A Church servant
of Hope
"Hope is a daily mission that takes shape in the concrete service of the Kingdom, at the hands of men and women of good will that God leads us to encounter. On this path of service, “charity urges us” (2 Cor 5.14).
through the evangelical hope whose horizon is the Kingdom, we become, with others, builders of hope, especially where the night is deep, in the hearts of the little ones, in the peripheries of our humanity." ( Servants of Hope, Pastoral Letter from the Episcopal Conference of the North Africa Region)
With these words, our Bishops of the North African Episcopal Conference have exhorted and encouraged us to live our lives and our mission on this land, among our Muslim brothers.
A Church that is a servant of hope, at the service of the poor, that knows how to dialogue "out of loyalty to its Lord and Master who, from the beginning, moved by love, wanted to dialogue as a friend and invite us to participate in his friendship" as Pope Francis reminded us during his apostolic trip to Morocco (Rabat, March 30-31, 2019).
"Discover the other, live with the other, understand the other, let yourself be modeled by the other too: that doesn't mean losing your own identity, rejecting your own values, but designing a plural, non-exclusive humanity.”
Blessed Pierre Claverie
The Holy Father Francisco, at the end of the Celebration of the Eucharist in Rabat, left us as a legacy: "With these feelings of gratitude, I want to encourage you once again to persevere on the path of dialogue between Christians and Muslims and also to collaborate so that this fraternity becomes visible, becomes universal, since it has its source in God. May you be here the servants of hope, this world needs so much."
The Diocese of Tangier, to which we belong, together with the Diocese of Rabat and the Apostolic Prefecture of El Laayoune-Western Sahara, represents the Catholic Church in this land. We are a little flock of the Lord, about 35,000 Catholics in total, coming from all over the world. In the recent years, our Churches have been renewed and rejuvenated by the presence of so many sub-Saharan brothers and sisters who come to study and work in Morocco or arrive with the dream of crossing to Europe.
We follow in the footsteps of the saints who have preceded us and who have been faithful witnesses of the Love and Mercy of God in these lands: Saint Cyprian, Saint Augustine, Saint Monica... up to the most recent Charles de Foucauld and the martyrs of Algeria.
"If they only knew how good is my Master Jesus!... I would like to be good enough for them to say: If the servant is like this, what should the Master be?" Saint Charles de Foucauld
"God loved humanity so much that he gave them His Only one: and the Word became BROTHER."
Blessed Christian de Chergé
