The Catholic Bishops of South Sudan concluded on Friday a five-day regional meeting to approve the Church’s six-month long Independence Celebrations Programme.
Archbishop Paolino Lukudu Loro said during the opening mass on Monday that the meeting was historic because seven bishops, one apostolic administrator and one vicar general from South Sudan met for the first time on their own.The bishops agreed to launch a Program of Prayer and Action running from May 28, 2011 up to January 1, 2012 under the theme “One Nation from every Tribe, Tongue and People.”
They approved a prayer to be widely distributed among the communities and played in Catholic and state radios for nation buiding and unity.
The Independence programme includes a week of studies on Catholic Social Teaching, in August; a Symposium on the Church in the Sudan and South Sudan, in October; and a Cultural Week to celebrate South Sudan’s diversity, in December.
Each Diocese was invited to erect a memorial for all who died during the war.
The bishops decided to meet again on September 6 to 8 in Juba to reflect on other issues including the steps taken for the establishment of the South Sudan Secretariat for the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.