Ave Maria Parish is now the epicenter of peace in Sudan

Ave Maria, the parish church outside Mupoi, South Sudan, fell into disrepair decades ago. It was abandoned at the beginning of Sudan’s civil war, and then ransacked. It is dilapidated and practically unusable. But two strong-willed Spanish missionaries in South Sudan are working to change that. They have a vision for the church, which they hope to turn into a continental Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Sudan became an independent nation in 1956. Its first prime minister, Ismail al-Azhari, in order to appease the Islamists of the country’s north, expelled all Catholic missionaries from the country. The majority of those missionaries were Italian Combonians. Their churches, rectories and missions were either abandoned or transferred to young native clergy and religious. Ave Maria was one such Church. But after the missionaries were expelled, and the civil war began, most of the region’s Catholic population fled. The Church building was left to crumble.

But Catholics are returning to the area. And two Catalonian priests, themselves missionaries to the region, are determined to turn the massive Catholic church into the continental Marian Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary.

"Now that the people have returned to this area, our goal is to rebuild physically, but most importantly spiritually, with a comprehensive vision,” says Fr. Avelino Bassols, pastor of the mission parish. Bassols and his vicar, Fr. Albert Salvans, belong to the Missionary Community of St Paul de the Apostle (MCSPA) made up of men and women, priests and lay people, who have decided to leave everything behind in order to follow Christ as missionaries in the most demanding areas of the globe.

Ave Maria Parish is now the epicenter of the peace and rebuilding effort in the northern part of war-ravaged South Sudan’s Diocese of Tombura-Yambio. "Our mission here is to bring the Gospel in full, and that means not only spreading the Gospel, but also bringing education, peace and reconciliation to the region," the Bishop of Tombura-Yambio, Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, told CNA.

Bassols and Salvans are hopeful that in 2023, the centenary of the foundation of Ave Maria, the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary will be completely restored, and will attract Catholics from all over the world.

Adapted from Catholic News Agency