wfn.org | [ENS] Listening: Sudanese synod holds historic meeting in Juba

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Episcopal News Service
Listening, Learning & Epiphany

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Sudanese synod holds historic meeting in Juba

Three delegates represent Episcopal Church

By Matthew Davies

[ENS] In the context of listening and learning, three Episcopal Church
representatives have traveled to Juba, Sudan, for the Episcopal Church
of
Sudan's provincial synod January 23-29, held within its own country for
the
first time in more than a decade.

Building on historic relationships between the U.S.-based Episcopal
Church
and the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS), Janette O'Neill, Episcopal
Relief
and Development's program director of Africa, the Rev. Emmanuel
Sserwadda,
interim Africa officer for Anglican and Global Relations, and Alex
Baumgarten, international policy analyst for the Office of Government
Relations, are attending the synod at the invitation of the Archbishop
and
Primate of Sudan, the Most Rev. Joseph Marona.

"For the Episcopal Church of Sudan to be able to hold its own synod with
all
orders of bishop, clergy and laity represented and for it to be able to
fulfill the various legislative processes -- to make that happen in
southern
Sudan at this time is a remarkable achievement," said Margaret Larom,
director of Anglican and Global Relations. "And to be able to meet at
the
church's historic headquarters in Juba is especially significant. It
symbolizes perhaps the start of a new time in the life of the Church of
Sudan."

Larom hopes that the Episcopal Church's presence at the synod will help
to
strengthen the churches' existing relationships and mechanisms for the
sharing of resources, whether financial or human. "We also hope to gain
a
better understanding of what faces them now so that we can do better
advocacy. It's an information gathering opportunity in every way."

Current companion relationships between the two provinces include
Bethlehem
and Kajo Keji, Chicago and Renk, Indianapolis and Bor. The Diocese of
Southwestern Virginia maintains a relationship with the entire province
that
dates back to 1977.

Bishop Paul Marshall of the Pennsylvania-based Diocese of Bethlehem
ordained
34 African deacons while visiting companion diocese Kajo Keji in January
2005 at the invitation of the diocesan bishop and Archbishop Marona.
While
visiting the Diocese of Bor in 2002, Bishop Cate Waynick of Indianapolis
ordained the first women deacons in the Episcopal Church of Sudan.

Sudan's 20-year civil war claimed more than 2 million lives and
displaced 4
million people. In July 2002, the two warring parties -- the Government
of
Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) -- signed an
agreement known as the Machakos Peace Protocol, stating that "a peaceful
and
just resolution based on the unity of the Sudan is [their] common
objective,
and that a military solution is neither viable nor desirable."

This was further bolstered in January 2004 when another agreement
stipulated
conditions of wealth sharing.

In May 2004, armed police of the Government of Sudan entered the
guesthouse
of the ECS in Khartoum and ordered the eviction of Church personnel and
property from the building.

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January
2005,
ECS had planned to hold its Synod in April 2005 "but the situation,
especially land-mines, could not allow this," Marona explained. "We are
very
pleased that with the road to Juba now open, the Synod [can] go ahead in
January 2006."

Despite the peace process, a separate conflict lingers in the Darfur
region
of southern Sudan where Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, casually
attack
civilians and refugee camps. A group of British politicians are putting
pressure on the United Nations to "impose sanctions against Sudan for
failing to curb atrocities in the Darfur region," the British
Broadcasting
Corporation reported January 26.

For many years, some of the southern Sudanese bishops have had to
function
from locations outside Sudan, such as Nairobi, Kenya, and Kampala,
Uganda.
Bishops from the north whose headquarters have been in Khartoum have
found
themselves ministering to displaced people from dioceses in the south.

"There is a deep need for the province to function as a province," Larom
said, "Logistically it has not been able to because of being scattered
and
living in the context of war."

Representing the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan
(AFRECS)
at the synod are executive director, Nancy Frank, and treasurer, Fritz
Gilbert. AFRECS board member, Jerry Drino, and colleagues will be
traveling
to the Diocese of Bor January 31 for the celebration of the 100th
anniversary of the founding of Christianity by the Church Mission
Society
among the tribes of the Upper Nile.

"The significance of this event is that from 1906-1983 only about 5
percent
of the tribes became Christian," Drino said. "Then the civil war came,
2.5
million were killed, 4 million internally displaced, 1 million in exile,
7
out of 10 women are widows and today more than 90 percent are
Christian."

The second annual AFRECS conference will be held at Trinity Cathedral in
San
Jose, California, from February 17-19. Speakers will include Brian
D'Silva
of USAID, the Rev. Enock Tombe, provincial secretary of the Episcopal
Church
of Sudan and Harriet Baka Nathan, trainer for the Mother's Union.
Further
information can be found online at: http://www.afrecs.org.

Episcopal Relief and Development is providing education and training for
Sudanese students enrolled in vocational colleges at the Kakuma camp in
northern Kenya, where they are learning skills that will help them
provide
food and income for their families.

ERD is also providing critical aid to help displaced people in the
Darfur
region and neighboring Chad. Through partner agencies, ERD is supplying
vulnerable families with food, medicines, emergency health care, and
access
to clean water in Darfur and providing humanitarian assistance to
refugees
in three camps in Farchana, located in the central region of the Chad
border. Women and children are receiving mental health care services.
Children will attend schools at the camps and their mothers will receive
life skills and health education.

To make a contribution and help the people of Sudan, donate to the Sudan
Relief Fund at www.er-d.org or call (800) 334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can
be
mailed to: Episcopal Relief and Development, c/o Sudan Relief Fund, PO
Box
12043, Newark, NJ, 07101.

-- Matthew Davies is international correspondent/multimedia manager for
the
Episcopal News Service.

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