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(To read Part I, please click here).

THURS., AUG. 26
Steve Hilbert, foreign affairs advisor for the U.S. Catholic bishops, and I began our day by meeting with Bishop Daniel Adwok Kur, auxiliary bishop of Khartoum.

Along with Bishop Rudolf Deng Majak, president of Sudan's Catholic bishops' conference, Bishop Daniel visited the United States last June under the auspices of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Relief Services.

They met with representatives of the United Nations in New York City, the leadership of Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore, and members of the Congress and the Obama administration in Washington, D.C.

These meetings proved to be very productive. In October, Bishop Daniel will be returning to the U.S. with an Anglican archbishop from Southern Sudan to reinforce with these entities the challenging realities in Sudan, which must be addressed immediately.

Bishop Daniel elaborated on some of the issues that surfaced at our Aug. 25 meeting with the administration committee and staff of the Sudanese Catholic Conference. He pointed out that the Church and other religious bodies were the stable institutions in Southern Sudan, remaining as a constant presence during the horrors of both civil wars.

He commented specifically on the current presence of the U.N. peacekeeping units in the South. This has been an encouragement for the people of Southern Sudan, because previously they felt abandoned.

However, Bishop Daniel noted that many of the soldiers in these units are Muslim and, in the predominantly Christian South, this often creates tension because of long-standing conflicts between Muslims and Christians.

The bishop also expressed hope that the U.N. forces would work more closely with the government in helping to professionalize the armed forces in the South by moving them from the militia units they formerly were to a disciplined army, impressing upon them that the military must be subject to civilian control. Otherwise, the military presence in the South only becomes another form of oppression for the people.

Bishop Daniel shared the need for building a civil society in the South. Although the Catholic Church and other religious bodies were recognized as the stable presence during the civil war, the role of religion in the public forum is not always accepted, especially when governmental policies are challenged or political corruption exposed.

Like others to whom we spoke, Bishop Daniel is frustrated by how slowly those overseeing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) are proceeding toward the Jan. 9, 2011, referendum.

Voter education and registration procedures are lacking; the demarcation of borders has not been resolved, leaving the people of Abyei, Nuba, Kordofan and the Blue Nile areas in a vulnerable position; and there has been little planning for addressing post-referendum issues.

For example, if large numbers of the 1.5 million displaced Southerners living in the North are repatriated, how will they be received in the South? Is there the capacity of the government in the South to provide food, shelter, healthcare services and roads? Are those who will be in transition being prepared for life in their new conditions?

For Southerners who remain in the North, what will be their plight? The dividing line in the North is religion, not race. Southerners in the North have not fared well during the five years of the CPA. Their livelihood has worsened; numbers of Christian women have been imprisoned for producing homemade beer, which is prohibited under Islamic law.

Hence, there is great fear that their basic human rights will be totally abandoned if the South secedes.

Global response
Bishop Daniel is convinced that a strong international presence is essential to insure the fairness of the referendum process, to assist with displacement and to respond to the breakouts of religious and ethnic violence which may occur.

The nine Roman Catholic dioceses of Sudan are working closely to promote peace and justice education founded on the core principles of Catholic social teaching: the dignity of the human person, the importance of the common good, the principal of subsidiarity and the need for human solidarity.

According to Bishop Daniel, the Catholic and Anglican churches are the only part of civil society in the South which has the capacity to do this type of education. He hoped that the U.S. Catholic bishops' Solidarity Fund for Africa would assist the Church in the Sudan, to educate the laity and to help them find their voice for opposing corruption, violence, terrorism and war.

As a member of the committee which oversees the African Solidarity Fund, I will definitely support this request.

After lunch with the staff at the Sudan Catholic Conference, along with Steve Hilbert and the folks from CRS, we went to the United Nations office in Khartoum to meet with Mark Cutts, the head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Humanitarian efforts
Mr. Cutts' office seeks:
• to support and coordinate the efforts of humanitarian groups - both governmental and non-governmental - working in Sudan in order to avoid gaps and reduplication;

• to provide access for organizations in areas where assistance is most needed; to address security issues (the evening before, he had attended a prayer vigil for a German humanitarian worker who had been kidnapped in Darfur recently);

• to advocate with the U.N. and the U.N. Security Council on Sudanese Affairs;

• to develop a common work plan for the U.N. and its partners in Sudan; to serve as a liaison between the United Nations peacekeeping force (UNMIS) and the African Peacekeeping Force (AMIS);

• to manage common funds; and

• to coordinate meetings with various humanitarian groups in Khartoum, Juba and Darfur.

We communicated to Mr. Cutts the concern that the United Nations is not engaged enough in dialogue or communication with faith-based organizations, which often have a better perspective on what is happening at the grassroots level than national and international organizations.

Mr. Cutts acknowledged the problem - pointing out, however, that the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has a mandate to coordinate efforts of the U.N., non-governmental organizations (like CARE and Save the Children), the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He expressed the hope that better ways could be developed to establish greater linkages and communication with regional and national religious bodies. He noted that relationships between the government in Sudan and humanitarian groups at times have been antagonistic and non-constructive.

He cited, for example, the expulsion by the government of a number of non-governmental organizations from Darfur last year. His office is trying to improve these relationships by encouraging the direct communication of complaints and facilitating dialogue between the Sudanese government and the humanitarian agencies.

What lies ahead
Like CRS, the Sudan Catholic Conference and the USAID Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Mr. Cutts' U.N. office is also developing contingency plans for whatever happens following the January 2011 referendum.

The United Nations recognizes that there may well arise regional skirmishes, population movements (some voluntary, some coerced) and the possibility of the resumption of civil war.

After our meeting with the U.N. humanitarian officer, we spent two hours touring the city of Khartoum. It is amazing that almost a third of the city has been developed in the past decade. This is indicative of the impact the recently-tapped oil reserves have had.

Leaving the U.N. headquarters, we encountered a torrential rainfall. Although it lasted less than 15 minutes, the roads were three to four inches deep in water, since there is little or no drainage.

As for the driving, I always pledged I would never get behind the wheel of a car In Italy because the traffic patterns and the quality of driving are so chaotic - "Mamma Mia!" However, Italy seems like a piece of cake compared to Khartoum, where it's every driver for himself, and where jaywalking has been raised to an art form.

We visited a section of the city developed largely by the British during the colonial period, which now houses the Khartoum University, many of the government ministries and the Presidential Palace. This neighborhood merges with a cluster of new hotels and corporate office buildings overlooking the convergence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile.

The Nile River, the longest in the world, is formed by two rivers, the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa and flows north from there to Sudan, while the Blue Nile starts in Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the Southeast.

Although I have heard about the Nile from history books, accounts of African explorers, plays and novels, I had not anticipated how wide and majestic this life blood of Africa is, especially at its point of convergence in Khartoum.

Our evening concluded with a dinner sponsored by CRS for its staff, governmental and humanitarian partners, many of whom are Muslim, to celebrate Ramadan. The gathering was much like a staff Christmas party in the U.S., highlighted by a live band playing pop Arabic music.

FRI., AUG. 27
Retiring around 9 p.m. after the CRS Ramadan celebration, I was unable to fall asleep, probably because of apprehension about waking at midnight for a trip to the airport to catch a 3:50 a.m. flight.

The fact that the elevator was out of order, necessitating Steve and I to haul our luggage down six flights to the lobby, proved to be a bad omen: When we arrived at the airport, we were informed that our flight had been cancelled because of mechanical problems, and that no other flight would be available until the same time next morning.

Back we went to the hotel, arriving at 2:30 a.m. There was, however, a silver lining to this disappointment, as I got my first full night's sleep since the previous Sunday.

The "free day" provided the opportunity to catch up with my trip's journaling, to do some reading and reflection on what I had observed to date, and to enjoy a pleasant luncheon and dinner with the folks from CRS.

SAT., AUG. 28
Juba
Again, we arrived at the airport at 1 a.m. for a three-hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya. It took two hours to pass through the seven security checkpoints at the airport. I'll never complain again about U.S. domestic flights!

Steve and I had a five-hour layover in the Nairobi airport. It was fascinating to observe the number of African, European, Asian and American travelers bustling about this large but increasingly inadequate international airport.

The flight from Nairobi to our destination of Juba in Southern Sudan took about 90 minutes. As the plane cruised to a landing, I was struck by the dramatic change from the semi-arid, flat topography of Khartoum to the lush greenery and mountain peaks surrounding Juba.

Upon disembarking, there was a stark contrast from the more cosmopolitan ambiance of Khartoum to the village environment of Juba, with its mostly dirt roads, tin-roofed shacks and thatched huts.

Unlike Khartoum in the predominantly-Muslim North of Sudan, Christianity is much more prevalent in the South, stemming back 1,500 years to the Coptic church and, for the past century and a half, energized by missionaries - mostly Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian.

In 1964, all foreign missionaries were expelled from Sudan, but throughout both civil wars the Christian churches served as the dominant social institutions in Southern Sudan, and continue to play a key role in all phases of life in the South.

Unfortunately, because of Friday's missed flight, our time in Juba was very short, just a little more than 24 hours. After freshening up at the local hotel, we met with Luke Picard and Tom Purekal of the CRS staff in Juba.

CRS bonds
In Southern Sudan, CRS staff focuses on agriculture, education, health, peacemaking and emergency relief. During the civil war between 1983 and 2005, CRS staff endured all the dangers and humiliations that were experienced by the local populous. Because of this solidarity, CRS remains one of the most well-known and respected humanitarian organizations in Southern Sudan.

Given the high security risk in many parts of the South, international staff serving CRS in Southern Sudan cannot be accompanied by any family members. This is another huge sacrifice they make.

CRS Southern Sudan operates in an extremely complex environment. Large portions of the country are flood prone, meaning that above-normal rains can lead to displacement as well as crop failure. At the same time, a year without sufficient rain can be equally devastating, leaving drought-affected households unable to produce sufficient food supplies.

Insecurity, including intra- and inter-tribal conflicts, is a constant presence in Southern Sudan and forces tens of thousands of households into a state of internal displacement every year.

CRS Southern Sudan's Emergency Preparedness and Response program provides support to these populations, including food, temporary shelter materials and essential household and hygiene items.

CRS also works closely with the Catholic Church and other ecumenical partners in Southern Sudan to promote peace-building activities. During the next four months, for example, CRS will work with six diocesan partners in Southern Sudan, targeting about 600,000 potential voters within these dioceses with the objective to empower the people of Southern Sudan to participate in the 2011 referendum.

U.N. presence
In the late afternoon, we met with David Gressley, the Regional Coordinator of the United Nations Mission for Southern Sudan. He has been overseeing U.N. affairs in the South for the past six years, so he is a very knowledgeable observer.

Mr. Gressley expressed cautious optimism about a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Sudan. He believes there must be two priorities over the next several months.

The first is the work of the Post-Referendum Negotiations Commission which, Gressley suggests, holds the key to the impending referendum. In their negotiations, two issues are critical:

• a resolution of how the oil reserves will be shared if the Southern part of Sudan becomes an independent nation, and

• what rights of citizenship Southerners will have in the North. Southerners must be assured of basic human and property rights in Northern Sudan if they choose to remain.

Resolving these two elements will not be easy. Each side must be open to compromise and willing to recognize the minimum requirements each must have, so it becomes a win-win situation.

The second priority from Mr. Gressley's perspective is to ensure that the January 2011 referendum is fair and meets basic electoral standards verified by outside observers. This will require great progress in the registration process over the next several months.

In a sense, this registration is as important as the vote itself, because procedures for a transparent registration process and actually putting registration cards in the hands of those eligible to vote will determine the outcome.

The United Nations will be opening offices in all 64 counties of the South preparing people for the referendum and seeking to provide the opportunity for free and open discussion during the pre-referendum period. This initiative will serve as a visible symbol for the Southern Sudanese of the international community's support for the referendum.

In sum, Mr. Gressley believes that there are still many pitfalls to be faced, but people shouldn't panic or react prematurely. Rather, when problems arise they should be addressed patiently and calmly.

While this is a dangerous moment in Sudan's history, it can be a marvelous opportunity for avoiding war and for enabling the people both of the North and the South to live in peace.

Dinner with archbishop
In the evening, we had dinner with Archbishop Paolino Lukudu Loro of Juba, who has been serving a bishop in the South for 31 years. Prior to our dinner at a local hotel, the archbishop addressed a gathering at the hotel of parishioners who are working to build a new parish church designed to seat 1,500 people.

This endeavor is a sign of the health and vitality of the Catholic Church in Southern Sudan despite the enormous political, economic and social problems it faces.

During our meal, the archbishop spoke about his ordination as a bishop at the hands of Pope John Paul II in May 1979, the first episcopal ordination he celebrated during his long pontificate.

It dawned on me that I was present at the archbishop's episcopal ordination: It was at the same ceremony that my beloved friend and fellow Albany priest Matthew Clark was ordained as bishop of Rochester. What a small world!

Archbishop Paolino spent two and a half hours with us sharing moving stories about the bravery of his priests, religious and laity during the violence and bloodshed of the civil war. He described the torture that took place in the so-called "white house" - certainly a far cry from what the White House symbolizes for us in the United States.

He also spoke poignantly about the kidnapping and killing of a close friend. The archbishop himself was on a hit list as an enemy of the government, but the affection of his people spared him.

After a pleasant evening's sleep, we journeyed to meet Rev. Joseph Callistus, a Claretian priest from Sri Lanka, and Sister Kathy Arrata, a School Sister of Notre Dame from Maryland.

They head up Solidarity with Southern Sudan, a collaborative effort of 142 religious congregations who have united charisms, finances and personnel re-sources, in response to the request of the Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference to come to this devastated part of Sudan to help rebuild the Church and society after nearly five decades of civil war.

Still devastated
Southern Sudan ranks at the bottom of the U.N.'s "Quality of Life Indices" for the world's 193 countries: 92 percent of the population are living below the poverty level; 80 percent of the inhabitants of Southern Sudan have been displaced at least once over the past 15 years.

Land mines are estimated to have injured or killed 70,000 people between 1973 and 2009. There are more than 20,000 former child soldiers in Southern Sudan. The illiteracy rate stands at 85 percent and one in four babies die before the age of five.

As we drove to the office for our meeting, evidence of this devastating situation was readily visible: people drinking water from polluted wells; old women carrying water jars or groceries on their heads; large ruts and bumps on the rugged dirt roads.

Solidarity with Southern Sudan has 24 women and men religious working in this part of the nation. They fulfill a fourfold mission:

• training competent professionals to respond to the need for more than 26,000 English-speaking teachers (626 have been trained to date);

• training healthcare personnel (theirs is the only program in Southern Sudan with a registered nurses' program);

• assisting farmers to develop their agricultural capacity; and

• doing pastoral work, which is presently being directed toward collaborating with CRS and the Peace and Justice Commissions of the six dioceses in Southern Sudan to prepare people to adopt an attitude of peace and reconciliation, both leading up to the January referendum and in the post-referendum period.

The theme of this initiative is "Change Your Heart, Change the World." This pastoral effort began on Sept. 21 (the U.N.'s International Day of Peace) and will conclude on Jan. 1, the World Day of Peace in our Catholic Church, a period of 101 days.

A 36-page booklet in English and Arabic has been prepared, containing a theme for each week and a reflection for each of the 101 days. These reflections teach people how to be peace-builders, to reinforce the importance of peace within communities, to prepare for the referendum by praying daily for peace and to deepen each person's commitment to becoming an advocate for peace. Unfortunately, as a post-conflict country with a long history of war, Sudan's familiarity with peace is quite limited. This program will emphasize the importance of peace with God, peace within oneself and one's family, peace with neighbors and peace with all.

One of the weeks' themes, for example, is the healing of memories. Many of the people of Southern Sudan, where most of the conflict took place, have seen family members kidnapped, raped, tortured, murdered and made victims of random terrorist acts.

This naturally would provoke great animosity and hatred toward the perpetrators of these disastrous deeds, but there must be a process of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation. Otherwise, the vicious cycle of violence breeding violence only perpetuates itself.

Peacemakers wanted
In addition to the reflections of each day and the diocesan activities which will take place, there will also be common dates where every diocese and, often, dioceses in conjunction with ecumenical groups will be doing the same thing (for example, a day of prayer and fasting for peace, a day of adoration for peace, a day of praying for reconciliation and a day of praying for success of the referendum).

There will be workshops for diocesan personnel, a website and a weekly radio program, all focused on peace and reconciliation.

Finally, at each parish liturgy and at the beginning of each day in the Catholic schools of Southern Sudan, a special prayer for peace in Sudan will be offered.

Following our meeting with Father Joseph and Sister Kathy, we travelled about three miles to St. Theresa's Cathedral, where I was privileged to concelebrate the liturgy with Archbishop Paolino.

The cathedral is a beautiful Romanesque structure which seats about 1,000 people. It is set in a large square with a gathering space for outside events. Adjacent to the cathedral is a Catholic university and a secondary school.

When we arrived for the 11:30 a.m. liturgy, the 10:00 Mass was still in progress. The cathedral was full, with people lined up outside awaiting the next Mass. They also have an 8 a.m. liturgy in Arabic.

The archbishop graciously extended the opportunity to be the principal celebrant, but I declined, unsure what cultural adaptations might be part of their liturgies. A visiting charismatic group from Uganda had joined us for this occasion and there was a large, lively choir accompanied by an organ and African drums.

I need not have feared the cultural differences in the liturgy. The same format can also be found in our Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, as well as in so many parish churches throughout the world. The altar boys were decked in the type of festive cassocks and surplices which I wore during my years an altar boy at St. Patrick's parish in Troy.

What was quite different, however, was the composition of the congregation. Of the 1,000 people crammed into the cathedral, at least 60 percent were teenagers and young adults, and many would be returning later in the day for a charismatic prayer service with the folks from Uganda.

People sang heartily, worshiped reverently and were attentive to the Liturgy of the Word and to the 20-minute homily delivered by Archbishop Paolino.

The Gospel for the 23rd Sunday of the year tells the story of Jesus rebuking the leaders of a dinner He was attending because of their neglect of the poor and the marginalized. In the spirit of the Gospel, the archbishop an-nounced that the collection for that day would be used exclusively for the orphaned, widowed, blind and homeless in the cathedral parish.

At the end of the Mass, Archbishop Paolino afforded me the opportunity to address the congregation and to communicate how the American bishops and the Catholic people of the United States stand in solidarity with the citizens of Southern Sudan after their long nightmare.

I assured them of our prayers and support for a fair and free referendum and for a peaceful and hope-filled post-referendum period.

The liturgy ended after 2 p.m., so Steve and I headed to grab a quick bite to eat and hurry to the Juba airport to catch a two-hour flight to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, where we were to stay overnight before departing for Nigeria the following morning.

Farewell, Sudan
As we said goodbye to Sudan, I was mindful of the incredible suffering the Sudanese people have experienced over the past half-century. Many of the stories of atrocities I heard were unimaginable.

I was made aware of the power that tribe, language and religion have throughout the African continent but especially in a place like Sudan. Also, I came to appreciate more fully that so many realities we take for granted in the United States - like security in our streets, a well-defined election process, the right to a basic education and accessible health care - are beyond the pale for many in this poverty-stricken, war-torn nation.

On the other hand, I was impressed and inspired by the resiliency of the Sudanese people; their patience and perseverance in the face of mind boggling adversity; the critical role the Catholic Church and CRS play in the South, in particular; the courageous leadership of the bishops and the faith-filled spirit of the people; the sacrifices that the staff people from CRS, Solidarity with Sudan, the United Nations and the United States Embassy make in order to help this and other African countries build their economic, educational, health and infrastructure capacity in order to achieve a new and brighter tomorrow.

I pray that their labors will bear rich fruit.

Final note
P.S. On Sept. 29, along with Steve Hilbert, I had the opportunity to meet at the State Department in Washington, DC, with Lee Martinez of the Office of the US Special Envoy to Sudan to share the insights we had gained from our time in Khartoum and Juba.

I am pleased to note that, last month at the United Nations, President Barack Obama spoke strongly about the need for a free, fair and on-time referendum in Sudan - and that, this past week, a delegation from the U.N., including U.S. ambassador Susan Rice, traveled to Sudan to make the same plea.

(10/14/10)[[In-content Ad]]

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