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South Sudan: Taizé brothers bring message of peace


Taizé prayers at Loreto Girls Secondary School

Taizé prayers at Loreto Girls Secondary School

Source: Fides/Loreto Sisters

Two brother from the Community of Taizé visited a Catholic secondary school in South Sudan last week. Sister Orla Treacy, headmistress of the Loreto Girls Secondary School in the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek in South Sudan, said: "We nurtured a long friendship with the community of Taize in Kenya, thanks to visits by brother Luc from Nairobi in South Sudan. Last year, two of our graduates spent three months with the community and with the young of Taizé in France."

116 young students graduated at the Loreto Girls Secondary School in Rumbek between 2011 and 2017 and currently the school has 240 girls enrolled. Speaking of the two brothers' latest visit, Sister Orla said: "the message of Taizé is that of reconciliation and peace. We had asked brother Luc to come back and share with us the spirit of their community and we were even happier when he told me that even brother Alois, the Prior of Taizé, would gladly come to visit South Sudan."

The two brothers from Taizé spent several days in Juba before coming to Rumbek. In Juba, they visited displaced persons in refugee camps. When they arrived in Rumbek, they visited the local Catholic and religious communities, and spent a morning visiting a leprosy project. During the meeting with the young people, they prayed together, read the Bible and sung.

Sister Orla told Fides: "Given the situation we live in South Sudan, despite the difficulties and conflictual social climate, we always try to find ways to help girls connect deeply with God and find peace within themselves. And the girls have learned to appreciate and love the style of prayer and the songs of the community of Taizé, continuing to pray that way even when the two brothers left."

Civil war broke out in South Sudan in December 2013, the youngest nation in the world, after several months of political tensions December 2013 when the president's security officers clashed with those loyal to Vice President Riek Machar.

Sister Orla said: Brother Luc left "a message of peace and strong encouragement. Brother Alois reminded the girls of praying for peace in South Sudan and the youth of South Sudan. He invited the girls to bring the light of Christ into their lives, the only one that can give hope and peace to each heart."

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