-
Via Christi Society priest Father Raymond Dzungwenen Tyohemba spoke at Sts. Peter and Paul about the impact of religious persecution in Nigeria. (Photo by Debra Greenblat/Archdiocese of San Francisco, Office of Human Life and Dignity).
Prayerful event concludes Religious Freedom Week events in archdiocese
July 12, 2018
Valerie Schmalz
More than 65 Catholics crowded into the rectory at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco to hear firsthand stories of Christian persecution in Nigeria and Asia as the Archdiocese of San Francisco concluded Religious Freedom Week with prayer and discussion on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29.
“It is a Christian genocide,” in parts of Nigeria, said Via Christi Society priest Father Raymond Dzungwenen Tyohemba.
Recalling the kidnapping of 300 Chibok Nigerian school girls by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram in 2014 that drew world attention including former first lady Michelle Obama, Father Tyohemba said, “Many people don’t remember or do not know that all those girls are Christian.”
Another 110 Christian girls were kidnapped more recently, forced to convert to Islam, and then all but one released because that young woman refused to renounce her Christian faith, he said. “I ask you to pray for her,” said Father Tyohemba, who has been in residence at St. Paul of the Shipwreck but returns to Nigeria in mid-July.
While some in the international media paint the conflict in what is known as the Middle Belt of Nigeria as one between Muslim herdsmen and Christian farmers, Father Tyohemba disputed that, saying that in St. Ignatius Church Mbalom parish neighboring his Sacred Heart Parish Udei in the Diocese of Makurdi, on April 24 two priests and 17 parishioners were slaughtered by Islamists as they celebrated early morning Mass. “Why are they doing it? They want to chase the Christians away,” he said.
Father Tyohemba was joined in the panel by Father Daniel Asue, parochial vicar at St. Anne of the Sunset, who also spoke of the religious persecution in Nigeria. Two other speakers spoke about Christian persecution in Asia but asked that their identities be concealed for fear of repercussions in those countries.
The Archdiocese of San Francisco’s Office of Human Life and Dignity, in cooperation with the parishes of St. Matthew in San Mateo, St. Dominic, Star of the Sea and Sts. Peter and Paul, sponsored four events of prayer and information for the June 22-29 week established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to bring attention to the issue of religious liberty in the U.S. and around the world. Religious Freedom Week began June 22, the solemnity of English martyrs St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher.
The week began with vespers celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone at Star of the Sea June 22, followed by a happy hour with young adults at a nearby restaurant. A Mass in Spanish and English was celebrated by Msgr. John Talesfore on June 24 at St. Matthew Parish in San Mateo and a Mass with St. Dominic Parish young adults was celebrated June 27 by Auxiliary Bishop Robert Christian, OP. The week of prayer and discussion ended with the event at Sts. Peter and Paul, and with a roomful of people holding hands in prayer, led by Father Tyohemba, for the young Nigerian Catholic woman who remains a Boko Haram captive because she has refused to renounce her faith.
Valerie Schmalz is director of the archdiocesan Office of Human Life and Dignity.
Religious freedom is precious, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone reminded the nearly 100 worshippers attending vespers at Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco on June 22 on the solemnity of English martyrs St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher. He said that while religious freedom faces challenges in the U.S., there is outright martyrdom in many countries around the world. (Photo by Debra Greenblat/Archdiocese of San Francisco, Office of Human Life and Dignity).
St. Matthew pastor Msgr. John Talesfore preached for religious freedom in his homilies at the Spanish and English Masses June 24, the feast of the birth of St. John the Baptist. (Photo by Debra Greenblat/Archdiocese of San Francisco, Office of Human Life and Dignity).
People at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco joined hands in prayer for a young woman held captive in Nigeria, at the end of a June 29 panel discussion on religious freedom abroad. (Photo by Debra Greenblat/Archdiocese of San Francisco, Office of Human Life and Dignity).