Middle East – Africa

Nairobi, Kenya, Oct 13, 2019 / 08:02 am (CNA).- On Saturday, Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge broke a finishing tape, and a barrier long-thought to be completely unbreakable. Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours, finishing a 26.2 mile course in Vienna in 1 hour 59 minutes 40 seconds.

HISTORY! pic.twitter.com/qjLfofhL5s

— Eliud Kipchoge (@EliudKipchoge) October 12, 2019

Sometime after the run was over, away from the spotlight, Kipchoge did what he is reported to do after every race: he knelt down, bent his forehead to the ground, and made the sign of the cross, in thanksgiving for a good run.

In his hometown, his friends and family say that Kipchoge’s extraordinary accomplishment might have something to do with his deep Catholic faith.

Kipchoge’s cousin, Fr. Kennedy Kipchumba, told ACI Africa Saturday that the runner’s accomplishment was “a moment of joy and jubilation, with a summary of: God fulfills His promise.”

“I was part of the close to 3,000 people who were following the race from a big screen and with all of them, we ended up bowing to God to thank him for this much he offered to us,” Fr. Kipchumba said.

After Kipchoge’s feat, his family, included several priests, celebrated Mass in thanksgiving.

“Everybody came to Church, to say thank you to God. We celebrated Mass to thank God. We celebrated as a community; we had the family, Fr. Benjamin Oroiyo who is also a family member, Fr. Benedict Rono and we were also joined by the Deputy Governor of Nandi County, area Member of Parliament, among other local leaders,” Fr. Kipchumba said.

The Mass was celebrated in a small village chapel, St. Peter’s Kapsisiwa, an “outstation” of St. Joseph’s Sangalo Parish in the Diocese of Eldoret.

Kipchoge, 34, was raised in the small village of Kapsisiwa, 200 miles from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The area around Kapsisiwa is a highland of rolling green hills, where Kipchoge began running as a child. The runner now lives with his wife in the west Kenyan city of Eldoret, close to his hometown.

“The main person in the family is the mother, whom we brought from her house” for the Mass, Kipchumba explained.

Kipchoge’s mother, Janeth Rotich, is seen as a moral and spiritual supporter of her son.

“I wake up at 3 a.m. every day to pray for Kipchoge. I pray the rosary,” she has told local reporters.

Kipchoge left Kenya on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Monday, Oct. 7 to attempt a sub-2 hour marathon in Vienna. But before he left, the parish he attends when in Nairobi offered Mass for him.

On the eve of his departure, special prayers were offered for him by the congregation of St. Paul’s University Catholic Church.
 
“Kipchoge is a friend of students’ choir at St. Paul’s University Chapel. Last Sunday we had Mass celebration for Eliud Kipchoge,” the chaplain of Nairobi University, Fr. Peter Kaigua told ACI Africa Saturday.

Kaigua described the historic marathoner, Kipchoge as “an inspiration to the youths, a mentor to the young people and a humble man; through him the young people get to know that their dreams can be met.”

“Before offering Mass for him last week, we used to talk about him in the university with students. We therefore opted to offer him Mass before going for the marathon race so that God can help him realize his dream,” Kaigua added.

“The day for Mass, young people had t-shirts printed in his name,” Kaigua told ACI Africa.

During the Mass, Kaigua said that Kipchoge’s run “will push his body and his mind to unknown levels and if he ever needed God, and Mother Mary and all the Saints, this is the time — that is why we are here, praying hard. As Eliud also famously said, ‘you cannot train alone and expect to make a fast time… 100 percent of me is nothing compared to one percent of the team.’ We are, therefore, going to be Eliud’s pacemakers in prayer.”

“The university acted as his ‘spiritual pacesetter.’ His winning is a sign that prayer for young people has been answered,” the priest told ACI Africa.

When Kipchoge crossed the finish line, he said that felt himself to be “the happiest man to run under two hours to inspire many people; to tell people that no human is limited, you can do it.”

“I am expecting more athletes from all over the world to run under two hours,” he added.

Priest, religious, and laity in his native Kenya have praised Kiphchoge as a man of great inspiration. Some interpreting his success in the context of the Church’s “Extraordinary Missionary Month,” whose theme is “Baptized and Sent.”

“Eliud Kipchoge, baptized and sent! I saw his mother with a white Rosary on her neck. This is just how faith is handed on in the family set up. The mother passes it on to the child,” Fr. Samuel Nyattaya of Kenya’s Kisumu Archdiocese told ACI Africa.

The priest said he felt “so happily surprised at the demonstration of his Catholic faith!”

“I believe that God is happy to see us putting efforts to maximize our potential. God must have been so happy to see this courageous Kenyan encouraging the entire world with his belief,” Sr. Sr. Margaret Mutiso, a member of the Daughters of Sacred Heart, told ACI Africa.

Kipchoge “is advocating for a peaceful world where all live together in harmony and we’re not limited to do that,” she added.

For his part, Kaigua said that the university parish in Nairobi is already “planning to celebrate another Mass for him in his presence immediately, as soon as he is back in the country.”

The priest, and the marathoner, surely have something to thank God for.

A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner. It has been adapted by CNA.

[…]

Vatican City, Oct 13, 2019 / 06:10 am (CNA).- As Turkish-led forces began the fifth day of their move against Kurdish militias in northeastern Syria Sunday, Pope Francis appealed for dialogue, especially as families in the region are forced to flee fro… […]

Damascus, Syria, Oct 8, 2019 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Endangered Christian populations in the Middle East face renewed risks as the United States removes troops from Syria, a leading human rights group has warned.

On Oct. 6, the White House announced that T… […]

Jifna, West Bank, Oct 3, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Jifna is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, just 5 miles north of Ramallah –the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority- and 14 miles north of Jerusalem.

The village of about 2,000 people is unique because, until recently, it had retained a Christian majority for almost 1,500 years, in a region where Christians are a shrinking minority.

In fact, Jifna’s most famous landmark is not one of the elaborate mosques and minarets that dominate the Palestinian landscape, but instead is the ruins of the Roman Church of St George, which was built in the 6th century.

Jifna faces struggles. And those challenges are a fair representation of the many complex issues that threaten the survival of Christian communities in the Holy Land.

In September, during a visit to the region organized by the Philos Project, a group of Catholic leaders was able to visit the St. Joseph Parish in Jifna. They spoke directly to members of the local Catholic community and their pastor, Fr. Joney Bahbah.

At an informal gathering in the parish hall, Fr. Bahbah spoke enthusiastically about the crown jewel of his parish: the Catholic school that “serves everyone, including our Muslim brothers.”

The school was established by the Latin Catholic Patriarchate in 1856.

According to the official statistics of the Latin Patriarchate, Jifna has been losing Christians to migration, and only 870 remain in town, out of which 428 are Latin Christians.

A large group of Christians left the Palestinian territories during the Second Intifada (“Uprising”), a period of intensified Israeli-Palestinian violence that began in late September 2000 and ended in early 2005.

“Christians are one of the most peaceful, highly-educated, and upwardly-mobile communities in Israel. These loyal citizens serve as a buffer between the Jewish and Muslim populations and offer a powerful testimony to the love and forgiveness that is offered by Jesus Christ,” Robert Nicholson, president of the Philos Project, and an expert on the region, told CNA

But many anti-Christian incidents sparked by Muslims make Christians wary, he said, especially when local disagreements are framed as religious incidents and dangerously escalate.

A traumatic episode happened April 24, when a Christian woman from Jifna got into a traffic altercation with a young Muslim man, the son of an influential Palestinian leader with alleged connections to the powerful Fatah movement in Ramallah. After the altercation, the man was taken into custody by the Palestinian police.

In revenge, some members of the Muslim family rounded up friends from the nearby Al-Am’ari refugee camp, and on April 26 traveled to Jifna, where they destroyed property and hurled anti-Christian insults.

According to a report from Al-Monitor: “Some of the gunmen…also fired into the air and demanded that the Christians pay the Jizyah – a per capital annual tax – called the dhimmi – levied on non-Muslim subjects living under Islamic rule.” 

“Jifna residents made emergency calls to the police, but it would be three hours before anyone would arrive. Part of the delay, it turned out, was because Jifna lies in Area B of the West Bank — administered by the Palestinians but with joint Israeli-Palestinian security control — the police needed approval from Israeli authorities before entering it,” Al Monitor explained.

Commenting on the incident and its impact on local Christians, Wadie Abunassar, the Director at The International Center for Consultations, wrote on Facebook that “the residents of Jifna, most of whom are Christians, have voiced anger and resentment for two main reasons: first, the big attack carried out by some residents of Al-Am’ari refugee camp and, second, the delay in the arrival of the Palestinian security forces.”

“We hope that everyone will learn that Christians are an inalienable part of the Palestinian people, that they should not be vulnerable in any way,” Abunassar said.

At the parish hall in St. Joseph, a local lay Christian explained to the Philos Project group that in the Palestinian territories, “we Christians have a strong sense of nationality and Palestinian identity.”

The political stance of many Christians in the West Bank mirrors those of the Muslim majority. They believe in the “right of return” -to the land currently occupied by Israel- and blame Israel for most, if not all, of their current sufferings.

But the lay Christian speaking to the group, who himself spent time in an Israeli prison for joining the Second Intifada, wondered “if the end of the occupation (from Israel) would bring to power a radicalized version of Islam that would totally decimate us.”

According to Nicholson, “Palestinian society cannot survive without Christians. Although they only make up about 1% of the population, Palestinian Christians provide about 50% of the health services and 70% of the educational programs in the West Bank and Gaza. There will be no flourishing State of Palestine without a strong local church. The Palestinian Authority should do a lot more to empower and protect Christians living under its rule.”

When trying to explain other causes of the shrinking population of Christians in the Holy Land, Fr. Bahbah acknowledged the lack of opportunities in the region. He also took a swipe at the allure of western secularization.

“Today’s young (Palestinians) want to have fun, to dance, to travel… They don’t like Jesus,” he said.

The economic reasons for Christians to emigrate have to do with the state of near collapse of the Palestinian economy, in part because of the crippling regulations imposed by Israel.

But Nicholson believes that the survival of Christian communities in the Holy Land requires a significant engagement with Israel.

“Israel offers a unique, if unusual, opportunity for Christian renaissance in the Middle East: unique because Israel is one of the few countries in the region that is stable and free, and unusual because Israel identifies as a Jewish state. Anyone who cares about Middle Eastern Christians should seize on this opportunity, finding ways to work with Israel and strengthen the local church. This will help Christians in Israel, but it will also send a much-needed message of hope to those living in other parts of the region,” he told CNA.   

Meanwhile in Jifna, the Christian village surrounded by olive groves, apricot trees and grapevines, Fr. Bahbah says that he keeps on with his daily tasks as a pastor with a sense of hope.

“We believe that peace will come, because Jesus lived here and he loves this land.”

[…]

Rabat, Morocco, Oct 1, 2019 / 05:22 pm (CNA).- A Moroccan journalist, her fiance, and a doctor were sentenced to prison Monday for procuring and performing an abortion. The country’s penal code bars abortion except in cases when the mother’s life is endangered.

Hajar Raissouni, 28, was sentenced Sept. 30 to a year imprisonment for procuring an abortion and for fornication.

Her fiance, Rifaat al-Amin, was also given a years’ imprisonment, and her doctor was given two years in prison and a two-year ban on practising medicine.

An anaesthetist and a medical assistant were given suspended sentences of one year, and eight months, respectively.

Raissouni writes for Akhbar Al-Yaoum, which is critical of the Moroccan government.

Prosecutors have said her arrest has “nothing to do with her profession as a journalist,” but some worry it is politically motivated.

Abdelmoula El Marouri, Raissouni’s lawyer, told Reuters, “we’re shocked by this verdict,” and said he will appeal.

Raissouni was arrested Aug. 31 as she left the clinic.

Saad Sahli, a lawyer for Raissouni and al-Amin, said that Raissouni had been receiving treatment for internal bleeding at the clinic where she was arrested.

After her arrest, Raissouni was taken to hospital where she was given a gynecological exam.

Prosecutors say there were indications of pregnancy and that she had received a “late voluntary abortion.”

Rabat officials have also indicated the clinic where the five were arrested if being surveilled, after reports that abortions are regularly procured there.

Raissouni and al-Amin have been religiously, but not legally, married.

Sunni Islam is the established religion of Morocco. The country has strict rules on moral behavior and has criminalized debauchery and adultery.

According to a group that support abortion rights, most abortion-related arrests in the country involve medical officials, and only rarely do they include the women who procure abortions.

In 2018, Moroccan courts tried more than 14,500 people for debauchery; 3,048 for adultery; 170 for homosexuality; and 73 for abortions, AFP reported.

[…]

Lahore, Pakistan, Sep 27, 2019 / 09:59 am (CNA).- A Catholic bishop in Pakistan has warned of an increase in young Christian and Hindu girls being kidnapped, then forced to convert to Islam and marry their captors.

“There have been many kidnappi… […]

Jerusalem, Sep 27, 2019 / 08:30 am (CNA).- There are no tourists in Jerusalem’s Talbieh neighborhood. And even locals don’t always notice the Capuchin Franciscans coming and going from a non-descript three-house compound in the neighborhood. It does not stand out. But for many of those who know it, the St. Rachel Center is an indispensable refuge and a source of grace.

The St. Rachel Center serves a kind of immigrant unique to Israel: those born in the country, but living there illegally.

The strong economy in Israel is a magnet for many immigrants, mostly women, from places like the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India and Eritrea, who find jobs as housekeepers, caretakers of the elderly, or as maids in hotels. But the state of Israel admits those immigrants only under very strict rules: they cannot bring family members, and they have to commit to not get married or have children in Israel.  Violating any of those terms would immediately void their visas and would make them eligible for deportation.

But life happens. And immigrant women who get pregnant sometimes opt to remain illegally in the country, knowing that their children, ineligible for Israeli citizenship, will live in a legal limbo.

The need of daycare for the growing number of such children has created a cottage industry of “children’s warehouses,” especially in major cities like Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. In such warehouses, kids are left mostly unsupervised, usually in deplorable conditions.

To respond to this need, the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Jerusalem started the St. Rachel Center in September 2016. The center aims to provide safe, healthy and nurturing day care for the children of immigrants.

This September, a group of Catholic leaders visiting the Holy Land through an initiative of the Christian advocacy group known as the Philos Project were received at St. Rachel House by its director, Italian priest Fr. Benedetto di Bitonto.  Constantly interrupted by the joyous children who flock to him, Fr. Benedetto showed off the spacious one-floor building, with two playgrounds and two large rooms, one of them serving as a nursery for babies.

Another large room serves as a meeting place for the children who come to the center after school. Other rooms serve as offices, study and meeting rooms, and there is also a small apartment for volunteers, most of them young European Catholics.

Each school day, parents begin to drop off around 30 children at 7:30 in the morning, usually picking them up at 5:30 pm. Then, an additional 40 children arrive at 1:30 pm for an after school program that lasts until 6:00 pm. This program is especially important for the kids, since most of their parents are not sufficiently familiar with Hebrew and thus are not able to assist their children with homework.

“We try to provide as much after-school activities as possible to these kids, most of whom are integrated in Israeli school system,” Fr. di Bitonto told CNA.

With his long beard, bright eyes and easy manner, Fr. di Bitonto seems like a man of long experience at the center. Very few would imagine that was ordained a priest in May, just four months ago.

But there is an interesting story behind “Fr Benny,” and there is a reason he seems like such a seasoned leader.

Benedetto grew up in a devout Southern Italian Catholic family, and first heard a call when he was 18. He decided to study comparative literature, including Hebrew, until age 24, when he joined the seminary in his Diocese of Pozzuoli. But he stayed only for a year. He went back to college to pursue his Ph.D., which led him to study Hebrew literature in Jerusalem, where he fell in love with the small local Catholic community.

After leading a group of pilgrims to World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid, he returned to the seminary to become a priest at the service of the Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Jerusalem.

By the time of his priestly ordination, “Benny” had accumulated significant cultural, pastoral and spiritual experience.    

During the visit of the Philos Project, Fr. Benedetto led the group to the small chapel where an icon of Rachel the Matriarch dominates one of the walls.

“Why did we choose St. Rachel for this house? Because she struggled to have children and died giving birth to her younger son,” Fr. Benny explained.

“She is therefore the model of the mother willing to do anything for their children, and that’s what we aspire to do here, with God’s grace.”

Catechism is taught to Catholic kids every afternoon, but, regardless of religion “every child in need of a refuge for the day is welcomed without hesitation,” Fr. di Bitonto explained.

“This is our small contribution to unity, peace and friendship in the Holy Land.”

This hope for peaceful and friendly inter-religious unity in the Holy Land seems to be at the core of Fr. Benedetto’s priestly ministry.

In fact, according to Cécile Klos, a journalist from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem “the participants in the ordination celebration were happy for Benedetto, but also happy to have shared such a strong moment with people who are often very different in origin, language, administrative situation in the country and even religion.”

[…]

Harare, Zimbabwe, Sep 26, 2019 / 04:00 am (CNA).- British-born John Bradburne, who died in Zimbabwe 40 years ago, could be on his way to becoming the country’s first canonized saint.

Bradburne is a revered figure among the Catholic community in the landlocked southern African country of Zimbabwe. According to reports, Bradburne was shot in the back after he was abducted from his hut in Mutemwa in the north-east of Zimbabwe.

Who was he?

Born in 1921 to Anglican parents in Cumbria, England, Bradburne converted to Catholicism in 1947 while living with Benedictine monks, after he had a religious experience during World War II.

He lived after his conversion as a pilgrim, shuttling between England, the Middle East and Italy, living out of one bag. He was a prolific poet.

Bradburne joined the Secular Third Order Franciscan in 1956.

He later made contact with Fr. John Dove, a Jesuit friend living in Zimbabwe. Bradburne asked whether there was a “cave in Africa” where he could pray. Dove encouraged him to move to Zimbabwe, where he arrived in 1962.

In Zimbabwe, he told a Franciscan priest the three desires of his life: “to serve leprosy patients, to die a martyr, and to be buried in the Franciscan habit.”

In 1969, seven years after his arrival in the country , Bradburne’s desire to care for leprosy-afflicted patients was fulfilled, when he was appointed the lead caretaker at Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement, a center that cared for leprosy patients.

Bradburne spent hours with patients. He rose at 3:00 each morning, and washed patients, bandaged them, ate with them, and talked with them. Some of them he carried to Mass. But he clashed with leaders at the center over the conditions in which patients lived, and eventually, he was fired.

He was allowed to live in a deserted single-roomed tin hut in the settlement compound.

His house had no running water, but he was glad to be within the vicinity of the lepers, whom he continued helping in whatever way he could.

During Zimbabwe’s civil war, which lasted from 1964 until 1979, Bradburne protected the lepers from exploitation, something that raised suspicion, especially, locals say, because he was a foreigner, and his motives were frequently suspect.

Locals became hostile towards him, but he refused offers from other Christians to take him to safety.

Bradburne died on Sept. 5, 1979 when he was shot dead at age 58.  He was buried in the Franciscan habit, as he had hoped to be.

During his burial, three unexplained drops of blood were found below his coffin, reports say.

For his compassion toward the afflicted, Bradburne has been called the “Damien of the 20th century” in reference to St. Damian of Molokai who cared for lepers in Hawaii.

“He did a good thing, and that is what it is about. The love the lepers continue to have for him, because of his sacrifices, is truly astonishing.” Kate McPherson of the John Bradburne Memorial Trust told reporters in July.

In an interview with BBC, Fr Fidelis Mukonori who worked closely with the Bradburne recalled his friend’s account of living with lepers, “From the day I set my eyes on these people, I discovered I am also a leper among my own people.”

“Working for and with them I feel appreciated, that I am doing something good and they call me Baba [Father] John,” Mukonori remembered Bradburne telling him.

“He arrived with few possessions, only love,” Colleta Mafuta, 78, a leprosy survivor who knew Bradburne told BBC.

“The colony was filthy and the people were dirty. There was no medication, no clothes and people went hungry. He took care of everyone’s needs – feeding people, and washing and bandaging our sores,” she added.

According to Independent Catholic News, two people have claimed miraculous cures through Bradburne’s intercession: a woman in South African who regained the use of her legs, and a man in Scotland cured of a brain tumor.

On July 1, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints approved initial investigations into Bradburne’s sainthood cause. On Sept. 5, Archbishop Robert Ndlovu of Harare celebrated a Mass at Mutemwa where Bradburne served, to mark 40 years since his death and to officially launch his sainthood cause.

A version of this story was first published by ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner. It has been adapted by CNA.
 

[…]

Gitega, Burundi, Sep 23, 2019 / 06:59 pm (CNA).- Government officials in Burundi have accused the country’s bishops of spreading hatred and division following a message from the bishops warning of violence and corruption in the country’s el… […]

Washington D.C., Sep 20, 2019 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Pro-life advocates have condemend clinical testing of second trimester chemical abortions on women in a developing country in West Africa.

The tests are being conducted by Gynuity Health … […]