The head of the Episcopal Church in South Sudan (ECSS), Dr. Justin Badi Arama, has given a condition to reinstate defrocked archbishop Ruben Akurdit Ngong.
Akurdit, who leads a breakaway faction of ECCSS’ Jonglei Internal Province, announced in the past two weeks that they have agreed with Archbishop Badi to reconcile after falling out in August 2020.
Recently, Akurdit penned an apology to Archbishop Badi seeking reconciliation and an end to the crisis which started when Primate Badi defrocked him over alleged canonical disobedience.
However, addressing journalists at All Saints Cathedral Church in Juba on Sunday, Archbishop Badi said they could not proceed with the reinstatement process, saying Akurdit refused to be reinstated as retired archbishop.
“We could not go ahead with the reinstatement. Akurdit was given time to go and consult with his people, and then he will come back with the feedback,” Badi said.
“The main contentious issue was that he wanted to be reinstated as full archbishop for three months. But we told him that the church laws do not go that way. He has to be reinstated as retired archbishop of Jonglei, of which he said he will first go and consult with his people,” he added.
For his part, defrocked archbishop Akurdit described their meeting with the primate as disappointing, saying the outcome of today’s meeting is contrary to the agreement reached through a mediation led by the office of the president.
“I was convinced by the president to write an apology which I was not willing to do. I wrote it and it was taken with the resolutions to the primate. So I thought something good was going to come from that but it turned the opposite,” Akurdit lamented.
“When we went to the office of the Primate this morning, I was told that I will be reinstated and retired right away. So, that one is becoming a concern,” he said.
The leader of the breakaway faction of ECSS’s Jonglei Internal Province pointed out that he will travel to Bor town to consult his people in the diocese and report back to Primate Badi.
Information Minister Michael Makuei, who spoke on behalf of the mediation team, also expressed his disappointment with the outcome of the meeting, saying the church failed to follow the resolutions of the final meeting held in the office of the president.
Makuei, who is also the leader of the Bor community, said the resolutions adopted at their meeting in the office of the president gave Akurdit three months to reunite the church in Bor, which he said is currently divided, as there are followers for Akurdit and followers for Bishop Moses Anur who was installed by the ECSS leadership in Juba.
“When we went this morning to attend the function which people were enthusiastic to see this problem come to an end, to our disappointment as representatives of the government who were supposed to attend that function and see its ending, we were informed that the defrocking will be lifted now and that will be immediate with his retirement,” Makuei explained.
Minister Makuei underscored that the Anglican Church was supposed to reinstate defrocked archbishop Ruben Akurdit to the position he assumed before the crisis.