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From our friend and regular correspondent in Turkey - a very interesting report from this Wednesday, the Feast of the Assumption:
We visited Meryemana Evi (Mary’s House) for the Feast of the Assumption. About 200 to 300 people attended the Mass, along with one archbishop and a dozen or so priests. We arrive before the start of the Mass. The line going into Mary’s house was longer than normal. People from all over the world travel here – most as part of some larger group tour. Incidentally, probably a third of the visitors are Muslim Turks who view this as a sacred place. A good number of the ladies cover their heads before entering the house. However, it was sort of comical to see these European women wearing short-shorts and tank tops (some even bikini tops) covering their heads with scarves – I didn’t quite understand the point.
Prior to the start of Mass, the archbishop, the priests, the altar boy and the requisite altar girl gaggled by the side of Mary’s House in the usual Novus Ordo informal style – fidgeting around, small talk, etc. – which always stands in stark contrast to the demeanor of traditional priests and altar boys cueing up before a Mass.
The Mass was a mix of Italian (the archbishop’s native language) and Turkish. By the way, the Turkish Novus Ordo Mass refers to God as Allah throughout the entire Mass – including using the term Allah in place of the word Father, which is not the Turkish word for father.
There were one or two small groups of what seemed like English-speaking conservative college students from places like Christendom or Thomas Aquinas in attendance.
After Mass we chatted with an American nun who works at Ephesus for the Franciscans living there. The nuns at Ephesus are very pleasant hardworking religious women. They wear the full habit.
We drove back to Ankara on Friday and about 1 hour outside of Izmir, as we were going through a small village, we came across a traffic accident scene. A man on a small motorcycle had collided with a truck. A dozen or so people, including one Gendarmerie soldier, were standing around the man while two men were giving CPR.
Tracy and I discussed if I should attempt a baptism of this man. I turned around, parked next to the accident, grabbed the bottle of water we had filled up from the spring running under Mary’s House and approached the group. As I approached, the men gave up on the CPR, the group made way for me to come close to the man, and everyone present sort of looked away. I knelt down, baptized the man, and made it back to the car without anyone seeming even to notice. I’ll only find out on the other side of the veil, but a soul destined for Hell perhaps was saved yesterday.
St. Louis-Marie de Montfort,
Pope St. Pius X,
St. Joseph,
St. Ambrose of Milan,
St. Thomas Aquinas,
St. Francis (and St. Clare),
St. Catherine of Siena,
St. Alphonsus Ligouri,
St. John Chrysostom,
Well, this is interesting news. The Baptism is very great to hear! It is too bad that “Allah” is used in place of “Father,” but as far as I know it is the only appropriate word to translate “God.” Don’t the Maronite, Melkite, Syrian, Chaldean, and Coptic Catholics use that word for God when they speak Arabic? I make that point because that is not really a surprising point — “Allah” is as much the generic Arabic (and now Turkish) word for God as it is a specific designation for the Mohammedan deity, right?
I suppose you’re right. The Eastern rites of the Arab speaking world are certainly holy and venerable. I just don’t trust, however, the translations made of the Latin rite Mass into these languages.
Certainly the translation of “Father” as “Allah” does not make sense, but I think that “Allah” is the only word that works for “God” in much of the Middle East. There might be another, etymologically Turkish word for the deity, but, as often, the Arabic word has probably taken its place since the triumph of Islam.
Come to think of it, I think that Arab-speaking Jews (like the Yemeni Jews of old) used “Allah” to refer to God. Actually, Christian Arabs were probably using the word “Allah” before Mohammed lived.
That baptism was a courageous and charitable act, JSP; I’d like to say more, but I don’t want the inadequacy of my words to belittle it.
Yes, JSP, through the Providence of God, you may well have contributed the salvation of an otherwise “invincibly ignorant” person who sought salvation. We cannot know for sure, but God willing you will have a Turkish “least brother” to appeal for you at the particular judgment! You were a good Samaritan, or, as those guys would say, good “infidel-from-the-Dar-al-Harb.”