Malakal Diocese yet to send priests back to devastated town
The Malakal Catholic Diocese has not yet sent priests back to the devastated state capital of Upper Nile, though the head of the religious province announced they are ‘preparing’ to resume pastoral activities.
Malakal was mostly abandoned during back-and-forth fighting from January to February. The only main population group still living in the town is within the UN-protected compound on the northern outskirts.
Apostolic Administrator Rocco Taban Musa in March said the diocese was looted and abandoned, and most priests had been evacuated to a seminary in Juba: “The diocese is completely empty. We have lost everything as a diocese.”
But today the Catholic Radio Network quoted the same church official as saying they were preparing to resume “normal pastoral activities” by sending priests for courses on counselling, trauma healing and health care.
Rocco said the diocese already sent six priests to Kenya for a three-month course. But he noted that some other priests, who ran away during the time of violence, still find time to go back and celebrate masses in various parishes.
But he said the clergy could not stay long because parishes were still major targets of the opposition forces, according to Catholic Radio Network.
The Apostolic Administrator said Old Fangak and Ayod parishes are still operating normally, with three Comboni Missionaries.
File photo: Refugees at a church in Malakal earlier this year
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