Honest tribute to Bishop Santo Pio of Juba Archdiocese
By James Okuk, PhD
The Auxiliary Bishop Santo Loku Pio (born in 1969) of Juba Archdiocese has been consistent in his stance on faith and reason in the context of South Sudan. We should keep congratulating him for that faithful shepherding of the people of God, especially the downtrodden and the made-to-suffer as Luky Dube used to sing for South Africa. At tough time like the one we are encountering now, the Republic of South Sudan needs nothing less than revolutionary theology even if not a liberation theology similar to that of Latin America.
But the concern of many analysts is Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro. He is unable to get into shoes of Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako who managed to stand tall against the oppressive Islamists regime in Khartoum during the SPLM/A just war of struggle. It was disgusting last month seeing His Lordship Lukudu spraying holy water on 28 states which has been a violation to the signed peace agreement (ARCSS) in August 2015. He did this when he decided to go to the Secretariat of the former Central Equatoria State Government to bless the three illegitimate governors of the so-called Jubek, Terekeka and Yei River states.
Did His Lordship know the evil he was blessing in that building? Why did he accept to do that when he knew that the ‘three-governors-in-one’ (as they would like to pretend in their operation) and their states are still pending political problems in making? Is he not ashamed of shifting loyalty from 28 states (he blessed and endorsed for partitioning Central Equatoria State and erasing it from political map) to IGAD’s Communiqué which brings back the disintegrated Equatoria?
Now thank God that the Holy Archbishop has turned around to support the IGAD’s Communiqué that demands suspension of the proposed 28 states until it is discussed later by the established TGoNU in competition with other proposed states (Twenty One, Five, Three, None, etc). Men of God should always stand where the truth is, like what Auxiliary Bishop Santo has been doing (including his homely of the new year 2016 when he told the faithful that he finds it hard even to pronounce some names of 28 states, e.g. ‘Nyamurnyang’ which is an insult to women).
It is high time Archbishop Lukudu start repenting and learning from the young truthful Bishop Santo how Catholic Bishops are supposed to conduct themselves when it comes to issues involving dirty politics of treacherous politicians.
We are blessed in Juba to have an articulate and caring Auxiliary Bishop Santo who has, indeed, proven himself time and again that he is unshakable voice of the voiceless like the known liberation theologian, Martin Niemöller (1892 -1984), who became a soldier in German Navy at age of fourteen and was sub-Lieutenant by the time the First World War began in 1914. He also took interest in nationalistic politics and became a supporter of Adolf Hitler and Nazi’ regime. Even after he was ordained in 1929 as a Pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ at Dahlem, Rev. Niemöller remained an ardent supporter of Hitler.
However, he got arrested when he started criticizing in his sermons the evils of the Nazis and was sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp to be “re-educated” in German patriotism. Pastor Niemöller refused to change his revolutionary views and was later transferred to Dachau Prison. In 1938 Joseph Goebbels urged Hitler to execute him but Alfred Rosenberg opposed the idea as it would provide an opportunity to critics like Bishop George Bell of Chichester of the Church of England to attack fiercely the German Government and mobilize the Christians all over the world against it. Rev. Niemöller was allowed to live.
With his release from prison after the end of World War II, Rev. Niemöller became convinced that the German people had a collective responsibility (i.e., guilt) for the Nazi atrocities. He became a pacifist as he realized that military force is never sustainable for political ends. He joined the World Peace Movement and became an outspoken anti-war activist. On his 90th birthday, Rev. Niemöller confessed that he had started his political career as “an ultra-conservative” and later a “revolutionary”, but if he lived to be a hundred years he may become an “anarchist”.
Rev. Niemöller has remained well known for the following famous poetic quote: “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Milton Mayer in his book, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans (1955) gave a strong tribute that Niemöller is a great man of God who spoke for thousands of the oppressed masses in all corners of the world: “when the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing; and then they attacked the Socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but, still, he was not a Socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, and so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing. And then they attacked the Church, and he was a Churchman, and he did something–but then it was too late.”
Together with Bishop Santo of Juba Archdiocese lets speak out for peace, justice, community development and prosperity in our dear country before it is too late for all of us to have strong voice of the people, amounting to the voice of God.
May the almighty God give more wisdom and courage to all our bishops and other men and women of God so that they don’t fear to always remind our astray leaders of the righteous path of peace in the Republic of South Sudan.
Dr. James Okuk is lecturer of politics, reachable at [email protected]