Missioners in the Muslim World

DePaul University From the SelectedWorks of John E Rybolt July, 2014 Missioners in the Muslim World John E Rybolt, DePaul University Available at: https://works.bepress.com/john_rybolt/63/

Missioners in the Muslim World Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul founded the Congregation of the Mission (Missioners, or Vincentians) in 1625. By Mission he meant a period of intense preaching in rural parishes whose pastors had often neglected them, with the result that the parishioners were ignorant of their faith and lax in its practice. His original ministry, therefore, was focused on Catholics. As for other groups, such as Huguenots (French Calvinists) and Lutherans, he left that for others. France had few if any Jews living there, and the same could be said of Muslims. This does not mean, however, that he was ignorant of the world around him, as an examination of his writings shows. Like educated persons of his time, he was aware of Muslim life and practices and hoped that his Missioners could extend their service to countries subject to Islam. Among his many responsibilities, he was chaplain general of the galleys of France. The prisoners condemned to these galleys, normally confined to coastal patrols in the Mediterranean, occasionally included Muslims, some of whom converted to Christianity as a result of missions preached by the Vincentians. These contacts continued and strengthened when he sent his confreres to Algeria for the corporal and spiritual assistance of poor Christian captives [in Barbary] [Coste 5:91, letter 1708]. His attention extended to the port of Sale in Morocco, and to ports in Tunisia. He even considered assigning his men to Persia, Lebanon, and Arabia, but missions to Persia and Lebanon developed only in the nineteenth century. His own attitudes toward Muslims were surprisingly moderate. He never spoke of them (usually as Turks ) in a derogatory way. His interests were rather toward the evangelization and spiritual care of Christians living among Muslims. In cases of possible converts from Islam, he urged the utmost discretion and never sanctioned forced conversions. He found Muslims admirable in many ways: Would you believe that the Turks are better in this respect than many Christians, he asked rhetorically, [Coste 10: 377, conf. 93]; he occasionally held Muslims up to his brothers and Sisters as models of charity and wisdom. He urged his confreres to practice zeal, humility, mortification, and obedience to their superiors in order to minister well among the unfortunates in the Maghreb. He bequeathed his breadth of spirit to his Congregation, a characteristic of its work in later centuries. Eighteenth century In the eighteenth century, the Holy See negotiated with the French king to transfer to the Vincentians those missions in the Middle East and China formerly served by the Jesuits. The Middle Eastern mission was headquartered in Constantinople. In this imperial capital, the Vincentians had unparalleled access to numerous Christian communities, mainly Orthodox and Armenians, who lived among Muslims. Their ministry brought them to already-established Christian parishes, where they worked to apply the mission skills they had practiced in France and elsewhere to strengthen the people s faith, challenged in some ways by their Muslim neighbors. Besides parish work (liturgy, sacraments, pastoral care), the Vincentians most important outreach was schools. These began regularly with a few children gathered around a teacher, often the parish priest, to learn their catechism. This instruction broadened to reading and writing and 1

often grew to include several classes given by local teachers paid by the mission (which, in turn, was supported by the French government). The possibility of a European education attracted students, including Jews, Christians of various denominations, and Muslims. Religious education, however, was offered only to the Christian students, although some Muslim children also attended, apparently with their parents approval. The Vincentian schools in Constantinople (St. Benoît), in Antoura, Lebanon, and in Damascus were among the leading institutions of their day. The French Revolution, however, cut off funding and caused the suspension of these works. Nineteenth century A great deal more is known about Vincentian ministry in Muslim lands in the nineteenth century. The basic reason is that new opportunities presented themselves with new locations and increasing Vincentian personnel. In the Ottoman Empire, as is well known, Christian bodies had relative autonomy to pursue their aims within the limits of the law (the millet system). The Missioners typically concentrated their personnel in cities and surrounding towns with a heterogeneous population. Thessalonica, Smyrna, Aleppo, and Alexandria were the principal new locations, each with a significant European population. Ministry focused on expatriates and native Christian communities, but the Vincentian schools continued the practice of open admission to Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. With the financial and political backing of the French state, these schools could offer a respectable education that, in some cases, prepared graduates to pursue university-level courses in France. Besides, since the French schools were part of the national drive to project French power through the nation s concept of being the protector of Christians in the Middle East, the Vincentians gained powerful protectors and influential friends in the French government. Lebanon was a special case, with its large number of Christians. Village schools formed the principal vector to provide an education extending also to Druses and Muslims. This mingling of students of different faiths did not, however, extend to their elders, who participated in political upheavals in the country, at times ending in violent massacres. Another special case was Abd-el-Kader, called the Emir. A native of Algeria, he led a period of resistance against the French, who had annexed Algeria. After his defeat, he was imprisoned in France and exiled in Damascus. His religious and philosophical studies confirmed his decision to treat Christians with dignity and respect. During the violent 1860 uprising, for example, he took special care of the Christians in Damascus, particularly the Vincentians and the Sisters, the Daughters of Charity, assigned there to staff a hospital. The site of the most important outgrowth of the Middle Eastern Vincentian mission was Persia. For almost a century, the Vincentians were the only Roman Catholic congregation to serve in the Persian Empire. Their ministry was, however, restricted to long-established Catholic communities and to their Orthodox brethren (Nestorians and Armenians), mainly in Persia s remote north-west. There, the mission established schools and a hospital, and it developed the neglected Christian villages of the province. Challenges of all sorts presented themselves, not least from the warlike Kurds in the mountains to the west. As elsewhere, the missionaries, including American, British, and German Protestants plus Russian Orthodox monks, opened their facilities and services to the public, meaning, to Muslims. In general, the Christian groups were on good, but not excellent, terms, and cared for each other when disaster struck. Catholic mission work extended as well to Tabriz, Isfahan, and Tehran, with special attention being given to the many Armenians inhabitants. 2

The multiplicity of languages and cultures pointed up the need for mutual understanding. Whereas the language of instruction in the Vincentians schools was mainly French, many of them undertook the laborious task of learning new languages. Ottoman Turkish predominated, along with Greek and Italian in the west (given the presence in the Greek islands of old Italian communities dating from the late Middle Ages). Knowledge of Arabic was vital in Syria, Egypt, the Maghreb, and elsewhere. Farsi was required in Persia, along with Aramaic (Syriac) and Armenian among Persian Christians. Linguistic scholarship occasioned significant publications, particularly by Paul Bedjan, a Persian Vincentian who concentrated on restoring the local Aramaic dialect. Others published books on language learning or small prayer books and catechisms. Vincentian presses in Constantinople, Smyrna, and Khosrova, Persia, often in competition with Protestant publishers, facilitated this outreach. Another development in the nineteenth century was the mission in Ethiopia, a country with its own ancient story of evangelization. The Holy See had developed its own perspective on missions in this period and called on a Vincentian superior in Naples, Justin de Jacobis, to initiate a ministry in the north of that country. Ethiopia is regarded as a Christian country, although with a significant Muslim population, particularly along the Red Sea coast. Jacobis and his companions employed Vincent de Paul s pioneering methods continued by his confreres, in the sense of focusing on mission work and evangelization among Christians. Another similarity between Jacobis and Vincent de Paul was his ready support of and charity toward the Ethiopian Orthodox faithful, similar to the style of interreligious relationships between Christians and Muslims in other Vincentian missions. In the Balkans, Vincentians also served communities of Albanians, formerly Christians but influenced by the Islam of their Ottoman rulers. The Daughters of Charity, also founded by Vincent de Paul, served alongside their Vincentian brothers in many of these missions. The two congregations labored together in works of education and health care, open, as mentioned above, to persons of all religious beliefs. Twentieth century Besides the missions mentioned above Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Persia, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and the Maghreb (mainly Algeria and Tunisia) the twentieth century ushered in several new contacts with Islam. Oriental Christians loyal to Rome (Maronites, Melkites, Armenians, and Syrians) continued their relatively amicable contacts with their Muslim neighbors. Gradually, however, the presence of foreign missionaries and Sisters lessened following the two world wars, and the Orientals took up the work. Their lifetime experience of living in a Muslim environment colored their approach and resulted in certain prejudices, but they largely maintained the perspectives developed in previous centuries, deriving from Vincent de Paul himself. The Catholic presence in Turkey continued and even grew, thanks to St. Benoît (under French guidance) and the Austrian-run school, St. Georg, both in Istanbul. The majority of their students are now Muslims, but Christians and Jews also attend, many of whom continue their studies in Europe. France had to leave Algeria following that nation s war of independence in 1962. This led to the collapse of Catholic missions, but the Vincentians managed to remain in at least some of their works alongside the Sisters (in Tunisia as well). From the Christian perspective, the work of the missionaries, mainly in social services and healthcare, is considered as a manifestation of 3

the charitable face of Jesus among Muslims, certainly in the hope that they will become open to the Christian message. Muslims in North Africa, however, generally regard the Christians among them as being in service of Islam. The two faiths, therefore, have quite different perspectives, perhaps even contradictory ones, concerning their mutual relationships. The Persian mission virtually ceased following the Islamic Revolution of 1979. This meant the closure of important schools run by the Vincentians and the Daughters of Charity. Farah Diba, a graduate of the Sisters school, Jeanne d Arc in Tehran, became the empress of Iran one of many witnesses to its high level of education. The school closed in 1980. The Ethiopian (plus the Eritrean) mission has continued, serving a minority among the Orthodox Christians and interacting with Muslims. The same can be said for Vincentian missions in Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nigeria. In these nations, foreign missionaries have declined in number, leaving the work in large measure to native clergy. A major development in the twentieth century has been the Vincentian mission in the Dutch East Indies, later Indonesia, the world s largest Islamic state. Vincentians began their missionary work there in the 1920s to aid the European Jesuits in search of more staff. The initial Vincentian work was ministry among European settlers and businessmen, mainly Dutch, the colonial masters of the Indies. As both the Catholic and Islamic communities grew, the need to work out carefully their mutual relationships became evident. This task is ongoing. Recent developments The Catholic Church, in its deliberations during the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), stressed the need for the Church to engage in interreligious dialogue and common activities. Pope John Paul II stressed the need for this in a series of addresses and events, and his successors, Benedict XVI and Francis, have, each in his own way, continued these initiatives. Their efforts have shown that, in the case of Muslims, common concern and action for the sake of all is the most fruitful means for the two communities to interact. Common prayer is also possible in certain circumstances, but theological agreements are nearly impossible. These conclusions also appear in efforts made by the Vincentians, notably in 1995 and 1999, when interested members of the community met to share their experiences and insights about Islam. Throughout, the fundamental approach of openness and respect, pioneered by the founder, Vincent de Paul, has endured and continues to animate Vincentian reflection. John E. Rybolt, C.M. Paper for seminar on Muslim world, DePaul University, Chicago July, 2014 Sources The Vincentian sources are available online through DePaul University s Via Sapientiae site, http://via.library.depaul.edu/vhc/. Consult the following: The Vincentians and Islam, Vincentiana 39:3 (1995), and Our Apostolate in the Muslim World, Vincentiana 43:4-5 (1999). These issues also contain major bibliographical sources. For the citations from Vincent de Paul, consult: http://via.library.depaul.edu/coste_en/. 4

For the history of the Congregation, consult appropriate volumes of The Vincentians. A General History of the Congregation of the Mission, by Luigi Mezzadri and José María Román (vol. 1), Luigi Mezzadri and Francesca Onnis, et al. (vol. 2), and John E. Rybolt (vols. 3-6) (Hyde Park, NY, 2009-15). For the Daughters of Charity, consult Sarah A. Curtis, Charity Begins Abroad. The Filles de la Charité in the Ottoman Empire, in Owen White and J. P. Daughton, In God s Empire: French Missionaries and the Modern World (Oxford, 2012). 5