{"id":3644,"date":"2009-11-09T14:33:11","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T14:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/a-lost-boy-may-find-the-priesthood.html"},"modified":"2009-11-09T14:33:11","modified_gmt":"2009-11-09T14:33:11","slug":"a-lost-boy-may-find-the-priesthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/a-lost-boy-may-find-the-priesthood.html","title":{"rendered":"A “lost boy” may find the priesthood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"t1larg.kual.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>
\nOne of the ongoing horrors of our day is the plight of Sudan’s “Lost Boys.” One of those boys, now grown into a man, is in the middle of an arduous journey that may, God willing, take him to the priesthood. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
If you have prayer you can spare, whisper it up for this remarkable young<\/a> man:<\/p>\n
\n

\nKuol Dut was six when the swirling chaos of war churned through his village.
\nHe recalls playing in a field as neighbors raced toward him, screaming about militias attacking their homes. Even a boy of Kuol’s age knew that militias and soldiers slaughtered men, women and children in the vast, flat expanse of southern Sudan. So he ran, too. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That attack separated Kuol from his mother and father and cast him into a childhood of desolation. He would see friends starve to death, skin stretched taut over ribs, chests rising and falling with rattling wisps of breath. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later, a rebel army would train him to fight as a child soldier, Kuol says. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite the horrors that he endured, Kuol’s journey eventually gave him a reverence for education and a deep Christian faith. It also led him to the hustle and bustle of the United States, a place with gleaming office towers, cable television and all-you-can-eat buffets. There Kuol would pursue his dream of becoming a Catholic priest. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He would also learn that his mother was alive after all — and they would reunite 16 years after last seeing each other.  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The last time Kuol had seen his mother and other relatives was in 1988, when he and his neighbors left their smoldering village. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If they are dead,” he recalls praying, “just take their souls and put them to your right hand.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole thing.<\/a>  It’s an amazing journey. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the ongoing horrors of our day is the plight of Sudan’s “Lost Boys.” One of those boys, now grown into a man, is in the middle of an arduous journey that may, God willing, take him to the priesthood.  If you have prayer you can spare, whisper it up for this remarkable young…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocations"],"yoast_head":"\nA "lost boy" may find the priesthood - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/11\/a-lost-boy-may-find-the-priesthood.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A "lost boy" may find the priesthood - 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