- Feb 5, 2002
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This little-documented phenomenon is forcing dioceses to deploy new pastoral services to better welcome these converts, who often have difficulty integrating into their new Catholic communities.
At a time when concern is growing about the rise of Islam, which is threatening to become the primary religion in historically Catholic countries such as France, a phenomenon of fundamental importance cannot be ignored: the exponential growth in conversions of Muslims to Christianity.
Marie-Anne and Nicolas are two such converts from Islam who will be baptized this year on Easter. Like many other catechumens who have apostatized from their Muslim faith, their journey is as challenging as it is edifying to others.
It was while accompanying her dying husband from Algeria to a hospital in Belgium in 2015 that Marie-Anne (her baptismal name; her civil name will remain anonymous for security reasons) was overwhelmed by the humanity and compassion shown to her by a Catholic nurse — to the point of wanting to “know more” about the figure of Jesus, as she explained in an interview with the Register.
This thirst for Christ, which became unquenchable over the years, aroused the suspicions of her family back in Algeria. Once widowed and promised to a man who would “reeducate” her in the Muslim faith, she abandoned a prestigious position and her material comforts to flee to France with her two children, where she completed her catechumenate.
It was this same attraction to Christianity’s distinct relationship to charity and the undifferentiated love of neighbor that led Nicolas, a Frenchman who converted to Islam in 2008 at the age of 26, then immigrated to Indonesia, to embrace the Catholic faith and return to his homeland. His conversion, which began to blossom in 2017 — and culminated in a spiritual experience at the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris, praying there beside a statue of St. Thérèse of Lisieux — resulted in a divorce from his Muslim wife and an estrangement from his two children, who remained in Indonesia.
He says that he is far from an isolated case in Indonesia, where he has met many former Muslims who have converted to Christianity without being able to formalize their new religion, as apostasy is prohibited in Islam.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
At a time when concern is growing about the rise of Islam, which is threatening to become the primary religion in historically Catholic countries such as France, a phenomenon of fundamental importance cannot be ignored: the exponential growth in conversions of Muslims to Christianity.
Marie-Anne and Nicolas are two such converts from Islam who will be baptized this year on Easter. Like many other catechumens who have apostatized from their Muslim faith, their journey is as challenging as it is edifying to others.
It was while accompanying her dying husband from Algeria to a hospital in Belgium in 2015 that Marie-Anne (her baptismal name; her civil name will remain anonymous for security reasons) was overwhelmed by the humanity and compassion shown to her by a Catholic nurse — to the point of wanting to “know more” about the figure of Jesus, as she explained in an interview with the Register.
This thirst for Christ, which became unquenchable over the years, aroused the suspicions of her family back in Algeria. Once widowed and promised to a man who would “reeducate” her in the Muslim faith, she abandoned a prestigious position and her material comforts to flee to France with her two children, where she completed her catechumenate.
It was this same attraction to Christianity’s distinct relationship to charity and the undifferentiated love of neighbor that led Nicolas, a Frenchman who converted to Islam in 2008 at the age of 26, then immigrated to Indonesia, to embrace the Catholic faith and return to his homeland. His conversion, which began to blossom in 2017 — and culminated in a spiritual experience at the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris, praying there beside a statue of St. Thérèse of Lisieux — resulted in a divorce from his Muslim wife and an estrangement from his two children, who remained in Indonesia.
He says that he is far from an isolated case in Indonesia, where he has met many former Muslims who have converted to Christianity without being able to formalize their new religion, as apostasy is prohibited in Islam.
Continued below.
Boom in Muslim Conversions to Christianity in France: How Is the Church Responding?
This little-documented phenomenon is forcing dioceses to deploy new pastoral services to better welcome these converts, who often have difficulty integrating into their new Catholic communities.
