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Visit 'A Great Boost' For Marginalised Christians

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  • Visit 'A Great Boost' For Marginalised Christians

    VISIT 'A GREAT BOOST' FOR MARGINALISED CHRISTIANS

    The Irish Times
    November 30, 2006 Thursday

    TURKEY: Patsy McGarry meets an Irish priest in Istanbul who will
    concelebrate Mass with the pope

    Pope Benedict's visit to Turkey will help bring about "renewed respect"
    between Muslims and Christians, Irish Dominican priest Fr Paul Lawlor
    said in Istanbul yesterday.

    Fr Lawlor, who will concelebrate Mass with the pope in the Cathedral
    of the Holy Spirit tomorrow, has been based in the Turkish metropolis
    since November last year.

    A native of Tralee, Co Kerry, he served with the Dominicans in Tehran
    from 1974 until all foreign clergy were expelled in 1980.

    The pope's visit, he said, would also be "a great boost for Christians
    of this area of Turkey, who could feel marginalised".

    He pointed out that the Catholic Church was not recognised in Turkey,
    which created ownership problems when it came to property and meant
    Catholic clergy could not wear clerical dress in public.

    Other Christian churches, such as the Armenian and Orthodox churches,
    were recognised and so could wear clerical dress, for instance, but
    recognition also meant coming under the state's religious affairs
    directorate, which maintained tight control over all recognised
    religions in Turkey.

    However, the other churches had other problems too in that, for
    instance, all Orthodox seminaries had been closed by the state some
    decades ago.

    In theory there was complete religious freedom in Turkey, he said,
    and it was true that a Muslim there who converted to Christianity
    was not made to suffer repercussions, unlike the case in Iran, for
    instance, where such a person could face execution.

    But Muslims in Turkey had become "very defensive and sensitive" where
    their religion was concerned and feared the rise of Islamophobia in
    the West. Particular areas of Istanbul had become strongly Islamic
    in culture and were places where Christians would feel "very excluded".

    On the other hand, there were Christians among the Greek Orthodox
    and Armenians who did not consider themselves Turkish and would not
    allow any part of their liturgy to be in Turkish, he said.

    There are an estimated 100,000-plus Christians in Turkey and Istanbul,
    approximately 32,000 of whom are Roman Catholic. "The Christian
    community is very scattered into so many little groups," Fr Lawlor
    said. Among them are Chaldeans, Armenians, Greek and Turk Orthodox.

    All had felt some repercussions since the Muhammad cartoons controversy
    last year and again following the pope's Regensburg address last
    September, he said. Both had generated "resentment" towards Christians
    in Turkey.

    That Regensburg address may also have been the reason why a meeting
    by President Mohammad Khatami of Iran with the pope was cancelled by
    Iran's supreme leader, he felt. Fr Lawlor was to accompany Mr Khatami
    on the visit, as he speaks Farsi.

    A newer group of Christians in Istanbul were the "thousands" of
    Chaldeans who had fled Baghdad and Mosul since the war began in Iraq.

    Some of their priests had been killed and their churches bombed. Fr
    Lawlor described their situation as "tragic", with parents accompanying
    children to schools set up by the Catholic charity Caritas in Istanbul
    "because their houses are so cold and they cannot heat them".

    He and other priests in the Dominican community say Mass for them,
    at least part of which is in Aramaic.

    In their own Church of St Peter and Paul in the Galata Gate area
    of Istanbul, they have upwards of 50 at Mass every Sunday, with a
    far larger number tending to treat the church and its grounds as the
    centre of their community. It is in the Genoese quarter of Istanbul,
    where the Dominicans have been since the 12th century.

    Currently there are five priests in the community, including Fr
    Lawlor. Two are doing further study at Istanbul university while also
    trying to restore the community's library.

    Another member, Fr Giuseppe, was organist at the pope's Mass in
    Ephesus yesterday and regularly gives concerts in the Church of St
    Peter and St Paul. The community superior, Fr Lorenzo, is also vicar
    of the diocese and has been in Turkey for 32 years, 23 of them at
    the St Peter and Paul community, where all live in frugal comfort.

    Fr Lawlor has regular contact with another Irish priest in Istanbul,
    Rev Ian Sherwood from Wicklow, who is of the Anglican tradition.

    Fr Lawlor described him as "an amazing character". Rev Sherwood is
    based at the nearby Crimean Memorial Church, which he had restored
    completely.
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