A couple of Pakistani Catholics risk repatriation, and the parish offers shelter. This happened in Glasgow, Scotland, where the parish priest of Saint Patrick’s, Anderston (Glasgow), father Gerry Nugent, opened the doors of his vicarage to give the couple “shelter and a safe place”. “I took them in, because they were scared and isolated stated father Nugent I do not want to go into the political arena, I am just a parish priest and when people in distress ask me for help I cannot leave them alone”. According to “Flourish”, the magazine of the diocese of Glasgow, the two, Masih and Christine Raymond, come from Karachi, where Masih used to work as a building contractor until 2004, when following threats and physical abuse from a group of Islamic businessmen he was forced to leave his job. The same happened to his wife Christine who was arrested under a charge of proselytism and forced to leave her job as a teacher. In 2005 they moved to Great Britain, hoping they would obtain asylum. On September 20th they received a repatriation order. Now, thanks to the parish priest and the archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti, the repatriation has been stayed and the family have gone back to their home in Anderston. “It is unfair stated mgr. Conti to send them back to the country where they have been persecuted. Many reports prove that Christians are arrested and persecuted in Pakistan”.
