Tag: Featured

25 years ago, on 7 April 1994, Cyprien and Daphrose Rugamba were cut down by the bullets of the Hutu militias. Cyprien was already a celebrated poet and choreographer who had undergone a radical conversion and was working actively for the reconciliation of the different tribal groups within his country. Their killers murdered them on the first night of the genocide, while they were praying before the Blessed Sacrament in their home. They desecrated the Tabernacle and scattered the consecrated hosts over the floor.

Everybody, or at least nearly everybody, in Rwanda already knew the name of Cyprien Rugamba, a recognised poet, dancer and choreographer who was now working tirelessly for reconciliation within Rwanda. Together with his wife, Daphrose, he had introduced the Emmanuel community into their country and was working to support street children and making no distinction between the three main ethnic groups in the country, the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. Shortly before he was murdered, Cyprien had appealed to the authorities to remove the designation of tribal identity from people’s identity cards. It was an initiative that provoked deep hostility from the agitators who were seeking to foment civil war and which probably earned him his place among the very first victims of the massacre.

A radical conversion

Although he was raised as a Christian, Cyprien Rugamba had subsequently become very hostile towards Christianity, according to Laurent Landete, member of the Emmanuel community. For example, when his wife was in hospital on one occasion, Cyprien demanded that all the crucifixes be removed from her room, and he was also unfaithful to her and willing to listen to all kinds of calumnies against her, even to the point of being about to repudiate her. But then he fell gravely ill, and he, who was an artist, an intellectual and a dancer, found he could no longer speak, think or even move. “My pride was annihilated by this trial”, he recalled subsequently. Meanwhile, his wife faithfully continued to stay by him, remaining by his bedside throughout his illness, praying for him and watching over this husband whom she loved without apparently receiving any love in return.

Cyprien made a complete recovery – “miraculously”, he subsequently maintained. And following this “desert experience” he underwent a radical conversion of heart. Together with his wife, he set out to devote himself to works of charity. She had a little shop in the capital, Kigali, but the street children kept stealing potatoes from her stall. Realising their terrible poverty, she decided to do something to help them. And the charity she set up then – and which is named after them – CECYDAR (Centre Cyprien et Daphrose Rugamba) – is still bearing fruit today. For 20 years the Centre has been welcoming children from the streets of Kigali and transforming their lives.”

“I will enter heaven dancing”

Cyprien Rugamba’s conversion also marked a profound change in his artistic career. “From now on, his centre of gravity was in heaven”, says Father Guy-Emmanuel Cariot, Rector of the Basilica in the French city of Argentueil, who organised an evening during which the Rugamba couple would be especially honoured on the 25th anniversary of their death. In fact the cause for their beatification had already been launched by the Archdiocese of Kigali in 2015.

One of their children, who was actually present with them but survived the massacre, reported that when the killers entered, their first question to Cyprien was, “Are you a Christian?”, to which his father had replied, “Yes, very Christian! And I will enter heaven dancing!” He was in fact repeating the words of a song he had written and which had become very popular in Rwanda. Daphrose then asked permission to pray one last time before the Tabernacle, which the family kept in their home. Her only answer was to be clubbed over the head with a rifle butt, then the soldiers turned their machine guns on the Tabernacle and then scattered the hosts over the floor, as though it was necessary for them to kill God first before they could kill men. They were roughly manhandled, then the whole family, including both parents, six children, one niece and a household employee, were herded together and machine-gunned to death.

The evening before they were executed, several friends had telephoned them in anguish. They later recalled being impressed by their quiet serenity. They had made no attempt to flee, preferring instead to believe right to the end in a Rwanda that was still united and capable of making peace.

ACN International

“We are carrying a small corner of the cross of Christ. We cannot carry it all. It is He who is helping us.”

Nicaragua today is a country trapped between two identities: on the one side it is a nation led by a government that in many respects continues a long history of dictatorship, as typified by the Somoza dynasty, which governed the country for almost 6 decades during the 20th century.

But on the other hand it is also a country whose people have said “enough”. A people who have woken up from their stupor and now wish to move forward, with a Catholic Church led by ten bishops who do not fear to shepherd their flock and be a Church that goes out to the margins, as Pope Francis keeps asking, and which opens the doors of its cathedrals in order to be, quite literally, a field hospital.

A Church without political banners and which makes no distinctions in caring for the wounded, supporting those who suffer and feeding their hunger, both physical and spiritual.

“They stepped up at a difficult moment… When the people were suffering greatly, because they were afraid to go out into the streets”, says one priest from the diocese of Matagalpa – who for reasons of security prefers to remain anonymous. He is speaking to a delegation from the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International), which visited the country at the end of November 2018 to express its support and solidarity with the situation in which the country finds itself.

Despite the posters in the city, which boast of a Matagalpa that is “Christian, socialist, in solidarity”, the tension is palpable, with police and paramilitaries on the streets to dissuade the civil population from making any protests, although these, for the most part, have been peaceful. The protests began in April 2018, but in the case of Matagalpa, the government forces have even prohibited a group of women from honouring the memory of their children, who were murdered in the civil war, in a march that they have made regularly for almost 20 years.

“I am one of the lucky ones. Many priests have been forced to flee”, our friend tells us. “But we cannot remain unmoved when people burst in during Mass because they are killing them. Because the army and police aren’t throwing sweets at them. They are shooting to kill, aiming at people’s heads, their backs and their chests.”

“The Gospel teaches us that we must open our doors to those who are persecuted, and this is what we did. Our churches were turned into refuges, not into opposition planning centres, as the government claims to believe.”

And this is a priest who knows what he’s talking about. On May 15, 2018, in a car belonging to the diocese and known as “the ambulance”, he rescued 19 wounded demonstrators who had been hit by bullets from army AK-47s. By order of the government, the public hospitals were forbidden to help the wounded, the majority of whom were university students.

“During those days, the people on our church benches were not listening to the Gospel, they were living it”, he told us with emotion.

From September onwards, and with help from various international organisations, the diocesan church opened five pastoral “human rights” offices from which it provided support to families who had lost children during the demonstrations, and likewise to those who continue to be persecuted today for having protested. Around 50 of them are still imprisoned without trial, and hundreds have “disappeared”, while an estimated 30,000 or so have gone into exile in Costa Rica, and many more into other countries.

“They accuse us of hiding weapons, but we have never done so”, the priest tells us. “Our only weapon has been Jesus in the Eucharist.”

The number of people who today depend on the Church for their survival has trebled since the month of April.

“We are carrying a small corner of the cross of Christ”, he tells us. “We cannot carry it all. It is He who is helping us.”

The situation of the bishops and of many religious in Nicaragua is far from easy. Their action in opening the doors of the churches to care for the wounded, both students and police, and likewise their willingness to be involved in a failed process of national dialogue, has resulted in many of them being branded by official sources as “coup plotters” and “terrorists”.

One of these is Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, the Archbishop of Managua, the capital of the country. Despite the difficulties, he has lost neither his smile nor his faith.

But despite his smile, Brenes cannot hide his concern for the future of Nicaragua, a country that has lived through enough revolutions to know that many of the grandiloquent ideas that convince the masses, sooner or later end up being destroyed by the abuses of power of the few.

The last revolution began on 18 April, although many people in Nicaragua agree that in reality it was no more than the “matchstick that ignited the bonfire that had been building up a long time previously.”

“The Church is accompanying the process of dialogue that was initiated after the protests, but as a service to the country”, Brenes insists. “We are not interested in power, but in supporting the efforts for peace, without looking for any personal benefit other than the good of the country. When the clashes took place between the government forces and the demonstrators, we defended all sides.”

More than once, the Cardinal was forced to mediate between the government and the protesters, both in order to rescue police officers who had been captured in the crush, and to prevent the soldiers from shooting on the students.

“We never asked anyone what side they were on, we simply helped all those who asked our aid”, he told us, though he did acknowledge that they could have denounced the use of violence on the part of some of the demonstrators.

“Both sides were violent at times, but the government made disproportionate use of violence”, he said. “The riot police had rifles, whereas the young demonstrators had catapults and home-made petrol bombs.”

The challenge now is to work for national reconciliation; something he knows will take generations and cannot be achieved overnight. “But we have to lay the groundwork for this reconciliation.”

Despite the challenges, Brenes chooses to cling to his faith rather than lose hope, more than ever convinced of the prophetic words of Pope Pius XII, who said, “Give me an army of people who pray the Rosary every day, and we will change the world.”

“I pray the Rosary every day: the first mystery for Nicaragua, the second for the conversion of those in government, the third for the mothers who have lost their children, or have them in prison, the fourth for the political prisoners, and the fifth for the clergy.

We believe that faith can move mountains, and the prayer of the Rosary can convert hearts and move them to a true reconciliation that will care for the wounded hearts and seek the good of everyone”, the Cardinal concluded. “And you, will you pray for Nicaragua?”

 

ACN International

After their hasty departure from Kompienbiga, in the south-east of Burkina Faso, the sisters of the congregation, Sœurs des Campagnes took refuge with the brothers in the male branch of their same congregation, in Pama, back in January 2019 and just before the assassination of Father César Fernandez. Sister Thérèse, the Mother Superior, and Father Soubeiga, the parish priest  of Pama, spoke to the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International) about the increase in violence which has struck the country, despite the fact that it is generally considered more peaceful than its tumultuous neighbours Mali and Niger.

 

“Either you give us the medicines, or we blow your head off!” That was the order as reported by Father F. Soubeiga, the parish priest of Pama and missionary brother of the congregation Frères Missionnaires des Campagnes. He was describing the threats made back in January 2019 against Sister Victorine, a nurse at the health and social care centre in Kompienbiga and a member of the female branch of his own congregation. “She was working alone at the dispensary. At around four in the afternoon a group of some 8 to 10 individuals, armed and wearing balaclavas, burst in and demanded medical supplies for their wounded comrades. But Sister Victoria did not have access to the pharmacy. So instead they made violent threats against her and smashed up everything in order to help themselves.” The incident was the last straw for the sisters in Kompienbiga. Coming on top of a succession of other violent incidents, it forced them to finally withdraw and take shelter with the brothers of their congregation, just 10 miles (15 km) away, since they no longer felt safe on their own.

 

“The tension is growing, and the people are gripped by fear”

“During the night of 14 September 2018 two terrorist attacks took place in the villages of Diabiga and Kompienbiga, respectively 40 miles (60 km) and 10 miles (15 km) from Pama, in the east of the region”, according to the governorate of the region. According to Father Soubeiga, “the violence began in Pama back in March 2017, and there were a string of bomb explosions aimed at the police – at least three or four of them since August 2018.” Sister Therese, who is Mother Superior of the female branch of the congregation, the Soeurs des Campagnes in Kompienbiga, adds, “The tension is growing, especially since August 2018, in Kompienbiga. The attackers regularly come into the villages, round up the population, and shout orders at them. Fear is gripping them.” A little further north, Father Caesar Fernandez was assassinated in February 2019 and on 17 March 2019 Father Joël Yougbaré was “probably abducted by armed individuals”, according to the local Church. And so the sisters have taken refuge with the brothers in Pama, where it is just a little calmer.

 

The community has been scattered

“This is the first time we have had to leave everything in haste like this”, admits Sister Therese, who had been living in Kompienbiga since 2001. “Out of the seven sisters in the community, four have taken shelter in Pama, while three have left the country for Togo, where they are completing their formation. Nobody knows when they will be able to return. It is hard”, she continues. In fact their priory was established in Kompienbiga 25 years ago. They had established an infant school in which they were caring for around 40 young children aged between three and six, children who in many cases had been neglected or abandoned. And they had just opened a sewing and dress-making school, where they were planning to teach five young women. “All we want to do is to go back as soon as possible so that we can continue the work that we began”, insists Sister Therese. “Please pray for us!”

 

“The Catholics are the most vulnerable”

For now, even in Pama, “where things are calmer”, there is an obligatory curfew. “We are living in a deteriorating climate”, Father Soubeiga confirms. “As Catholics, we are the most vulnerable, because we represent a centralised institution, and thus an easy target. To attack a priest is to inflict harm on an entire territory. The consequences would not be the same for the Protestants or the Muslims, in their more fragmented communities, led by numerous different pastors and local imams.”

 

Unable to celebrate the Easter Vigil

As a result, the police  have imposed strict security  regulations. “Some areas are forbidden to me”, says the parish priest of Pama, sadly. “In January, in the space of two weeks, I had to evacuate all the catechists from Diabiga, Kompenbiga and another village, around 50 miles (78 km) from Pama. As for the immediate future, it’s looking very unlikely that we will even be able to celebrate the Easter Vigil.”

 

In response to the question as to who is responsible for the criminal armed attacks of recent months, Father Soubeiga is quite candid: “It’s impossible to say. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Some people refer to them as mercenaries, but some of the terrorists are quite clearly from Burkina itself, because they speak the local languages perfectly.”

 

ACN International

 

In Aleppo the number of Christians shrank fivefold during the war. Now the economic crisis and the lack of professional employment opportunities are a source of anguish, especially for the young.

The performers are a choir of 60 or so children and young people, supported by five musicians. It is Saturday 17 March in the late afternoon. The Orthodox Youth Movement is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its creation. In the packed hall, the audience applauds appreciatively. A simple concept, but something that has become rare in recent years in this city of Aleppo, which was once the economic capital of the country, before the war.

The anguish of the young

Among the young singers is Miriam Toubal, aged 23, a student in biotechnology, who conducts the children’s choir. For a year now, for one hour a week, she has rehearsed them in singing these songs. The rehearsals are at least less stressful than during the war, though even that didn’t prevent the choristers from attempting to gather and sing.

It’s not long before Miriam confides in us her anxiety as to her future. Finding a good job so as to be able to continue living decently is a major challenge in a city devastated by six years of war, and since then by the economic sanctions. In Syria the level of youth unemployment is an estimated 78%. And so many of these young people are deeply concerned for their own future and that of those they love.

All activity paralysed

Since the end of the fighting, the situation has not got better in this once prosperous city. Quite the contrary, in fact. So many of the citizens of this town will tell you about the difficulties of daily life. The economic recovery, so long-awaited, is still not happening, and the average job does not pay well enough to provide the basic daily needs, so rapidly have prices risen. The souk, whose 13 km of stores and boutiques were once the pride of the city and were classed as a world Heritage site by UNESCO, still lies in ruins and has not yet been restored. In front of what was once his own stall, Elias Farah, on returning there for the first time, cannot hide his emotions, noting anxiously that the whole place seems to be in imminent danger of collapse.

 

The former economic capital of the country is suffering terribly from the economic embargo. «It’s the poor and the ordinary people who are suffering above all from the situation» says Syrian Catholic Archbishop Antoine Chahda of Aleppo. The war is continuing and the lack of future prospects is only adding to the unhappiness of the families and the despair of so many Christians. In the suburbs of Aleppo, the industrial zone is a desolate sight: the bombed out factories have been looted, and there is no sign of any activity whatsoever.

Structured aid

In order to meet the daily needs of life, whether in Aleppo or in Homs, the Christian communities have organised themselves and are counting on the generosity of the universal Church. Once prosperous, they have become beggars, says Greek Orthodox Bishop George Abu Zakham of Homs, noting at the same time that the foreign aid is decreasing.

The support supplied by ACN, in the form of medical and food aid, help with rent and education, remains indispensable for many families. Lay committees have been set up, in order to be able to share out this aid fairly among the various different Christian communities. Their task is to identify the most urgent needs and closely monitor the use of the aid supplied. It is an effective system and one that enables  the different Christian Churches to work together. It is a vital form of aid, and one that is rekindling a new spark of life in the stale air and smouldering ashes of a city in ruins. For a brief moment, Miriam was the voice of that city.

 

From March 2011 up to the end of 2018, ACN provided 29.5 million Euros in aid for Syria, in the form of 738 different projects. 80% of these projects were in the form of emergency aid.

 

ACN International

As part of its international Easter campaign in support of the work of religious sisters, the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has collected testimonies from sisters from different countries. This article is the story of a religious sister from Kazakhstan.

 

Sister Vera Zinkovska, born in Shortandy, Kazakhstan – 43 years of age

Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sister Vera’s father was a devout Catholic. During Soviet times, he refused to collaborate with the KGB. For this reason, one day he and two other men – a Lutheran and a Baptist – were summoned by the KGB. They were threatened with harm to their children. Soon thereafter, the daughter of the Lutheran was found dead near Moscow, where she was attending university. Something also happened to the child of the other man. Vera’s parents had just had their first child. It was a girl. One of the baby’s legs was broken at hospital. When the child was treated for pneumonia, she was transfused with the wrong type of blood. The little girl died. The parents wanted to have more children and they were blessed with twins: Vera and her brother, who was born 15 minutes after her. The father was afraid to tell the children about God because he feared that they would suffer the same fate as the first child. In spite of this, both children found the faith and both discovered a vocation: Vera became a religious sister and her brother a priest!

She explains, “A priest came to our city for the first time in 1990, after Perestroika. He invited us to Holy Mass and we heard the Polish language and helped him with Russian. We slowly found our way to God. I received Holy Communion for the first time when I was 15 years old. That was 28 years ago at Christmas.”

When religious sisters from the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary first came to Vera’s hometown for a two-week visit, she was impressed, “This was the first time I had met religious sisters and I really liked them. During Soviet times the teachers had told us that the devout were quite dense and uneducated, basically illiterates. They said that people of faith were the absolute worst. But I saw the joy of the sisters. It impressed me that they didn’t dress up and had no husbands and children and, in spite of this, seemed happy and joyful. From a purely human perspective, one would assume that anyone who doesn’t dress up and have a family would be unhappy. That was the moment when I first thought about becoming a religious sister and living as they do.” After Vera finished school, she went to Poland to learn the language and then joined the order.

“I liked that the charisma of the congregation included taking care of poor children. That drew me. And then I knew: if I join this convent, the sisters will come to Kazakhstan to work there. This pleased me and that is exactly what happened. My brother was also very supportive of me. At the time, he was already in Poland at seminary. Our parents were also happy, but our father was at first apprehensive that the KGB would again cause problems. But deep down in their souls our parents were happy. When I suffered a crisis at the beginning and did not know whether I wanted to stay or leave the order, my mother was very supportive of me staying. I am very grateful to my parents and my brother. Friends of mine who were not devout also respected my decision, but could not understand taking such a step. But they also supported me. I can therefore say that nobody was against it.”

Vera’s greatest wish was to work with children. “Before I started going to church and was only 12 years old, I thought that I would not marry, but devote my life to abandoned children. Later, after I had found Jesus and my vocation and was given the opportunity to go to Kapshagay to work with these kinds of children, I discovered what you could almost describe as a ‘calling within a calling’.”

However, at first it did not seem as though the religious sisters were even going to found a second convent in Kazakhstan or that Vera would even be assigned to the new convent. For a long time it was uncertain whether the convent superiors would agree to establish a second convent. And when it surprisingly did happen, two other sisters were initially chosen to go to Kapshagay. Sister Vera was deeply disappointed, but says, “In spirit I prayed, ‘Lord, what is most important is that the children receive quality care and that sisters are caring for them. I humbly accept that I will not be the one to go there and will not go with them. That is just how it is: other sisters will be the ones to go.’”

However, it just so happened that there were problems with the visa for Kazakhstan and Sister Vera was therefore asked to go to Kapshagay for one month. And then the plans were changed. Ten years have in the meantime gone by. “For me, this was a clear sign that God wants me and that he has accepted my sacrifice. I am happy that I am able to work here with the children.”

 

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ACN has supported the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kapshagay many times in the past with funding for the remodelling, expansion, renovation and furnishing of their house and chapel. The organisation continues to help them arrange for visas and spiritual retreats.

 

ACN International