Indianapolis native observes South Sudan after 2011 independence

Sudanese Father Alfred Loro Caesar, left, and Comboni Father Michael Barton pose outside the Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara Catholic Center in Indianapolis in this 2007 file photo. (File photo by Mary Ann Garber)

By Natalie Hoefer

Comboni Missionary Father Michael Barton has spent the better part of the last 35 years serving as a priest, teacher and parish builder in what is now known as South Sudan.

And for most of that time, the region has been entrenched in civil war.

An Indianapolis native, Father Barton first ministered there from 1978-87, witnessing the beginning of Sudan’s second civil war in 1983. After serving for five years in Michigan, Father Barton returned to South Sudan in 1993, where he has lived ever since. The country was still at war when he returned, and remained so until 2005.

During that time, Father Barton, who grew up as a member of St. Therese of the Infant Jesus (Little Flower) Parish in Indianapolis, has made a few extended trips back to the U.S. His most recent stay in Indianapolis began on May 20, and will last possibly through December when he will return to South Sudan.

Father Barton recently spoke of his time in South Sudan during the second civil war, and the state of the region after the war ended.

“It was very difficult to know what was going on during [the war]. We couldn’t go to areas controlled by the government. We couldn’t go to [the southern capital of] Juba. We were in a very isolated area,” said Father Barton.

He recalled the joy witnessed after the 2005 peace agreement was signed.

“It was a great time, a time of great freedom,” he recalled. “People could go to the capital, they could get an education.”

And life has become even better for the people of South Sudan since the nation voted for independence in 2011, said Father Barton.

“South Sudan is much better off now as an independent state than it was when it was with Sudan. Markets have improved dramatically. During the war, all you could get was salt and tobacco. Now, you can get clothes and Coke, sugar, rice and building materials,” Father Barton said. “We no longer have to rely on Kenya and Uganda.

“Now, if [South Sudan] could ship its oil out and be able to fight the problems of corruption in the government, it would be even better.”

The decades of civil war—going as far back as 1955 or 1962 depending upon the source—took its toll on the Church in South Sudan.

“The whole Church has had a great history of difficulty and suffering, especially since the 1964 expulsion of missionaries,” he explained. “All schools closed. There were no priests then, just a few people in charge.

“When [the] war ended in ‘72, these young priests would come back with such hope and determination and desire, but when you touch reality, it was very different. There was no one to help them know how to raise a parish.”

Nevertheless, said Father Barton, “The Church is looked up to and has had a great effect on South Sudan. It has a great influence.

“But it needs help financially. The Union of Superior Generals in Rome is trying to get all of the different congregations to work together to send money and people to organize schools for nurses, educators and spirituality,” he said. “There are abandoned missions and churches, priests living in huts, churches full of bats because all this time these places have not been restored or redeveloped.”

Father Barton encouraged Catholics of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis to pray for the situation.

“Pray for the priests to persevere in their vocation. A great number have left the priesthood” because, as Father Barton has learned in his decades of service in South Sudan, “it is very difficult to work there.” †

 

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