The communities of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa in Muslim countries are a sign that pluralism is possible, and that beyond a simple tolerance, a future together is conceivable.

Our very presence in the Maghreb and in other Muslim societies is an invitation to the society not to close in on itself.

• Our presence in Maghreb-Yemen
• Called to work in a Muslim milieu: Sr. Lucie Privost
• Study Center
• A "full-time" encounter: Piluca Benavente
• N. 2 and 3 - June and September 2004 - Inter Faith Dialogue
• In the land of Islam - Florence Jaud

  Inter-religious Dialogue as lived by the MSOLA - "Sharing 30 Aprile" Newsletter of the MSOLA. Two issues dedicated to the Inter Faith Dialogue
  

Our presence in Maghreb-Yemen

The MSOLA province of Maghreb-Yemen extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.

Our sisters have worked for many years in Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia and Yemen, four countries, four different worlds, a multitude of features, of local cultures, of national languages. And through all that, there is Faith in a Unique God, to which Jews, Christians and Muslims have given witness... a deep Faith, where God, is always present, loved, adored and served; and that since the seventh century. It is expressed through the official religion of the majority as the religion of Islam which permeates the whole social behavior.

Sister Lucie Pruvost , is a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa, born in Algeria. A lawyer, she is actually in Algeria where she has just published a book on the status of the woman according to the code of the Algerian Family. She shares her experience, her vision and the driving force of her life.

"' I have always felt a calling deep within me, to work in a Muslim milieu through encounters with the other who is different, cherishing the desire to be a "sacrament of presence", that of Jesus, in a world that recognizes Jesus as a prophet who is totally submissive (Muslim = to be submissive).

To respect the other in the way he/she is different, to find pathways leading to a knowledge of God himself and to conversion with regard to certitudes that are not necessarily unique and universal... that for me, is a profound calling.

I live a spirituality of dialogue which is the language of the Incarnation. It is to encounter God, to discover Him, to see the Kingdom at work in people who are not Christian, to recognize in this way the presence of the Spirit in this world, excluding no one. It is also to bring to light, when it is possible, this knowledge of God at work in hearts, like a sign of hope.

Our community has been living in Hussein Dey, a popular suburb of Algiers, for some 30 years, in a small building where four other Algerian families are also living. We have daily encounters. The area is ideal for friendliness.There is unemployment among the youth and small means that each one finds to survive. We meet with some of these young people who, though unemployed and often without qualifications, manage to survive honorably: there is a growing number of small trades; they learn also to be mechanics with their buddies, and can repair a neighbors car or become watchmen. Our young neighbor, an unmarried woman of 26, does embroidery on her sewing machine or crochets to earn a little money; that helps to embellish her house and to prepare her trousseau. More than material needs, we feel that they have an implicit need for friendship and solidarity. We share the shortages of water and the noise of the neighborhood with them, but we also share their joys and sorrows. As women, we often visit with one another in the neighborhood.

Study Diocesan Center

At the "Study Diocesan Center"For almost 20 years, I have been participating, with other MSOLA, in the mission of the "Center d'Etudes Diocésain", which is to establish a bridge between cultures, between that of Algeria and that of expatriates, whom we represent. That is done through different activities: teaching of the Arabic language; running a library for people doing research, and another for university students. Four MSOLA are involved in this work together with other religious, priests and laymen and women.

I also participate in reflection groups with women teaching at university and with students working on the situation of
women.

I am also responsible at times, for the ongoing formation of Christians studying Islamology, either in Algeria or at the Pontifical Institutes of Arabic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, where I have been teaching since 1982. I have just finished a book on "The situation of the woman according to the code of the Algerian Family".

The fact of having been born and having lived in Algeria, in a rural world of poor Algerians, and of being able to speak the language, of belonging to a family close to this milieu, of having done all my studies in secular establishments (non confessional), with persons of all beliefs… all that has helped me and is still a considerable help.

The distress of so many people touches me deeply. I feel absolutely sure that I must work with the Algerian women who are searching for ways to shake the yokes that weigh so heavily on their shoulders (customs, laws, male injustices). I am working at it with what I am and with what I have received to achieve it.This is a very "ascetic" mission. And yet, what a joy it is for me to see that the harvest is ripening, even if "different" from what I expected.

Crowds do not come forward to be baptized. But so many people live the values of the Kingdom, of the Beatitudes and open out to the recognition of the other as different.

We can see this and we rejoice in it. It was so evident, especially during the time of the crisis and notably at the time of the assassination of our brothers and sisters between 1994-1996, and in particular of our four brothers, the White Fathers at Tizi-Ouzou. "Martyrs of fidelity towards a people who are not Christian", our Archbishop Teissier said of them. Isn't it important that women present themselves as "laborers" for harvesting the wheat that is ready on the fields? "

Sister Lucie Pruvost, MSOLA

The interreligious encounter is an essential dimension of the charism of our Congregation.

Each of us lives it in a given context. It is normal, therefore, that the modalities vary from one Province to another and from one country to another.

For my part, I have just spent two weeks in Algeria, a country that I know from having lived here. I rediscovered a context that is familiar to me - people, places, situations. But since I had not been back there for some years, I also felt the kind of interest and the sense of discovery and wonder of someone who was seeing these things for the first time.

What have I retained from my visit to Algeria when I reflect on the interreligious encounter?

A "full-time" interreligious encounter

In the context of North Africa, the interreligious encounter is not just another activity or engagement. It is not limited to a schedule of work, nor is it conditioned by a programme of activities. It gives a particular colouring to our whole life.

Friendship, a key-value

Cardinal Duval, who made a unique mark on the Church and on the country, wrote as follows : "It is friendship that forms the soul of dialogue. Real friendship presupposes equality. It is not compatible with feelings of superiority or attitudes of condescendence".

Bonds of friendship with Algerians are certainly the characteristic sign of our life in Algeria. Often the youngest sisters inherit the friendships formed by their elders. These relationships bear witness to a remarkable faithfulness and loyalty.

Person to person, community to community

The encounter, however, is not solely interpersonal. Through individual persons, it is, in some way, communities of believers who meet - communities of Christians and of Muslims, lively, pluralist, far from monolithic or uniform.
A special expression of the encounter between the believing communities is their collaboration in serving society as much through Algeria's public or private institutions as through Church institutions (e.g.: libraries, Caritas, etc.)

Alliance with a people

Throughout the years and events a deep relationship, strong in its reciprocity, has continued to affirm and prove itself. In 1996, right in the midst of the torment that struck Algeria, we sisters from the General Council wrote to our sisters living in that country : "Thank you for the alliance you have made with the Algerian people in the name of your faith in Jesus Christ. Through your presence there, we are able to sign up to that alliance along with you".
It fills me with joy to see the firmness and permanence of the bonds our sisters have maintained with the people, in their triumphs as well as in their sufferings.

Religious difference, a service that we render mutually

Religious difference is a challenge, which is not always easy to accept, but above all, it is a source of richness.
Far from falling into a facile relativism, we are forced to ask ourselves some basic questions about our faith and our life together. (Cf " Présences d'Evangile. Lire les Evangiles et l'Apocalypse en Algérie et ailleurs " from F. Christoph Theobald.)

Religious difference gives us the opportunity " to see our faith in the mirror of the other ". By our presence, no matter how few we may be, we offer the other believer the possibility of doing likewise.

Without leaving their respective communities Christians and Muslims can find themselves sometimes on the same spiritual ground sharing in the same search for God. It is by no means unusual to hear one of our sisters say how much her faith has been deepened and confirmed through contact with her Muslim friends.

"Three things remain : faith, hope and Charity. But the greatest of these is Charity".

During the intercommunity encounter we had in Algeria, I expressed my admiration for the sisters in that country : "They have done - and continue to do - some very beautiful things !".

One sister replied (and she was right) : "It is not what we do that remains but the love we bring to it and the bonds of friendship that are formed".

Today, the numbers of MSOLA in Algeria, as elsewhere, are reducing but the quality of the encounter can always be further deepened.

AU REVOIR, ALGERIA!