The Episcopal Church of South Sudan’s (ECSS) Diocese of Yei last week concluded a two-day meeting to draft a constitution to govern the church and guide members on their roles of disseminating the word of God.

Speaking at the conclusion of the meeting, Morris Kwaje, an Archdeacon from Nyori Archdeaconry, called on the various parishes to start implementing the constitution which is yet to be passed.

“Even though the laws are not yet out, we are the ones who came up with them so let us put them into practice so that we can defend our chair in the diocese to ease the workload and we will leave the rest to the Almighty and we will praise him when our laws come out,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Luate Natalino, the chancellor of the diocese, lauded the process, which he said acts as the governing body of the church.

“It is a very mega step for us because the constitution is the governing body of the church. It is developed in line with the canons of the Episcopal Province of South Sudan,” he said. “It is very important that we have this document and I can say that it has been a long journey but 85 percent is done. The remaining 15 percent is just panel beating, putting together the comments, and then we will pass it to the other bodies to go through until it is passed as the governing document of the diocese.”

For his part, the Bishop of the ECSS Yei Diocese, Rev. Levi Marandulu Yepette, said a lawyer will now work on the draft constitution and present it to a standing committee that will pass it in eighteen months. 

“We have completed most of the things and the remaining task is for the lawyer so that he can go and arrange it well. After completion, he will bring it back to us and we will give it back to some of you to read,” he said. “At the end of this year, we shall have a standing committee which will pass it (constitution) to the hierarchy that we are going to have in the next one and a half years till 2025. So, that is when the constitution will be passed.”

“Coming up with laws is different from putting them into practice so now that the laws are completed, what is remaining is for us to respect them whether you are a bishop, pastor, or whoever,” Bishop Marandulu added.