Last night I attended the longest mass I have ever been to. It was in the south side of Khartoum, a really poor area that reminded me of the pictures of the shantytowns in South Africa that you see on the tv news sometimes. What I’m going to say will sound like Greek to non-Catholics but believe it is very significant for a little Catholic boy from Eastern Ontario.
The Canadian military guys we are staying with sponsor a charity at this particular church and they were going to see a mass of celebration last night; so I invited myself along. The church was the Church of the Ugandan Martyrs, which reminded me of course of the Canadian martyrs of southern Ontario. Sure enough, when I started talking to Father Carl, one of the priests presiding at mass (a 70 year old originally from Holland), he and the other priests were Jesuits, as were the Ugandan martyrs and the Canadian martyrs. Despite the fact that one of my favourite priests was an Oblate (Father Ken Stephens of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate or OMI, I love that name. Do any of my siblings know what order Father Roy Valliquette belonged to? He was my other favourite priest, along with Father Sammon, the priest who gave me my first communion and confirmed me. But I digress...). Anyway, Father Carl and I had a great chat about Catholic stuff. There are 10 Catholic churches in Khartoum and there are five Missionaries of Charity houses in Sudan (the Missionaries of Charity are sometimes known as the Sisters of Charity, Mother Theresa of Calcutta’s order) and 20 MOC houses in Ethiopia. They run schools, orphanages, palliative care homes, as he put it, for everyone that no one else wants.
I was also introduced to the Cardinal of Wau (pronounced “wow” and it was kind of a wow for me, believe me, I’ve never met a Cardinal before, as my kids would say, he’s one of the dudes that elect the pope!) The mass was a mass of Confirmation for about twenty young people and there must have been at least 500 people at this outdoor mass. It went on for 2 hours and 45 minutes, all in Arabic. The people were all black, no Arabs, as it is still a capital offence in Sudan for a Muslim to change to another religion. Father Carl said there is no restriction on converting black Sudanese from their traditional religions to Christianity, I would estimate that 90% of the crowd were under 20 (I know this because we sat in the youth seats instead of the men’s seating area by mistake lol. The men, women and children are all supposed to sit in separate seating areas). Quite a difference from the composition of the parishes back home. And the children were quiet as mice, for the first hour anyway. Fascinating.
It was a high mass which means they sang most of it except for the readings and the homily. And children went up on the alter and danced during some of the singing, dressed in bright blue and yellow and red, what a feast for the eyes. It was very upbeat, very inspiring, very enjoyable despite the heat and the uncomfortable metal benches. Some of the other people in my group took pictures, being a Catholic I felt funny doing that so I didn’t but my discomfort doesn’t extend to obtaining the pictures from the heathens that did take them and posting them on my blog.
Sam or Brenda, can you pass this on to Mom, I’m sure she will be thrilled to bits that I went to a mass in which someone wasn’t being married or buried.
The Canadian military guys we are staying with sponsor a charity at this particular church and they were going to see a mass of celebration last night; so I invited myself along. The church was the Church of the Ugandan Martyrs, which reminded me of course of the Canadian martyrs of southern Ontario. Sure enough, when I started talking to Father Carl, one of the priests presiding at mass (a 70 year old originally from Holland), he and the other priests were Jesuits, as were the Ugandan martyrs and the Canadian martyrs. Despite the fact that one of my favourite priests was an Oblate (Father Ken Stephens of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate or OMI, I love that name. Do any of my siblings know what order Father Roy Valliquette belonged to? He was my other favourite priest, along with Father Sammon, the priest who gave me my first communion and confirmed me. But I digress...). Anyway, Father Carl and I had a great chat about Catholic stuff. There are 10 Catholic churches in Khartoum and there are five Missionaries of Charity houses in Sudan (the Missionaries of Charity are sometimes known as the Sisters of Charity, Mother Theresa of Calcutta’s order) and 20 MOC houses in Ethiopia. They run schools, orphanages, palliative care homes, as he put it, for everyone that no one else wants.
I was also introduced to the Cardinal of Wau (pronounced “wow” and it was kind of a wow for me, believe me, I’ve never met a Cardinal before, as my kids would say, he’s one of the dudes that elect the pope!) The mass was a mass of Confirmation for about twenty young people and there must have been at least 500 people at this outdoor mass. It went on for 2 hours and 45 minutes, all in Arabic. The people were all black, no Arabs, as it is still a capital offence in Sudan for a Muslim to change to another religion. Father Carl said there is no restriction on converting black Sudanese from their traditional religions to Christianity, I would estimate that 90% of the crowd were under 20 (I know this because we sat in the youth seats instead of the men’s seating area by mistake lol. The men, women and children are all supposed to sit in separate seating areas). Quite a difference from the composition of the parishes back home. And the children were quiet as mice, for the first hour anyway. Fascinating.
It was a high mass which means they sang most of it except for the readings and the homily. And children went up on the alter and danced during some of the singing, dressed in bright blue and yellow and red, what a feast for the eyes. It was very upbeat, very inspiring, very enjoyable despite the heat and the uncomfortable metal benches. Some of the other people in my group took pictures, being a Catholic I felt funny doing that so I didn’t but my discomfort doesn’t extend to obtaining the pictures from the heathens that did take them and posting them on my blog.
Sam or Brenda, can you pass this on to Mom, I’m sure she will be thrilled to bits that I went to a mass in which someone wasn’t being married or buried.
3 comments:
Wayne.. I am curious about what you said "The people were all black, no Arabs, as it is still a capital offence in Sudan for a Muslim to change to another religion. " I thought all Sudanese are black by defintion.. (I also thought all Sudanese are Arab!)
how are you differentiating Arab Sudanese from Black Sudanese? Are all "Arab" Sudanese Muslim and all "Black" Sudanese christian?
No there are Arab Sudanese, particularly in the North and West, and black Sudanese predominantly from the South, although you will find both groups all over the country now. And much intermarriage of course. All Arab Sudanese are Muslim from what I can tell, and black Sudanese can be Christian, Muslim or from traditonal African religions.
Wayne
Yep. Wayne is right. Some Sudanese are not Black. As for faith, Sudan is predominantly a Muslim country. I am not certain how the other faiths are tolerated on a social level, but if it is anything like Egypt, then tolerance is minimal.
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