Thursday, May 14, 2020

ACN-USA News - Pakistan Christians, other religious minorities are denied COVID-19 aid

NGOs AND MUSLIM LEADERS in Pakistan stand accused of refusing to give COVID-19 emergency aid to Christians and other religious minorities—even though they are among those worst affected by the pandemic.

Cecil Shane Chaudhry, Executive Director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace, a Catholic-run human rights organization, described reports of religious organizations and mosques making announcements telling Christians not to come forward for food and other emergency handouts. 

Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Mr. Chaudhry said Christians and other religious minorities were particularly in need of help as many are in the lowest paid jobs, dependent on daily wages, and on the breadline, with work drying up because of the lockdown. Stressing how minority women were especially at risk, he called on the Pakistan government to provide masks, gloves and other COVID-19 protective equipment for sanitary workers and domestic workers—many of whom are Christians.

With Pakistan’s government now easing the lockdown, Mr. Chaudhry said he feared a spike in COVID-19 cases especially among Christians and other minorities, whose jobs, he said, put them particularly at risk of infection. Mr. Chaudhry gave reports of how Christians in a village near Lahore on Raiwind Road had been denied food aid and how, in a separate incident, about 100 Christian families were excluded from food distribution in Sandha Kalan village, in the Punjab’s Kasur district.

He said there were reports of COVID-19 emergency aid staff on the ground refusing to give help to non-Muslims as the donations had come in as Zakat charitable offerings, in accordance with Islamic Shari‘a law. 

Mr. Chaudhry said: “COVID-19 knows no boundaries—everyone is at risk, irrespective of their religion so how can it be fair to deny food and other emergency help to Christians and other minorities, especially when they are among those suffering the most at this time?”

The NCJP chief quoted an imam from a mosque in Lahore’s Model Town who, he said, had announced in a recent sermon: “There will be a ration distribution tomorrow morning for needy people but only for Muslims.”

Pakistan has 32,819 confirmed cases of Coronavirus, according to latest reports, with 733 deaths, although Mr. Chaudhry stressed that many cases were going unreported. 

The NCJP chief called on the government to consult with minority groups about COVID-19 response initiatives and to make better use of census data to target aid for the most vulnerable. He said: “Although plans are being worked on, for now we do not know of [any initiatives to include] religious minority members to ensure their needs are not ignored.”

Aid to the Church in Need has in place a $5.5M  COVID-19 emergency aid program to support the work of the local Churches worldwide.

—John Pontifex


With picture of a Christian neighborhood in Pakistan (© ACN)


Editor’s Notes:

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Directly under the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.  ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work in over 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information contact Michael Varenne at michael@churchinneed.org or call 718-609-0939 or fax 718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street, PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384.  www.churchinneed.org
 

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

ACN-USA News - Conquering hate with love—70th anniversary of the ‘Miracle of Vinkt’




ON MAY 27, 1940, in the village of Vinkt, near the Belgian city of Ghent, German troops massacred 86 civilians. Thanks to Father Werenfried van Straaten, founder of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the location of this war crime became a scene of Christian love ten years later. That was 70 years ago this month. The Norbertine priest recognized the dangers of a Europe divided by hate and dedicated his life to restoring love.

World War II had come to an end. As agreed upon by the victorious powers at the Yalta Conference and in the Potsdam Agreement, 14 million Germans were driven out of the eastern provinces beginning in 1945. In western Germany, the majority of the displaced persons, among them six million Catholics, lived under inhumane conditions in bunkers or camps. The suffering of the millions of displaced persons reminded Father van Straaten of the story of the Nativity, when there was no room at the inn for the Holy Family.

The young priest appealed to the conscience of his fellow Christians in Belgium and the Netherlands, calling upon them to love their enemies and neighbors. In a famous article entitled “No room at the inn,” written for the 1947 Christmas edition of the magazine of Tongerlo Abbey in Belgium, he called upon locals, many of whom were still mourning relatives killed by the Germans, to make a gesture of reconciliation. Something incredible happened: the response to the article was overwhelming, unleashing a wave of giving among the Flemish people.

The name “Werenfried” means “warrior for peace” and this soon became the priest’s mission. In 1948, Father Werenfried collected donations of bacon from Flemish farmers, an initiative that was hugely successful and gave him the nickname of the “Bacon Priest.” Then, in 1950, exactly ten years after the massacre at Vinkt, he travelled to the village to preach.

In his memoirs, Father Werenfried wrote that he was apprehensive about preaching this sermon. “I was never quick to feel fear, but at the time I was afraid.” He certainly had cause, considering that resentment and hatred in the hearts of the people had yet to be vanquished. The oldest of the victims had been 89 years old, the youngest 13. Almost all of the families had suffered a loss.

He wrote: “I drove to Vinkt a day earlier to take stock of the situation. I arrived at the parish house on Saturday evening. Distraught, the priest raised his hands and exclaimed, ‘It will not work, Father, the people do not want it. They are saying, ‘What? This priest is coming to ask for help for the Germans? For those despicable people who shot our men and boys? Never! Not one living soul will come to hear his speech. He can preach to empty chairs, if he feels like it. And he should consider himself lucky that he is a priest. Otherwise he would be in for a beating!’

“What was I supposed to do? After discussing it with the priest, I decided to prepare for that evening’s speech by giving the sermon at all of the divine services held that Sunday. And so, to everyone’s surprise, I was the one standing in the pulpit the next morning, for fifteen whole minutes, preaching about love. It was the most difficult sermon I gave in my whole life. But it worked.

“And once I had spoken the Thanksgiving prayer after Holy Mass and the church had completely emptied—because the people are ashamed to show how good they really are!—a woman shyly came forward. She did not say anything, but gave me one thousand francs and then left before I could ask her anything. Fortunately, the priest had just come out of the sacristy and saw her leave. He told me that she was an ordinary farmer’s wife and that her husband, her son and her brother were all murdered by the Germans in 1940. And she was the first,” he continued.

“That evening, the meeting hall was full. For two hours, I talked about the desperate situation of the rucksack priests and the desolation of their faithful. I did not beg them for bacon, money or clothing. I only begged for love and at the very end I asked whether they would join me in praying for their suffering brothers in Germany.”

“They prayed with tears in their eyes. And late that evening, at eleven o’clock, when it was dark and no one would recognize them, they came, one after the other, to the parish house to deliver envelopes with one hundred francs, with five hundred francs, with an accompanying letter. And early the next morning, before I left, they came again to the parish house (…) I was given seventeen envelopes with money. They transferred money to my postal giro account. They collected bacon. They adopted a German priest. That was Vinkt! Human beings are better than we think!”

Werenfried van Straaten realized that peace and reconciliation would never return to the world while hatred lived on in the hearts of the people. He wrote: “We are all sailing on a ship and that ship is called Europe! […] When this ship springs a leak, everything else becomes irrelevant. And Europe’s Ship of State is taking water. So now we all have to pull up our sleeves and start pumping, or else we will all go under, no matter what side we are on.”

He continued, “Neither the atomic bomb nor the Marshall Plan will save us, only a true Christian life. Only through love, the mark of a Christian, can order be restored.”

—Volker Niggewöhner


With picture of Father Werenfried van Straaten (© ACN)


Editor’s Notes:

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Directly under the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.  ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work in over 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information contact Michael Varenne at michael@churchinneed.org or call 718-609-0939 or fax 718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street, PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384.  www.churchinneed.org
 

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

ACN News - Nigeria: Michael Nnadi & Bolanle Ataga—martyrs walking toward the barking dogs




HE FOLLOWING are reflections by Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, in northwestern Nigeria. One of his seminarians, Michael Nnadi, was kidnapped and murdered earlier this year. Three of his fellow seminarians were also kidnapped but were released alive. A copy of this text was obtained by Aid to the Church in Need:


News of the capture of the kidnappers of the four seminarians has been received with ecstasy and a sense of divine vindication both within and beyond the Catholic and Christian circles here in Nigeria.

One of the kidnappers [is] Mustapha Mohammed, a 26 year old man and a member of the 45-man gang of kidnappers and bandits that has recklessly robbed, kidnapped, tortured and killed many people along the 110-mile stretch of road between Kaduna and Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, for the last four or so years.

According to Muhammad, they had killed Michael because he kept asking them to repent and turn their lives around from their evil ways. He said that what most annoyed them was that although Michael knew that they were Muslims, he continued to insist that they repent and abandon their way of life. Young Michael’s courage represents a page out of the book of the martyrs of old.
Also murdered with Michael by the same criminals was Mrs. Bolanle Ataga who had been kidnapped along with her two daughters. According to Muhammad, Bolanle was killed by their leader of the gang because she refused to be raped by him.
The story of Michael and Bolanle is a metaphor for understanding the deep scars that have been left behind by British colonialism, scars that have disfigured the face of religion in Nigeria and continue to exacerbate tensions between Christians and Muslims.
British colonialism was established after the British had conquered the extant one-hundred-year-old Caliphate established by Usman dan Fodio (1804-1903). Although northern Muslim historiography would continue to project Lugard as a Christian missionary of sorts and hold his colonial project responsible for the institutionalization of Christianity in the region, the colonial project, led by Lord Lugard at the beginning of the 20th century, saw Christian missionaries as obstacles to their adventure.
What an irony!  The truth is that missionaries preceded the colonial state in Nigeria by many years. Their mission of education and the conversion of local people to Christianity very often set them against the colonial state, and particularly so in Northern Nigeria, so much so that they were not permitted by the British to enter there until the 1930s.  Thus, Christians in northern Nigeria have been left with a legacy by which they have suffered a double jeopardy.
Firstly, missionary work in Northern Nigeria was seen by the colonialists as an intrusion into the sacred space of Islam while the educated Christians were seen as irritants, challenging the racism and injustice embedded in colonialism, and slowing down their exploitation and trade. In Southern Nigeria, educated Christians were seen as more serious troublemakers because they constituted the trigger for the independence struggle. 
The weak muscles of northern hegemony were strengthened when the British introduced indirect rule and imposed feudal Muslim leadership that oversaw taxation of the non-Muslim populations across the Middle Belt.
Secondly, in post-colonial Nigeria, the northern Muslim elite, using religion as a basis for social integration and power sharing, have continued to see Christians as outsiders.  Today, it is popular myth in Northern Nigeria that whereas Muslims continue to marry young Christian girls and accept them and their cousins as converts to Islam, Muslim girls are warned that marrying a Christian or any Muslim converting to Christianity amounts to embracing a death sentence.
Other forms of discrimination include the denial of places of worship for the building of churches in most parts of northern Nigeria, the constant harassment and targeting of Christian places of worship for destruction by mobs of Muslim youth or by overzealous public servants of the state, the exclusion of Christians from public employment in the state civil service and limited opportunities for cultural self-expression. Christians remain outside the loop of power in most states despite their high levels of educational qualifications.
I have provided this backdrop to place the martyrdom of Michael and Bolanle in proper context, to appreciate the Sisyphean struggle that Christians are daily up against.
Against this backdrop, let me now turn to the metaphor of the barking dog and why it is significant for our analysis. A barking dog announces a possible disturbance of the environment by a new arrival. It could be a friend or a foe, depending on the reaction of the intruder. In response to the barking dog, it is better to walk towards it, facing it as a sign of possible friendship or willingness to dialogue on your side. If you turn your back or attempt to run, the dog will consider your strategy as a declaration of war and it will hurt you.
The British left a legacy of a feudal architecture of power that has been exploited by Nigeria’s corrupt and incompetent ruling elite across the country. In the north, the Muslim elite has continued to exploit the deep religiosity of its members by presenting themselves as defenders of the faith, a strategy that has been exploited for political mobilization. In ignorance, their people have continued to see education as a Western ploy to corrode their religion and culture.
This culture has bred ignorance, destitution, poverty, leading to a generation today across the northern states of over 13 million young people who have no meaningful survival skills. It is from this cesspool that Muhammad and his colleagues have emerged and are taking their revenge on a state that has failed them.
To be sure, there are kidnappers roaming across Nigeria, but none have been as brutal, murderous, cold-blooded, monstrous and brutish as those in the northern pool. They have slaughtered their fathers and mothers, irrespective of religion, status or gender. The challenging question before us in the north is, from where did they drink this poison?
Years of negative stereotypes against Christianity and its adherents have fed the anger of people like Muhammad who have come to believe that to be asked to repent is a call to war. True, by calling themselves Muslims while still carrying out acts of theft, banditry, rape and murder, these barking human dogs had lost the right to be called Muslims. However, there is no doubt that Muslim leaders and teachers in northern Nigeria must address the historical distortions and interpretations of the faith that have brought us to this cul de sac.
Else, why did Michael’s appeal for a change of heart become a death sentence? It was borne out of the belief that Michael did not possess the moral credentials to call them to repentance. Why should a woman’s protection from sexual violence constitute a death sentence?
Inspired by their faith, Michael and Bolanle, the brave martyrs, looked at the horde of barking dogs and were not afraid to walk towards them. For us as Christians, while we greatly mourn their passing, their deaths are gains, not losses. It was after the blood of Jesus dropped on the ground that the seeds of our redemption were sown.
Today, Michael’s grave stands as guard and witness at the entrance of his seminary where he was a student. His colleagues can walk through the gates knowing they have a guardian angel. When we buried him (Feb 11th, 2020), we prayed that his killers will not go free. He has interceded for us. He now stands as a metaphor, a rallying point for us to walk towards the barking dogs of our time.
Both he and Bolanle, as well as Leah Sharibu, who refused to renounce her Christian faith and remains in captivity, are metaphors for the suffering Church in Africa. Their testimony and witness represent the spiritual oxygen that our lungs so badly needed today. Together with the Ugandan martyrs, St. Bakhita, Blessed Isidore Bakanja and many others marked with the scars of torture for their faith, they are the bearers of promise and hope for the Church in our continent. Their example should serve as a rallying point for our young men and women in Africa.
Hopefully, they will inspire a new generation of defenders of the Gospel in a sick and troubled continent. With them ahead of us, let us rise and walk with courage towards the barking dogs to uphold Christ’s Gospel of Love.

With picture of Michael Nnadi (© ACN)


Editor’s Notes:

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Directly under the Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.  ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work in over 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information contact Michael Varenne at michael@churchinneed.org or call 718-609-0939 or fax 718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street, PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384.  www.churchinneed.org