Most priests in Sierra Leone are sons of Muslims, bishop says

There are now more than 100 priests in the four dioceses of Sierra Leone. | Credit: Shutterstock

By Walter Sánchez Silva

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 26, 2024 / 16:15 pm

Bishop Natale Paganelli, 66, arrived as a Xaverian missionary in 2005 in Sierra Leone. In an interview with the Catholic magazine Omnes posted April 25, he noted that the majority of Catholic priests in that African country are sons of Muslims.

“Most priests are sons of Muslims. Why? Because of the schools,” explained the prelate of Italian origin, who also spent 22 years in Mexico and who was apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Makeni in Sierra Leone from 2012–2023.

“When the Xaverians arrived they used a very interesting strategy. Since there were almost no schools in the country’s north, they began to establish them, first primary schools, then secondary schools. Evangelization came through the schools,” he continued.

Regarding Muslims who study in Catholic schools, Paganelli explained that “the majority of them, attending our schools, which have a lot of prestige, thanks be to God, come into contact with Christianity, with priests, and at a certain point they ask for baptism and take a catechumenal course at the same school. Generally, there is no opposition from parents.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

Catholics in Gaza are burying dead in Muslim cemeteries

Jerusalem, Apr 16, 2024 / 06:00 am

In the chaos of the Israel-Hamas war, where any movement can be fatal, even burying the dead is not guaranteed. Hundreds still lie under the rubble across the Gaza Strip, and transporting bodies to cemeteries is nearly impossible. This is compounded by the heartbreak of mass graves.

The challenge is even greater for Christians, whose cemeteries are all in the northern part of Gaza, next to their places of worship. For those who die in the south, receiving a Christian burial is impossible.

Recently, two Christians passed away in the South of Gaza — Hani Suhail Michel Abu Dawood and Haytham Tarazi. Their families could not bid them a final farewell and, for now, have been unable to return their loved ones’ bodies to Christian cemeteries in the north. However, the doors of Muslim cemeteries have opened to receive their bodies and give them a dignified burial.

Reuters reported the testimony of Ihsan al-Natour, a worker at the Muslim cemetery in Tal al-Sultan in Rafah, who mentioned the burial of a Christian, Abu Dawood. 

“He’s buried amongst Muslims and there are no signs that indicate he is Christian,” al-Natour said. “He is a human being; we respect human beings and appreciate humanity and we love every person on earth.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

Big Zuu Goes to Mecca review – a quietly revolutionary portrait of Islam

This thoroughly sweet look at the grime artist and TV chef making a pilgrimage is that rarest of things – an intimate profile of being male and Muslim

There’s no one way to be a religious person. For some, it’s all about a deeply personal connection between you and God. For others, its value comes from how it places you within a larger community of like-minded believers. Either can bring comfort and meaning to a person’s life, and in the case of the grime musician and award-winning TV chef Big Zuu, he is fortified by both as he makes a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Big Zuu is a thoughtful and charming host who is able to find the heart and humour in even the most typically solemn moments. This hour-long BBC documentary follows him through Ramadan, where he is giving up his “sinful” ways – even as a committed Muslim, he loves the ladies, a bit of hash and the odd tipple. Despite being “westernised” and not the most pious of believers, he decides to go on the umrah pilgrimage to Mecca (in contrast to the hajj, this can be undertaken at any point in the year) to work out what Islam means to him. He is surrounded at most points by a small group of friends (his “mandem”) who are also Muslims and just as endearing as Big Zuu himself. For him, this experience isn’t about being a perfect, sin-free person. “This ain’t some fake religion documentary where I’m pretending to be some great Muslim and convert the world,” he tells us. Instead, he is sincerely trying to figure out his faith and become the very best version of himself.

The programme is filled with sweet moments, particularly when Big Zuu bonds and jokes around with other Muslims about what lies ahead. As he boards the plane to Mecca, a stranger tells him, “I’m really happy for you”. But before that he is teased at the barbers that he should come back with a Saudi wife – and that with a towel on his head he currently looks like one. That segues into Big Zuu considering what shaving his head for the pilgrimage really means to him. As a black man, his hair is integral to his identity, and he almost tears up when he recalls being told to keep it short by his teachers because it was distracting the white pupils.

There are other big questions. For one, the costs of the pilgrimage – the proceeds of which are paid directly to the Saudi government as a result of a post-pandemic system change – are, at £7,500 a person, astronomical. He wonders whether that money going to the Saudi royals is really the best use of those funds when he could, as a Persian shopkeeper advises him, just go home and work privately on the direct connection between “your heart and God”. The programme doesn’t skirt around the fact that this is a place that has been susceptible to corruption and that “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) is, sadly, for some too often associated with suicide bombing rather than its wider usage to commence prayers. But what makes Big Zuu’s pilgrimage a moving one is his ability to sincerely connect with his faith without flattening his identity as a proud black working-class west Londoner, or losing his sense of fun.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE GUARDIAN (UK)

How U.S. Muslims are experiencing the Israel-Hamas war

U.S. Muslims are more sympathetic to the Palestinian people than many other Americans are, despite the fact that relatively few Muslims in the United States are Palestinian themselves, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in February. And only about a quarter of Muslims in the survey identify as Arab or of Arab ancestry.

Muslim Americans are also highly critical of President Joe Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Meanwhile, a majority of Muslim Americans (70%) say discrimination against Muslims in our society has increased since the start of the war, and about half (53%) say news about the war makes them feel afraid.

Here’s a closer look at these and other findings from our new survey.

How we did this

How U.S. Muslims view America’s role in the war 

Only 6% of Muslim adults believe that the U.S. is striking the right balance between the Israelis and Palestinians, according to the February survey.

Most Muslims (60%) instead say Biden is favoring the Israelis too much, while just 3% say he is favoring the Palestinians too much. Another 30% are not sure.

Muslim Americans have been strongly Democratic in the past and remain so – 66% of Muslim registered voters in the survey identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party. (The survey includes 298 Muslim registered voters for an effective sample size of 94 and a margin of error of plus or minus 10.1 points.) But Biden’s handling of the war has led some U.S. Muslims to cast protest votes against him in Democratic primaries this year.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE PEW RESEARCH

In pictures: Eid celebrations around the world

Eid al Fitr Mubarak to all our Muslim friends and neighbors!!

Muslims around the world have begun celebrating Eid al-Fitr, one of the biggest celebrations in the Islamic calendar.

Eid al-Fitr – which means “festival of the breaking of the fast” – is celebrated at the end of Ramadan, a month of fasting for many adults, as well as spiritual reflection and prayer.

EPA

Women pray near a Muslim shrine in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir.

FULL ARTICLE WITH PICTURES FROM THE BBC

Lost in Orientalism: Arab Christians and the war in Gaza

Centuries-old misconceptions compel Western Christians to ignore the plight of Palestinian Christians and Muslims.

On February 21, it was announced that the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby refused to meet with Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Lutheran pastor, after Isaac had appeared at a pro-Palestine rally with former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Isaac, whose Christmas Eve sermon went viral for its condemnation of the Israeli assault on Gaza and concomitant Western Christian silence, has repeatedly called for ecumenical peace amid Palestinian suffering.

A week later, Welby apologised and agreed to meet with Isaac. But in his apology X post, the archbishop stated it was wrong to shun Isaac “at this time of profound suffering for our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters”, making no mention of the equal suffering of Palestinian Muslims, with whom Isaac has repeatedly stood in solidarity.

Today, as Catholics and Protestants celebrate Easter, Palestinians of these denominations are barred from visiting their holy places in Jerusalem. Neither the Church of England nor other Western churches have denounced these restrictions on free worship by the Israeli government.

Welby’s refusal to meet Isaac and the continuing silence of Western churches on Israeli crimes perpetrated against Palestinian Christians and Muslims are just further reminders that, for Arab Christians, their place in the West remains tenuous because of Orientalist and Islamophobic views of the Arab world.

Rarely allowed to speak for themselves, Arab Christians are either depicted in the West as hapless victims whose numbers continue to dwindle because of “Islamic fundamentalism” or as heretical Christians whose faith is marked by its cultural proximity to Islam. Driving this is an Orientalist gaze that sees the Arab world as barbaric and uncivilised, with only Western civilising missions and the state of Israel serving as a bulwark against its “terror”.

Ignored in turn are the experiences and perspectives of Arab Christians who lived alongside their Arab Jewish and Arab Muslim neighbours in relative peace and security from the seventh century to the latter period of the Ottoman Empire and the onset of Western imperialism.

FULL ARTICLE FROM AL JAZEERA

White House iftar cancelled after Muslims leaders decline invite

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House cancelled an iftar after many Muslim American leaders rejected the invite over Biden’s support for Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. The White House chose to hold a smaller dinner on Tuesday evening and the only attendees were people who work for his administration.

“We’re just in a different world,” said Wa’el Alzayat, who leads Emgage, a Muslim advocacy organization. “It’s completely surreal. And it’s sad.”

Alzayat attended last year’s event, but he declined an invitation to break his fast with Biden this year, saying, “It’s inappropriate to do such a celebration while there’s a famine going on in Gaza.”

After rejections from Alzayat and others, he said the White House adjusted its plans Monday, telling community leaders that it wanted to host a meeting focused on administration policy. Alzayat still said no, believing that one day was not enough time to prepare for an opportunity to sway Biden’s mind on the conflict.

“I don’t think the format will lend itself to a serious policy discussion,” he said Tuesday afternoon.

Democrats fear that Biden’s loss of support among Muslims could help clear a path for his Republican predecessor to return to the White House. This year’s election will likely hinge on a handful of battleground states, including Michigan with its significant Muslim population.

Several Muslim leaders attended Tuesday’s meeting with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Muslim government officials and national security leaders. The White House would not name them.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “community leaders expressed the preference” of having a “working group meeting,” which she described as an opportunity to “get feedback from them.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM WGNTV WEBSITE (CHICAGO)

‘Muslim-ish’: For less observant Muslims, Ramadan remains a cherished ritual

In Philadelphia, Maham Rizvi breaks the Ramadan fast at an iftar with Queer Mā’ida, bringing people of many genders, races, and religious traditions to celebrate together.

Candlelight flickered across Maham Rizvi’s face as she adorned a chestnut-brown coffee table with different mementos: A River Dies of Thirst, the collection of writings by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish; Moon and Sun, a poetry book by the Sufi Muslim poet Rumi; a bowl of colorful Turkish soft candies surrounded by tasbih, Islamic prayer beads; a vase holding a dried floral bouquet; a Quran propped open on a book stand.

It was a recent Friday evening in Philadelphia, and a community iftar was being hosted by Queer Māʾida for predominantly queer and trans Muslims to break their 13-hour fast together during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Rizvi, who uses the pronouns she/they, had just completed putting together what she calls an Islamic altar, a communal ceremony Rizvi enjoys practicing to honor emotions, memories and connection to faith. As the dozen or so attendees settled into their seats while breaking their fast with steaming bowls of Layla Çorbasi, a Turkish yogurt-based soup, Rizvi stood in the center of the living and dining areas.

“Hi everyone,” she smiled at the crowd, her voice soft and welcoming. “I wanted to bring an element of communal Islamic practice to our evening. So I set up a little altar that is Islamic. If there’s anything that you have with you that you want to contribute to it, I encourage you to set it down and we can find a moment to acknowledge it and story tell.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER