By Paschal Norbert
NAIROBI, JUNE 6, 2023 (CISA) – As the faithful of the larger Catholic Church in Sudan and South Sudan come to terms with the news of the death of Bishop Macram Max Gassis M.C.C.I., emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of El Obeid, many eulogize the prelate as a great human rights defender and an erudite administrator.
“Bishop Macram, a man of God indeed. He spent many hours daily and weekly in his little Bishop’s chapel. His fidelity to a life of prayer remained through all the dark days at the end, where his breviary and some prayer books were the only companions he kept with him for his reading and prayer life. One could talk of his administrative skills and his erudition, his courage or braveness, his love for the poor and needy, his fight for justice, and his profound understanding of Canon Law and his knowledge of history but it was his love for the Church, especially the leadership of the Church, that marked him,” eulogized Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, South Sudan.
The late Bishop Macram Max Gassis, died on June 4, 2023, in the USA at the age of 84. According to a message sent to CISA by John Ashworth, a long-time friend, the bishop was staying with his nephew’s family and his health had been poor for months.
John says, the bishop was “A great man, a personal friend and mentor to me for almost forty years, a fighter for justice, peace and human rights, who will be sadly missed but whose legacy will live on.”
Bishop Macram Max Gassis was born in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1938. He received his early education from the Comboni Missionaries before attending seminary in Italy. He was ordained a priest of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus on June 28, 1964, in Verona, Italy.
In 1965, Bishop Macram returned to his home diocese of El Obeid and served as assistant parish priest in Wad Medani, expanding the work of the church and establishing new parishes throughout the region. He served as a chaplain at the University of Khartoum and also earned a degree in canon law from the Catholic University of America.
On October 4, 1983, at the age of 45, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of El Obeid and was later appointed Bishop of El Obeid on March 12, 1988.
A former Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2012 and winner of the Wilberforce Medal in 2000, Bishop Macram testified before the U.S. Congress in 1988 about the human rights abuses committed by the Sudanese government against the innocent people of his country, including enslavement, air raids, forced starvation, and rape at the hands of the government’s army.
Following this testimony and in the 1990s, the Sudanese government brought criminal charges against him, and for years he was forced to sneak in and out of his country for security reasons.
“He had such talent and his gifts all pointed towards him playing a role of significant leadership in the Church, especially as his relationship with his priests grew stronger. A good human rights defender. All this was cut short and several years of suffering injustice were inflicted upon him with false accusations by the then President of Sudan of supporting the rebellion of South Sudan and Nuba Mountain, this expelled him from Sudan to date,” stated Bishop Hiiboro Kussala.
Bishop Macram retired as the bishop of El Obeid on October 28, 2013, at the age of 75.
“We thank him for his creative work for the church in Sudan and South Sudan, his leadership of the Bishops Conference (it was he who influenced the setting up of the Catholic Radio Network, Catholic University, Rights of the Nuba People) and his care for the works of compassion and welfare in the diocese of El Obeid, Nuba people, the Republic of Sudan and the whole New Republic of South Sudan. We are all in debt to this Holy Man,” adds the local ordinary of Tombura-Yambio.
