SOUTH SUDAN: Diocese of Rumbek Kicks Off Healing and Recovery Prayers for Bishop-elect

Ginaba Lino

South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Rumbek (DOR) has on July 3, 2012, called upon all the people in the ecclesiastical region to join hands in prayers for the recovery of Bishop–elect Monsignor Christian Carlassare.

A letter read by the Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek Fr. Andrea Osman Okello states that all the clergy, women and men Religious should leave all their grievances and come to the prayer for the welcoming of the Bishop-elect back to the diocese.

“We are sharing a prayer in which we call on all our communities to stay together. This will be done in all the various parishes of Rumbek, schools and prayer groups,” the Vicar General adds.

Fr. Okello says, they are to jointly asking the Lord for the healing of Bishop-elect and for his safe return to the Diocese of Rumbek.

Pope Francis appointed Msgr. Carlassare as Bishop of Rumbek Diocese on April 26, 2021. In a dramatic turn of events, the Bishop-elect was shot on both legs, when two armed men gained access to his room in a block that houses priests serving at Holy Family Cathedral of Rumbek Diocese.

He received initial treatment at the health facility under the auspices of Doctors with Africa CUAMM in Rumbek and later was air-lifted to Kenya’s capital and was admitted at the Nairobi Hospital.

On May 17, Msgr. Carlassare a member of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) who was discharged from the hospital for home-based care called for reconciliation and justice inspired by the “heart of God.”

The Italian cleric ministered in South Sudan’s Malakal Diocese since his arrival in the east-central African nation from 2005 until his appointment as Rumbek’s bishop.

On May 5, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Matthew Remijio of South Sudan’s Wau Diocese as the Apostolic Administrator of Rumbek Diocese, with the mandate to temporarily govern the Diocese until Msgr. Carlassare “is healed, ordained and takes over the governance of the Diocese.

“May we all continue to grow in faith and hope so that the joy of the Gospel may be shared in our world. As a pilgrim people of God, we journey together, supporting one another along the way, and sharing a message of forgiveness and unity with those we meet,” reads part of the formulated prayer which seeks the intercession of St. Josephine Bakhita and St. Daniel Comboni.