Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 20, 2007 -- The Apostlate to Christians in Darfur, an active ministry, just completed a retreat in El-Obeid and celebrated a Jubillee for Bishop Antonio Menegazzo. Here the itinerant pastor still serves well, even in conflict-ridden Darfur in southern Sudan.
When the north-south conflict (1983-2005) was going on, all the Internally Displaced Persons from southern Sudan who took shelter in northern Sudan including Darfur lived under threatening conditions; constant displacement, harassment, unnecessary disappearances and death was so closed to them. Despite all the surging currents, Christianity helped all the people who once were even aliens to themselves back in southern Sudan, to live together as they came to their prayer centers normally constructed out of woods and grass. In those makeshifts centers they were consoled by the catechists and priests who only came occasionally. One parish alone in El-Obeid diocese could be like combining two or three states in the US together.
Today in Darfur, in the Apostolate to Christians in Darfur, we only have three parishes: Ed Daein, Nyala, Fasher and Nahud with special status taking care of Northern Darfur from the east. Annual baptisms alone stand at more than 10, 000. A priest must go for a safari that will last for a full month; carrying nothing except the host, sacramental oils and wine. Despite the abject poverty our people have, they conduct themselves as the richest people in the world. They know that war has taken their earthly wealth. But the promise of the life to come is stronger than anything else in this world.
Sometimes as a priest you intend to shy away, expecting people may come to beg you for material things like food, clothes or money. A visitor will ever remain surprised to this. "Abuna, Father, did you bring us Rosaries, Prayer books? We want sacraments! Our children want you around!" They always ask; "When will Abuna come?"
Sometimes, as a priest, you must be forced to lie because you have to move to the next 100 more prayer centers ahead of your short visit. Each time you arrive among them, the people expect you to sleep at their place. They only want your presence to strengthen them, to encourage them in their fears and insecurity.
For example, a group of young men walked for 8 hours on 4th May 2006 to see priests who had come to the SLAM headquarters. I had invited another priest on my first tour in the liberated areas. The young men had walked all those hours through the desert without water. When they arrived, our driver had already started the engine. It was our eighth day there. Rain was approaching, and the visiting priest was a professor who had left his books to come and see what we were doing in Darfur. The painful thing was his disability. He had lost his left leg in the south, once, as a seminarian. When he saw the Internally Displaced Persons in Darfur, he started jumping with happiness to witness such great joy in a people whose faith isn't weakened by the harsh trials of life. As we were entering our car, the young men who arrived declared, "Abuna, we came to see you. We have not seen a priest in seven years!" We simply had to drive off without caring for the needs of the young men. It is a wound that shall stay long in my heart.
When war broke out in February 2003, things changed drastically. Our activities were grounded not because the new rebellions were targeting the church, but because there were people who were evil, targeting and killing certain groups of people. The revolution in Darfur is the most respectful organization in relation to the church's activities; taking care of all the Christians under their care. Not that their movement sprang from the mother revolution in a Christian heartland in southern Sudan, but because the southerners and Dafuris share many things in common.
It was a shock to notice, after touring liberated areas, that the chapels were standing, fully packed with Christians after the serious war in Darfur. The most peaceful place of evangelization is among the Internally Displaced Persons who are under the Darfur revolutionaries. Church personnel are not harassed or questioned about their activities. But a priest should not travel to Darfur without crucifixes, Bibles, rosaries, prayer books and the words of our Master; "Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News!"
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Posted by impact-devine
at 5:50 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, 29 July 2007 4:17 PM EDT
