In Pace Christi

Fr. Albino was born in Pajok, in the diocese of Torit (South Sudan), on 23 November, 1956. He did his novitiate at Tartar (Kenya) where he made his first profession on 5 May, 1984, and his scholasticate at Gaba (Kampala, Uganda). He took final vows there and gained a bachelor’s degree in Theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University to which the Theological Seminary of Gaba was affiliated. He was ordained priest on 13 December, 1987, by Archbishop Lukudu Loro. He spent a year in Rome and was then sent to minister in Juba where he stayed until 1994.

He was appointed to the Province of South Africa and worked there for twelve years in Glen Cowie parish and then in Burgersfort. Msgr. Giuseppe Sandri, in his letter of sympathy, wrote that the priests, religious and people of South Africa well remember Fr. Albino who was with them from 1994 to 2006, and were deeply moved by his humility and his presence.

In 2006, Fr. Albino returned to the province of South Sudan where he stayed until his death. Initially he was sent to the parish of Kajo Kaji, at Lomin, where he stayed for four years and then to Talì where his life was dominated by his illness – liver and kidney failure – from which he had suffered for some time. He passed away at Lacor Hospital in Gulu, Uganda, on 11 February, 2016. He was buried in the cemetery of Najaf on 13 February, after the funeral Mass presided by the auxiliary bishop of Juba Archdiocese, Msgr. Santo Loku Pio.

Fr. Luciano Perina, who was sent to the mission of Talì in late March, 2015, and was given the room that Fr. Albino had occupied up to a few months previously, remembers that “The schoolbooks that Fr. Albino used for teaching were a sign of his hope in and commitment towards the development of his country, while the religious books he left showed how he sought to deepen the faith of the people.

On his return from South Africa in 2006, he was very happy to contribute to the reconstruction of South Sudan, which was becoming an independent country. The Church was fully engaged in offering its contribution towards the building of the new nation and Fr. Albino gave his first contribution to the mission of Lomin: in the school, the church and the care of the poor and underprivileged of that mission. In 2012, he was sent to the mission of Talì which had 36 communities at some distance from the centre. Fr. Albino worked mostly with those communities. He was loved for his simplicity and accessibility. In some of those communities they specifically asked for his assistance, as they liked the way he explained the Word of God and his love for all people and were happy to hear him once more. When not engaged in ministry, Fr. Albino liked to work in the garden. With the help of the youth, he had managed to plant an excellent orchard of mangoes that the people still call ‘Fr Albino’s garden’. I was proud to continue his work at Tali and I soon discovered how important it was for the future of the mission: the schoolchildren remember how gentle he was; the people of the more distant communities remember how effective and clear his Christian message was and the Comboni community remembers him with admiration for how he strove to improve the area of the mission”.

We report here the testimony of Tito Tong John, a postulant who spent four months with Fr. Albino during his missionary experience at Talì. “He was a very sociable person, an open and cooperative confrere with the admirable zeal of a true missionary. He was very understanding, open to fraternal correction, responsible, always concerned with others and willingly placed himself at their disposal.

He was a God-fearing man, committed to his life of prayer and a convinced missionary. He never worked to show off but out of interior motivations. He took seriously all that he did and took nothing for granted. This was clearly evident in his teaching. Together we opened the school for soldiers at Talì with Fr. Martin Lako Mödi and Fr. Markus Lorenz Körber. Fr. Albino was a person who made everyone feel loved and happy. He loved the small Christian communities and was very involved with them at Christ the King parish, working with the altar-servers and the Marian groups. He often said to me: ‘Tito, we need you, we need you, we need you’. This phrase remained impressed in my mind also because I found it strange that he should repeat it so often. I thought of all these things during the funeral Mass in the Church of St. Joseph while Bishop Emeritus, Msgr. Taban, reminded us that Fr. Albino had died all too young, leaving after him a task that it is now up to us to bring to completion”.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 270 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2017, pp. 19-23.