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Tunisia's Catholics comfortable working in predominantly Muslim nation
15-08-2009
TUNIS, Tunisia (CNS) -- Although Tunisia's 20,500 Catholics make up less than 1 percent of the country's 11 million people, church officials say they are comfortable working in the country.
About 98 percent of Tunisians are Muslim, and formal Muslim-Catholic dialogue has been going on "from the top down" for a long time, "but also at the grass roots," said Father Ramon Echeverria, a member of the Missionaries of Africa and vicar general of the Diocese of Tunis.
In Tunisia, the dialogue tends to be richer than in some other places, he said, "because many Tunisians are well-educated and very progressive. ... They are more knowledgeable of other religions, as well as open to globalization and intellectual interests."
The former French colony has had a relationship with the Catholic Church for several hundred years, and church officials say that familiarity is one factor in Tunisians' comfort level with the church. But more than length of presence, said Tunis Bishop Maroun Lahham, "I would say it's the quality of our presence." Catholics are "very well-appreciated, especially in the educational field," he said.
"There are many mothers and fathers who say, 'I want to put my children in Catholic schools, because I was taught by the sisters, by the brothers.'"
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20090814.htm
