Bishop Deng succeeds Archbishop Joseph Marona, who retired on December 31st 2007 after serving eight years as Sudan's Primate.
Those from Bradford who have met Bishop Deng have been struck by his presence and courage. He has done excellent work on reconciliation following the end of the war and beginning of the peace process.
We pray he will do well for the ESC and prove to be a fine and capable leader.
"It is a big day filled with exitement in Juba" said Emmanuel Sserwadda, the American Episcopal Church’s partnership officer for Africa who is attending the February 13-15 Synod alongside a number of partners, including the chair of the Bradford Diocese Sudan Group Archdeacon David Lee and others from the UK-based Sudan Church Association and Salisbury Diocese.
The 75 voting delegates included bishops, clergy and laity, and a two-thirds majority of 50 votes was required to elect the new archbishop. The other candidates were Bishop Ezekiel Kondo of Khartoum and Bishop Francis Loyo of Rokoni.
Deng recieved 39 votes, Loyo 21 and Kondo 15. Kondo was eliminated and before the Synod could proceed to the second ballot, Loyo withdrew and asked all delegates to support Deng.A full report of this happy occasion will be available soon.
In his farewell address December 29, Archbishop Marona urged his fellow bishops meeting in Juba to pray for the choice of his successor and regretted that ill health had caused him to reduce by two years his term of office as archbishop. He assured the bishops that in his retirement he would continue to be committed in prayer and, as his health permitted, to be available as an advisor. Following the address, Deng praised Marona’s prayerful and patient ministry.
The Diocese of Renk lies on the border between the mostly Islamic north and the mostly Christian and African Traditionalist south. Deng was appointed in the mid 1990s to establish the new Renk diocese where thousands of internally displaced southern Sudanese had been forced to flee to safety as a result of the 20-year civil war between the southern, non-Arab populations and the northern, Arab-dominated government. The war claimed more than two million lives and displaced four million people.
Despite the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, a separate conflict lingers in the Darfur region of southern Sudan where Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, casually attack civilians and refugee camps.
There are several dioceses that have companion relationships with Dioceses in Sudan. In the USA, Bradford's own companion Diocese of Southwestern Virginia maintains a relationship with the entire province that dates back to 1977. Bradford Diocese links with what used to be the enormous single diocese of Khartoum before it was divided into the four Dioceses of Khartoum, Port Sudan, El Obeid and Kadugli. The Diocese of Salisbury's relationship is with the whole of the province but, working in partnership with Bradford, their focus is somewhat more on the southerd half of this huge country.
According to the Diocese of Chicago’s Commission on Global Ministry, Bishop Deng received a Theology Certificate from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1997, and returned to guide the Diocese of Renk in a direction of self-sufficiency by starting schools at all levels, training programs for women, agriculture, fishing, and poultry projects. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and several U.S. Episcopalians from Chicago and Virginia traveled to Renk on February 28, 2006 for the historic consecration of the diocese’s new cathedral."Archbishop-elect Deng has promised to work with all partners that are willing to support the Episcopal Church of the Sudan" said Sserwadda.