Paride Taban (24 May 1936 – 1 November 2023) was a South Sudanese prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and was the first leader of the Sudan Council of Churches, which was founded in February 1990. He was Auxiliary Bishop of Juba from 28 January 1980 to 2 July 1983 and served as Bishop of Torit from 1983 to 2004.

Biography

Paride Taban was born in 1936. He was ordained on 24 May 1964 and consecrated a Bishop on 4 May 1980 in

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Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. He was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Juba and the titular bishop of Tadamata from 1980 to 1983. Taban was the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Torit in what was then

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

from 1983 until 2004. In 1989, when the rebel

Sudan People's Liberation Army The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the military force of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key parti ...

(SPLA) overtook Torit, he was arrested with three other Catholic priests by the SPLA. Until 1990 he and Nathanael Garang were the only two Bishops active in areas held by the SPLA. After his retirement from the diocese, he led an effort to make peace in South Sudan real by setting up the Kuron Peace Village, established in 2005. Taban was sent to

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in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide for reconciliation efforts. Bishop Paride received numerous awards including the Sergio Vieira de Mello Peace Prize awarded by UN Secretary General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...

in 2013 for his work at the Holy Trinity Peace Village in Kuron and the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury

Justin Welby Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is an Anglican bishop who served as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 2013 to 2025. After an 11-year career in the oil industry, Welby trained for ordination at St John ...

in 2017 for co-founding the ecumenical New Sudan Council of Churches, building Kuron Peace Village, and chairing the mediation initiative between the Government of South Sudan and COBRA Faction of the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army led by David Yau Yau, which produced a successful peace agreement on 6 January 2014. In December 2016, Taban was appointed by the President

Salva Kiir Mayardit Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 13 September 1951), commonly known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who is the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the List of heads of state of So ...

as a co-chair of the steering committee of National Dialogue. Taban had witnessed the suffering of South Sudanese since he was young and he was not happy to see south South Sudanese suffering at the hands of their fellow southerners. Taban died on 1 November 2023, at the age of 87.

Awards

Taban was awarded the '' Prix Caritas'' from

Caritas Switzerland Caritas Switzerland (German: , French: , Italian: , Romansh language, Romansh: ) is a Swiss Catholic Church, Catholic not-for-profit organisation. Its mission is to prevent, combat and alleviate poverty. It is a member of both Caritas Europa and ...

in 2004. In September 2017, Taban received the peace award of the United Religious Initiatives for Africa. In May 2018 Taban received the Four Freedoms Award, freedom of Worship medal from the Roosevelt Foundation for ''his life-long and selfless dedication to the cause of bringing freedom and peace to the people of South Sudan''. On 9 November 2023, Taban posthumously received the Opus Prize for his lifelong dedication to the Kuron Peace Village. The award was accepted by Dr. Margaret Itto, deputy Chair of the Board for Holy Trinity Peace Village Kuron.

References

Books

External links

Kuron Peace Village page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taban, Paride 1936 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Sudan 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Sudan People from Eastern Equatoria Nonviolence advocates South Sudanese Roman Catholic bishops Roman Catholic bishops of Juba Roman Catholic bishops of Torit 20th-century Roman Catholic titular bishops Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II