Our Lady of the Olives

Entrance to the church compound

Our Lady of the Olives is the one and only Catholic church in Meknes. It was built back during the time of the French occupation, but the French left before construction was finished.

Entrance to the main church

The congregation is mostly sub-Saharan African students who are also studying at the university in Meknes. There are a few French families as well, but not many. Mass is entirely in French, although sometimes they have the readings printed out in English for us. There is one priest, who is actually from Italy, that knows English. We talked a little bit after mass. The other priests are African and French.

the main church

The small chapel, the flags represent all the countries that the students are from

The Tabernacle in the chapel

  I have gone to mass a couple times now and for the most part, there is about 60 people attending, 25-30 of which are the choir. The choir is the most amazing church choir I have ever heard. It is made up of all sub-Saharan African students and the songs are a mixture of English, French, and African languages.

The Arabic script above the tabernacle used to read God is the place of love, but many years ago someone broke in and stole the word God (Allah) so now it just reads his place of love.

The main church is a little sparse in decorations because it was never completed. The one really beautiful piece of artwork they have is the Our Lady of the Olives statue that is above the alter. The story goes that it was carved by a Christian prisoner in an Arab king's dungeon. 

This depiction of the Virgin is the Mary standing on a dragon and giving birth to  the baby Jesus  from Revelations

 Although it is a Catholic church and a Catholic mass, the congregation is pretty mixed between Catholic and Protestant. There is not enough population of either to constitute a separate space so many Protestants attend the Catholic mass. There is also a separate Protestant service in another room in the compound. Even the combined services can be to small to justify being in the big church so they have a smaller chapel near the Priests' house. 

The priests' house. Originally the whole building was intended for their use, but because of money issues, they second floor and half of the first floor are being rented out to Moroccan families.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland

This trip to Morocco and the subsequent trip to Ireland have checked off tons of boxes on my life's to do list. Many of which were not on the list until I got to Morocco, like going to the Hammam, visiting the Hassan II mosque,and  riding the Kanguroo. The spring break trip to Ireland, however, let me check off things that have been on my list for a very long time. Visit St. Patrick's Cathedral: Check. St. Patrick's was not what I expected, but it was still very cool and very interesting. 

The building(completed in 1192) was not originally a cathedral, but was elevated to cathedral status in 1224. This cathedral is one of two Church of Ireland(very similar to the church of England, all beliefs are the same as Catholicism except that the Pope does not have universal power) cathedrals on the island. St. Patrick's was originally a Catholic cathedral, but after the English Reformation it became part of the Church of England around 1535, even though a majority of its constituents remained Catholic. It is located directly next to the spot where the "well of St. Patrick" was supposed to have been. St. Patrick used this well to convert and baptize the native Irish people. 

There are many famous and important people of Irish history buried in St. Patrick's. One of the most important being Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels. Swift was dean of the cathedral from 1713-1745 and many of his writings were delivered in the church. 

A fantastic church choir was practicing in the church when Tiffany and I arrived. It made the whole experience a little surreal. Surrounded by beautiful stained glass, historic artifacts, and angelic music is exactly my idea of a good time in a cathedral. 

All the keys to the cathedral for the past 100 years or so.

One really interesting artifact was a book encased in glass containing the names of the 50,000 Irish men who died in World War I. The information panel said that "from time to time, the Cathedral staff turn the pages of the volume so that all names may be seen." 

The Doyles: Richard, Robert, Stephan, Thomas, Vincent and William (a good 20 of these are Thomas and William)

Legend has it, that a Romeo and Juliet-esque family feud was going on in Dublin in 1492. Both parties were getting quite sick of the warfare however. Seeking respite, Gerald the King of Kildare and his men found shelter in the cathedral. He was of course pursued by his rival, James of Ormond, but he promptly shut the door in his face. After an amount of time, trying to wait it out, and realizing that James was not going anywhere, Gerald cut a whole in the door and stuck his arm through in order to shake on a truce. This is supposedly the origin of phrase "chancing your arm" as in taking a risk. 

St. Patrick's Church

Before everybody gets all excited, this is not about St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. That post is coming later. This is about St. Patrick's Church in Cork which, in my opinion was equally as impressive as the Cathedral.

Tiffany and I were wondering around Cork and came across this church. We didn't think we would get a chance to attend mass at the cathedral in Dublin so we figured we could come back the next day and go to a week day mass here, they have a daily mass at 10 am. Mass was interesting to say the least. I don't go to week day masses very often and for some reason I completely forgot what they were like until we got there. It was me and Tiffany and about 10 older ladies and a very very very old priest. Mass was in English, but I can't tell you a single thing that was said. It also lasted only about 30 minutes. This guy was speeding through his readings. I almost feel bad for him, and all the other priests who should probably retire, but there isn't anyone to replace them sadly. That is one of my suggestions for the church, they need to make some improvements in recruiting people to the order, get more young people interested. And, hopefully I won't be excommunicated for saying this, but if they allow priests to marry there would be no shortage of available applicants.

I was blown away by this church. I was not expecting this to be as ornate as is was. I was thinking this isn't a cathedral, its just the local church, it's going to be simple, but at least I get to go to mass. I was wrong, way wrong. The church is beautiful and very very old. Building began in 1832 and construction continued on and off for many years. The original design was changed a few times as styles changed and new donors were involved, but the entire structure was built from Cork Limestone. Father Sylvester Mahony,( pen name Father Prout) author of the Bells of Shandon which was in my last post, was the main fundraiser for the construction and the furnishing of the church. The church had an informational brochure at the front and it turns out this is actually a very historical church. Annie Moore, the first person to disembark at Ellis Island ever, was baptized at St. Patrick's church in 1874. Frank O'Connor, a famous Irish writer, wrote a humorous short story about his first confession which took place in St. Patrick's.   The churches records have baptisms dating back to 1832, marriages from 1836 and confirmations from 1911.

Relic of Saint Patrick

Above the altar is a replica of The Last Supper which is one of many beautiful works of art in this church. The theme of the church seems to be the four symbols of the Eucharist: the pelican feeding her baby her own blood, the Host and the Chalice, the IHS monogram, and the Lamb of God. These symbols are on each side of the tabernacle, on four large panels around the altar, and on the outside doors.

Row of confessionals

The Honan family were large financial supporters of this church and, as was custom, have many amazing statues and ornate altars. The Holy Family Altar is located just above the family's plot in the church's underground crypt.

The Holy Family Altar

The stained glass is relatively new, ranging from the 1920s to the 1940s, and is very beautiful. I particularly liked the Our Lady of Lourdes depiction(1941) behind the side prayer candle altar to the Virgin Mary.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Tiffany got a picture of me lighting my prayer.

Going to mass was very refreshing after all this travel. Mass always refreshes me and I walk out feeling like I can take on anything. It was especially powerful to be going to church in such an old church in Ireland. Ireland  was the origin of so many Catholic practices and St. Patrick is so highly beloved, it was just awesome. Ok, two religious rants in one post is enough. More Ireland still to come!

It's either we live together, or we die together.

http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/crosses/crescent.html

Today in my Three Religions, Three Peoples class we discussed a news story that has really moved me. This feeling has been growing from my Arabic language and Middle Eastern history and culture classes at UC, from my internship this past summer with the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, and now from my time here in Morocco. There is a lot of hate in the US towards Arabic people and specifically towards Muslims. Hate has never really been something that I have subscribed to, I feel that it is most often just a waste of energy that could be put towards more positive things. I also feel that most people who hate things or hate other people, do not in fact know all that much about them. I have begun to feel that helping to end some of this hate against the Islamic people might be my mission in life.

So often in the US, the only media coverage about the Middle East or Muslim people is negative. Its about terrorism, wars, oil, and whatever new reason someone has come up with for hating Muslims.We never have any positive stories about the Middle East and I believe that this greatly impacts the views that people have towards Muslims. In order to get a true picture of what is going on, people would have to take the time to research it and most do not have the time or do not want to take the time for whatever reasons. This is where I can help. I am interested in the subject and in general I like looking things up and finding out more. I love to learn and to know facts. So by looking up more information and then talking about it, telling people, blogging, posting on facebook I can maybe make a dent in what people think and believe.

While you are reading this story, I have two questions that I would like you to ponder; What would you do in this situation? Would you be willing to do what these people did?

On December 31, 2010, a car bomb exploded outside of a Coptic church in Egypt. The bomb killed atleast 21 people and injured 24. The bomb was set to attack this group by an extremist Islamic group  for the illegal status of the church building and for the supposed ill treatment of Coptic women who had converted to Islam. The threat of violence had been given back in November.

The Copts are a Christian sect in Egypt. They are the native population of Egypt(think American Indians in the US) and only make up 10% to 20% of the entire population. Getting a license for and building a Coptic church in Egypt is extremely difficult do to discrimination in the legal system and favoritism towards the building of Islamic Mosques. The car bomb created an uprising of religious fighting which is the main goal of terrorism; to divide and creating fighting and fear.

The fighting didn't last long however as many chose solidarity over division. The coptic church celebrates Christmas on January 7. Security had been increased at Coptic churches all around the world, but not in Egypt. The Egyptian government (keep in mind this is pre-revolution) was not really interested in the minortiy. It was having enough problems with the majority. So the people took things into their own hands. Thousands of Muslims, at Coptic churches all around the country, stood as human shields around the churches, physically blocking any harm that could interrupt this sacred mass. They were fighting for safety and for the right to worship as you please. These were everyday Egyptian people who happened to also be Muslim. There were also famous people in the crowds (think Egyptian Hollywood types) who gave some publicity to the event. But the thousands were made up mostly of neighbors, family, friends, co workers, and other community members who were Muslim, but wanted to support their friends who were Copts.

This quote by Cherine Mohamed, a 50 year old Egyptian housewife, pretty much some up the feelings and intent; "I know it might not be safe, yet it's either we live together, or we die together, we are all Egyptians."

Many of us, I know, would be willing to help victims after a terrorist attack or a natural disaster. We volunteer, we send aid, we write letters, we sign petitions. But how many of us would stand up and put our own lives at risk to protect a group of people's right to believe in something that we ourselves do not believe in? This wasn't a pretend danger, they weren't just saying that their lives were on the line. The threats had been made and followed through and could continue. How many of us would stand up to be a human shield?

And if you can answer that question, here's another, how come its the Muslims, supposedly the religious group to be feared, hated, ostracized, and avoided that stood up and did this for their Christian neighbors? And in the US when terror strikes, Muslim's suddenly find bricks being thrown threw their windows, their women are harassed, their men are beat up, their children are ostracized at school, some have even died because of the hatred and propaganda. Yet in the Middle East, where many view the religious differences to be the worst, these people can stand up and be prepared to give their lives for someone else. America is supposed to be the land of the free; freedom of religion included. Why are we learning lessons from the Middle East?

News Articles about this story:
http://www.good.is/post/egyptian-muslims-act-as-human-shields-to-protect-coptic-christmass-services/
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/95/3216/Egypt/Attack-on-Egypt-Copts/Egypt-Muslims-to-act-as-human-shields-at-Coptic-Ch.aspx
http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2011/01/egyptian_muslims_act_as_human_shields_for_coptic_christmas_mass.html