TURKEY: Patsy McGarrymeets an Irish priest in Istanbul who will concelebrate Mass with the pope
Pope Benedict's visit to Turkey will help bring about "renewed respect" between Muslims and Christians, Irish Dominican priest Fr Paul Lawlor said in Istanbul yesterday.
Fr Lawlor, who will concelebrate Mass with the pope in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit tomorrow, has been based in the Turkish metropolis since November last year.
A native of Tralee, Co Kerry, he served with the Dominicans in Tehran from 1974 until all foreign clergy were expelled in 1980.
The pope's visit, he said, would also be "a great boost for Christians of this area of Turkey, who could feel marginalised".
He pointed out that the Catholic Church was not recognised in Turkey, which created ownership problems when it came to property and meant Catholic clergy could not wear clerical dress in public.
Other Christian churches, such as the Armenian and Orthodox churches, were recognised and so could wear clerical dress, for instance, but recognition also meant coming under the state's religious affairs directorate, which maintained tight control over all recognised religions in Turkey.
However, the other churches had other problems too in that, for instance, all Orthodox seminaries had been closed by the state some decades ago.
In theory there was complete religious freedom in Turkey, he said, and it was true that a Muslim there who converted to Christianity was not made to suffer repercussions, unlike the case in Iran, for instance, where such a person could face execution.
But Muslims in Turkey had become "very defensive and sensitive" where their religion was concerned and feared the rise of Islamophobia in the West. Particular areas of Istanbul had become strongly Islamic in culture and were places where Christians would feel "very excluded".
On the other hand, there were Christians among the Greek Orthodox and Armenians who did not consider themselves Turkish and would not allow any part of their liturgy to be in Turkish, he said.
There are an estimated 100,000-plus Christians in Turkey and Istanbul, approximately 32,000 of whom are Roman Catholic. "The Christian community is very scattered into so many little groups," Fr Lawlor said. Among them are Chaldeans, Armenians, Greek and Turk Orthodox.
All had felt some repercussions since the Muhammad cartoons controversy last year and again following the pope's Regensburg address last September, he said. Both had generated "resentment" towards Christians in Turkey.
That Regensburg address may also have been the reason why a meeting by President Mohammad Khatami of Iran with the pope was cancelled by Iran's supreme leader, he felt. Fr Lawlor was to accompany Mr Khatami on the visit, as he speaks Farsi.
A newer group of Christians in Istanbul were the "thousands" of Chaldeans who had fled Baghdad and Mosul since the war began in Iraq. Some of their priests had been killed and their churches bombed. Fr Lawlor described their situation as "tragic", with parents accompanying children to schools set up by the Catholic charity Caritas in Istanbul "because their houses are so cold and they cannot heat them".
He and other priests in the Dominican community say Mass for them, at least part of which is in Aramaic.
In their own Church of St Peter and Paul in the Galata Gate area of Istanbul, they have upwards of 50 at Mass every Sunday, with a far larger number tending to treat the church and its grounds as the centre of their community. It is in the Genoese quarter of Istanbul, where the Dominicans have been since the 12th century.
Currently there are five priests in the community, including Fr Lawlor. Two are doing further study at Istanbul university while also trying to restore the community's library.
Another member, Fr Giuseppe, was organist at the pope's Mass in Ephesus yesterday and regularly gives concerts in the Church of St Peter and St Paul. The community superior, Fr Lorenzo, is also vicar of the diocese and has been in Turkey for 32 years, 23 of them at the St Peter and Paul community, where all live in frugal comfort.
Fr Lawlor has regular contact with another Irish priest in Istanbul, Rev Ian Sherwood from Wicklow, who is of the Anglican tradition.
Fr Lawlor described him as "an amazing character". Rev Sherwood is based at the nearby Crimean Memorial Church, which he had restored completely.
Fr Lawlor's website is www.irandoms.org.