Young Catholics in South Sudan make walking pilgrimage for peace
Written by Kielce Gussie, via Vatican News.
What began as a pilgrimage to see the Pope during his visit to South Sudan in 2023 is now an annual journey, walking from parish to parish and breaking down barriers along the way.
In 2023, young Catholics from the Diocese of Rumbek, South Sudan, organized a 240-mile walking pilgrimage to reach the capital city of Juba for Pope Francis’ visit to the country. What started as a one-time event has now become an annual journey.
What more can we do?
Sr. Orla Treacy, an Irish religious of the Loreto Sisters, described how excited the group of young South Sudanese were about seeing the Pope during his visit. So, they organized a pilgrimage to make the more than 200-mile journey by foot from Rumbek to the capital city of Juba, where the Pope was.
But, she explained, when they returned home, the group kept asking, “What next? What more can we do?”
In response, Sr. Orla helped transform the pilgrimage into an annual event, so that the young people "could talk more [about] peace to the youth and also visit more parishes around the diocese.”
Monica Thien Balila worked with Sr. Orla as one of the youth leaders and pilgrimage organizers. For her, the journey helped the group reflect on the various places, cultures, and ways of living in South Sudan. This directly impacted them. She highlighted that in sharing their experiences, others were encouraged to go out and expand their horizon.
Peace in times of growing tension
Since mid-February, tensions in South Sudan have risen and violent clashes between the country’s army and an armed group threaten the young nation’s peace. In light of this, this group of young Catholics are planning to organize more pilgrimages because, as Monica described, “through the pilgrimage, we discover different people…and from there, we learn to be together.”
Monica and Martin Mandela Mangar, her fellow organizer, pointed out how important traveling to other parts of South Sudan and meeting other people is because seeing their neighbors as different or the “other” is what can lead to conflict. But the two explained how these pilgrimages have been a remedy for this. “If we move from one place to another and we learn about each other, we'll have peace. It is just a matter of there being differences between us,” Monica explained.
Martin highlighted that meeting others helps reveal the fact that “the culture might be a little different, but at some points, you really realize that you share the same culture.”
Four pillars to make a pilgrimage
The pilgrimage, as Sr. Orla outlined, has four pillars. The first is walking as the pilgrims walk to new communities and villages. Second is prayer and a deepening of one's relationship with God.
The third is peace, and the Loreto sister explained how this year, the young people every day “prayed for peace in the villages and in the towns where they were passing through.” The final pillar is community, which is built through the other three. As the young people build relationships, they break down barriers.
Sr. Orla stressed the impact the pilgrimage has on the young people midst the growing tension in the country. She described how the pilgrimage helps eliminate the stereotypes and myths they are often told about neighboring groups. The young people return home “to the parishes and say, ‘I have met someone from that village and they are not what you say, or I have been to that town and it is not like what you have told me.”
It is through these experiences of simple encounters that break down the walls built on suspicion and bigotry which build a community with great understanding that can lead to a path of peace.
