SOUTH SUDAN: Bishop of Yei Calls for Collaboration from Sudan and South Sudan Archdioceses

Ginaba Lino

The Bishop of Yei Catholic Diocese is calling on both Sudan and South Sudan to share the priests among them as the Catholic Church stands for one purpose which is the mission which Jesus to his disciples.

In a homily on Sunday, Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe stressed that some parts of Catholic Church are lacking priests especially the Diocese of Yei, adding that Sudan should also send some priests to South Sudan as missionaries to help the faithful on how Christians can grow in faith.

“We are appealing to the dioceses in South Sudan and Sudan to send their priests among us and to serve us we are all a missionary Church. We ought to be generous not selfish; we ought to give our own sons and daughters to go out to the world and serve. We are asking for generosity, particularly in the dioceses of Sudan and South Sudan to send their own priests to work among us. We are too few and the other dioceses have too many priests: we are asking for their generosity to look into the great grain of faith in Yei and support us. We seek the presence of missionaries from within South Sudan and missionaries from the whole world.”

Bishop Erkolano regrets that Yei has only eleven priests serving in the Diocese which is too large to be managed by such a small number of God’s servants.

He said, Christians should continue praying for seminarians as they are on a journey of formation so that they can reach priesthood as the church needs priests to serve in the ministry of God.

“May I continue to add my voice to invite us the Christian community to continue praying for vocations to the priesthood in this Diocese. We need priests, you know. I have said this more than once. We have only eleven (11) priests with Bishop making total of twelve (12) in this large Diocese which starts from Koji-Kaji up to Mundri. The whole of Mundri is part of the Diocese of Yei. Let us continue to pray to the master of the harvest,” Rt. Rev. Erkolano continued.

Yei Diocese is one of the dioceses which is very large but with few number priests serving in those parishes.

The Catholic Bishop made these remarks during Holy mass in August 8, 2021 at Christ the King Cathedral.