A couple of months ago I visited Torit, the state capital of
East Equatoria State. It is also the
seat of the Catholic Diocese of Torit, which includes Nimule in its area. While there, I decided to visit the
cathedral. I was expecting to see a
grand building similar to the cathedral in Kampala, which is a magnificent
French Gothic building built soon after the missionaries arrived, or maybe a
lovely Italian style church similar to those I saw in the north of Sudan where
the Comboni Missionaries were very active.
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| View of the altar at Torit's cathedral |
In fact the cathedral is a cracked and ruined shell. Fragments of stained glass cling to a few high
windows, but other than that it is a total wreck. I was almost reduced to tears it was such a
sad sight.
I met the Apostolic Administrator (the head of the Diocese
while they wait for a replacement for the previous Bishop). He told me that the current cathedral is the
fourth on that site. The first was built
by the Comboni Missionaries who brought Catholicism to Sudan in the 19th
century. That building was obliterated by
the Arabs and rebuilt three times during the seemingly endless war. Each time it was destroyed by bombing again. The Diocese is trying to find funds to
replace the fourth one. They have been
told by the surveyors that the foundations are now too unstable so that the
cathedral will need to be built on another site. In the meantime the congregation sits under a
very large shelter in the grounds.
Back home in Nimule, Mass is celebrated in a very shabby
chapel dedicated to St Patrick. Like the
cathedral, the chapel was bombed, but not so disastrously. It is very plain. There is a tiny cross on the altar and one
statue of the Virgin and Child. Other
than that the chapel is completely unadorned.
It is also far too small for the parish.
So much so that many people have to stay outside, listening via
loudspeaker. The chapel replaced an even
smaller wooden chapel.
The parish priest, Father John, and several predecessors
have fundraised for a long time with the aim of building a bigger church. Late last year Father John took the plunge
and decided that too much time had gone by.
Even though donations were insufficient he ordered the building work to
begin in January this year. Work has
been moving ahead very quickly since then.
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| The construction work at St Patricks. You can just make out the chapel inside, dwarfed by the new church. |
Fundraising continues while work progresses. Every Sunday the congregations of each Mass
compete to raise the largest amount. There
are contests at the end of each Mass between various groups, youth against
elderly, men against women, supporters of various football teams etc. In spite of all encouragement it is very hard
for parishioners to find much money because the vast majority are desperately
poor, struggling to eat more than one meal a day. We are fortunate that the compound is very
large and parts of it are rented out to big international organisations such as
the UN, Caritas and others. In his
determination to make the best of the funds, Father John asks for the rent to
be paid in dollars. A proportion goes
towards the ongoing construction work.
The church is being built around the current chapel, so that
it can make use of the old foundations.
As a result the congregation has to step over the building materials and
walls to get inside. Once the chapel is
demolished we will be celebrating Mass under trees elsewhere in the compound.
Visiting clergy from Torit look with envy at the building
activity. They are even considering the
possibility of moving the cathedral from Torit to Nimule to take advantage of
our parish’s fundraising. Whether this
happens or not, there is a desperate need of more funds to complete the
work.
The Diocese is a very poor one even though it is rich in
land. There is a shortage of priests
because a lot have been called to the Islamic north by the Archdiocese where
they are ministering to the persecuted Christians. In everything the Diocese is hampered by lack
of finance. To counteract these factors
and meet the needs of the people, the Apostolic Administrator is trying to
entice religious orders and congregations to come and help with pastoral
work. So far one Korean congregation has
agreed to come, who intend to provide training courses. More are desperately needed.
A previous Bishop of Torit, Bishop Paride Taban, is now a
Bishop Emeritus after gaining permission from the Pope to devote himself to
peace and reconciliation work between warring factions across the country. His efforts are considerably more successful
than the peace talks in Addis Ababa. I
have heard him speak several times.
Peace is his passion – he never talks about anything else.
In Nimule, as well as his excellent efforts for the new
church, Father John is a qualified counsellor, trained in the US and specialising
in Traumatic Stress Disorder. He does a
lot of counselling work in the local displacement camp as well as within the
parish. People here struggle with terrible memories and are in huge need of his
counselling.
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| Bishop Johnson Akio Mutek's tomb |
It looks very much as though hope for the future comes
through the Catholic Church which appears to be carrying out the will of a
previous bishop, Johnson Akio Mutek, whose tomb is just outside the cathedral. His ‘will’ to his flock is inscribed on his
tomb. It reads as follows:
What we need in our
Diocese:
·
Courage
and determination
·
Honesty
and sincerity
·
Transparency
and commitment
·
Sacrifice
and hard work
·
Freedom
from great expectation from outside resources
·
Freedom
from unnecessary long sitting instead of working and reading
·
Freedom
from negative thinking instead of creative and progressive pastoral development
·
Avoid
segregation and stereotyping
·
Avoid
nepotism and ethnicity
·
Work for
unity, peace, hope and harmony to build the nation
·
Work for
peace within our hearts, families, neighbours, villages and society to build
the nation and the Diocese
Father John said in a speech last week that before you can
help people solve their problems they need spiritual healing. Bricks and mortar are important. But first of all, spiritual peace. Without that everything will continue to be
destroyed, as is so clearly the case here in South Sudan.
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