ANOTHER NUN MARTYR?

Nine months after a Slovak missionary nun was slain in South Sudan, a bishop has demanded information from the government.

“We demand [for] justice,” said Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe of Yei . “The investigation on her murder had been started by the government, but after making few arrests the government went quiet.”

Sister Veronika Theresia Racková, a medical doctor and member of the Missionary Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit, was shot May 27, 2016 while taking an expectant mother to a hospital.a week after she died of gunshot wounds. At the time of her death she was a medical doctor and the director of Bhakita Medical Center in Yei River State in South Sudan.

She was returning home after taking a patient on an emergency call to Harvest Hospital, Yei, when she was attacked by suspected soldiers and the St. Bakhita Health Center Ambulance that she was driving, was shot several times.

After two surgeries in the Hospital for Women and Children in Yei, she was airlifted to Nairobi Hospital in Kenya for further treatment and surgeries. Despite the best efforts of the doctors, she passed away .
"Her death is an irreparable loss for us, for her family and for the people she served especially in Yei".

The Bishop of Yei, Erkolano Lodu Tombe, who celebrated Sr. Veronika’s Mass spoke of his profound sadness at the death of Sr. Veronika when the country had just begun to take steps towards peace.
Yei River State Information Minister, Stephen Lodu Onesimo, described the killing of Sr. Veronika as an “undisciplined and barbaric act.”

The Vicar General of the Catholic diocese of Yei said they were hopeful that Sr Veronika;s death would not be in vain noting that in the history of the liberation of South Sudan, Yei has been peaceful and that the people are friendly.

“ The Christians are sad and sorry but death is not the end of life, we say it’s the new beginning of a new life for sister. We will miss her we encourage Christians and other missionaries congregation to continue the missionary service to the people.  Though she was shot we continue to advocate that her blood will bring peace and reconciliation among the people.”

The initial plan was to have Sr Veronika buried in Kenya but there are hopes that her body will be taken back to South Sudan where she worked.