SOUTH SUDAN: Bishop-Elect of South Sudan’s Rumbek Diocese Explains his Coat of Arms

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA

Prior to his episcopal ordination scheduled for Friday, March 25, Monsignor Christian Carlassare has explained to AMECEA online the significance of his Coat of Arms and what the various icons symbolize to him and to the people of Rumbek Diocese.

The Bishop-elect designed his Coat of Arms last year after the first Episcopal Ordination date was announced to be on the Solemnity of Pentecost 23 May, 2021, which had to be postponed to allow period of his recovery after he was shot on April 2021.

Unlike most Bishop’s Coat of Arms with green tassels, Msgr. Carlassare’s takes the shape of an African shield. He explains to AMECEA Online that instead of having the two traditional spears in the African shield, he has “the pastoral staff and the walking stick of the pilgrim crossed behind the Coat and the travelling stick has an icon of a gourd tied on it which is used to carry milk for the journey.”

At the main center of the shield is a white color which, according to the Bishop-elect “symbolizes openness, availability and holiness.” The white color is in a form of stripe starting from the bottom and rising upwards, “indicating the path of life which has to be taken up with courage.”

On the shield are two red coloured shapes which he discloses to “symbolize the land of Africa that demands Christian witness and self-giving to promote life.”

Expounding on the icon of water which is beneath the shield in blue color, Msgr. Carlassare said, as Christians “life starts with the water of baptism which indicates our conversion and profession of faith. This faith is nourished with bread: bread to eat and the Eucharistic bread which is Jesus Christ who comes to us and accompanies us along the way.”

He continues referencing the broken bread just next to the water of baptism, “The Eucharistic bread is bread broken and given to us, as Jesus gave us his life, and calls us to be bread broken and given to all our brothers and sisters. The broken bread also represents our mission.”

About the cross which is at the center of his Coat of Arms he narrates, “As St Daniel Comboni used to say, the mission of evangelization starts at the foot of the cross. The cross of suffering can be an obstacle to continue on our faith journey but may also become a ladder to climb further.”

Msgr. Carlassare explains further the three figures on the right side of the shield to represent three African people: a woman, a man and a child.

“The man wears a white headband and the woman white pearls to signify the dignity and liberation of the African people, and the commitment of each Christian to bring that liberation to others,” Bishop-elect narrates and continues, “The child reminds us of our vocation to help others grow in Christ.” Additionally, the three figures “also represent the Holy Family; Jesus, Joseph and Mary, as the Cathedral of Rumbek stands under their patronage, and they may embody every family which is a domestic Church.”

According to Msgr. who served as a priest in South Sudan’s Malakal Diocese since 2015, “the icons also help us recall the African saints and martyrs, such as St Josephine Bakhita, Fr. Barnaba Deng, Fr. Arkangelo Ali, catechists and other Christians who offered their life for the faith and the salvation of other people.”

On the left side of the shied, there is the biblical white dove carrying an olive branch, which according to Bishop-elect Carlassare, symbolizes “peace and reconciliation.”

“This message tells the people of South Sudan that God wishes to give us his peace and urges all to leave behind past divisions and violence but invites us to give peace a chance,” he expounded adding that “Any kind of discrimination or marginalization is a deliberate denial of the unity which we all have in Christ.”

The motto which will identify him and the Diocese of Rumbek is “Omnes Unum in Christo” (one in Christ Jesus), borrowed from St Paul message to the Galatians that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”