We, the Catholic Bishops of the Sudan, gathered in Nairobi (Jan. 15-22, 2004) for an extraordinary meeting on Peace, call on all the faithful, the people and the leaders of Sudan, and on all people of good will to embrace fully the peace now coming to Sudan.

Peace seems to be finding a home in our land of Sudan. The peace we have desired for so long is among us through the Sudan peace agreement.

Peace is both precious and fragile. Each one of us must embrace it, maintain it and reinforce it. We are all called to build a home for peace, so that we become a people of peace in a peace loving society.

There is no alternative to peace except peace itself. Peace is not a one time consumable gift, presented to us for an isolated moment of enjoyment. But it is a golden opportunity offered to us to change the quality and content of our lives.

Peace is like the planting of a giant tree that must set deep roots in the soil of our lives and which we must diligently cultivate to produce much fruit. It is the beginning of a season of favour that must never be allowed to end.

“Now is the time to make everything new”, beginning with new hearts and minds (Rev. 21:5). We need new hearts and minds about the sacredness of human life, which, in the culture of war, had become for some a disposable commodity. To foster peace we must respect the precious gift of life and promote its wholeness with a new spirit

In 1997, we the Bishops of Sudan wrote a letter in which we expressed our commitment through a well-outlined Vision, Mission and Values to achieve peace in Sudan. We praise God that the vision for a better and happier Sudan, the mission to weaken the forces of evil and strengthen those of goodness, as well as the values based on faith, hope and love, are coming to fulfilment through the signing of the peace agreement and the evident peace prevailing in much of the Sudan. Our commitment to peace should encourage us forward toward the daily building of peace and peace alone. War is always evil and must be opposed by all means. Human beings created in the image of God deserve to live in Peace. War must be no more!

Peace is a gift of God, obtained from his mercy through the self-sacrifice, and lives of many soldiers and people, young and old, who died as a consequence of the war and all its evils. Many have experienced a lot of suffering, pain, oppression, enslavement, material and spiritual hunger. In spite of all this we are called to embrace peace, and up-build a world of peace in the Sudan with a new outlook and a firm hope.

Thanks and recognition go to all people of good will in Sudan and from abroad for their patient and steady work in the laborious process of finding ways to bring peace to Sudan.

Gratitude and sympathies go to all war wounded and disabled, to all families who have suffered the loss of their loved ones, and all who are now burdened with the evil consequences of the war. On all of them we implore the gift of serenity amid pain. May they be rewarded with the joy of knowing that their pain has brought peace to the Sudan in the merciful plan of God.

The war is leaving among us many wounds, both spiritual and physical, a lot of pain from violence, hatred, the loss of dear ones and a balance of hopelessness that must be healed. This reality calls every one to a generous and patient commitment to an active agenda of Christian forgiveness, reconciliation and healing that must be energised by the Spirit and power of Christ and through the support of community

3. Our Mission: pursuit of Peace and Common Good

As we accept the precious gift of peace, we must recognise that it is coming from God, and that God is giving us a clear mission and the assurance of his strength. We can reflect on the words of the Gospel of St. Luke, and allow them to come home to us:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has chosen me

to bring the good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives,

and recovery of sight to the blind and to set free the oppressed,

and announce that the time has come when the Lord will heal his people”

Our mission is to heal the wounded humanity of Sudan - to restore new life through the healing of memories, freeing hearts and minds, forgiving and bringing about reconciliation. We are called to develop a new vision of life and create new hope. God wants to make everything new through us!

Pope John XXIII in “Peace on earth” teaches us that the four elements in which peace must be planted are truth, justice, love and freedom. Pope John Paul II adds that the essential climate that allows peace to grow is “ the observance of the universal moral law written on the human heart” (Discourse to UNO, 5.11.95).

Let us reflect on how these essential ingredients will nourish peace among us.

a. Freedom will build peace and make it thrive if, in the choice of the means to that end, the people act according to reason and assume responsibility for their own actions. Therefore one must free oneself from hatred, tribalism, revengeful attitudes and discrimination of any kind and deepen his/her Christian conviction to respect others and demand their respect. We must exercise the freedom, now bestowed on us, to worship in our communities, to demand our rights and to voice the rights of all our people; to participate in the planning and decision making in our community assemblies and to do the advocacy necessary to promote the good of everyone. We must not allow our freedom to be suppressed again and we must teach the clear meaning of freedom to our children for a healthy and peaceful society.

b. Love will build peace if people feel the needs of others as their own, and share what they have with others, especially the values of mind and spirit which they possess and bestow forgiveness and reconciliation to everyone. We must “conquer evil with good”(Rom 12:21). The love of reconciliation and forgiveness must prevail over the spirit of revenge and hatred, born from the culture of war. While making ours the structures, symbols and signs of reconciliation in the traditional cultures of our people, we must add to them the love of forgiveness so as to inculturate reconciliation rites with faith values and attitudes brought to all by Christ. He called us to be his ambassadors of reconciliation (2Cor: 5-6).

c. Truth will build peace if every individual sincerely acknowledges not only his rights but also his own duties towards others. There is need to inform and motivate people on the content and responsibilities contained in the Sudan peace agreement and to create the attitude of sharing taking it from the peace agreement. Furthermore, for peace to be planted we must humbly confess to our brothers and sisters the truth of guilt, misconduct and damage we may have done to them. This admission will open the way to dialogue and lead to reconciliation and peaceful solutions. Truth entails civic education in all its contents and the formation of people to an honest sense of morality in daily conduct. The word of God is truth and it must become our guide and map on the journey to peace.

d. Justice will build peace if in practice everyone respects the rights of others and actually fulfils his duties towards them. We need to honour the social teaching of the Church and civic duties and rights of all. Justice must stimulate all Sudanese to work with full and generous dedication to the common good, i.e. the good and welfare of all. To support dedication to the common good, one must re-embrace altruism, patriotism, namely true operative love of one’s country, and a self-giving attitude.

The leaders of the nation should constitute the model of working in the pursuit of justice through good and honest governance and by refraining from favouritism toward some, and exclusion of others among the people they are called to serve. With the coming of peace we expect, as our genuine right, that both Church and the entire civil society will find a participatory role in the government decision making. We ask that the voice, the rights and the rightful demands of the people will be integrated in the new legal system and Constitution. Without the active participation of the people in decision-making, we will not achieve a just order in our society or maintain peace.

With the advent of peace the time of absolute decrees from our elected government leaders should give way to a new participatory modality of leadership that will introduce consensus and open dialogue. Therefore we earnestly encourage greater dialogue in all aspects of civil and political decision-making between those in authority and the people they are meant to serve.

e. Pope John Paul II finally states that the safeguard for peace is the law of God and that the universal moral law is written on the human heart of all. Peace must reawaken the voice of our conscience, that inevitably conveys to each of us joy for the good we do and guilt or bitterness for the evil we commit. The Church, State and all people of good will must join hands to bring lawlessness, criminality and anarchy to an end if peace is to last in Sudan. It is an impending responsibility of those who lead, to exercise good governance by keeping watch over the observance of the law and by providing security among the people through disarming all non military personnel, especially the youth; by preventing crimes and serious misbehaviour such as raids of people, animals or property.

Citizens must realise that the taking of harmful drugs, sexual misbehaviour or promiscuity and excessive drinking are wrong and directly destructive to the moral order and therefore must be avoided to build a healthy peace-loving society.

In any granting of amnesty that may be offered, the Church favours a proper process that respects the rights of those who suffered injustices. Experiences in other countries show that peace agreements that grant a blank amnesty for all without involvement in the process of those offended, can become a threat to true reconciliation and peace.

4. Pastoral and prophetic engagement

To sustain our mission of peace making we must trust fundamentally in God, the author and continual source of peace. Therefore our communities must rely on:

a) Individual and community prayer, through the fervent and perseverant prayer that we have been lifting to God for many years to obtain the present peace agreement. Our communities must become schools of prayer (John Paul II, At the beginning of the 3rd Millennium).

b) Deepen the love for the Eucharist. We are indeed preparing for the world Congress of the Eucharist and we, the Sudan Bishops, have described the Eucharist as “Christ’s gift of himself to heal his broken body, the Church”. Sudan has been broken in many ways. Through a deep devotion to the Eucharist, which we intend to develop this year in each diocese, we shall strive to heal and reunite the broken communities of our people.

c) More frequent reception of the Sacrament of reconciliation to receive from God the grace to be forgiven and to forgive, and be reconciled with others. Such reconciliation is a solid preparation for receiving the Bread of Life, Jesus Himself, Who is the source of our peace.

Pastoral modalities to deepen the faith

The Church in view of the up-building of peace, which is founded on God, the author of peace, will intensify her efforts for the on-going Christian and Spiritual formation of her people, adopting all forms of Christian instruction such as:

a) The traditional catechumenates for youth and adults

b) Christian Family (Domestic Church) education. Insisting with parents to instruct their children in prayer, in the tenets of the faith and developing convictions about loyalty to the church and the preciousness of their faith.

c) Special Concern for Christian Politicians, Professionals and leaders in general through courses or discussion groups to foster a deeper knowledge of the faith and Christian motivations for service to the community.

d) Efforts to welcome Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and other Returnees to their home areas and to gather the Christians among them into the Church community and care for their Christian instruction.

e) Fostering Active Small Christian Communities, Bible sharing, and the empowerment of Christian Groups to engage in the apostolate.

f) Encouraging the use of mass media, audio visual aids, radio.

At the beginning of Peace in Sudan, the Church calls God’s people to be open to the light and power of the Spirit; become builders of peace and take a prophetic stance as individuals and as Christian communities. To achieve this, the Church will be active:

a) To develop deep prayer and reflection to enable us to acquire the spirit and practice of Discernment, namely, the ability to distinguish God’s values and ways to peace, and follow them;

b) To become acquainted with the healing ministry for a post war population;

c) To encourage truthful admission of past actions and the granting of forgiveness and reconciliation;

d) To lead people from the culture of war and revenge to the culture of justice, love and peace

e) To be courageous proclaimers of the truth in defence of human dignity and human rights, and to empower individuals and groups to take their civic responsibilities.

5. Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons

When the bell of “Peace in Sudan” will ring in towns and cities of Africa and will be echoed in the world, thousands will return back to their homes abandoned years ago, because of the war. It is incumbent to both the returnees and those who have remained in their homes through all the years of the war, to strive and acknowledge the moment of peace as the opportunity to be once again all together as sons and daughters of their ancestral areas. All deserve a fraternal and warm welcome and acceptance.

Much understanding and true Christian compassion will be needed to harmonise the IDPs and Returnees with the home population, since in the many years of separation we have developed differences in style of life and expectations. Patient endurance will be needed to heal the wounds of broken family ties, made more painful by the loss of our loved ones.

The international community has been motivated and will continue to be called upon to show solidarity by restoring services and basic survival means to our IDPs and returnees in full cooperation with the interim government and the Church.

6. Church and State cooperation

The Church with the dawning of peace renews her full commitment to fulfill her civil responsibilities and to implement the spirit and action enclosed in the agreements of peace made by those at the peace table and their specific summons to peace building through:

The Church intends to participate with the State in the formulation of the spirit and letter of the new Constitution and the renewal of the legal system to safeguard the respect due to the human dignity and rights of all Sudanese people.

The Church remains firmly and freely committed to be the “voice of the people” to proclaim and defend their duties as well as their rights and see that they are respected, catered for and defended, through good governance. In this peace era constructive engagement of the Church with the civil authorities must be developed and sustained. Therefore the Church together with other groups in civil society must have access to decision making within govern-ment structures.

Humanitarian Services

Trusting that the support coming to Sudan from the international community will be shared also with Church groups, the Church will cooperate with and support the State in the rehabilitation of people and services. Indeed such sharing of support will enable the Church to expand its facilities for such rehabilitation in order to offer services in the fields of education, health and complementary humanitarian assistance, particularly on behalf of the marginalized and most vulnerable.

In this moment of considerable movement of IDPs and Returnees the Church intends to be cooperative and vigilant so that the interim government will provide adequately for the vital humanitarian needs of the people without discrimination or self-interest.

7. Identity of the Church and its vision

In the attempt to restore and maintain peace it is essential that the nature, responsibilities and roles of all must be respected. To prevent false expectations being put on the Church as an institution in civic society, we emphasis once again the identity of the Catholic Church.

“The Catholic Church in the Sudan is the community of the Sudanese who follow the path of Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Bishops and are in communion with the other Christians in the Sudan and around the world under the leadership of His Holiness the Pope.

The Church is well aware that her role is mainly of spiritual nature. However, the Church understands that she cannot achieve her aim without paying attention to the peoples’ material welfare, and without facing the realities of the everyday life of the people in the street. “The Church, being founded in the love of the Redeemer, contributes towards the spread of justice and charity among nations and within the borders of the nations themselves” (G.S. n. 76, and letter:” The position of the Catholic Church”, 2 Feb. 1995).

It must be clear that the Church is not a Non-Governmental-Organisation (NGO). Nor does the Church intend people to develop a mentality of dependence for their material needs. The Church asserts her right, therefore, to decline any material assistance meant for people, which is not in keeping with her goals, her pledged services or means.

Advocacy – Solidarity and Ecumenical Thrust

The Church guarantees her commitment:

1. To be vigilant and vocal about good governance in the interim period, and the formation of patriotic citizens committed to rebuild their communities in the spirit of justice, reconciliation and peace.

2. To motivate our Christian Agencies and others in the international community which offer financial and technical help and advocacy, to assist in the process of rehabilitation in Sudan in a true spirit of solidarity.

3. To sustain strong collegiality and solidarity with Conferences of Bishops, Religious Congregations, and Church institutions to help us in the process of peace building, each in keeping with their orientation. This common endeavour will find its fullest realisation through a cultivated ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and action.

We, the Catholic Bishops of Sudan close our pastoral letter on peace, encouraging you to reflect on the words of our Holy Father John Paul II:

“I feel it necessary to say that in the establishment of true peace in the world, justice must find its fulfilment in charity. Justice is frequently unable to free itself from anger, hatred and even cruelty. By itself justice is not enough. Indeed it can even betray itself, unless it is open to that deeper power which is love.

A solution to the grave problems that for too long have caused the suffering in many countries of the world ( Sudan) will not be found until a decision is made to transcend the logic of simple justice and to be open also to the logic of forgiveness.

Love must thus enliven every sector of human life and extend to the international order. Only a humanity in which there reigns the “civilisation of love” will be able to enjoy authentic and lasting peace” (John Paul II, World Day of Peace, Jan 1, 2004).

Pastoral Letter of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Prophetic stance

Advocacy – Solidarity and Ecumenical Thrust

Conclusion

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