SUDAN: Joseph Garang Atem elected Bishop of Renk diocese
Episcopal News Service. June 13, 2008 [061308-04]
Jakie Kraus, Coordinator for the Companion Relationship between the Dioceses of Chicago and Renk
The Rev. Joseph Garang Atem, principal of the Renk Theological College, was elected June 12 to serve as the next bishop of the Diocese of Renk.
Atem was elected on the first ballot at a special synod in Juba. He will be consecrated June 14.
Atem succeeds the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul, who was recently elected Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan.
Upon completion of his studies at Nile Theological College in Khartoum, Bishop-elect Atem was ordained deacon in 1997 and priest in 1998. He served on the Dinka Cam Bible Translation Team until he came to the U.S. to study for a Masters of Theology degree at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois. He graduated in 2000, completing his thesis, "Death and Life in Sudan: Will There be Reconciliation?" He returned to the Diocese of Renk and was named Principal of Renk Bible School (RBS).
Under the direction of Atem, RBS was built with support of St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Barrington, Illinois. In 2004, the campus was demolished to build "peace" highway, and St. Michael's supported the rebuilding of the institution, which includes St. Michael's Chapel. St. Michael's entered an ongoing Covenant of Relationship with Renk diocese in 1998.
Due to excellent teaching resources brought to Renk under his leadership, the Episcopal Church of the Sudan advanced RBS to college level, qualifying it to grant diplomas. It is now known as Renk Theological College.
The bishop-elect serves on the diocesan and provincial synod committees for theological education. He oversees the visiting teachers Program, founded in 1999 by Deng, in cooperation with Duke Divinity School professor, Dr. Ellen Davis, and Virginia Theological Seminary professor, Dr. Richard Jones, for training of laity and clergy (men and women) in the strategically important location, Renk Town, gateway city to southern Sudan.
The Diocese of Renk and the Diocese of Chicago renewed their Companion Diocese Relationship for five additional years at Chicago's Diocesan convention in November 2007.
Other partners of Renk diocese in the Episcopal Church also include several parishes in the Diocese of Virginia.
Bishop-elect Atem, born in Bor, south Sudan in 1962, is married to Roda Samuel Chol. They have twin daughters, Grace and Michelle, born in December 2006.