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Twenty Catholics Killed Serving The Church In 2008
By Susan Brinkmann, For The Bulletin
In 2008, at least 20 Catholics were killed while serving the Church. The list includes Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, Iraq, 16 priests, one religious and two lay volunteers.
“In recent years our list has included not only the names of missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but all pastoral workers who died a violent death, sacrificing their lives,” said the report compiled by Fides News Service for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
“We choose not to refer to these people as ‘martyrs,’ since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death,” the report states.
The location with the most deaths this year was Asia where one archbishop, six priests and one lay volunteer was killed.
“Particularly tragic was the death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mossul for Chaldeans, who was kidnapped after having celebrated the Way of the Cross, as he exited the Church of the Holy Spirit,” the report said. The 65-year-old prelate was kidnapped on Feb. 29 in an attack that left his driver and two bodyguards dead. His body was recovered two weeks later.
Salesian Fr. Johnson Moyalan, a 60-year-old missionary from India was the first of four Catholic priests to be killed by Hindu extremists in the anti-Christian violence that has gripped the country in recent months. He was killed on July 1 in Nepal when gunmen broke into his house and shot him.
Elsewhere in Asia, Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, 55, OMI, was praying the rosary in a mission chapel in Tabawan, Philippines on Jan. 15 when a gang of 10 gunmen broke in and attempted to kidnap him. When Fr. Roda protested, gunman opened fire and killed him. The incident happened only months after the priest received threats from dissident Islamic groups in the area.
Five Catholics were also killed in the Americas last year, including Fr. Julio Cesar Mendoza Acuma,33, a Mexican priest, who died on May 2. Fr. Acuma was found lying face down on the floor of his bathroom with his hands bound and his head and face covered in blood. Although found alive, he died the next day in a Mexico City hospital.
Another five Catholics lost their lives while serving the in Africa last year. One of the victims was a lay missionary named Boduin Ntamenya, 52, who was killed on Dec. 15 in Rutshuru, Congo. The husband and father of six children, he worked for an Italian Catholic aid agency running schools in the war torn country. Mr. Ntamenya and a driver were visiting the schools in the region to ensure they survived recent fighting when four armed men opened fire on their vehicle. He died on the way to the hospital while the driver survived wounds in the hand and the side.
Europe was the scene of two deaths, Fr. Otto Messmer and Fr. Victor Betancourt, whose lifeless bodies were found in their rooms in Moscow on Oct. 28. They were the victims of a double homicide committed by a psychologically disturbed man.
According to the congregation, this tragic list remains incomplete. “To this provisional list ... must be added the long list of many ‘unknown soldiers’ as it were of God’s great cause.”
Pope Benedict XVI urged the faithful to pray for these victims, calling it a “duty of gratitude” for the whole Church.
“To live in the belief in Jesus Christ, to live in truth and love, implies daily sacrifice, implies suffering,” the pope said in November. “Christianity is not the easy road, it is, rather, a difficult climb, but one illuminated by the light of Christ and the great hope that is born of him.”
Susan Brinkmann can be reached at fiat723@aol.com
“In recent years our list has included not only the names of missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense, but all pastoral workers who died a violent death, sacrificing their lives,” said the report compiled by Fides News Service for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
“We choose not to refer to these people as ‘martyrs,’ since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death,” the report states.
The location with the most deaths this year was Asia where one archbishop, six priests and one lay volunteer was killed.
“Particularly tragic was the death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mossul for Chaldeans, who was kidnapped after having celebrated the Way of the Cross, as he exited the Church of the Holy Spirit,” the report said. The 65-year-old prelate was kidnapped on Feb. 29 in an attack that left his driver and two bodyguards dead. His body was recovered two weeks later.
Salesian Fr. Johnson Moyalan, a 60-year-old missionary from India was the first of four Catholic priests to be killed by Hindu extremists in the anti-Christian violence that has gripped the country in recent months. He was killed on July 1 in Nepal when gunmen broke into his house and shot him.
Elsewhere in Asia, Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, 55, OMI, was praying the rosary in a mission chapel in Tabawan, Philippines on Jan. 15 when a gang of 10 gunmen broke in and attempted to kidnap him. When Fr. Roda protested, gunman opened fire and killed him. The incident happened only months after the priest received threats from dissident Islamic groups in the area.
Five Catholics were also killed in the Americas last year, including Fr. Julio Cesar Mendoza Acuma,33, a Mexican priest, who died on May 2. Fr. Acuma was found lying face down on the floor of his bathroom with his hands bound and his head and face covered in blood. Although found alive, he died the next day in a Mexico City hospital.
Another five Catholics lost their lives while serving the in Africa last year. One of the victims was a lay missionary named Boduin Ntamenya, 52, who was killed on Dec. 15 in Rutshuru, Congo. The husband and father of six children, he worked for an Italian Catholic aid agency running schools in the war torn country. Mr. Ntamenya and a driver were visiting the schools in the region to ensure they survived recent fighting when four armed men opened fire on their vehicle. He died on the way to the hospital while the driver survived wounds in the hand and the side.
Europe was the scene of two deaths, Fr. Otto Messmer and Fr. Victor Betancourt, whose lifeless bodies were found in their rooms in Moscow on Oct. 28. They were the victims of a double homicide committed by a psychologically disturbed man.
According to the congregation, this tragic list remains incomplete. “To this provisional list ... must be added the long list of many ‘unknown soldiers’ as it were of God’s great cause.”
Pope Benedict XVI urged the faithful to pray for these victims, calling it a “duty of gratitude” for the whole Church.
“To live in the belief in Jesus Christ, to live in truth and love, implies daily sacrifice, implies suffering,” the pope said in November. “Christianity is not the easy road, it is, rather, a difficult climb, but one illuminated by the light of Christ and the great hope that is born of him.”
Susan Brinkmann can be reached at fiat723@aol.com
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