{"id":17103,"date":"2016-08-24T13:10:41","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T13:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=17103"},"modified":"2016-08-24T13:10:41","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T13:10:41","slug":"libya-the-eu-is-more-concerned-about-migrants-than-the-country-message-from-mgr-george-bugeja-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/08\/24\/libya-the-eu-is-more-concerned-about-migrants-than-the-country-message-from-mgr-george-bugeja-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"LIBYA &#8211; \u201cThe EU is more concerned about migrants than the country\u201d \u2013 message from Mgr George Bugeja &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u201c<\/strong><strong>The EU is more concerned about <\/strong><strong>migrants<\/strong><strong> than the country<\/strong><strong>\u201d \u2013 message from Mgr George Bugeja<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are all people of the same God we believe in. In the name of this God we can live in peace like brothers.\u201d This is the message coming from Tripoli sent by Monsignor George Bugeja, OFM, Coadjutor of the Apostolic Vicariate of Tripoli and Administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Benghazi.<\/p>\n<p>The signs of the conflict in Libya are everywhere and strongly affect the lives of Christians there said Mgr Bugeja: \u201cIn Benghazi, in October 2014, the apostolic vicar, now emeritus, Bishop Sylvester Magro and the priests had to leave the premises of the church and have recently informed me that the church was damaged: it is located in Souq el-Hout area where there is still IS, surely recovery there will be a big challenge. In the Vicariate there are still, however, two Franciscans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the Libyan capital there are now just eight Missionaries of Charity (the Congregation founded by Mother Teresa) and three Franciscan friars left and only two religious in service at the Vicariate of Benghazi.<\/p>\n<p>The charism of St. Francis is reflected in the actions and testimony of those who have chosen to stay in Libya, to offer some hope for the future. \u00a0\u201cSt. Francis was a very practical person,\u201d said Monsignor Bugeja, \u201cand he was able to interpret the will of the Lord in different circumstances of his life. From him I learned to do what I can to help, to live simply, to stay close to the people as much as possible. The rest will be in the hands of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the Church\u2019s presence has been reduced to a minimum, the Christian community remains vibrant, especially the Filipino and African Catholics who participate in the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist every Friday in the church of St. Francis. \u00a0Most of the Africans are from Nigeria, but there are also others from Senegal, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Niger and Ghana. Recently they have been joined by the Europeans who have remained in this region.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cThe pastoral work, though limited,\u201d says Monsignor Bugeja, \u201cis very valuable. As a Catholic Church we have no difficulty in celebrating our liturgies. The liturgy can only be celebrated in the church, and only for foreigners. It must always be clear that the Libyans are Muslims, and we respect their faith as they respect ours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Tripoli, pastoral work is restricted to church premises, \u00a0mainly on Friday, where, \u201capart from the different Mass celebrations, we prepare the preparatory meetings for the various sacraments for both children and adults, and there are proposed prayer meetings. Through Caritas Libya we also try to offer help to those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Church in Libya works mainly with Filipinos and especially with African immigrants. \u201cEven if we are in a difficult financial situation, we try to help them as best as possible. African immigrants, many of whom are poor and in the greatest need, show themselves to be very generous with the little they have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In addition to priests and religious, there are also communities cared for by six catechists in Sebha, Obari, Ghat, Murzuk and Brack. Unfortunately, owing to lack of security, moving around is difficult and dangerous said Mgr Bujega: \u201cA priest was shot in a car, which was stolen and then abandoned in the desert.\u201d Despite this, \u201cwe recently started going once a month to celebrate the Eucharist in these communities. Fortunately there are domestic flights to Sebha and Obari. Except for Sebha, in the other communities they had not celebrated the Eucharist for two years. In late July, we were informed that the meeting place for the Catholic community in Obari was looted, and whatever could not be stolen was destroyed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sebha is important \u00a0strategically because it is where African migrants arrive after crossing the desert to try and continue their journey to Europe. \u201cUnfortunately, these people are promised a lot of things, even a path to a better country, but the consequences for them are completely different. We all know what is happening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0Mgr Bugeja states regretfully that Europe seems more concerned about the possible large scale exodus of refugees from Libya than the difficult situation of Libya itself. He remains hopeful:\u201cYes it is like this, but lately we have heard many promises, and indeed we have seen that several countries have sent medicine and other necessary supplies. I hope this will continue and that also in the near future some diplomatic representation (embassy) from Europe will make itself present.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>ACN Malta<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe EU is more concerned about migrants than the country\u201d \u2013 message from Mgr George Bugeja \u00a0 \u201cWe are all people of the same God we believe in. In the name of this God we can live in peace like brothers.\u201d This is the message coming from Tripoli sent by Monsignor George Bugeja, OFM, Coadjutor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LIBYA - \u201cThe EU is more concerned about migrants than the country\u201d \u2013 message from Mgr George Bugeja - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/08\/24\/libya-the-eu-is-more-concerned-about-migrants-than-the-country-message-from-mgr-george-bugeja-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LIBYA - \u201cThe EU is more concerned about migrants than the country\u201d \u2013 message from Mgr George Bugeja - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThe EU is more concerned about migrants than the country\u201d \u2013 message from Mgr George Bugeja \u00a0 \u201cWe are all people of the same God we believe in. 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