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| June 2004 |
| Missionary Church growing inside and
outside the diocese |
Gene Young
Managing Editor |
Father Elias Rinaldo is one of the new
faces of the Church in Diocese of Sioux Falls.
Originally from the Sudan, Father Rinaldo is now assigned to
the diocese to work with the growing Sudanese community in the
area.
The growth of the Sudanese, Hispanic and Vietnamese communities
in the diocese has brought the idea of the mission church into
clearer focus for many people across the diocese.
For many in the Sudanese community, life here is a bit of a
“resurrection story.” “Some of the people
have expressed their thankfulness for opening the door to the
Sudanese Catholics,” Father Rinaldo said.
Almost all of the Sudanese that have moved to Sioux Falls are
Catholic. They fled to the United States because of 20 years
of civil war in their homeland.
The fighting in that African nation is the result of a battle
for the wealth in the south and an effort to convert all the
people to the Islamic faith. The Christians in the south part
of Sudan resisted. “Our people could not abandon their
faith to join Islam and they took arms. They refused to accept
Islam in their lives and then the Muslims started killing them,”
Father Rinaldo recounted.
“All those who have been given a chance to come to Sioux
Falls have experienced a similar thing which happened to Jesus,
and also to our recent saint, St. Josephine Bakhita,”
he said.
Father Rinaldo says he was born into war in Sudan and has never
really known peace in his homeland.
“Many people left Sudan not because of their power but
because of their love of God for them,” he said. Many
refugees died trying to escape the Sudanese civil war. “Those
you see here in Sioux Falls, for example, God was with them
while they were escaping,” he added.
Challenges and dangers like those that faced the Sudanese community
are at the heart of what Pope John Paul II talks about when
he discusses missionary efforts by its dioceses and communities.
The pope tells the people of the Church that the “social
and religious challenges facing humanity in our day call believers
to renew their missionary fervor,” at home and in other
places.
Challenges remain for the Sudanese Catholics who have come to
Sioux Falls. Now that they have escaped civil war, many of them
face the challenge of “culture shock.” “We
have never seen the culture of United States before,”
said Father Rinaldo. “We have never lived in this kind
of culture, which is organized, peaceful, systematic.”
But the people are working to adapt and the diocese is trying
to help the transition.
Missionary work continues in many other places.
The Church’s present missionary commitment covers almost
40 percent of the universal Church, according to the Vatican.
It includes 85,000 priests, 45,000 women religious and 1.65-million
catechists working in mission lands.
The pope has repeatedly called for Catholics to support missions
“spiritually and materially.”
The diocese hopes to eventually name the Sudanese community
in the diocese St. Josephine Bakhita Catholic Community and
some day found a Catholic Parish for the Sudanese. St. Bakhita
was a native of Sudan who was canonized in the last few years.
The diocese continues to be a mission church as it welcomes
newcomers to the region and as it focuses on mission relationships
with others outside the area.
Bishop Robert Carlson has promoted mission relationships with
the Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, the people of Zababdeh on
the West Bank in the Middle East through the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
the Diocese of Tshumbe in the Democratic Republic of Congo and
in Mexico and Colombia.
In Alaska, the Diocese of Fairbanks is shepherded by Bishop
Donald Kettler, a former diocesan priest in the diocese of Sioux
Falls.
Bishop Kettler is the first diocesan priest appointed bishop
for that diocese, The previous three bishops were all missionaries.
However, the Diocese of Fairbanks remains dependant on the missionary
generosity of others like the Diocese of Sioux Falls.
In Zababdeh on the West Bank, the Diocese of Sioux Falls has
had a long-time sister parish relationship.
Bishop Carlson has visited Zababdeh several times and the Latin
Patriarch of Jerusalem has visited the Diocese of Sioux Falls
on more than one occasion.
The bishop of Tshumbe, Bishop Nicholas Djomo has visited the
Diocese of Sioux Falls several times and Bishop Carlson is forging
an ongoing mission relationship with the people there who also
must deal with ongoing violence and civil war.
Bishop Carlson has also forged missionary relationships with
the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
by inviting them to found a monastery in the Sioux Falls Diocese.
The bishop is trying to build a similar missionary relationship
with a bishop in Colombia by helping establish a monastery there.
Father Rinaldo expects his community to continue to grow as
more Sudanese Catholics seeking faith, freedom and safety seek
a welcoming place to worship.
Bishop Carlson believes the diocese’s missionary experiences
will keep the diocese focused on what Pope John Paul II wants
for his people. “The Church’s missionary activity
is an urgency at the beginning of the third millennium,”
he said. “The mission is still only at the beginning and
we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service.” |
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