Bishop Paride Taban was born in Katire, Sudan, to a Christian mother. His father, a Muslim, was arrested before his birth. Upon his release and finding his wife pregnant, he wrongly suspected her of infidelity and beat her savagely. Yet the child lived. Born into a world of violence, he dedicated his life to building peace.  

Ordained a priest in 1964, Paride Taban was appointed bishop of Kinshasa, Zaire, in 1980. Yet he returned to southern Sudan in 1983 to become the first bishop of Torit. Within a few years, the country was rent by a brutal civil war. When the separatist Sudan People’s Liberation Army overtook Torit, Bishop Paride was arrested and imprisoned for several months before being sent into exile. Returning to the new South Sudan, he helped organize the New Sudan Council of Churches and devoted himself to promoting peace and reconciliation.  

Bishop Paride was famous for his simple lifestyle and his commitment to the poor and to victims of violence. Often he traveled through active war zones to bring relief.  

In 2004 he asked permission of the pope to retire to fulfill a long-standing dream—the establishment of the Kuron Holy Trinity Peace Village, an oasis of peace, uniting thousands of people of differing ethnic and religious backgrounds to live and work together in harmony.  

“God made a very small start; you see that start everywhere. It is even living there, in the sheep. In the morning star. Once you start something very small, it can hold practice that is solid. People can see it. How small is that moon? But the light is spread all over.”

—Bishop Paride Ibrahim Taban