Advertisement

Catholic Bishop in South Sudan Urges Youth to “start practicing leadership now”

Bishop Alex Lodiong Sakor Eyobo of South Sudan's Yei Diocese. Credit: Courtesy Photo

There is need for young people in South Sudan to begin putting into practice their leadership traits, a Catholic Bishop in the East-Central African nation has said.

In his homily during Holy Mass to mark the Feast of St. Cecilia Tuesday, November 22, Bishop Alex Lodiong Sakor Eyobo of South Sudan’s Yei Diocese said young people need to foster cooperation in their practice of leadership.

The youth need to prioritize cooperation among themselves, which will help them to practice leadership because they are the leaders of today in whatever they are doing to serve communities,” Bishop Lodiong said during the Holy Mass held at St. Cecilia Lutaya Center of Yei Diocese.

He said young people “need to start practicing leadership now,” adding that whatever they are doing in the Parish Centers, Parishes and the Diocese “is the start of the responsibility for being a leader.”

We are counting on you as young people because some of you are educated with specializations,” the South Sudanese Catholic Bishop said, and added, “We need you to put the knowledge you have to assist the Church and communities.”

Advertisement

The 51-year-old Catholic Bishop who started his Episcopal Ministry on May 15 continued, “This time we are not going to bring experts from outside because we have them among you who will be able to work with us in this Diocese and in the communities.”

He continued, “We should join hands to help these youth going back to school because if we support them, they will be able to help themselves and those within our areas in the future.”

The South Sudanese Bishop expressed appreciation to members of the Missionary Childhood of Yei Diocese for “doing great things in helping children to become good leaders.”

The Local Ordinary of the Yei Diocese further said, “If there are children staying at home, they should come and join the mission because it is teaching children to be good people.”

“I am confident that if our people from the neighboring countries return home, Missionary Childhood is going to be a strong apostolate,” he said, and added, I want the apostolate to keep up the great work to help our children become great leaders in the future.”

More in Africa

Bishop Lodiong said he found it regrettable that some politicians in South Sudan refer to the youth as leaders of tomorrow yet they continue “to be in power for years without leaving the positions to the youth.”

Patrick Juma Wani is a South Sudanese journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. Patrick holds a Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from Makerere Institute for Social Development (MISD) in Uganda. He has over 7 years of extensive experience in leading the development and implementation of media, advocacy, communication and multimedia strategy and operations, with an excellent track record of editorial leadership, budget management, and stakeholder outreach. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.