Episcopal News Service reports on a “network” of dioceses, bishops, other church leaders around the Anglican Communion who are supporting and advocating for the people of South Sudan:
Members of “the network” ring in faithfully every Friday; a dozen or more callers from across the Anglican Communion with a common mission: to support and advocate for the people of South Sudan.
“Our concern as southern Sudanese, and as church leaders, is how to stop this war. Thousands of people are dying,” Bishop Joseph Garang of the Diocese of Renk told others on the group’s April 25 conference call, facilitated by the Rev. Ranjit Mathews, the Episcopal Church’s officer for global relations and networking.
“I want to appeal to you, brothers and sisters, that even more important than relief [efforts] is to end this war,” added Garang, who was visiting the Diocese of Chicago, with which his Diocese of Renk shares a companion relationship. “In Renk now there is fighting and a lot of tension … There is fear. We are trying with local resources to keep the peace in the country. People have come from the fighting in Malakal, and that same spirit of fighting has spread.”
The network formed from companion relationships around the Communion:
That friendship evolved into companion relationships between the dioceses of Renk and Chicago, where 120 people attended an April 28 afternoon prayer vigil at St. James Cathedral to “pray for peace.”
“This vigil comes out of relationships with our friends in Sudan … When people we know and love are in danger, we can do three things: we can pray, we can bear witness, and we can give them our financial resources,” said the Rev. Bonnie Perry, rector of All Saints Church in Chicago, which has sent more than $170,000 to the Diocese of Renk since 2004.
“Right now, the church in Renk is overwhelmed by the needs of internally displaced people and returning refugees. They need all three kinds of help from us.”
Read more at Episcopal News Service.
Photo courtesy of Episcopal News Service