the church. But he did say some government officials
were probably behind threats to individuals, including him.

"Is it government policy? No," he said, but added he had received
several threatening anonymous calls recently, including one in which a
man told him, "Your days are numbered."

There have been other troubling signs, too: a group of government
troops threatened employees of a church bookstore in Juba in February
of this year and took books off of the shelves they declared were
written by government critics.

Since May, the bishop has become increasingly pessimistic. South
Sudan-based Radio Tamazuj reported in July that Doggale called the
current government's national dialogue strategy "a waste of time." He
said, "The problem is political and it has to be solved by the
political leaders," including Kiir and Machar.

"The ordinary citizens have not yet created any problem, that's why
our faithful citizens are able to stay for three months without
salaries and they don't even demonstrate. They still go to work, you
will never see this in any country in the world," he said.

In emails earlier this month, Doggale told NCR that the current
situation is "getting worse day by day. People are living in the
uncertainty, rampant insecurity, hunger and diseases. In one word. It
is limbo."

In a later email, the bishop said, "The intimidation is of all South
Sudanese by their own government. The ruling elite don't care who you
are, they just do what they want and when they want it." He said there
is there is no rule of law and repeated his belief that the country is
in limbo.

"In South Sudan everybody is under intimidation, and so fear is
instilled into people. It is the church that tries to give some voice,
and so they (the government) are not comfortable about that and that
is why they also get frustrated when the voice of the church continues
in many ways to be aloud and strong on the suffering of the people."

Others who agree with the bishop say privately the church has to be
careful — that it is dealing now with what some call a military
dictatorship and that the church is clearly in the government's
crosshairs.

"This is not a joke, what is happening now," said one member of a
religious order, who said the Kiir government has made a number of
false allegations about the church, including that it has called "for
regime change."

"The stakes are now going up for the church," the member said.

"The blood of the tribe is thicker than the water of Baptism," Doggale
said. "Our government is Catholic. They read the Bible. They go to
church. But how much do they put into practice?"

Others also point out that in such an intense, confusing environment
it is probably no surprise that four dioceses in the country are
without bishops now.

"The Catholic Church is trying to finds its way now. But in keeping
quiet, and not speaking out against human rights, we are taking sides
and protecting our own projects," said one cleric who did not want to
be identified.

"How much injustice will we continue to see? There is so much that the
religious here are witnessing," the cleric said. "When you speak out
[it is assumed], you are speaking out against the government. How can
you do that in a way that is constructive?"

Francis postpones visit, donates over $500,000

In a country suffering from so much trauma, the spiritual dimensions
of the church's work should not be minimized. The Vatican's
announcement in late May that Pope Francis was postponing a visit to
the country tentatively scheduled for later this year because of
security concerns was greeted with great disappointment. Some said
they were shattered.

Numerous clerics and Catholic sisters said the expected visit would
have given them and local parishes a needed boost amid so much bad
news in a war-plagued country with a worsening economy.

Catholics in South Sudan will likely welcome the news earlier this
week that the pope's visit may be back on; in an interview with NCRin
Rome, the head of the Sudanese bishops' conference, Bishop Eduardo
Hiiboro Kussala, said there may be reason to believe that the Vatican
is giving a visit to South Sudan another look.

After the Vatican announced the postponement of the pontiff's visit,
it also announced more than $500,000 in assistance to church-based
humanitarian projects in South Sudan, including a school training
program run by Solidarity with South Sudan; a farming project run by
the international Catholic network Caritas, and two hospitals operated
by the Comboni Missionary Sisters.

[Chris Herlinger is international correspondent for Global Sisters
Report. His email address is cherl...@ncronline.org.]

https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/south-sudans-government-orchestrator-civil-war-says-bishop

https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/south-sudans-government-orchestrator-civil-war-says-bishop

END1

2. Police arrest diocesan official in Wau town

WAU - 20 AUG 2017
Radio Tamazuj

A coordinator for justice and peace commission at the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Wau has been arrested by police on orders of the SPLA army.

Natalina Andrea Mabu was taken into police custody on Wednesday, a
catholic priest told Radio Tamazuj on Friday.

Pastor Moses Peter Joseph said the charge was not announced but
Natalina was under investigations over a suspected outbreak of food
poisoning during a workshop organized in Wau town where a top army
commander and his bodyguard died recently.

Peter explained that unconfirmed reports say that Andrea had a
telephone conversation with one of the army officers before the
workshop kicked off in Wau. “This could be one of the reasons for her
arrested,” he said.

For his part, the information minister in Wau State, David John Pons
denied knowledge of Andrea’s detention.

https://radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/police-arrest-diocesan-official-in-wau-town

END2
______________________
John Ashworth

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