St. Vincent de Paul Parish

Saint Vincent De Paul Parish Gumbo is one of the six parishes of the Eastern Deanery of the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba – South Sudan. It is bordered by All Saints parish Rejaf in the South West, Saint Joseph the worker parish Lirya in the South East, Holy Cross parish Kondokoro and Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish Mangalla in the North and St. Mathew Parish in Lobonok.

The parish of St. Vincent de Paul was formerly one of the substations of All Saints Parish of Rejaf. The parish was under the pastoral care of Fr. Anania Ladu Befo, Fr. John Ochaya and Fr. Ambrose Ladu before the Salesian priests. The first Salesian parish priest was Fr. Dominic PD followed by Fr. David Tulimelli and now is Fr. George Kainikunnel.

Parish was declared as an official Parish in the year 1996 and the patron saint of this parish was St. Stephen. However, the parishioners were not comfortable with St. Stephen as their parish patron due to the fact that this feast fell just after Christmas, and it would be difficult to celebrate it very grandly. In response to this, Archbishop Paolino Lukudu Loro changed the Parish Patron from St. Stephen to St. Vincent de Paul.

St. Vincent de Paul Parish was inactive for a long time due to the constant threats and attacks from unwanted elements during the years of conflict. People living in Gumbo were very few as many moved to Juba due to insecurity. During the initial years, there were just two or three families around the parish Church. After visiting these families and making some contact with other communities in the locality, the parish began to grow in number with time.

The first mass in the parish took place on a Sunday in November 2006 during which we celebrated with two young persons and a few Children. The people started to come more and more on each of the Sundays that followed. It took some time and a great deal of effort to build up this Parish community to what it is today.

Parish has three Masses on Sundays in Bari, Arabic, and English. From the 8th

December 2013 the second mass in Arabic became a regular. The parish looks after the seven outstations that have regular Sunday celebrations and other animations. Responding to the need that arose following the civil violence in 2013, the parish also caters to the IDPs with means of sustenance and by providing educational facilities for the IDP children. There are four Primary Schools attached to the parish and its outstations where education and pastoral services are offered on daily basis.

The youth of the parish are taken care of for their intellectual, spiritual and physical formation through the regular oratory that functions in the compound.

We have weekday masses on Monday through Saturday. This is an opportunity given to people to attend Holy Mass every day of the week.

Population: Parish territory has an estimated population of 35,000. Catholic faithful are about 5,500. Weekly attendance for Holy Mass is estimated about 1,800.

Main Tribes: The main tribes within the parish consist of Bari, Lulubo, Lokoya,

Latuko, Dinka, Peri and Acholi.

The Parish Main Center and 7 Sub-Stations: St. Vincent de Paul Parish -Gumbo, St. Dominic Savio Chapel – Mori, situated besides the Nile River, 10 km from the main Parish, Mafao situated on the way to Bor, 14 km from the main Parish, St. Luke Chapel in Bilingyang situated on the way to Bor 25 km from Parish, Mary Help of Christians Chapel in Mogiri situated on the way to Bor, 30 km from Parish, St. Don Bosco Chapel in Nesitu Situated on the way to Torit, 20 km from Parish, St. Francis Chapel in Sherikat, Good Shepherd centre in Sherikaat and Jebel lemon centre are given chaplaincy by the Salesian Community. There is also a catholic community gathering regularly for prayer since a year in highland.

Pastoral agents of Evangelization: Salesian priests and Brothers are nine in number coming from India, Kenya, Tanzania and Vietnam. Salesian Sisters are four in number hailing from Kenya, Philippines, South Sudan and Lebanon. Caritas Sisters of Jesus are four in number coming from Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Brazil. Besides several diocesan and religious priests, do support the parish in the pastoral

Work regularly. The religious personnel accompany the priests to various chapels for Sunday masses.