Nyamlell: Father Michael Barton's Sudan mission: Notes from Jerusalem -- Father Michael Barton

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Notes from Jerusalem -- Father Michael Barton

These e-mails were sent to Jane Lichtenberg in Indianapolis from Father Michael during his trip to Israel September-November 2007:

Sept. 17
I got to Chicago and then to London all without many problems. I arrived in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and the White Fathers had sent on a car and driver and that is how I got to Jerusalem. The next day was the Jewish New Year and also the first day of Ramadan.They put up colored lights and special foods were being sold in just about every shop.Then there were throngs of people of Islamic belief heading to the Golden Dome for afternoon and evening prayers and Jews going to the Wailing Wall and soldiers everywhere to make sure all could be controlled. During the day lots of Christian pilgrims on the Via Dolorosa making the Way of the Cross and making their way to Calvary and the tomb all in the church of the Holy Sepulcher and it is fascinating to see so many Christian Rites and Traditions all in one church Orthodox and Catholic at the same time.
Here we are 17 doing the course all missionaries who have worked in Africa and four and Sisters and the rest are priests, all from many different nationalities. We are right at the birthplace of Mary and at an excavation of the pool where Jesus cured in John 5. So it is really neat and exiting place.

Oct. 6:
I am glad to tell you all is great with the classes and the group work and the visits to all the Holy sites in Jerusalem and this week I went twice to visit Bethlehem, once by myself and another with all the sisters, brothers and priests who are in the sessions with me all missionaries who had worked or who are working in many countries of Africa. One is from Canada and one from Egypt and another from Ethiopia and the rest from European countries. This week we had religious plurality all week as a theme.
I love visiting the Holy Sepulcher and my group said Mass on Calvary on day and then in the Tomb another. I prayed for you both times and so many more. We were in the tomb for Saint Therese of the Child Jesus day. I enjoyed walking the narrow streets of the old Jerusalem and practicing my very broken Arabic. I also enjoy going to the wailing wall and watch the Jews pray. We are very near and go any time. However we can only go to the Rock of the Dome or Temple Rock when the Muslims allow us which is for two hours on Sunday when they are not praying. I also go to Gethsemame very often.
Going to Bethlehem by myself was very different than with our group because I had to pass the check point which was full of bared wire and high walls and soldiers. As a group we were allowed to just drive through.
I think Jerusalem can help some people's faith and of course can do just the opposite to others. To me it is great and I love the Russian Orthodox churches and monasteries an the are very beautiful and unusual.

Oct. 22:
I am getting near to my half way mark to my stay in Jerusalem. Last week we talked about the theme of the Kingdom of God. We got to Qumran and two Orthodox Monasteries and one or them was the Church of the Temptations of Jesus. This week we were about to meet some hierarchy of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox Churches and we even went for a float (as it is difficult to swim) in the Dead Sea which they say is the lowest part on the earth. It was fun but the water hurt my eyes and nose terribly. Today I went to two Synagogues for the Sabbath services and tonight I will go and get lock in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and tomorrow we will all go to Galilee for the entire week. One of the priests from our group was found to have cancer of the colon and so left the Sessions to go to his home in Barcelona, Spain for treatment and has already been operated on and they want to make a map of his liver to treat the spots as best they can.It was bad news to all of us.

Nov. 10:
We had a wonderful week in Galilee. We spent the nights in guest house in Nazareth but the days were out in many holy sites and archaeological digs. We left on a Sunday and came back on Friday evening. On Sunday we stopped at Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea and saw a set up built by Herod the Great that looks like the race track out of Ben Hur and then to the Biblical site of Armageddon (Megiddo) and then to Haifa and the very wonderful and beautiful Bahais' Garden there. On Monday we went to Capharaum and Koorazim and the Church which commemorates the multiplication of the loaves. On Tuesday we stayed the whole day in Nazareth and it was wonderful to spend time in the Home of Mary and other churches there of different rites and traditions. Wednesday took us to Dan and the Golan Heights and ended on the Mount of Beatitudes near Lake Galilee. Then on Thursday we climbed on foot to the top of Mount Tabor where we had the Eucharist and I met a man who I knew in the Sudan and afterwards we went to Cana where the first miracle took place. A boil slowed my walking but even the slowest and the last make it in the end. Friday was neat as we had Mass at the Primacy of Peter on the Lake of Galilee and the a boat ride on the Lake and that was followed by a visit to some Roman ruins which are very well k ept and explained at Bet Shean and finally a visit to the very creek like Jordan River and a swim in a Russian Kibbutz and the return by way of the Jordan valley.
This week we have treating the topic of Justice and Peace and Integration of Creation which I am a bit weak in.
In four weeks I will be back in Africa.
Michael

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Saint Teresa Parish

Comboni School

Nyamlell (Aweil West)

Northern Bahr el Ghazal State

South Sudan

The permanent school and the Activity Center that serves as the Saint Joseph Church, as well as a block of four classrooms in the Comboni School in Marial Baai in Aweil West in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, were completed and the Church is used for two classes of Comboni School there. Until further plans or possibilities present themselves, the Marial Baai Community will have to maintain two locally built classrooms. However, in 2009, six classrooms were built – two of them in the first permanent Church built in the entire state since the 1950s.

The Science Laboratory and two more classrooms were roofed and completed in Nyamlell, also in 2009

We celebrated the 75 years of foundation and of existence of the Catholic Church in Nyamlell, which is the second mission built by the Comboni Missionaries among the Dinka. It began in 1934 for the first evangelization of the Dinka Malual so there have been 75 years of the gospel and the sacraments in our state. It was a very big celebration and many thousands of people came and so much preparation went into it.

There was a drive to get donations from the local Christians especially by the youth, and to my amazement the youth and the elders responded marvelously and most of the costs was covered by the Catholics of the parish; the OLSH sisters helped so much in organizing so many details. It was a Christ-centered celebration of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and a strengthening of the Church for continued preaching of the gospel in this parish, state and country of the South Sudan.

Our school did very well and got first place in the whole state of Northern Bahr el Ghazal in the state-run class eight leavers certificate examination in 2009. Our best was first in the state and our worst was 99^th out of 1,568 class eight leavers. The best went on to high school and the worst became a policeman. The class eight in 2010 should be sitting soon for theirs and we shall see how they will do.

A non-governmental organization (NGO) in Juba had promised $50,000 when the Activity Center was being built in Marial Baai, but when finished they said that it looked like a church to them and in the end did not give a red cent or piaster of any kind. So all this was done by money that had been donated by people like you.

There are NGOs who have built classrooms but they will only do it for the South Sudan Government and not for the Church even though our results are far superior than those of the government. All these took great effort.

In 2009 the Christmas collection all over the parish in all its centers and chapels was dedicated to building of the first permanent Church in the entire County of Aweil North. This building will be for two purposes. It will serve as a Church and as an Activity Center. It will be called Saint William Church and Saint Julia Activity Center and is being built in Gok Macar, the county seat of Aweil North.

We started the construction as of December 2009 and it is much too early to say when we shall finish but it will be done some time in 2010. I am thinking that U.S. $80,000 will be the cost and one thousand will come from the local community in the form of Sudanese pounds of items.

Next we would like to build a smaller chapel in Ariath, another important center in Aweil North with a good population and many Catholics in both Gok Macar and Ariath.

We have another Comboni school in Makuei, also in Aweil North, which is up to class five. Not far is a large church that has only local grass structures. I would like to build a block of four classrooms that will cost close to U.S. $100,000, which will only be started when we have the money. So I am looking for that too. I hope to get something from some organization. Much cheaper will the repair and finishing of our last classrooms if we can by 2012. I shall move one step at a time.

In 2010 there will be two schools that are up to class eight. They are Nyamlell and Marial Baai, both in Aweil West. As I have said Makuei is our smallest school and has class five this year.

Sacred Heart High School had a great year and in 2010 we shall have Form One and Form Two and growing but also struggling as students coming from other schools like the government ones are very difficult to find as to fit the poorly taught and the well taught who have the basics in place.

We all need help, so that something can get done and that what is up and running stays that way.

Sincerely yours in the Lord of all,
Father Michael Barton, MCCJ.
Comboni Missionaries-Nyamlell,South Sudan.
Post Office Box 21102
Nairobi, Kenya 00505.