Sudan Bishops Meet in Torit

The Sudan Conference of Catholic Bishops is holding its annual Plenary Assembly here in Torit December 5-15. The bishops have a packed schedule, and topping the heavy agenda is how to respond to the fragile political situation in the country as it moves towards elections in April of next year and the referendum on the independence of the South in January of 2011. Earlier this week even as the bishops were meeting, several prominent members of the opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement which governs the South, were arrested at a political demonstration in Khartoum. This triggered protests in different locations throughout the country, and the burning of at least one and the possible damaging of other offices of the National Congress Party (which controls the central government in the north). Additional demonstrations are reportedly planned, and calls have been renewed - and fiercely rejected by the government - for President Omar al Bashir to face ICC prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

(See these two CNN stories for greater detail:
“Fragile peace may unravel in Southern Sudan”
“Sudan rejects war crimes warrant for leader”)

Despite their demanding schedule, the bishops took time to visit the memorial of local soldiers executed by the central government following the Torit Mutiny of 1955 even after having been promised amnesty. Some point to that event as the beginning of the first civil war. The bishops also visited the grave of local resistance hero Fr. Saturnino Ohure.


I had the privilege of concelebrating Mass with the bishops on December 8 and 9th. On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th), Bishop Macram Gassis of El Obeid (Darfur) preached and celebrated. He is well known in the US, and even preached at a YOUTH 2OOO New York Major Event in the late 1990s. On the 9th Bishop Edward Kussala of Tombura-Yambio (above) was main celebrant. During the homily he related how his plans as a new bishop had been terribly disrupted in the past year by the brutal incursions of the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army into his diocese, and poignantly shared how at the age of two he lost his mother in a northern government sponsored raid on his home village.


I had the opportunity to speak with the bishops for a few moments at the beginning of their session on the 9th, to introduce myself and our community and share about my work here, as well as offer a few suggestions and opportunities which could be of help in their dioceses.

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