Bishop
Rumalshah to Visit St. Joseph |
| A bishop responsible for Christian life in a troubled part of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan will visit our church to speak about his work at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 14. The public is invited, and the presentation is open to people of all denominations. | |
Bishop Mano Rumalshah is the Bishop of Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, an area bounded by Iran in the south, Afghanistan to the east and China in the north. Out of a population of more than 15 million people in the province, only about 100,000 are Christian. The province's capital city of Peshawar guards the eastern end of the Khyber Pass. The Church of Pakistan, which the bishop heads in this area, was formed in 1970 as a merger of Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Methodists. Life is difficult for Christians in the area. Most are originally part of low-caste communities who converted to Christianity. They form an underclass, mainly employed in menial work with no hope of advancement in the 95 percent Muslim nation. There is great social and economic pressure on them to convert to Islam. One-on-one evangelism can also be dangerous work. |
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"We are tolerated so long as people don't take notice of us," Rumalshah told an Anglican newspaper. "As soon as we start buzzing around we get swatted…. Almost every other person you encounter in that part of the world is a Taliban. They are human beings. Our hospitals and schools are open to all. We don't ask questions about Taliban or Al Qaeda, and we don't force our services on anyone. For the most part, our offerings are received graciously." The Diocese of Peshawar has 30 worship centers, two hospitals and several clinics; 13 educational institutions, some for Christians only and some for the general population; literacy programs, apprenticeships and micro-credit schemes, Sunday schools and youth and women's fellowships. Bishop Rumalshah is visiting our church at the invitation of our Rector, who met the bishop at a "Reconciliation at the Roundtable" conference at the Desmond Tutu Peace Center in New York last fall when Father Rob strayed into the wrong room and found himself fascinated by the bishop's presentation. Father Rob plans to visit Peshawar this July, and it is hoped to form a link between our parish and a parish in the Diocese of Peshawar. For more information
call the church office at 453-0943 or use the contact
page to email us. | |
