Italy: Christians Told To 'Pray In Silence, Don't Disturb The African Migrants'

[Blondepudding]

Italy: Christians Told To 'Pray In Silence, Don't Disturb The African Migrants'

• • Posted: 06/06/2016
    Parishioners visiting a church in Italy were told they must "pray in silence" so as not to disturb African migrants being housed there.
    
    Some of the faithful hoping to practice their Christianity at the church of St. Anthony in Ventimiglia were surprised when they were told by Caritas volunteers they couldn't recite the rosary and would instead have to pray in silence out of respect to migrants who are living there.
    
    READ MORE: Sicily: Citizens Rebel Against New '4-Star' Migrant Center

I didn't know it was typical for Christians to pray aloud in church. However, the only way such an offense against them in their own church can succeed in my opinion is if the Christians comply with the command.

This is absurd! The African's are guests in a church. The leadership in the church should respect the faithful not impart the idea that the immigrants are ungrateful for the sanctuary received and thus are demanding religious oppression in god's own house.

 

[mmksparbud]

Are the immigrants told to pray in silence as to not disturb the Christians worshiping there???

 

[TheBear]

That's crazy!

 

[Blondepudding]

Are the immigrants told to pray in silence as to not disturb the Christians worshiping there???

I doubt it. The migrants are praying toward the east aloud as they're suppose to I'm sure.
This is the last part of the article I linked:
After one of the female parishioners requested that the migrants be taken to another church so that she could recite the rosary, the parish priest, Don Rito, appeared and accompanied her and the other visitors to another church.

The Catholics were accompanied to a different church so they could recite the Rosary freely and aloud.

 

[mmksparbud]

Sorry, but I find that ridiculous! That is not hospitality---that is being cowardly and being allowed to be commandeered!! When you go to someone else's home, you abide by their rules unless they interfere with your conscience. If they need to pray aloud, fine, but so should the ones who go there to worship be allowed to worship as they always have.

 

[Oafman]

I think this is rather nice of this church. Not only are they giving these people shelter, but they're providing a peaceful environment to boot.

Good on them.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

If it was a request by the priest then I don't see any problem with this. If they are being forced to stay silent either by the government or even by the migrant guests themselves than that is a bit different.

 

[brinny]

God have mercy!

Praying.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

What a silly idea, praying in silence. ..and not at all what Jesus wanted. Christians need to get up to the front and pray loudly so that all can hear. They should especially make sure they thank God for not being a poor heathen refugee.

 

[redleghunter]

Self imposed Dhimmitude.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

If it was a request by the priest then I don't see any problem with this. If they are being forced to stay silent either by the government or even by the migrant guests themselves than that is a bit different.

Since Caritas is a Catholic organization I wouldn't be surprised if a priest said it.

Goes to show you how drastically different it is for a muslim to be in a Christian majority country than it is for a christian to be in a muslim dominated country. You won't receive that sort of respect on the reverse in most muslim countries.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

As another person said, if this directive is coming from a church leader (without any other outside influence), then their beef is with the church leader, not the migrants.

However, if the church is responding to political pressure to "make the migrants more comfortable and not offend them", then I can understand why some of the members might be a tad miffed and the idea...

While sometimes it is a good thing to help out the "underdog", there seems to be a growing sentiment in certain progressive circles dictating "always side with the minority/underdog at all costs no matter what".

I'm not of any religious conviction so maybe I'm not the right person to speak on this...but if there was a person who was in desperate need and I took them in and let them stay in my home, and something I'm saying/watching/listening to offends them, they can either plug their ears, or go back home. Taking them in when they had nowhere else to go IS the act of charity that circumstance, it doesn't mean you have to adjust your entire lifestyle to suit them.

I'll liken it to an example from my own personal life. I had a cousin who was in an abusive relationship, was in the process of going through some legal proceedings to get him out of her apartment, and she didn't feel safe staying at home when her then-significant other was ordered to pack up his stuff and vacate the premises within 14 days. (out of fear of reprisal)

...so I let her stay with me in the interim when she asked if she could.

That would've been like her asking me to not watch my favorite shows while she was staying here because the language in the shows offended her.


I don't know the details in this case...but if the migrants are were complaining about it, the it's a bit of a slap in the face to the people who took them in.

 

[Blondepudding]

Sorry, but I find that ridiculous! That is not hospitality---that is being cowardly and being allowed to be commandeered!! When you go to someone else's home, you abide by their rules unless they interfere with your conscience. If they need to pray aloud, fine, but so should the ones who go there to worship be allowed to worship as they always have.

I don't see why the Catholics would have to be silent in their own church if the Catholic's pope said that Catholics and Muslims are all worshiping the same god.

 

[rambot]

I think that's wonderful. Unless someone can convince me why silent prayer is bad.

 

[Blondepudding]

I think that's wonderful. Unless someone can convince me why silent prayer is bad.

I think it has to do with tradition. The prayers in the Catholic faith said aloud.
It's a Catholic church. Are the Muslim guests to be presumed to not pray five times a day toward Mecca because they're guests in the church?

I think too the issue may be a matter of it being illogical to make this prohibition.

 

[AirPo]

I think it has to do with tradition. The prayers in the Catholic faith said aloud.
It's a Catholic church. Are the Muslim guests to be presumed to not pray five times a day toward Mecca because they're guests in the church?

I think too the issue may be a matter of it being illogical to make this prohibition.

Not from what I recall as a child.

 

[rambot]

Also, do we have any context of what was going on? This article/story really doesn't have all that much information in it and reads a bit more like a hit piece than something to other infesting a lot of anger in...

 

[High Fidelity]

I'm confused why this is a necessity.

Church services are normally begin between 8-11 a.m. with the occasional evening service at 7-9 pm. Those aren't unsociable hours and I can't understand why they'd be sleeping then.

That and, well, how loud are people praying if this is an issue?

 

[Nithavela]

Also, do we have any context of what was going on? This article/story really doesn't have all that much information in it and reads a bit more like a hit piece than something to other infesting a lot of anger in...

Good question.

Answer: The church was not used to house the refugees, but as a place for registration purposes. A few people came in to pray the rosary (outside of regular church hours, just doing their christian thing I guess). Loud praying of the rosary would have disturbed the registration process, so the people were asked to be quiet. Those that didn't want to were brought to a different church to do their thing. (Most likely to the Parrochia Sant'Agostino, which is a 1 km walk away)

http://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cro...nti_48ea1038-1ff0-4570-b86c-b5147acfadb7.html

Now getting back to our regular program of wringing of the hands about dhimmitude and the evil imposing muslims.

 

[trunks2k]

Loud praying of the rosary would have disturbed the registration process[...]

Is this an Italian thing? While granted, I haven't spent much time in a Catholic church in the last 15 years, but I was raised Catholic and I don't remember rosaries ever being said loudly (if aloud at all). Heck, I don't recall anyone praying or doing anything louder than a soft whisper when in the Church outside of services.