Sudanese Priest Chides Westerners
Episcopal News Service. June 7, 1979 [79189]
NEW YORK -- An Anglican priest from the Sudan believes that North Americans in general know very little about his continent and that their many comforts are obstacles to their Christian life.
The Rev. John Cannaceae, Provincial Secretary of the Church of the Sudan, made this remark in an interview with Episcopal Church officials after a three-week visit to the United States and Canada.
"People know very little about Africa and what is happening in that huge continent," the 33-year-old priest said.
He added that many North Americans are "too concerned with their own affairs and tend to forget that the rest of the world exists."
He cited cases in which people asked him the "wrong geographical question." During the talk, Father Cannaceae was asked what he knew of his Spanish speaking Anglican brothers and sisters.
"Well, I don't know much about them. I guess that I will have to learn more about their history and work," he answered with a big smile.
Father Cannaceae also said that Christians in North America are "too comfortable" to really be involved ti the struggles of the world.
"You must experience the meaning of suffering to understand the needs of others," said the Sudanese priest who spent five years as a refugee in Uganda.
"Easter is not possible without Good Friday," he added.
Asked why the Church is growing so rapidly in Africa, he said that it is because many Christians take the Gospel seriously and share it with others.
"There, a worship service is a happy occasion which may last four or five hours. Here, it is something that must be completed within an hour. You really cannot give yourself to God in such a hurry," he added.
Father Cannaceae studied at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest during 1974-76, where he received a Master in Divinity degree.
The Church of the Sudan, a province of the Anglican Communion, has four dioceses served by four bishops, 100 priests and more than 300 catechists.