By Bida Elly David
The Governor of Central Equatoria State, Emmanuel Adil Anthony has entreated the new Bishop for Catholic Archdiocese of Yei, Alex Lodiong to work towards healing the broken Catholic Church to restore peace and stability.
Governor Adil made the remarks following series of conflicts that resulted into contravention of the Catholic Church where most faithful fled their homes for safety in the neighbouring countries.
In a written speech read during the function in his absence, Governor Emmanuel said that most Yei domiciles have fled to refugee camps seeking safety and the facilities such as hospitals, schools, churches that used to subsidize them were devastated.
“Bishop Alex, as we welcome you to your seat of authority, you are already aware that a big portion of your diocese is not accessible to you. So many of your flock are either in refugee camps outside the country or are deep in the forest and wilderness of Yei,” he said.
“The facilities where your people used to access, services be it spiritual or social are no more and if they are accessed, they may not be in good shape. Many churches, schools and health facilities remain desolate or are in ruins like Luthaya Parish church just near here,” he stressed.
Furthermore, Governor Adil admonished Bishop Alex to be focused by fully taking the responsibility of his work in order to build the broken walls of his diocese for peace and stability.
He said that nomination of Bishop elect is a call and responsibility to work for peace and stability to bring back home brothers and sisters who are in the refugee camps, so that they will partake in the rebuilding.
In addition, Adil stated that the broken walls of the Catholic Archdiocese of Yei should be restored back to shape places of worship and service delivery to the suffering population. “Your Lordship Bishop, your coming will greatly supplement the work of your counter parts from the other sisterly churches,” he said.
“Though the case is old, the circumstances leading to its destruction is the same – war. Therefore, your coming to Yei is like the Biblical Nehemiah who led back the exiled Jews people to help in rebuilding their walls in Jerusalem, the city of God. In the same veil, I would say, for us to succeed in rebuilding the broken walls throughout the length and the breadth of your diocese,” Governor said in the statement.
In continuation, Adil also encouraged Bishop Alex to engage religious leaders from other denominations in facilitating activities that could restore peace in the County the way his predecessor did during defunct Yei River State.
“These men of God including your predecessor his Lordship Erkulano Lado Tombe did quite a great job during the conflict. There were outstanding sources of hope and inspiration to our despondent population that remained unstained in Yei against all odds of the time. As government of former Yei River State, we were much closer to our spiritual leaders and always consult and share information and compared notes on many issues of spiritual interests and concerns to us and our people,” Adil call on him.
“To continue with the same spirit, as you take up your new responsibility, the government of Central Equatoria State pledges to work with you on the same page together with the rest of your colleagues; the Bishops and spiritual leaders of other faiths in the same manner and even better than when we did in the past. In conclusion, the issues of insecurity and instability have remained the major challenging factors affecting the lives of our people negatively in the Counties of Central Equatoria State that constitute the greater part of the Catholic Diocese of Yei,” Adil stated.
However, Governor had urged religious leaders to collaborate with the government to bring stability in Yei by engaging those holding guns against the State to refrain and dialogue such that the County is transformed from bitterness to betterment of transformation.
“I urge that we in the government and the religious leaders should jointly exert efforts for realization of durable peace and stability in all the areas of the diocese of Yei. Let us take this as a matter of urgency to engage our sons and daughters that are still holding guns against the state to opt for a dialogue and peaceful means of addressing their political grievances. This needs to happen to allow all our people to return home because the stories we are hearing are that the situation is not good for them in the camps; God bless us all,’’ Adil said.