Ten months after armed police seized the headquarters of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS), church leaders were shocked to discover at a court hearing on March 15 that the current occupants of the complex, the Sudanese Arab United Al Azra Company, had begun renovations on the property. The company claimed it had purchased the building in good faith from the Rt. Rev. Gabriel Roric Jur, Bishop of Rumbek.

On May 20, 2004, heavily armed riot police surrounded the complex and entered ECS offices in Khartoum to demand the immediate eviction of personnel. ECS staff complied, leaving behind everything that could not be collected and carried out by hand within 15 minutes. Archbishop Joseph Marona protested to Sudanese President General Omar el-Bashir on May 24 that the seizure was “part of a systematic attempt to undermine the work of the Church,” and Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold added his voice to the chorus of protest condemning the raid and seizure.

About two years ago, Bishop Roric Jur announced the formation of a rival Reformed Episcopal Church of the Sudan and declared himself archbishop. Considered a “renegade” by many Christians for his service to the Muslim-backed Khartoum government, Bishop Roric Jur served as Deputy Foreign Minister of the Sudan and is presently the chairman of the government’s Inter-religious Dialogue Commission.

Three years ago, the General Synod of the Sudan changed the Church’s canons, requiring a bishop to be resident in his diocese. If a bishop were absent for more than six months, the see would be declared vacant. On May 31, 2003, Archbishop Marona deposed Bishop Roric Jur from office when he refused to return to Rumbek after an absence of 10 years.

Bishop Roric Jur refused to accept the sentence and responded by creating a rival church with the backing of the Khartoum government which recognized Bishop Roric as “Archbishop of ECS” and is employing “all the organs of state to collaborate with [Bishop] Roric’s efforts to undermine the Church’s activities,” according to the Rev. Enock Tombe, the ECS Provincial Secretary.

Sudanese law requires Christian churches to hold property in the name of a trustee rather than in the name of the institution. Mr. Tombe stated, “The property was originally bought in the name of Gabriel Roric Jur as trustee on behalf of the ECS.” Bishop Roric Jur, the Church has since learned “sold the building while masquerading as the Archbishop of ECS.”