Congratulations

Rev Martha Deng Nhial

Cogratulations to Rev Martha Deng Nhial on becoming dean of the Cathedral of St. Matthew, Diocese of Renk, Episcopal Church of Sudan (Wikipedia). She is the first African women to serve as the dean of an African cathedral in the history of Christianity.

She said,

"When God calls you, you cannot stop. You are not called by yourself; God called me to his work.

"I like being a priest because it is the work of God. I am
offering myself to God."

The hardest part of being a woman priest in Sudan, Martha says, is being rejected by people simply because she is a woman. At first, she says, many people were saying that a woman could not be ordained.

They asked how a woman could stand before a man to give him Holy Eucharist. "Women in Sudan," she says, "are simple. The work of women is to give birth and to cook and clean in the house."

But that attitude is falling away here, she says. Now, "this is not a problem. People are starting to know" about women priests, and starting to agree with women's ordination. The agreement is becoming so widespread that Martha, who began her work as an assistant at the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Renk, is now priest-in-charge and Acting Dean of the Cathedral.

More here and here . Thanks to Episcopal Cafe.