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Holy Family Cathedral, Rumbek, Lakes State
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How the diocese is organised

Our Structure

The Catholic Diocese of Rumbek works through four departments — Administration, Education, Pastoral and Health. Each answers to the Ordinary, and each keeps two offices: a headquarters at Bethany House in Nairobi and a local office in Rumbek. This page sets out what each one is responsible for.

At a glance

The shape of the diocese

Figures drawn from the departments’ own descriptions of their work.

Four

Departments

Administration, Education, Pastoral and Health, each answering to the Ordinary of the diocese.

Two

Offices per department

A headquarters at Bethany House in central Nairobi, and a local office in the Diocese of Rumbek.

1994

Bethany House acquired

Bought by the late Bishop Caesar Mazzolari. It is both the administrative seat of the diocese and a house of retreat for the congregations working in Rumbek.

18

Diocesan schools

Comboni primary and secondary schools owned and run by the diocese.

37

Satellite schools

Community-owned and assisted by the diocese; many have no buildings and teach in open-air classrooms.

50,000

Children in the meals programme

Fed in cooperation with the Scottish charitable institution Mary’s Meals.

The departments

Four departments, two seats

The work of the Catholic Diocese of Rumbek falls broadly under four departments: Administration, Education, Pastoral and Health. All four have their headquarters at Bethany House in central Nairobi, Kenya, and each also keeps a local office in the Diocese of Rumbek.

Bethany House was acquired in 1994 by the late Bishop Caesar Mazzolari. It serves both as an administrative headquarters and as a house in which the religious congregations working in the diocese may find peace and reflection.

Department

Administration

Bethany House, Nairobi, with a logistics office in Rumbek

The Administration department

The nerve centre of the diocese. It advises, supervises and coordinates the other three departments, and carries the financial administration, fund-raising and logistics behind everything the diocese does.

Administration consults the Ordinary and diocesan staff on administrative and legal questions, oversees the logisticians in Nairobi and in South Sudan, maintains the diocesan facilities, and keeps the relationships with the donors and partners on whom the work depends.

Given the size of the diocese, the lack of infrastructure and the disruption caused by civil strife and adverse weather, the logistical task is a complex one. It is run from two offices working in close cooperation.

Responsible for

  • Maintenance of donor and partner relations
  • Supervision of all financial transactions
  • Supervision of all logistical operations
  • Resolution of all legal matters
  • Supervision of human resources
  • Medical support for all personnel
  • Travel arrangements for personnel and incoming guests

Department

Education

Bethany House, Nairobi, and Rumbek

Educational projects

‘The mission of the Education Department is to nurture the development of the Christian person by means of the development of the spiritual, intellectual, social, cultural, emotional and physical gifts of the students entrusted to our care.’

The diocese owns and runs eighteen primary and secondary schools and assists thirty-seven community-owned satellite schools, many of which have no buildings and teach in open-air classrooms. Alongside them stand seven kindergartens, four vocational institutions, the Mazzolari Teacher Training Institute, a satellite campus of the Catholic University of South Sudan, and Accelerated Learning Programme centres for adults who never went to school and for local unqualified teachers.

Every programme is planned, carried out and monitored together with the community it serves. They run from teacher training to women’s empowerment, from Better Parenting classes to tailoring and agriculture, and from Dinka cultural studies to conflict resolution, engineering, computing and water purification. The diocese is the largest provider of education in the Greater Lakes and Warrap states.

Responsible for

  • The construction and maintenance of classrooms
  • The supply of educational materials
  • The training of teachers
  • Community and governmental liaison
  • The financial management of the educational programmes
  • Meals for 50,000 children, with the Scottish charity Mary’s Meals
  • Parent-Teacher Associations throughout the region

Department

Pastoral

Bethany House, Nairobi, and Rumbek

The Pastoral department

Support for the religious personnel working in the field — from food, accommodation, transport and medical care to the upkeep of parish buildings and the formation of those considering a life in the service of the Church.

The diocese covers more than 65,000 square kilometres, and a limited number of ordained clergy serve over 150 rural chapels and prayer stations. The department also carries PALICA, the pastoral, liturgical and catechetical centre in Rumbek, the minor seminary, the diocesan youth secretariats, the annual retreat for priests, and the emergency food relief projects.

Responsible for

  • Allowances and salaries
  • Transport — flights, vehicles and spare parts
  • Project management of donor funds and supervision of initiatives
  • Teaching materials in Dinka
  • Training catechists, clergy and lay staff in evangelisation
  • Spiritual support in the field, by means of retreats
  • The liturgical requirements of our churches
  • Hosting workshops, retreats and conferences

Department

Health

Bethany House, Nairobi, with facilities across the diocese

Health projects

The medical work of the diocese: a county-sized hospital at Mapuordit, a primary health care centre in Rumbek, and the outreach teams that carry care into the communities around them.

Mary Immaculate Hospital, founded in 2002 and standing 75 km south-east of Rumbek, is the largest and best-equipped hospital in the region — 111 beds across maternity, paediatric, medical, isolation and surgical departments, an operating theatre on 24-hour standby, and a nursing training centre boarding 48 students. It has a permanent staff of 92, of whom 11 are expatriates, and 24 part-time and trainee staff.

The Primary Health Care Centre in Rumbek treats around 2,500 patients a month. A weekly outreach team takes antenatal care, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and childhood immunisation into the surrounding communities.

Facilities and services include

  • Mary Immaculate Hospital, Mapuordit
  • The Primary Health Care Centre, Rumbek
  • Laboratory, radiology and pharmacy services
  • An outpatient department and an ANC/EPI clinic
  • A leprosy and tuberculosis clinic
  • Nutritional support for vulnerable patients
  • A referral centre for HIV care — VCT, PMTCT and ART
  • A nursing training centre
Pupils receiving study materials delivered by the diocese

Administration — logistics

Two offices, one supply line

Because so little can be sourced inside South Sudan, most of what the diocese uses is bought in Kenya or Uganda and carried in. Two logistics offices — one in Nairobi, one in Rumbek — work together to move it.

What they handle runs from food in times of famine to educational materials for the schools, medical supplies for the hospital and health facilities, and technical equipment for the computer training programmes and the radio stations.

How logistics works

Letters from Rumbek

A short monthly note from the diocese — what happened in the parishes, in the schools, on the radio. No more than one email a month.

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