English Wall

The Catholic community of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia is going to live its first Christmas without its bishop, Msgr. Luigi Padovese, stabbed to death by his driver Murat Altun last 3 June. A celebration will be set up in Iskenderun, too, the place of the murder. The parish was closed, but now it has been opened again, once the minor convent friars decided to remain. Capuchin Father Domenico Bertogli, parson of Antioch, who has been living in Turkey for 25 years, said to SIR: “It will be a different Christmas. Msgr. Padovese used to celebrate the Midnight Mass in the cave of St Peter; it was an important time for our small community. We are now trying to go on; we are setting up the crèche, placing coloured lights. Small external signs can also help to better live these feasts, bringing us back to a life close to the deep meaning of community and belonging to the Church. The Rainbow Choir of Antioch will enliven celebrations, while a group of children will recite excerpts from the birth of Jesus. Life goes on, and we must go on looking at the One who is father to us”.
Similar celebrations are scheduled in Mersin, Adana, Samsun, and Iskenderun. Exactly to Iskenderun three convent friars have gone, one from Slovenia, one from Poland and one from Rumania, to reopen the Church. “In the last few days, we made a retreat to prepare ourselves spiritually for Christmas. Our common prayer – concluded Father Bertogli – is for the arrival of a new bishop soon, a new pastor to lead the small herd of Anatolia”. It will be a “very special” Christmas, also for the nuns “Daughters of the Church” in Tarsus, where they welcome pilgrims reaching the Church-Museum of St Paul, which Msgr. Padovese wanted to become a permanent place of worship, and had asked for that several times. “We won’t have Christmas celebrations in Tarsus – said spokesmen of SIR; – we will celebrate in Mersin, in the parish where we usually operate. All Masses will be celebrated, and children will stage a living crèche. It will be a Christmas in the memory of Msgr. Padovese. After his death, silence is surrounding us. We feel the need for support and spiritual assistance to go on giving our own account here. We are waiting for the return of pilgrims, their presence for us is a glass of fresh water. They give us the opportunity to witness they are people who love, respect and operate for the good, and to demonstrate that it is possible to live together in a Muslim country, in brotherhood and respect”.

© SIR - decembre 22 2010