Cardinal eulogizes fallen Bishop Taban as peace icon

By Awan Achiek

The Cardinal of the Catholic Church of South Sudan on Tuesday mourned the death of retired Bishop Paride Taban, 87, who died on 1st November 2023 in the Kenyan capital after a long illness.

Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla described the deceased Bishop as peace icon and a man who fought for the liberation of the country.

“Today we are very sad because we have lost our icon, our grandfather, a man who has fought spiritually and fought also for our liberation,” Ameyu said during the reception of the body of late Bishop Taban at Juba International Airport on Tuesday.

He urged Christians to mourn with hope of resurrection.

“Let us mourn him like people who have hope in resurrection because Paride was a person that all of us remembered and all of us have been touched by him,” Ameyu said.

Dr. James Wani Igga, Vice President for Economic Cluster said the contribution of the deceased to the country is immense.

“Our hearts are broken; Bishop Paride did great things for this country, his Christians and his people in good and hard moments. His contribution is not measurable,” Wani said.

 “It saddened us to see his body lying before us and I am sure he would have still contributed for people and to this country but the Almighty God knows the hour for him,” he added.

Paride’s body was taken to St. Theresa Cathedral Kator at 2 P.M for requiem mass prayers. The body will also be taken to Nimule and Loa on Wednesday at 10 A.M for prayers before being laid to rest at St Peter and Paul Cathedral on Friday.

Born in Opari of Eastern Equatoria in 1936, Paride was the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Torit in what was then Sudan from 1983 until 2004.

Prior to that, he was Auxiliary Bishop of Juba from 28 Jan 1980 to 2 July 1983.

Paride was ordained a priest on May 24, 1964 and consecrated a Bishop on May 4, 1980 in Kinshasa by Pope John Paul II.

Paride also served as the first leader of the Sudan Council of Churches, which was founded in February 1990.

Until 1990 he and Bishop Nathanael Garang were the only two Bishops active in areas held by the SPLA during the liberation struggle.

Since his retirement from the diocese, he has been leading an effort to make peace in Taban and served in the capacity of bishop of Tadamata from 1980 to 1983.

On the regional scene, he was sent to Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide for reconciliation efforts.

Rewards for Peace

Bishop Paride has received numerous awards including the Sergio Vieira de Mello Peace Prize awarded by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2013 for his work at the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron and the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in 2017 for co-founding the ecumenical New Sudan Council of Churches, building Kuron Peace Village, and chairing the mediation initiative between the Government of South Sudan and COBRA Faction of the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army led by David Yau Yau, which produced a successful peace agreement on 6 January 2014.

In December 2016, Paride was appointed by President Salva Kiir Mayardit as a co-chair of the steering committee of National Dialogue.

In September 2017, Taban received the peace award of the United Religious Initiatives for Africa.In May 2018, Paride received the Four Freedoms Award, freedom of Worship medal from the Roosevelt Foundation for his life-long and selfless dedication to the cause of bringing freedom and peace to the people of South Sudan.