The death of Fr Marek Rybinski provoked anger and perplexity. On Saturday and Sunday there were demonstrations of support in the face of the killing of the Salesian priest. Hundreds of people took part including students from the school and their parents and a number of past pupils showing affection for Fr Rybinski bringing photographs, cards and flowers to the Salesian school.
On Sunday afternoon in La Goulette church where the Polish community usually meet, a Mass was said in memory of Fr Rybinski which was attended by many people including the Ambassadors from several countries, representatives of the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Religious Affairs as well as the Archbishop of Tunis. The date of the funeral of Fr Rybinski has not yet been determined.
In an interview with Vatican Radio broadcast on Saturday Archbishop Lahham Marun Elias of Tunis, declared: “It seems that an Islamic movement is growing in Tunisia directed against all non-Muslims. A week ago they held a demonstration in front of the Synagogue in Tunis, at which they told the Jews to leave because the army of Mohamed was on the way. The Islamic Party in Tunis said that they were nothing to do with them. Yesterday on the Internet site of the Tunisian Ministry of Home Affairs there was condemnation of the act against the Salesian priest and which said that these groups were fundamentalists and should be condemned.”
The Police have increased their presence and the guards in front of the churches to protect them. The Government is pointing the finger at a “group of extremist terrorist” recalling that Tunisia has always been a country of peaceful co-existence between cultures and religions. Archbishop Lahham added: “The Salesian Fathers had received a threatening letter written in French and addressed to the Jews, demanding money and saying that if it were not forthcoming they would come and kill everyone in the house. The Father who was killed was the Bursar. For the ordinary people if you are not a Muslim you are a Jew, and the letter was signed with a Nazi swastika.”
Messages of condolence and support have been sent to Fr Pascual Chávez. Among them from the Superior General of the De La Salle Brothers, Fratel Alvaro Rodriguez Echeverria, from Mother Yvonne Reungoat, Superior of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, from the Master General of the Dominicans, Fr Bruno Cadoré and from his predecessor Fr Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa and from Bishop Luc Van Looy of Ghent.
From another mission land characterised by religious tensions and the search for democracy the following has arrived: “The sad news of the killing of poor Marek has reached us in spite of the distance. So we feel very close at this time of sorrow for a confrere who has fallen. It has happened in the very special month when we remember the Salesian protomartyrs … and I think he will not be the last. Recent events in the regions are not very promising … it is like the French revolution with the people wanting democracy... only to fall under even more terrible dictatorships: that of extreme Islam. We who are working here know how it works.”
The Salesians in the Delegation of Malta, on which the community in Manouba directly depends gathered together on Saturday morning 19 for what was to have been the quarterly day of recollection. It became a day of prayer and of mourning. Fr Paul Formosa, Provincial Delegate for Malta, remembered Fr Rybinski as “a Salesian who never stopped smiling; a Salesian full of apostolic zeal, a gift to all those who knew him.”
Lessons in the Salesian school at Manouba are continuing as normal.
Published 21/02/2011
