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COMOROS: Bishop's hopes for Christian faithful living at peace in Muslim society
By John Newton and John Pontifex
Charles Mahuza Yava of the Comoros spoke optimistically of the Church's future in a strongly Islamic country.
A bishop has described how the Church is growing in a group of islands off the coast of Africa, where a Christian community live peacefully in a 99 percent Muslim society.
Speaking a year after becoming the islands' first bishop, Charles Mahuza Yava of the Comoros spoke optimistically of the Church's future in a strongly Islamic milieu where Christians number barely 6,000.
At a time of increased concerns about growing extremist Islam, the prelate said Muslim relations had remained positive since May 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI raised the Catholic mission in the Comoros to the status of an apostolic vicariate with its own bishop.
According to official Vatican statistics, within a generation Catholics have risen in number from 1,300 to more than 4,300.
Speaking on a visit to Aid to the Church in Need's headquarters in Königstein, Gemany, Bishop Mahuza Yava said the creation of the vicariate was "a sign that the Church is growing in society and that it will develop and have a future".
According to the bishop, the Christian community experiences few problems with its Muslim neighbours.
Bishop Mahuza Yava said: "We can freely express ourselves as long as we don't proselytise. We do not have to fear for our lives as long as we do not infringe upon Islam.
"It is a tolerant Islam which has nothing to do with extremism – as Christians we are well accepted and tolerated."
Speaking of plans to expand the Church-run health centre, the bishop indicated that the Church was accepted partly as a result of its charitable outreach to a country which is one of the poorest in Africa and heavily dependant on foreign aid.
Lying between Mozambique on Africa's east coast and Madagascar, the Comoros are made up of three islands in the Indian Ocean which cover 720 square miles – less than a 10th of the size of Wales.
The population of nearly 700,000 is more than 99 percent Sunni Muslim and with their official name formerly given as the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, the islands are members of the international organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Arab league.
Despite the Comoros' strong Islamic identity, Bishop Mahuza Yava said the Church was recognised for its mission to provide pastoral support of the islands' faithful, mostly made up of foreign workers.
But the bishop said that Christians were frequently under pressure to convert to Islam.
He said: "A woman who marries a Muslim man will be forced to convert to Islam if she is not strong in her faith.
"Similarly Christian children are badgered by their Muslim friends at school to convert to Islam."
Yet the bishop described how the Christian's minority status brought them together like a close-knit family, adding: "We are formed into one community, animated by the same spirit, and we are one in solidarity."
Bishop Mahuza Yava explained how, because most of the faithful are foreign workers, it is difficult for them to provide everything for the priests and thanked Aid to the Church in Need for its support through Mass stipends.
The bishop, who originates from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, said: "The Mass intentions we receive from Aid to the Church in Need help us to provide for the daily needs of the priests.
"This money goes directly to the priests' parish budget and ensures they have the things they need: food, transport, medical care, supplies, clothing etc."
He added his thanks to Aid to the Church in Need's benefactors for their help, saying: "May I take this opportunity to thank you for your help, which is more than necessary for us in mission countries."