Sudanese Church Asks for Help in Healing Schism
Episcopal News Service. April 13, 1989 [89076]
NEW YORK (DPS, Apr. 13) -- A delegation from the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) has appealed to the Episcopal Church for help in resolving a schism in the Episcopal Church of the Sudan. The split, which resulted from a disagreement over the election of a new archbishop, threatens the Church's survival and blocks its ability to address the pressing problems of war and hunger that are devastating the country.
The schism began in 1986 when Archbishop Elinana J. Ngalamu refused to recognize the election of his successor, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin W. Yugusuk. His refusal was based in part on his own absence at the time of the election -- an election that he insists should have been conducted under his leadership as archbishop. Efforts by the Primates of other African Churches meeting in Nairobi in July 1987 to reach a reconciliation proved unsuccessful. Further discussions in London later that year also failed, due to Ngalamu's refusal to accept what he called a "colonial"-style decision from outside the country. The Anglican Communion has, however, now officially recognized Yugusuk as the Archbishop, and he was seated as the Primate of the Sudanese Church at last year's Lambeth Conference.
The schism in the Sudanese Church has spread from the hierarchy down through the Church, so that even local congregations are now split over the issue. Both sides have further exacerbated the situation by consecrating several new bishops and establishing new dioceses. The country's predominantly Islamic government has used the schism as an excuse to close the cathedrals in both Khartoum and Juba (the two principal episcopal sees), and the SCC fears that the disruption will have consequences far into the future in a country where Christians are already a minority (Anglicans are the second largest Christian group in the Sudan, after Roman Catholics).
The Rev. Ezekiel Kutjok, General Secretary of the SCC and leader of the visiting delegation, reports that the SCC is especially concerned about the rift because it distracts the Church from focusing on Sudan's more urgent needs. A bitter civil war has divided the country, leaving a quarter million dead and over 3 million people displaced. The toll of death and destruction caused by the civil war has been made worse by alternating periods of drought and flooding -- a situation both sides have exploited by using starvation as a weapon.
The civil war is between northern and southern Sudan, representing cultural, economic, and religious divisions. The north is mostly Arab, more prosperous, and Muslim. By contrast, the south tends to be African, poor, and either Christian or of a traditional tribal religion. A major issue in the war is the government's imposition of the Sharia (Islamic law) in 1983 -- a decision deeply resented by the southerners who claim it makes them "second-class citizens" in their own country. The Sudan had already experienced a severe internal war from 1965 to 1972, resolved through the mediation of the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches, but the new legal requirements broke the uneasy peace. The Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) leads the resistance. Originally composed mainly of members of the Dinka, the largest southern tribe, the SPLA now comprises other tribal groups in all regions of the Sudan.
The foreign press has, ironically, paid relatively little attention to the plight of the Sudanese. Only recently has the extent of the suffering come to light, including the fact that both the government and the SPLA have systematically blocked relief efforts organized by outside sources. The Rev. Kamal Padios, Archdeacon of the Orthodox Catholic Church of the Sudan and a member of the delegation, speaks passionately of his people's distress: "Sudan is bleeding and the Church is bleeding." His hope is that a recent United Nations conference in Khartoum, which identified the seriousness of the situation, will help bring pressure to bear on both sides to seek peace. Meanwhile, the SCC will continue to seek a reconciliation within the Church by bringing the issue before other African Church leaders.