wfn.org | [ENS] U.S. bishop ordains 37 Sudanese at invitation of region's

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>]

Friday, January 14, 2005

U.S. bishop ordains 37 Sudanese at invitation of region's bishop,
primate

>From Pennsylvania's Bethlehem diocese, Paul Marshall makes mission visit
to
Kajo Keji

Sidebar 1: Time to hear African women's voices, Diana Marshall affirms
Sidebar 2: HIV/AIDS pandemic central in relief efforts

ENS 011405-1

[Photographs accompanying this article can be found online at:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_56840_ENG_HTM.htm or
http://www.diobeth.org ]

U.S. bishop ordains 37 Sudanese at invitation of region's bishop,
archbishop

By Bill Lewellis

[ENS, Diocese of Bethlehem] On the feast of the Epiphany in the Diocese
of
Kajo Keji, Episcopal Church in the Sudan, Bishop Paul Marshall of the
Pennsylvania-based Diocese of Bethlehem ordained 34 African deacons at
the
invitation of the diocesan bishop and the province's primate. With the
assistance of Bishop Manasseh Dawidi and clergy, he also ordained three
new
African priests for the war-torn diocese.

Marshall and his wife, Diana Marshall, represented the northeastern
Pennsylvania diocese during an early January week-long visit with the
people
of Kajo Keji. They addressed 17 gatherings and the bishop preached at
least
three times each day.

Marshall expressed his gratitude to Bishop Manasseh Dawidi of the Kajo
Keji
diocese and to Sudanese Primate Joseph Marona for the invitation to
perform
the ordinations.

"The mission trip had been in planning for more than a year," Marshall
said,
"but, when the Windsor Report appeared, I offered not to come, lest my
presence create problems in the diocese or in any way be an
embarrassment."

Bishop Manasseh not only renewed his invitation for Marshall to come to
meet
and speak to his people, but rescheduled the ordinations to coincide
with
Marshall's visit. The enhanced invitation, Marshall said, was "eloquent
testimony to our essential unity in Jesus Christ."

Marshall began his 90-minute sermon (the Sudanese minimum for sermons at
such an occasion) by noting that the Epiphany is a day of great
importance
in the Bethlehem diocese, which bears the name of the place to which the
star led the magi seeking the newborn Christ. Noting the clarity and
brightness of the Sudanese night sky, he added, "but this year the star
has
brought me from Bethlehem to find Christ in Kajo Keji, and I have found
him
in you."

Bishop Marshall and Mrs. Marshall are the third team to go from
Bethlehem to
Kajo Keji. Wartime conditions limited the first team to the relative
safety
of refugee camps in Uganda. The second team penetrated Sudan near the
border
with Uganda. The Marshalls are the first to visit Kajo Keji county
extensively.

Despite the recent peace between the key southern army and the Khartoum
government, other conflicts continue. At several points the Marshalls
were
guarded by detachments of Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) troops
because local fighting was going on among rebel sub-groups a few miles
away.

The primary purpose of the visit, Marshall indicated, was to respond to
what
was said in the invitation: how much it will mean to the people of Kajo
Keji
just to know that we know they are there.

"They tell me that the war has driven the lions out of your tall grass
to
safety in other countries," Marshall preached at the ordination liturgy.
"But I tell you that there is still one lion in Kajo-Keji. He is your
bishop."

Noting Bishop Manasseh's efforts in evangelism, refugee ministry, and
the
social reorganization of Kajo Keji county, Marshall also expressed
gratitude
for Bishop Manasseh's continued practice of self-sacrifice. "Although he
could live in some comfort," Marshall said directly to the ordinands,
"Bishop Manasseh is a servant in the way Jesus served -- I pray that we
can
all have such ministries."

The Marshalls, like Bishop Manasseh, lived as the people live, in a
traditional tukol (a thatched hut). Electricity and plumbing are not
present.

A photographer since the 1950s, Marshall told the congregation that,
although he had taken many pictures of them and their life, there were
two
moments when he could not bring himself to hold a camera.

The first was when his four-seat plane was greeted by hundreds of people
singing, drumming, and dancing their welcome.

"Those were happy tears. But other tears kept me from taking pictures
when
we drove through Kajo-Keji town itself, where no building has been
spared
bombing, and only two have had their roofs replaced."

>From the hill overlooking Kajo Keji, one can see miles of
>nearly-deserted
land. "There was once a tukol under each mango tree," said Bishop
Manasseh
of the devastated country, where the overwhelming majority of the people
who
remain practice subsistence farming.

The Diocese of Bethlehem is assisting the Kuku people (the name of their
tribe) develop a market economy. A casaba plantation and the women's
sewing
projects are the first steps in this development.

On January 9, Bishop and Mrs. Marshall worshiped with Sudanese refugees
in
Uganda while a treaty was signed ending the second of the civil wars
that
have devastated Kajo Keji and other southern counties since 1956. The
refugee congregation broke into sustained applause, singing, and dancing
as
Bishop Marshall said, "You have been through the fiery furnace and God
has
preserved you -- we are humbled to know people of such faith and
perseverance."

Bishops Marshall and Manasseh discussed issues of reconciliation in
their
own churches. For the Sudanese, the return of refugees and their
reintegration into Kajo Keji life is a big issue. Bishop Manasseh
believes
that the trauma of war combined with differing decisions people made to
remain in or to flee their homeland will demand much pastoral and
psychological care over the next decade.

Marshall spoke of the patterns of response in the Episcopal Church in
the
USA regarding sexuality, but put particular emphasis on the church's
repeated reluctance to enter wholeheartedly into evangelism and "our
growing
awareness that we may not agree about what Jesus has put the church here
to
do. On a daily basis our people have become hesitant to speak
unashamedly of
Jesus Christ, and we have much to learn from you."

Bishop Manasseh observed that evangelism exploded in southern Sudan when
the
Islamic government expelled the English missionaries "and the people had
to
take responsibility for their own church." The bishops agreed that in
each
of their churches the issues of the day must be met by the gospel and
not
take precedence over it.

As an American, Marshall had to adjust to the Sudanese expectation that
a
bishop would preach for at least 90 minutes and address less formal
occasions for 45 minutes. Marshall observed that there is "great delight
in
learning to develop a biblical text with a congregation eager to explore
its
meaning in depth."

Each bishop expressed thanks for the many gifts God is giving the church
through the ordination of women to the diaconate and priesthood. In each
diocese women are increasingly present as ordained leaders, while
maintaining their long tradition of lay involvement.

After Marshall concluded the priesthood ordination formula for the Rev.
Joyce Doru, the large outdoor congregation broke into sustained applause
and
singing.

The bishops also celebrated the growing commitment in each of their
dioceses
to the nurture and education of the young.

Marshall expressed his conviction that his diocese is called to do more
to
stand beside the Sudanese as they rebuild their society. Rather than
making
promises from the hip, he promised to devote Lent to work with diocesan
structures and groups. "It is clear that our priorities must be
rearranged,"
he said. "I will seek God's guidance and the wisdom of God's people in
shaping our shared ministry."

The Marshalls will reflect on their mission trip in local meetings in
February and March.

Bishop Manasseh had visited the Diocese of Bethlehem in 2000, and had
addressed a 3000-person diocesan evangelism event. His visit helped
cement
the relationship between the dioceses who in 2001 established an
official
companion diocese partnership.

Since then, local Episcopalians have raised and contributed some
$250,000 to
fund scholarships, buy agricultural tools and oxen, adopt schools and
stave
off starvation in Kajo Keji.

During August and September of 2004, in response to an emergency call to
local Episcopal churches by Bishop Marshall, the diocesan community
contributed $80,000 to feed some 157,000 starving refugees in Sudan. The
expatriates had come back across the southern border of Sudan in May
after
fighting worsened in Uganda where they had lived in refugee camps. A few
months later, the return of refugees combined with drought to produce a
famine.

Funds from Bethlehem paid for weekly shipments of food to the refugees,
some
200 tons, from August through October. "When word of this disaster
reached
me," Bishop Marshall told the diocesan community in October, "I knew you
would respond, but I was not prepared for the depth of generosity and
compassion you have shown. I do not have the words to tell you the depth
of
my emotions at what the people of this diocese have done to fend off
death
in that suffering corner of Africa. In January when I bring your regards
to
the Sudanese in person, it will be full of the awareness that our
hearts,
mouths, and money have truly met."

Bishop Marshall said he offered at that time to cancel the proposed trip
and
use the funds to assist with food purchases. The Sudanese clergy
responded
that it is very important to them that the people know that the West
knows
about them and continues to advocate for them with the American
government.

--Bill Lewellis is communication minister/editor for the Diocese of
Bethlehem.

- - - - -

Sidebar 1: Time to hear the voices of African women

"It is time to hear the voices of African women," said Diana Marshall,
wife
of Bethlehem Bishop Paul Marshall, as she laid the foundation stone of
the
Mothers Union Training Center in Kajo Keji, Southern Sudan, on January
7,
2005.

Mrs. Marshall observed that the church in the United States is grateful
to
have heard the wisdom of African men for some time now, but that the
African
witness will be fully present in Anglicanism when women's wisdom is
celebrated and revered by all.

The Women's Training center will provide young women with education and
skills to build a life for themselves with a new independence. Diocesan
programs already provide training in sewing and tailoring, also
equipping
women for their eventual roles in government and public administration -
roles not previously available in the Islamic regime. The site will
eventually include a nursery school and health center.

- - - - -

Sidebar 2: The church's response to the African AIDS pandemic

Clergy leaders in Kajo Keji are concerned about the church's response to
the
African AIDS pandemic. They note that refugees returning from the south
may
bring the HIV virus with them. The leaders are beginning to educate
people
about the value they place on abstinence, faithfulness and the use of
condoms. Noting that sexual matters are very difficult to discuss in the
religious context, clergy are eager to work with other African churches.

The marginal availability of HIV/AIDS drugs is a concern throughout
Africa.
That concern is magnified amid great poverty in southern Sudan.

Bishop Marshall had visited HIV/AIDS clinics in Swaziland in 2000 "to
seek
the face of Christ among the suffering and those who care for them."
Swaziland has been experiencing an enormous burden because of "the
destruction of the work force and the creation of more than 14 million
orphans. We have a duty to mobilize governmental and non-governmental
agencies and businesses to make the contribution they have the ability
to
make. In the United States HIV is or can be largely contained, although
not
cured. This is not the case in Africa, and I hope Americans can come to
believe that African lives are as valuable as our own."

Marshall discussed with the Kuku clergy the work that diocesan medical
missioner Dr. Ned Wallace has been doing with the Swazis. Since 1991,
Wallace, a parishioner at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bethlehem, has spent
four months each year coordinating a medical education work and service
program in an overcrowded rural hospital in Swaziland. In collaboration
with
the Bishop of the Diocese of Swaziland, Marshall named Wallace medical
missioner for the Diocese of Bethlehem in 1999 when Wallace decided to
make
AIDS-related activities his main focus.

As Bishop and Mrs. Marshall arrived home, Wallace and Trinity Church
rector
Nick Knisely began a two-week mission trip to Swaziland.

"We've been invited and sent with two specific goals in mind," said
Knisely.
"One is to do a resource and needs assessment for the Diocese of
Swaziland
as they work to respond to the AIDS crisis in their part of Africa.
Swaziland may have one of the highest infection rates in the world at
present, and the church in that area has a daunting task dealing with
the
pastoral and relief needs that are resulting. The second is to work with
the
Diocese of Swaziland to determine what might be most helpful to increase
their ability to communicate internally within the diocese and
externally to
the Anglican Communion and the world."

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