Catholics From Chad

"As Church we feel called to work for national reconciliation: we want to help bring peace to all Chadians at home and abroad, government members, rebels and members of the political opposition. And this was the significance of our statement issued just before the last elections in which we asked political and military leaders to show moderation in order to safeguard lives, peace and national harmony. War has accentuated ethnic differences. In fact if the rebels are divided among themselves, and cannot form one front it is precisely because of ethnic and regional divisions. So we are also committed to helping to heal divisions in the country and to promoting unity and lasting peace. Because there can be no national unity without lasting peace."

"Despite our limited resources we know we must give concrete help because there are human lives in danger. You might think these refugees are Christians. But they are not, the refugees from Darfur are all Muslims. And this is an opportunity to show once again that the Catholic Church does not take a position against a religion or an ethnic group. We help because human lives are in danger. When someone suffers we see this as a call from Christ to help them. It is our duty as Christians to save our Muslim brothers and sisters."

"Jesus' attitude to women was contrary to the customs of his people many of which are similar to our traditions. The Gospel tell us that Jesus showed respect, love and acceptance towards the women he encountered. And the women were the ones who were faithful to him even under the cross and the first to be messengers of the Resurrection. The fact that from the beginning of his public life, Jesus was followed by a group of women is a challenge for our attitude to women in the Church-Family-of-God. We must encourage and help women to take their proper place in Church and in society. We must help girls to grow up as women free of any inferiority complex."

"There are different levels of dialogue. We have the "natural" dialogue among the neighborhood, among people living in the same areas. Then we have the somewhat distorted dialogue at the national level in which the state often uses religions as a means to impose itself. Since the state does not have a lot of authority over the populations while religious leaders have a strong ascendancy over their followers. So the state pressures religious leaders, Muslim and Christian, to achieve its goals. That is why we have made sure that interfaith dialogue is out of the reach of the state, which tries to influence it to its advantage."