The church is awaiting

Catecheses, retreats and solidarity are the guiding lines of the Apostolic Vicarage of Anatolia focuses for Lent 2011. The Vicarage will be celebrating Lent for the first time since the murder of its vicar Msgr. Luigi Padovese by his driver on June 3 2010. In Antioch, Mersin, Iskenderun, Tarsus, the symbols of Christianity in Turkey, the 40-day period leading to Easter will be dedicated to Msgr. Padovese, as confirmed to SIR Europe by presbyters and religious who have been living and carrying out their ministry in Turkey for many years. Proclamation and forgiveness. “We want to live this time in preparation to Easter as a time of announcement and forgiveness in communion with our Orthodox brothers”, said father Domenico Bertogli, parish priest of Antiochia, who announced also other meetings, such as one with the Capuchin fathers of Capadocia in April. “We are looking forward to the forthcoming visit of Msgr. Ruggero Franceschini, President of the bishops of Turkey, and current administrator of the Apostolic Vicarage of Anatolia, whose post was previously held by the late Msgr. Luigi Padovese. It is an important presence, aimed at strengthening our congregation who are awaiting the arrival of a new pastor after the murder of Msgr. Padovese on June 3 last year”. Moments of solidarity will not be missing either, with the local Caritas that, as the parish priest explains, sent a letter to the congregation to invite it to “materially share what they have with those who are in need”. A special intention of prayer will go to the Church of Iskenderun, currently run by a small community of friars minor conventual, “that was deeply affected by Msgr. Padovese’s death. In this respect, the arrival of a new bishop is, in my opinion, urgent, but we will have to wait a little bit longer, maybe a couple of months. Unfortunately, we will have to wait much longer to have a trial who will do justice to Msgr. Padovese’s death”. “To commemorate his memory – said father Bertogli – we will continue with our mission of proclamation. After many requests, since last Thursday, as leaders of the Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish communities we no longer have a police escort. It was unnecessary, and we did not feel free. Specific hotlines can be dialed in case of security problems”. Gospel proclamation will gain renewed thrust, said the Capucin priest, also thanks “to pilgrims that are coming to Tarsus and Antioch again. Since the end of February we have been welcoming groups from Portugal, Italy, France and Germany. It’s a fruit of the Pauline Year. Pilgrims strengthen the small Christian community that thus feels part of the Universal Church. And this is vitally important to us”. Pilgrims return. “The flow of pilgrims is gaining new impetus”, confirm the nuns of the small community “Daughters of the Church”, who have been living and working in Tarsus for 16 years, welcoming the pilgrims arriving in the church-museum of St. Paul. “It’s a slow but ongoing flow, due to increase in the forthcoming months with the warm season – they said -. We continue our commitments for the pilgrims in St. Paul’s church-museum, which Msgr. Padovese had dedicated himself to, so as to transform it into a permanent place of worship, unfortunately with poor results. In fact, still today the pilgrims entering the church must pay a two Turkish-lira entrance-fee, amounting to 1.50 euro, and give afore notice of their visit”. Also for the nuns in Tarsus this year’s Lent will be especially significant, “as it is the first without our bishop Msgr. Padovese. We will pray for him in these 40 days of preparation for Easter. In Tarsus there are no Catholics, except for the pilgrims. For this reason, as has been the case for many years, we celebrate Lent in the parish of Mersin. Following the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday, on Fridays we will animate the Via Crucis and the catechesis as planned. We mustn’t lose hopes”. Great hope. “There are 700 Catholics in Mersin, on a population of over 600 thousand inhabitants. Even if we are a small minority, ours is the largest parish in Turkey. We are looking to the coming Lenten period with great hope, even though the surrounding situation is not good”, said parish priest, Fr Roberto Ferrari, who has been living in Turkey for 60 years. “The murder of Msgr. Padovese is a deep wound in Turkey’s church, while the tensions involving the Christian minority remain high. Only a few days ago the police prevented an armed attack against a member of the church in Istanbul. Two people were taken into custody while two guns were found in their homes. It could have been another massacre. Thanks God nothing has happened. There is widespread awareness of fanatic and extremist fringes, but it must be said that the Turkish majority population consists of honest people with lifelong dialogue can be established. As much as we can, we seek to continue along our path of faith, and Lent is a privileged time for this. With our faithful, after the Ashes, we will recite the Via Crucis with a special intention of prayer for Msgr. Padovese and ask for the arrival of a new bishop”.