Les petites communautés chrétiennes changent de vie au Soudan du Sud : témoignage d'un missionnaire à la paroisse Saint-Joseph, Narus

Les petites communautés chrétiennes changent de vie au Soudan du Sud : témoignage d'un missionnaire à la paroisse Saint-Joseph, Narus

CANAA || Par le Père Emmanuel Obi, SPS, Soudan du Sud || 31 août 2017

En regardant en arrière le simple début de la formation des petites communautés chrétiennes à Narus dans le diocèse catholique de Torit, au Soudan du Sud, je ne peux que affirmer avec conviction l'affirmation populaire que « le voyage de mille milles commence par un seul pas ».

Après la messe de mon premier dimanche à Narus il y a deux ans, mon prédécesseur, le père Tom Gilolly, avait rassemblé des membres du conseil de l'église pour me présenter à eux. Après l'introduction générale, l'un des membres de son discours a essayé de m'expliquer que j'ai dû remarquer qu'à la messe la majorité de la congrégation étaient étudiants en raison de la présence des trois écoles dans la paroisse.

« Cependant, dit-il, vous saurez que vous passez plus de temps avec nous que, la plupart de la population adulte de cette communauté dira qu'ils sont catholiques mais qu'ils ne participent guère aux activités de l'église ».

Après que quelques autres personnes se soient exprimées sur le même sujet, nous avons tous décidé que le président du Conseil paroissial et deux des jeunes membres m'accompagneraient quelques jours dans la soirée pendant la semaine pour visiter la communauté afin de pouvoir me présenter comme leur nouveau prêtre.

À 17 heures le mercredi de la semaine, le président du Conseil de l'Église Zeiko Zacharia, un des catéchistes volontaires Stephen Aletea et trois membres de la jeunesse sont venus à la maison paroissiale pour m'emmener à la visite à domicile. C'est devenu notre mission. La plupart des soirs, pendant les deux semaines suivantes, nous étions dehors en train de frapper de porte en porte et d'être présentés aux populations locales.

De ma part, j'invite les membres de chacune des maisons que nous avons visitées à venir nous rejoindre pour y être adorés. Étonnamment, la plupart d'entre eux répondraient positivement, qu'ils viendraient. Après la première semaine de visites, quatre Toposa qui n'étaient pas venues régulièrement à l'église se sont présentées pour la messe le dimanche suivant. Mais avant de venir pour cette messe du dimanche, ils sont venus samedi soir pour rejoindre les jeunes pour la pratique de la chorale en préparation pour la célébration eucharistique du lendemain.

Vers la fin de la deuxième semaine des visites, l'un des jeunes nous a suggéré qu'au lieu de simplement passer de maison en maison discuter avec les membres de la famille, nous passons du temps dans la prière dans chacune des maisons que nous avons identifiées catholiques périmés. Nous pensions que c'était une très bonne idée et avons décidé de faire ce qu'il avait suggéré.

Nous avons commencé à prier le Rosaire et à partager les lectures évangéliques pour la messe du dimanche suivant dans chacune des maisons que nous avons visitées. Avant de partir, nous les invitions toujours à nous rejoindre à la prière dans la prochaine maison où nous devions nous rendre le lendemain. Étonnamment, nous avons découvert que les gens étaient très excités de nous accueillir pour prier chez eux et certains de ceux que nous avions visités et priés chez eux ont commencé à venir pour les célébrations eucharistiques du dimanche, ce qui en fait un point de devoir d'assister aux prières dans les autres maisons que nous avons visitées pendant la semaine.

Comme d'autres activités comme l'enseignement du catéchisme aux écoliers et les pratiques chorales appelaient également notre attention, nous avons décidé de faire des mercredis soirs hebdomadaires le temps de la visite à domicile et de la prière. La maison à visiter et à prier cette semaine-là devait être annoncée lors des annonces à la fin de nos messes du dimanche.

Pendant la ronde de visites, nous enregistrions également les noms et adresses de chacun de nos membres dans les différentes régions de Narus. Après environ six mois, le nombre de personnes assistant aux réunions de prière hebdomadaires a augmenté de façon si significative qu'il est devenu difficile de faire les rondes.

Co-incidentally, while we were still thinking of what to do, an invitation letter came from the Pastoral Office of the Diocese of Torit that we should send two members from our parish to attend a workshop on the formation of Small Christian Communities in Torit. The workshop was organized by members of Solidarity for South Sudan, a group whose members are drawn from different Religious Congregations all over the world to help the Church in South Sudan in Pastoral Formation of the Laity and Capacity Building.

We interpreted the invitation as the proverbial ‘handwriting of the Holy Spirit’ leading us in the right direction, at a time when we were still wondering what we would do with our increasing number in the weekly prayer meeting group. We decided to send two of our active members, Maria Lokonoe and the Late Emmanuel Lopeyok (God rest his soul in peace) to attend the workshop.

When the two returned from the workshop, they shared their experiences with the group, particularly how they were encouraged to start the formation of Small Christian Communities within the Parish.

Since we had registered members earlier according to the areas they were living in, we decided that it would be good to implement their learning from the workshop. However, we observed some reservations among some of the members who questioned the need for sub-dividing the large group saying, “Father, you had brought us together as a prayer group, why do you want to divide us again?”

I was particularly touched by this question and upon reflecting further, I came to the realization that not everyone had understood the idea of Small Christian Communities, which we were trying to sell to them. Perhaps we needed more time to bring everyone on board. We decided instead to embark on proper education of the whole group on why we needed Small Christian Communities for a better Pastoral care of all the members of the Church.

While this formation was going on, we selected six members, two from the three designated areas in Narus to give them training on leadership of Small Christian Communities.

Three months later, when we presented the need for sub-dividing the larger prayer group to form three distinct Small Christian Communities, the trained leaders were able to convince all members present and they all agreed that we needed the three groups according to the designated areas.

Since then, precisely, from June 2016, we have been blessed with three Small Christian Communities namely, St. Theresa, St Mary and St. Monica. Members meet every Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. As they gather in the homes of their respective members, they pray the Rosary, and share the Word of God meditatively together.

At the end of their prayers, the owner of the home introduces his or her family to everyone present; telling all present about some significant and recent events in the family, to enable the members present to share in their joys, struggles and hopes. Sometimes they also share with the group whatever they have like a glass of water or a cup of tea.

The experience of the Small Christian Communities in Narus, growing from a simple beginning to become a beacon of hope to the community can be compared to the parable of the mustard seed; something insignificant turning out to become an anchor of hope.

In a Country where majority of people are traumatized and pushed to the verge of despair as a result of the effects of a protracted civil conflict, insecurity, violence, hunger and economic hardship, the Small Christian Communities are offering an avenue through which communal solidarity is experienced in an environment where there has been mutual suspicion.

Narus as a border town came into existence as a refugee settlement during the Southern Sudan Wars with the Khartoum Government. It has a cosmopolitan characteristic as every tribal group in South Sudan can be found within Narus. However, most people live together according to their tribal units, thereby causing some kind of mutual suspicion.

When we started moving from one home to the other to pray, sometimes the owners of the homes moved with joy would express their gratitude that people from other tribes were visiting them and even sharing a meal with them, something that was uncommon to them before. Sometimes, others shed tears of joy as they could no longer control their emotions to have people visit them and share their home and even share a meal with them. On one occasion, a woman told me she was surprised to see me eat in her home, for she did not know that priests can eat in other peoples’ home.

The Small Christian Communities in Narus have become not only tools for evangelization as they have drawn more adults to participate in church activities, but have also offered psychological and social support to the members of the Christian community. They have become rallying points of support during funerals as well as weddings.

Whenever a member of any of the Small Christian Communities loses a loved one, it is very common now to have their leaders gather the members together to ensure they make some contributions to support the grieving member. Most of all, they find time to arrange for prayers and visitations to console the grieving member.

At other social events like marriages and birthdays in the families of their members, the members of their Small Christian Communities are equally there to support such members, sharing in their joy too. Whenever any member has exercised an unusually prolonged absence from Church activities, other members tend to make sure they find time to pay such a member a visit. Recently, members of the Small Christian Communities have asked the parish leadership to organize a retreat for all the adult members of the parish to help in their renewal of faith.

If anyone had told me two years ago when we started the home to home visitations, knocking from door to door, being introduced as the new priest in Narus, that that singular activity will grow to become three distinct groups of Small Christian Communities, offering spiritual, psychological and social support to the community, I doubt that I would have believed the person.

Looking back now, I have learned that every single step in a race counts, same as the popular saying goes, “the journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step”. To God be the glory!

Father Emmanuel Obi, a native of Nigeria, is a member of St. Patrick’s Missionary Society (SPS). Before beginning his pastoral ministry as St. Joseph’s Parish, Narus (Catholic Diocese of Torit) in South Sudan, he worked in Kenya’s diocese of Lodwar.