Fr Stephen Battal, holding firm to faith and hope amid suffering

Fr Stephen Battal is no stranger to suffering and challenges. From the time he was born in a refugee camp on the border of Sudan and the Central African Republic, through to his early childhood years and his time in the seminary and priesthood in Sudan, he has navigated civil war, assassination attempts and long journeys through the bush to hide or escape danger. Yet through it all, his faith in God has never wavered. Fr Stephen shares how seeing ‘God’s hand in everything, even the suffering’ has been a source of strength and hope in his life.

Sitting in the presbytery of St Mary Magdalene’s Catholic Church in Jordanville, in Melbourne’s outer south-east, Fr Stephen is a long way from his homeland of South Sudan. He has been in Melbourne since February last year and is serving as assistant priest to Fr Justel Callos at St Mary Magdalene’s, which partners with Holy Family Parish in Mount Waverley. He is also chaplain to the large South Sudanese communities who live within St Anthony’s Parish in Noble Park, St Andrew’s Parish in Werribee, Resurrection Parish in Kings Park, and Holy Eucharist Parish in St Albans.

He was chaplain to the Archdiocese of Brisbane’s South Sudanese communities for seven years before that but felt called to relocate to Melbourne following a visit to the city in 2022. ‘I realised the situation in Melbourne was really tough within the South Sudanese communities,’ he says. ‘I came for holidays, for four weeks, but I was in the church and in the graveyard burying young people from suicide or stabbing wounds,’ he says. ‘It was terrible.’ He relocated with the consent of Archbishop Mark Coleridge in Brisbane, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli in Melbourne and his bishop back home in South Sudan, Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala.

Growing up, the war was going on around us. We had to run here and there to avoid the bombings or landmines, and we lost everything ... We did not fear. The Lord was with us always.

In his priestly ministry, both in the parish and within the South Sudanese communities, Fr Stephen draws from his own life experience, including times of intense suffering and hardship, to inspire hope and faith in others. Looking back on his journey, he says that through all of it, even the suffering, God was present. ‘We always saw God’s hand in everything, delivering us from the trouble and suffering,’ he says.

He explains: ‘I was born in a refugee camp and lived there for seven years with my family. There was a lot of sickness—tropical disease, airborne disease, waterborne disease—and there were insects called jiggers that enter under the toenails or fingernails and grow there and cause a lot of pain. They need to be taken out very skilfully with a safety pin.

‘Growing up, the war was going on around us. We had to run here and there to avoid the bombings or landmines, and we lost everything. We became very poor.’ Despite that, he says, ‘we did not fear. The Lord was with us always.’

Fr Stephen says the the initial inspiration for his faith and vocation came through his father, who suggested to him when he was a young boy that he might become a priest. Later, when the young Stephen saw a priest in his robes, in the middle of the congregation, speaking and singing, his vocation was confirmed. ‘I really wanted to be like him and knew from that moment I wanted to be a priest.’

Fr Stephen was ordained in 1995 in the Archdiocese of Khartoum by the then Archbishop Gabriel Zubeir Wako Waco (now a cardinal). The hardship and suffering did not diminish during this time. ‘During my seminary years, we had to be relocated to escape the bombing and impact of the civil war, many times,’ he says. ‘Prayer and the Rosary were our weapons.’

‘When I became a priest, I oversaw two parishes that were located far away from each other, and I used a bicycle to travel around—the distance was around 100–150 kilometres. There is no shelter; there are wild animals; there is no food or clean water. I relied on finding wild fruits to sustain me,’ he says.

Later, when he had a car to travel around his parishes, he was the target of multiple assassination attempts from ‘jealous freedom fighters’ angry that he had a car while they didn’t. He says, ‘God delivered me from the assassins’ hands until I safely reached my parish.’

When the opportunity came for Fr Stephen to leave his homeland and travel to Australia, he was caught completely by surprise. Before then, he’d only heard of Australia in geography, literature or history books. He spent seven years in the Archdiocese of Brisbane before relocating to Melbourne, and in this time he has enjoyed numerous visits back to Uganda to see family and friends in the refugee camp. At this stage, he thinks he’ll be in Melbourne for some time (although his archbishop can call him back at any time).

To this day, Fr Stephen continues to pray for those who killed his brothers, and for all who’ve ‘done wrong’ to him.

In the parishes of St Mary Magdalene and Holy Family, the focus of his ministry is ‘just to be close to the people’, he says, ‘to talk to them, answer their questions, and to pray together with them—the Rosary, the benediction, the blessed hour.’

Within the South Sudanese communities, Fr Stephen focuses his time and attention on teenagers in high school. He’s noticed that these years tend to be the ‘most difficult’ for younger members of the South Sudanese community.

‘In all the research I’ve done, I’ve discovered that the younger ones face hardships in school because of the colour of their skin and feeling like they’re not being accepted. They look different, so it’s assumed they don’t speak English as a first language, and this causes people to look down on them and think they’re not capable of going onto further studies. But many of those young people are born in Australia, so English is their first language, and they have dreams of going onto further education.’

Fr Stephen is also concerned about reports that some of the younger boys are being targeted and recruited to sell drugs. ‘Then they end up doing drugs themselves and getting addicted, which causes a lot of the other impacts, as we’ve seen in the community,’ he says.

To combat this, Fr Stephen runs workshops in schools with South Sudanese students, encouraging them to develop leadership skills. In class, he divides the students into two groups and asks one group to list the qualities of a good leader, while the second group lists the qualities of a bad leader.

‘They are very engaged and give marvellous answers to both questions,’ he says. When asked, ‘Who wants to take the good qualities home?’, they all raise their hand.

On one occasion, when he asked, ‘Who wants to take the bad qualities home?’, a student replied, ‘Father, we are taking the qualities of the good leader home, but the qualities of the bad leader we shall leave with you!’

Fr Stephen replied, ‘Good! That’s what I want. Leave these qualities with me. Don’t take them home.’ Fr Stephen is encouraged by the positive response of the students, teachers and parents who engage in these workshops.

Finding hope amid suffering

Fr Stephen is grateful that the gift of faith was instilled in him from a young age thanks especially to his father, but also his sister, who helped him enter the seminary, and the priest he’d seen at Mass who inspired his vocation. His parents were ‘staunch Catholics’, and his father always encouraged his children to attend Mass and ‘never forget God’.

He holds onto these memories, along with these words: ‘My mum used to tell me that my dad used to wake her up at midnight, and they would kneel beside the bed and pray for me to become a priest. These things keep me going.’

Fr Stephen’s parents have since died, and of their nine children, only four are alive. Four of his brothers were killed during the war, and his sister died a couple of years ago in the United States.

People always send me the gift of rosary beads, and I never give them away. On numerous occasions Mother Mary has been a source of strength and hope in my priesthood.

Amid such suffering, Fr Stephen has held onto his faith and hope in God. He draws strength from Scripture, including texts such as Hebrews 5:1–5, which says a priest is chosen from among the people to offer sacrifice first for his sins and for the sins of the people.

‘Whenever I say the Mass, that Scripture comes to my mind,’ he says. ‘I’m saying this Mass not for anything else but for my sins and for the sins of the people.’ To this day, Fr Stephen continues to pray for those who killed his brothers, and for all who’ve ‘done wrong’ to him. ‘Every morning, when I say my Mass, I pray for them. I always ask God to forgive them, because by me forgiving them, God will also forgive me of my shortcomings and sins.’

He is also inspired by the words of John 10:10—‘I have come that you may have life and have it to the full’—and by the example of saints like St Maximilian Kolbe and St Paul. ‘St Maximilian Kolbe sacrificed his life for something good, and St Paul stands out for me because of his pastoral zeal. I too like the pastoral work and enjoy being with the people and seeing what I can do for the people. That’s why as I am here.’

When reflecting on what has been at the heart of his ministry and a great source of inspiration and hope, he says, ‘Mary, the mother of Jesus’. Looking back on his life, he says there have been many times when his prayers to Mother Mary have saved him (and others) and helped him in one situation or another.

The hand of God is in everything that happens. Knowing this, we can all have hope.

He says, ‘In all the years that I was in the seminary, when people sent me gifts, they were always a gift of rosary beads—I have many rosary beads. Even here, people always send me the gift of rosary beads, and I never give them away. On numerous occasions Mother Mary has been a source of strength and hope in my priesthood.’

Fr Stephen is grateful that through his ministry, he can be ‘a bridge to God, a gateway to heaven through the Sacraments’. He hopes that he can continue to be a channel of God’s love, hope and mercy among all he encounters. And he hopes that his life experience and the suffering he has endured will help others to find hope in God’s steadfast love and presence. He reminds us that ‘the hand of God is in everything that happens. Knowing this, we can all have hope.’