Wau marks 100 years of the arrival Catholic Missionaries

NAIROBI, Feb 27, 2004 (Catholic Information Service for Africa) — A celebration marking one hundred years of the arrival of Catholic Missionaries to Bahr El Gazal took place in Wau on February 15, 2004.

Sr Cecilia Sierra CMS, in charge of the Catholic Communications Office in Khartoum, told CISA in a statement that the main celebrant at the mass was Khartoum’s Cardinal Zubeir Wako, assisted by all the bishops of the government-controlled areas.

In his homily, Cardinal Wako reflected on the first reading taken from the Prophet Ezekiel, which refers to dry bones, “I will put breath into you and bring you back to life, Then you will know that I am the Lord”.

A monument standing in the compound of Wau Cathedral was unveiled by the Cardinal and the Bishop of Wau, Rt Rev Rudolph Deng. It portrays two missionaries struggling to implant the Cross in Bahr El Gazal.

“The missionaries who came to evangelize Sudan were dreamers, many of them died young,” said Fr Cignolini, the Provincial Superior of the Comboni in Sudan.

“Sudan is a land irrigated with the blood of missionaries and of courageous catechists; it has a very fertile soil!” he added.