[Grem] Francia püspökség(ek) adományokkal támogatták mecset(ek) építését
Emoke Greschik
greschem at gmail.com
2021. Ápr. 24., Szo, 08:51:00 CEST
French archdiocese gives money to build large mosque
Fri Apr 23, 2021 - 1:46 pm EST
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/french-archdiocese-gives-money-to-build-large-mosque?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com&utm_campaign=b4d3ce93b2-Daily%2520Headlines%2520-%2520U.S._COPY_783&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_12387f0e3e-b4d3ce93b2-401828513
[image: Featured Image] Mosque
By Jeanne Smits, Paris correspondent
------------------------------
TOURS, France, April 23, 2021 (LifeSiteNews <https://www.lifesitenews.com/>)
— Vincent Jordy, recently named archbishop of Tours in the center of
France, has been forced to publish a statement after* declarations by a
local Muslim leader revealed that the Catholic diocese has given funds for
the construction of a large mosque*, and that *these funds can be said to
have been financed by *the “denier du culte”: *parish contributions given
by Catholics in the diocese for its upkeep and operating costs.*
*The story **broke ten days ago* when a local newspaper, *la Nouvelle
République*
<https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/tours/la-mosquee-de-tours-attend-son-toit-son-dome-et-des-dons>,
published a story for the beginning of Ramadan on April 13, with comments
by t*he president of the Muslim community of the department of
Indre-et-Loire in the Loire valley* explaining that the new Grand Mosque of
Menneton was not yet ready to receive the Muslim faithful, in particular in
its areas destined for public worship.
*Salah Merabti,* talking about COVID restrictions that will prevent the
faithful from “breaking the fast” in communal dinners at their present
mosque, *said he hoped that next year, works will have been completed in
the new building,* for which €4 million euro (nearly $5 million) have
already been spent. 2 million euro worth of funds are lacking at present to
pay for the roof, the dome, and sealing work. The construction project is
already several weeks or months late because of COVID-19, and now the price
of building materials has risen steeply, compromising the Muslim
community’s ability to finance future contracts.
It was at this point that *Merabti spoke about those who had helped or are
still helping with the funding of the project:* “In Paris, I met *the boss
of Coca-Cola Algeria *who gave us the sum of €150,000 for the roof. This is
exceptional. We also received *gifts from elected officials of the [Tours]
metropolis, from the Jewish community of Tours, and from** the diocese, f*or
the worshiping area of the mosque. This is a great comfort.”
The story was picked up <https://www.riposte-catholique.fr/archives/158956>
by the independent Catholic website “Riposte-Catholique,” which asked: “Are
we to understand that* parish funding of the church* *has been
diverted for* *the
needs of the Muslim community? *This is a question that should be put to
the accounting office of the diocese.”
The diocese of Tours ordinarily receives a yearly global budget of some
€1.6 million through parish contributions, compared to yearly operating
costs of about €6.7 million, for which Sunday collections, gifts on the
occasion of weddings and funerals and Mass intentions also provide.
While the diocese had a comfortable sum of nearly €9.5 million stashed away
at the end of 2019
<https://www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr/document/associations_a/389912312_31122019>,
its financial situation has been badly affected by the COVID-19 crisis,
leading to a dramatic appeal from Bishop Jordy this month. He underscored the
“total decrease” of Sunday collections since the measures to contain the
pandemic began, as well as an almost total decrease of contributions on the
occasion of some sacraments and of parish funding; even gifts for Mass
intentions have declined “very significantly,” he deplored. J*ordy asked
all the Catholics of his diocese to chip in
<http://diocesedetours.catholique.fr/etre-chretien/donner/,>, adding that
this was “vital". *
Under these circumstances, the timing of Salah Merabti’s expression of
thanks to the Archdiocese of Tours could hardly have been more unfortunate,
especially when it was picked up by *Riposte catholique *and commented on
in social media, and questions followed to diocesan officials.
*Bishop Vincent Jordy published a statement *on April 15, only two days
after the news of diocesan funding for a mosque in Tours broke:
*In 1996, during the visit to Tours of Pope Saint John Paul II, *as
subsidies were almost non-existent, the diocese had launched an appeal for
donations to ensure the funding of this reception. On this occasion, *the
Muslim community of Tours wished to make a symbolic donation. In return,
the diocese of Tours wished to make a similar and symbolic donation on the
occasion of the launching of the Tours mosque project more than 15 years
ago.*
He added (in a largely incomprehensible phrase that appears to put
Christian and Muslim celebrations on a par):* “As Christian communities
live in the light of the Easter celebrations and Muslim communities have
entered the period of Ramadan, this reminder allows us to measure up to our
lives as believers.”*
It therefore appears that the archdiocese’s donation for the construction
of a Muslim place of worship actually took place under Jordy's predecessor,
and quite a long time ago. *But local Catholics are asking for
explanations: why were they not informed of this donation?* How much was
given for the visit of John Paul II by the Muslims, and was an equivalent
sum donated for the mosque? What did the bishop mean by a “similar” and
“symbolic” gift? One member of a Catholic internet forum wrote
<https://www.leforumcatholique.org/message.php?num=915617>:
As for the ‘reminder’ of a donation made by a Muslim community of Tours in
1996, 25 years ago, for the visit of John Paul II, which would justify a
donation in return today, it is a complete joke. I don’t know why this
Muslim community wanted to make this donation, if it is true, but in any
case, this Muslim community has never financed the building of a church.
The fact that the Tours diocese wants to appear as one of the financiers of
the Tours mosque marks the end of its existence as a Catholic diocese. Let
it apologize to its donors, if it still has the strength.
*Other Catholics underscored* *that is one thing to help pay for the visit
of a Pope to a local community, and another to fund the construction of a
lasting place of worship*. Such criticism has of course been fueled over
the last years after a number of Islamic attacks hit France, including the
cutting of the throat of an old priest, Fr. Jacques Hamel, while he was
celebrating Mass, and another terrorist attack on Catholics in a church in
Nice at the beginning of last year. But even without these tragic
incidents, the presence of a growing and vital Muslim community in France,
which benefits from local “anti-discrimination” laws, has led to fears and
tensions.
It is a sign of the times that last year, president Emmanuel Macron joined
a Muslim feast celebrating the end of Ramadan in June, but did not even
send Christmas or Easter wishes to French Catholics in the last few months.
*Questions were also raised about the diocese’s right to use funds given by
Catholic donors for an object that is so obviously distant from the reasons
for which they were given*. The faithful contribute to the financing of
Catholic worship in all its dimensions, including the upkeep of parish
churches and diocesan buildings, and income for diocesan priests — not the
funding of places of worship for other religions. The diocesan association
of Tours official statutes laconically recall that its funds are to cover
“the upkeep of worship.” Catholic worship, of course…
A local Catholic complained: “If I had wanted to fund the construction of a
mosque, I would have done it myself directly.” Another remarked: *“John
Paul II went away, but the mosque will remain.”*
*This is not the first time that a French diocese has given money donated
by the faithful towards Islamic interests. The rebuilding of an Islamic
place of worship that was destroyed by arson was helped along to the tune
of €5,000 by the diocese of Auch (southwest France) in 2015. “Charity knows
no borders,” explained the local Bishop*, Maurice Gardès, at the time. This
donation also triggered a wave of criticism, leading the diocese to state
later that it had also given €12,000 for persecuted Christians in the
Middle East.
At least the diocese of Auch publicly announced the gift when it was made.
The news led to a sharp decline in parish funding donations. In the
Catholic weekly *Famille chrétienne*, a specialist of Islam, Annie
Laurent, also
underlined the danger of relativism
<https://www.cath.ch/newsf/le-diocese-dauch-contribue-a-la-reconstruction-dune-mosquee/>
linked to such participation in the building of Islamic mosques in
France: *“The
Koranic message aims to discredit the great Christian mysteries of the
Incarnation, the Trinity, the Redemption, the Resurrection of Jesus, etc.,”
she wrote.*
*In May of last year, the diocese of Bordeaux called on local Catholics to
give generous donations to the local mosques’* social benefit funds account
in order to help “sub-Saharan students living in Bordeaux and its
surroundings.” Due to COVID restrictions, four local mosques had asked for
money to pay for food packages for destitute Muslims who would otherwise
have joined meals at the mosque. Such food aid is obviously on another
level than the funding of places of worship, but at the same time *the
Catholic diocese of Bordeaux has recently multiplied events together with
Islamic dignitaries that go beyond humanitarian gestures, such as when a
local imam, Hassan Belmajdoub, known for having invited radical preachers
to his mosque, was asked to speak in a Catholic church in November 2017 on
the theme: “Encountering the other in all sincerity.”*
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