Fr. Nathaniel Auwaye

On Saturday, February 7, gunmen killed three people and kidnapped a Catholic priest and several others at the residence of the priest in the state of Kaduna in northern Nigeria. Fr. Nathaniel Auwaye, pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Karku, and ten others were taken in an attack that began around 3:20 a.m. Two security guards and a police officer were killed during the attack in their attempts to fend off the gunmen. This is not the only kidnapping of priests and Christians in Nigeria.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has been a nation of deep conflict between Christians, who mostly live in the south of the country, and Muslims, who mostly live in the north. According to some sources, as many as 50,000 Christians have been martyred by extremist Muslims in Nigeria in recent decades. There is debate over the motivation for the killings. Some claim it is religious persecution, that extremist Muslims are trying to purge the country of its Christian population. Others insist it is more a social conflict, with competing economic and social interests being primary. Even Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, has described the killing of Christians as stemming from a social conflict rather than a religious conflict. Nevertheless, President Donald Trump has accused Nigeria’s government of doing little to protect Christians in Nigeria and to stop the killings, a claim the Nigerian government rejects. Trump has suggested refusing U. S. financial aid to the country and even spoken openly of U. S. troops being sent to Nigeria to put an end to the killings.

Nigeria is by no means the only nation where Christians suffer persecution. China, Nicaragua, all over the Middle East and northern Africa. Even in some Western countries, like Canada and Finland, where Christians are put on trial or fined for simply repeating what the Scriptures teach about homosexuality. England arrests and charges Christians for praying silently – in their own minds! – while standing too close to abortion clinics.

Unfortunately, the reponse of Western Christians has been less than vigorous. Even the Vatican, at least when Francis was pope, had little to say about the closing of churches and takeovers of Catholic media and schools in Nicaragua, not to mention the imprisonment and exiling of priests and bishops. Francis entered into a questionable agreement with the Chinese Communist Party on the matter of choosing and accepting bishops – an agreement China has already ignored when convenient for them.

According to Open Doors, an organization that raises awareness of the persecution of Christians around the world, Nigeria is the deadliest country in which to be a Christian. Indeed, 70% of Christians killed for their faith over the last year were killed in Nigeria. Even still, Open Doors lists North Korea as the most dangerous country in which to be a Christian. Other “top ten” countries include: Somalia, Yemen, Sudan, Eritrea, Syria, Pakistan, Libya, and Iran. With the exception of North Korea and Nicaragua, these are all Muslim-dominated countries. Much of the Middle East, and especially those countries dominated by Islam, have yet to move into the 20th century, never mind the 21st century, in terms of respect for one’s fellow man and the opinions, or even the faith, he holds dearly.

The Vatican sponsors an organization called Aid to the Church in Need that reports on and offers assistance to the Catholics persecuted througout the world and offers an opportunity for others to contribute to their work. You can find them here. Please consider giving them whatever support you can, especially the support of your prayers. The persecution of Christians does not always merit attention in the minds of those in the secular media. We who are members of the Body of Christ cannot also look away while our confreres suffer. St. Paul urged the Christians of Colossae to “Remember my chains” – that is, the sacrifices he made to proclaim the Gospel throughout the Mediterranean world. Much of that world today is hostile to Christianity. There are far too many who desire only to proclaim the Gospel and live it meaningfully with their lives who find themselves in chains. We who enjoy the benefits of religious freedom, while at the same time being ever-vigilent in defending it for ourselves, cannot afford to ignore the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in places where worshipping Christ is either socially unacceptable or even criminal. If we do not take a stand, who will? And what will we say to Jesus when we stand before Him and He asks us what we did for His brothers and sisters who suffered for claiming Him?

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.