Two priests with strong ties to Egypt said they feared young Egyptian Catholics will turn away from the church because it did not back protests that led to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. The Rev. Makarios Isaac, an Egyptian-born priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto and an associate of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, said the main Muslim and Orthodox leaders forbade participation in the protests and the Coptic Catholic patriarch of Alexandria, Cardinal Antonios Naguib, told protesters to go home. He feared Egyptian young people will now “turn their backs on the church” and say, “You never stood with us...you never taught us to stand up for our rights.” The Rev. Douglas May of Maryknoll, who worked in Egypt for 18 years of Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule, said Christian leaders in Egypt played it safe. “I’m afraid that the church leadership has lost its credibility with the Christian youth over this,” he said.
Lost Youth in Egypt?
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
Perhaps it is the hard-won wisdom that comes with age, but the Catholic rituals and practices I once scorned are the same rituals and practices that now usher me into God's presence, time and time again.
"Only through patient and inclusive dialogue" can "a just and lasting conflict resolution can be achieved" in the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, said the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations.
The ”Bad Guys” films ask, how do we determine who the “bad guys” are? And if you’re marked as “bad” from the start, can you ever make good?
In these dark times, surrounded by death and destruction in Gaza, we hear the command in the first reading, “Choose life.” What are the ways we can do this in a world that seems to have gone mad?