What Lies Ahead of the New Bishop of Yei?
By Taban Kwaje
On February 11, 2022, the long-awaited news of the Vatican appointment of a new Bishop for the Catholic Diocese of Yei broke out to the excitement of the public.
The Holy See appointed Fr. Alex Lodiong Sakor, a diocesan priest, to replace His Lordship Bishop Erkolano Ladu Tombe, the diocese’s first Bishop. Erkolano had clocked the mandatory retirement age cap of 75 years back. So, his replacement was long overdue.
Social media was awash with congratulatory messages and photo uploads of the Bishop-Elect, Alex. Unlike his predecessor, the news of the appointment of Msgr Lodiong was received with joy amongst the faithful of the diocese.
Bishop Erkolano was appointed and consecrated in 1987. However, his announcement was rejected by some priests and the faithful who argued that there was no need to appoint a mere priest from another diocese when there were capable priests already serving the diocese.
The faithful had thought that capable priests at the time like Fr. Simon Khamis Mabe, who ostensibly remains the darling of the faithful in Yei would be appointed by the Holy Father.
The rejection of Erkolano led to the detention of some priests and Christians in Yei and to date, there are no recorded accounts of a genuine reconciliation to unite the faithful in the diocese thereafter.
What Alex Lodiong should expect!
Alex Lodiong is inheriting a diocese that has been deeply divided for over three decades and suffered revenge administration anchored on vendetta. The parishes in the diocese were administered on the basis of who supported the announcement of 1987.
A parish like St. Joseph – Lutaya that was not a collaborator in 1987 suffered the wrath of the former administration. The parish suffered marginalization in many aspects.
First, its historic church building that Christians built in the 1980s was not renovated after the long Sudan war ravaged it. Instead the Bishop ordered its demolition to destroy history.
Second, despite being close to the cathedral, St. Joseph has no stable parish priest to manage its affairs after Fr. Remijo and Fr. Dominic left.
Third, when Bishop Emeritus Paride visited the diocese in the early 2000s, St. Joseph was not included in the list of parishes to be visited for fear of accusations, despite being the first parish in the diocese and burial place for all priests.
The faithful had to ambush Paride’s motorcade on its way back from Ombasi and staged a protest. Paride personally invited a delegation to meet him at Christ the King Cathedral.
Alex is going to a diocese where there are less than 10 able priests. Many of whom quit priesthood and sought new ways of life due to poor welfare.
Some priests joined politics or civil service, Fr. Remijo Lasu for instance is in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Fr. Severio Andruga, is Central Equatoria’s state Minister of Information and Fr. Simon Kenyi, joined the Parliamentary commission.
A sizable number of priests died due to preventable and treatable diseases since they were unable to access health care. Some have since run mad and not taken to any rehabilitation hospitals.
The priestly vocation has nearly died due to limited funding, reduced number of young people willing to take the priesthood vocation since it was made unattractive. Most priests had quit protesting unfavorable policies and lack of motivation from the diocese.
The only minor seminary of the diocese, St. Augustine has closed. The supply of seminarians to the major seminary is very limited. Since 2012, the diocese has never ordained any priests.
More still, even before the 2013 and 2016 wars, many parishes had been shut down for unknown reasons. Only two functional parishes existed; Christ the King Parish, which hosts the cathedral and Tore Parish. Lainya Parish was under foreign catholic missionary priests at the time.
So, the new bishop is going to lead a diocese that has only one parish with an estimated 70 percent of its faithful residing in foreign countries as refugees.
Social services provided by the diocese
Radio Easter is at least trying to provide access to information using the basic capacity it can afford.
Christ the King Primary School remains operational, Comboni and St. Joseph secondary schools in Kajo-Keji and Yei that were the giants of greater Yei have been looted and burnt down. I’m not sure St. Bakhita Health Centre is operational in Yei following the murder of Rev. Sr. Veronica Rakoba. Caritas Yei is just a name on a paper.
Why do I bring all these? This baseline data is very important if the new Bishop is to make a change and bring both spiritual and social development to Yei.
His Lordship Alex should prioritise restoration of the unity of the Christians through sincere dialogue and reconciliation, improve the welfare of priests, support and promote peace efforts so that peace and stability can return to the area to attract voluntary repatriation of refugees, and revitalise the diocesan social institutions like Radio Easter and Caritas Yei, among others by deploying technocrats who have capacity to attract donor funding and sustain projects, but not necessarily the relatives of the Bishop and priests.
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