Friends:
At our Diocesan Council held in Hattiesburg last February our special guests were the Right Reverend Ezekiel Diing and his wife Rebecca from the Diocese of Bor in Southern Sudan. During their two week stay in Mississippi we undertook the development of a relationship between the Diocese of Mississippi and the newly emerging Diocese of Twic East, the diocese that Bishop Ezekiel had been commissioned by the Archbishop of Sudan to begin to create.
In recent days we have confirmed reports of a well-organized, well-armed attack on a village in Twic East. This attack killed at least 43 people and wounded hundreds of others. Among the dead are three priests, one of whom was the Archbishop’s Commissary for Twic East, Archdeacon Joseph Mabior Garang Ayook. Other casualties included family members of Bishop Diing’s wife and family of some of our Sudanese young men here in Mississippi. The particular nature of this attack strongly suggests support from the Khartoum government in Northern Sudan. There are ongoing reports of smaller raids throughout the region.
Relief assistance for our brothers and sisters in Twic East can be mailed to the diocesan office (P.O. Box 23107, Jackson, MS 39225-3107 – earmarked Sudan relief). Bishop Diing has specifically requested aid for the families of the slain clergy.
Part of what it means to be one church in mission is to be broken by the horrors of this life even as we are bound to each other in the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ. Please keep Bishop Ezekiel and the people of Twic East in your prayers.
Faithfully,
The Right Reverend Duncan M. Gray III
IX Bishop of the Diocese of Mississippi
