Christianityin North Africa Today

Norman A. Horner

he glory and decline of Christianity in the region com­ liar religious development, and especially because of the uneven T prising Libya and the Maghrib (the Arab West) is a story political evolution in that region over the last two decades. well documented in the annals of church history. The early church in North Africa-home of Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine and the Libya Augustinian theological tradition, the dynamic Donatist move­ ment-was a church of profound impact on the Christian world at With a land area of nearly 700,000 square miles, Libya has a total large, but it failed to establish deep roots in the soil of its own re­ population of less than 3 million. Major cities are Tripoli, the cap­ gion. Broadly stated, there are two reasons for that failure: (1) the ital, and Benghazi. Secondary centers are Charian, Zawia, Mis­ church never became truly indigenous, and (2) it had no effective ureta, Horns, Jebel Akhdar, Derna, Khalij, and Sebha. Oil is the missionary outreach among the masses living outside the imported major source of national income, and it is abundant. After an ini­ Roman culture. tial lag during the first eighteen months of the present govern­ Unlike the Coptic Church in Egypt or the Syrian and Arme­ ment, 1969-70, economic development of the country has steadily nian churches in other parts of the Middle East, the North African improved. Government priorities for national development, in the church did not successfully survive the Muslin conquest from the order of current emphasis, are agriculture, industry, health, educa­ end of the seventh century onward. It was a Latin-speaking tion, and telecommunications. church, centered in urban areas, and already in decline because of Adult literacy is estimated at only 17 percent, and hence radio the Donatist controversy and other disputes. It had made no sig­ and television are the chief means of communication. As a foreign nificant inroads into rural areas. Neither had it produced any diplomat in Tripoli put it, "This country has jumped over the Gu­ translation of the Scriptures into the language of the Berbers, the tenberg period into the radio-TV era." Despite the fact that both dominant indigenous population. Mesnage attributes the disap­ elementary and secondary education are still very limited, the Uni­ pearance of this church to the slight advance made among the Ber­ versity of Libya has had a large campus in Tripoli for some years bers and the almost general apostasy of the few Berber converts and, in 1971, completed the construction of another in Benghazi. A when the Islamic invasions came.! Groves notes that even the professor in Benghazi stated that the faculty includes a substantial monastic communities of North Africa were established in towns number of Europeans, mainly British. He added that "the new already Christian and made little attempt to evangelize pagan ter­ campus facilities compare favorably with those of most any ritory." American or European university, but neither students nor faculty Of some 700 North African bishoprics in Augustine's day, are able to use them effectively." only about thirty-five were left at the time of Arab conquest, and Islam in Libya is almost as conservative as that of the Arabian most of those had disappeared by the end of the eighth century. peninsula, with President Qaddafi as the most influential Libyan The remnants of that once great church then seem to have been guardian of conservatism. Press censorship, and the virtually total taken under the protection and authority of the Alexandria Patri­ absence of foreign journals from the newsstands, is as much to archate, but the relentless decline continued. In the fourteenth safeguard against introducing unconventional morality as to pre­ century only a few Christian villages were left and, with the de­ vent political subversion. The law against proselytizing is rigidly mise of a small community in Tunis a century later, Christianity enforced, .and no missionaries as such are in the country at the had virtually disappeared from North Africa." present time. The claim that "there is not a single Libyan Chris­ The purpose of this article is not to detail the history of North tian" is all but literally true within Libya itself, although an unde­ African Christianity but, rather, to describe its present situation. termined number of Libyan converts to Christianity (both Catho­ The brief foregoing paragraphs are merely to show that the lack of lics and Protestants) are living abroad, mainly in southern Europe. any strong, indigenous Christian community in that region is by A total of less than 5000 people, all expatriates and relatively no means a new phenomenon, and to insist that Muslim rule is not few of them permanent residents of Libya, are actively involved in the sole reason for its absence today. the organized Christian churches found in that country today. Across North Africa, from the western frontier of Egypt to the Greek Orthodox (Alexandria Patriarchate). A Greek community Atlantic, the present-day Christian population is small and com­ of some 1200 is in Libya at the present time. About half that num­ posed mostly of foreigners. The situation of the churches is every­ ber, the tiny remnant of a once powerful church there, actively where circumscribed and difficult, but by no means identical participate in two Greek Orthodox congregations, one in the cap­ throughout the vast region. * One cannot speak of Libya and the Maghrib as though it were a homogeneous bloc, either religiously or politically. Each of the countries (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco) must be considered separately because of its own pecu- "Informaiion about Christian communities in thefour countries under consideration wascol­ lected by the writer in thecourse of extensive travel across North Africa, from Benghazi to Casablanca, during thesummer of 1972. The research team with which he participated in thisproject included theRev. Albertlsieero, then general secretary oftheNearEast Council ofChurches (now theMiddle East Council ofChurches), theRev. Dennis Hilgendorf, direc­ toroftheMiddle'East Lutheran Ministry, andMr. William DunnoftheSouthern Baptist Norman A. Horner, Associate Editor of the Occasional Bulletin, was consultant on Mission in Lebanon. Reports received and materials published since that date indicate no interchurch relationships in theMiddle East until 1976, when he became Associate Direc­ major changes in thesize, distribution, andsituation ofthe various churches andfellowship toroftheOoerseas Ministries StudyCenter. groups, butsuch modifications as seem significant have been incorporated into thisarticle.

Arrri]. lQ~O ital city and the other in Benghazi. Most members of these two headquarters for the police, and the remaining Church of Christ congregations are permanent residents, but of non-Libyan origin people use the Baptist property for such meetings as they still con­ and citizenship. Their strong attachment to Greek language and duct. (A former Seventh-day Adventist hospital in Benghazi was culture makes it unlikely that they will contribute significantly to also taken by the government in 1970, and if there are still the rise of any indigenous Christian movement. Adventists anywhere in Libya they are without an organization of Coptic Orthodox. Prior to political troubles between Egypt and any kind.) The most recent Protestant development is the emer­ Libya in 1974, as estimated 200,000 Egyptians were living in gence of a small but vigorous congregation of Pakistanis in Tripoli. Libya-many of them professional people or skilled craftsmen. It seems clear that the only hope of numerical increase in any The number of Christians (mostly Coptic Orthodox) among them of the churches in Libya-Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, or Prot­ is thought to have been as much as 30 percent of the total, a much estant-lies in the potential influx of Egyptian Christians into the higher percentage than in the population of Egypt itself. Vast country. Few Italians have returned to date, and they are on short­ numbers of those people have of necessity returned to Egypt or term contracts with the businesses that employ them. Restrictions gone elsewhere during the last few years, but many will go back to on the residence of other Europeans and Americans are likely also Libya whenever the political situation permits. to continue. In the opinion of this writer, Egyptian Christians (es­ Libya is part of an enormous ecclesiastical area known histori ­ pecially the Coptic Orthodox) are likely to become the major cally to the Coptic Orthodox as the diocese of the "Five Cities." Christian community in Libya, and they are also better suited than The bishop of the Copts in North Africa presently lives at any other expatriate group to make an impact on Libyan culture. Damenhour in the Nile Delta and visits both Libya and Algeria pe­ riodically. The current situation of this church in Libya is, never­ Tunisia theless, quite limited. Some eight years ago, President Qaddafi authorized their use of a former Roman Catholic church building Tunisia has a land area of 63,000 square miles and a population of in farm country about seven miles outside Tripoli. That parish nearly 6 million, of whom 56 percent are under age nineteen. now claims a total constituency of approximately 1000, but only a About half the population is concentrated in the areas in and fraction of that number can participate regularly because of the around Tunis, Sous, and Sfax. There are some 30,000 resident Eu­ distance from the city and lack of public transportation. Another ropeans in the country, including 2000 French teachers in univer­ community of some fifty Coptic Orthodox families in Benghazi sity and secondary schools. A large and relatively stable Jewish has its own priest but uses the Greek Orthodox building for ser­ community may account for the fact that both Saturday and Fri­ vices. day are half holidays, while Sunday is observed as a full holiday in Roman Catholic. Some 1100 practicing Roman Catholics the European pattern. throughout the country are the vestige of a community many Exports include large quantities of phosphate, petroleum, anc, times that large less than two decades ago. They are concentrated olive oil, but nearly one-third of the national income is from tour­ in Tripoli and Benghazi, but a number are in the widely scattered ism. Tunis and several other centers in the country are important oil camps. In Libya as a whole there are about fifty nuns of three year-round tourist attractions, giving Tunisia a much wider con­ different religious orders: the Sisters of Mercy (Maltese), the Fran­ tact with people of non-Islamic cultures than is the case with its ciscan Sisters, and the Franciscan Sisters of Mercy (Italian). They neighbor Libya. now serve in government schools and hospitals, all the formerly Here the confrontation of Christianity is with a more or less church-related institutions having been closed after the overthrow secularized society (especially in Tunis) and with a comparatively of King Idris in 1969. liberal Islam. The people now in political power are largely prod­ In 1970, following the massive exclusion of Italians and other ucts of Seddika College where the mixture of French and Arabic foreigners from the country, thirty-five Catholic church buildings influence is not conducive to religious conservatism of the kind in Libya were confiscated by the government. Three of the four one finds in a more traditional Islamic order such as Libya. In re­ churches in Tripoli itself, including the cathedral, were closed in cent years, for example, President Bourguiba has regularly empha­ that way. The one remaining parish church in the capital city now sized a symbolic rather than literalistic observance of the Ramadan has a constituency of about 500. Mass is celebrated there in En­ fast, and he has made a point of interpreting jihad in the modern glish, French, Italian, and Arabic, and one of the priests on its staff situation as primarily a war against poverty and illiteracy. Despite is a Coptic Catholic from Egypt. Another congregation, composed this apparently liberal atmosphere, however, the law against pros­ of about 350 Americans, uses a rented building in one of the sub­ elytism is rigidly enforced, and the number of people (mainly for­ urbs. eign residents) actively involved in the life of the Christian In Benghazi a single Catholic congregation is left. The priests churches is proportionately smaller than anywhere else in North conduct services, teach in a school related to the Italian embassy, Africa. and make pastoral visits to various oil camps in the area. Roman Catholic. Catholics are estimated at between 3000 and Anglican and Protestant. A church building that belonged to 5000-almost entirely foreigners. The few of Tunisian origin par­ the Anglicans in Tripoli for many years was taken by the govern­ ticipate in otherwise expatriate congregations. European wives of ment in the early 1970s for use in connection with a military Tunisian Muslims seem to have considerably more freedom of installation. The Anglicans have since met at the interdenomina­ church activity than do their counterparts in Libya, even introduc­ tional Union Church on Sunday evenings. A tiny congregation in ing their husbands to Catholic conferences, study groups, and ecu­ Benghazi uses the Roman Catholic church building in that city. menical services. The only Protestant congregations are those located in Tripoli: There are two church buildings in Tunis, the cathedral and the Union Church (interdenominational and largely American) was re­ parish church of St. Jeanne d'Arc. The cathedral is large enough to duced in size after the elimination of Wheelus Air Base in 1970, have become something of a liability after the decline of the but it continues to be active. A Southern Baptist congregation of French population. The hierarchy preferred to close it and concen­ Americans was organized more recently and shows considerable trate on smaller parish churches, but they were discouraged from vitality. The Church of Christ was another fairly substantial group so doing by the government-presumably to dramatize the claim of Americans with their own building in the central part of Tripoli of religious freedom in the country. Six church buildings and three as long as the air base was in operation. That building is now a convent chapels are in other towns of the Tunis area: La Goulette,

84 Occasional Bulletin Le Kram, Hamman-Lif, Ez-Zahra, Rades, and Negrine-Coteau. in 1972) are modestly salaried from WCC appropriations, but most Another eleven churches and twelve small groups meeting in con­ of their Tunisian counterparts are paid by the government. This vent chapels or private homes are in cities and towns more distant organization's long-term plans for development of local leadership from the capital: Mateur, Bizerte, Tabarka, Kasserine, Grombalis, have been geared to the government's expressed goal of "no more Nabeul, Sous, Sfax, Gafsa, Metloui, and Redeyef. foreigners in social work after 1974 and none in education after Some seventy priests and 340 sisters representing a dozen or 1980." Both Protestant and Catholic leaders serve on the ESPRIT more religious orders continue to serve in Tunisia, a heritage of the consultative committee. colonial era when the church was much larger. Parish work as such requires only a small number of them, but they are needed to staff Algeria thirty-six institutions still run by the church-schools, agricultural projects, health centers, rural centers, and so forth. IBLA (Institut Algeria has a land area of 919,595 square miles and a population of des Belles Lettres Arabes) in Tunis is a project of the White Fa­ just over 17 million. Approximately half the people are under thers, several of whom live at the institute. Some 3000 people nineteen years of age, and the birthrate is said to be higher than make regular use of it research library, lending library, classes, and anywhere else on the African continent. About 76,000 Christians tutorial services. lBlA, the scholarly. journal published quarterly now live in the country. Some 1300 of them are native Algerians; by these White Fathers, is an effort to stimulate serious dialogue another 2250 are from elsewhere in the Arab world; all the rest (95 with Muslims. percent of the total) are of European, North American, or other The Tunisian government's relationships with the Catholic origin. church are not altogether cordial, however. Memories of the colo­ The political and social transformation of Algeria since inde­ nial period, when that church attempted to make the entire neigh­ pendence in 1963 has been as dramatic as anywhere in the Arab borhood of old Carthage a solidly Christian enclave, are still fresh. world and more pervasive than in most other places. Adult literacy As recently as 1963, during an international Marian Congress, a has doubled and now stands at about 20 percent. However, more procession of clergy with banners moved into the city from the than two-thirds of the literate still read and write French only, not suburb of Carthage. This probably had no political meaning in the Arabic. The current nationalistic emphasis includes a strenuous eyes of the Catholics, but a reaction led to official prohibitions program of Arabicization, and it is now mandatory that the first against any further public religious demonstrations by Christian two school years be taught exclusively in Arabic, a regulation that groups. Few Catholics live in Carthage any longer, and the large applies to private as well as public schools. church atop the hill is now a museum. Roman Catholic. Before independence there were over a million Eastern Orthodox. One Greek Orthodox priest of the Alexan­ foreigners in Algeria, a very large part of that number being French dria Patriarchate ministers to his own small congregation and a Catholics. After 1963 about 90 percent of those Europeans left the tiny group of White Russians (the latter related to the vigorously country. Hence the membership of the Catholic church, by far the anticommunist Synod of Russian Orthodox Bishops Outside Rus­ largest Christian community in the country, was abruptly deci­ sia), each with its own church building in Tunis, and he travels mated. Many small-town church buildings and some of those in periodically to visit isolated families in Bizerte and Sfax. He esti­ such urban centers as Algiers, Oran, and Constantine were closed. mates that Eastern Orthodox Christians of all nationalities number Nevertheless, the remaining Catholic membership of about 72,000 no more than 300 throughout Tunisia today, whereas before inde­ still represents 95 percent of all the Christians in Algeria. Within pendence there were 10,000 Greeks alone. this otherwise foreign community are some 400 native Algerians, a Anglican and Protestant. St. George's Anglican Church has few of whom hold prominent positions in government service, and been in Tunis for over eighty years. The 150 members of its pres­ another 300 Algerian citizens of European origin. An estimated ent congregation are from various national and ecclesiastical back­ 1000 Coptic Catholics and at least 300 Syrian, Armenian, and Mar­ grounds, as is also the case with most other English-speaking, ex­ onite Catholics are now residing in the country, but these have no patriate congregations of the Anglican communion in the Middle organized congregations or clergy of their own. East and North Africa. The four geographic dioceses of the colonial period have been In Tunis, a congregation of the Eglise Reformee de France has maintained, each with its own bishop: Algiers, Constantine, Oran, about 150 members, a full-time pastor, and its own church build­ and Lagouat. A remarkably large number of priests and sisters re­ ing. Smaller groups of French Protestants in Bizerte, Sfax, and else­ mained in the country after the exodus of other Europeans. Of the where in the country meet informally, if at all, and under lay lead­ 250 French priests, thirty-seven including Leon-Etienne Cardinal ership. Duval, archbishop of Algiers, became Algerian citizens. Prior to The thirty-five people who belong to an Italian Pentecostal 1963 the cardinal had openly challenged the resistance of the church in Tunis are Tunisian citizens of Italian origin. Their num­ French settlers to Algerian independence, and he is favorably re­ ber has declined from over a hundred only a few years ago when garded by the present government. Most of the 1000 sisters (thirty they maintained two buildings in that city for worship and other of whom have also taken Algerian citizenship since independence) activities. now serve in government schools, hospitals, and dispensaries. Less than 100 conservative-evangelical Protestants, mainly ex­ A major seminary once located in Algiers has been moved to patriates but including a few Tunisians, meet informally in private Rome. In its place is a Diocesan Center with a modern language residences throughout the country. Although such groups cannot laboratory for teaching Arabic to clergy and laity alike. The center be described as organized churches, they provide about the only also has a department of theological studies where both Christians fellowship in which Tunisian Protestants feel at home and partici­ and Muslims attend conferences on religion, language, and culture, pate freely. one of the relatively few places in the world where Christian­ The Ecumenical Service Project in Tunisia (ESPRIT) is funded Muslim dialogue is conducted on a regular basis. by the World Council of Churches Commission on Inter-Church Caritas, the international Catholic welfare association, spon­ Aid, Refugee and World Service (CICARWS). With headquarters sors workers throughout the country (some twenty-five of them in in Tunis, ESPRIT puts it resources at the disposal of the Tunisian 1972) in four different types of projects: agriculture in the under­ government in agriculture, social work, and urban planning. The developed south, medical services (including the use of paramedi­ European staff throughout the country (numbering about twenty cal personnel), rehabilitation and training of prisoners, and centers for handicapped children. Caritas maintains its European employ­ Central Committee, Lutheran World Service, the United Method­ ees at the salary level of Algerians in comparable work. ist Board of Global Ministries, International YMCA and YWCA, Relationships between Roman Catholics and some of the and other agencies. The primary objective of CCSA now is to re­ Protestant and Anglican congregations are especially cordial in Al­ cruit skilled personnel from outside Algeria for projects that the geria: Algerian government regards as most crucial to the development of the country. Most of the people working under CCSA sponsorship In the center of Algiers, the Protestant and Catholic parishes have (eighty in 1972) are on short-term contracts, and all but the four or for three or four years united their Bible study groups and scouting five who constitute the office staff are salaried by the government movements. Pulpit exchanges are the rule rather than the exception. itself. Some serve in agriculture or secondary and higher education; Joint services are held several times a year, at Christmas, Easter and others are medical doctors, technicians, architects, nutrition ex­ during the week of prayer for Christian unity. The Protestants and perts, and so forth. This organization also responds to the govern­ Catholics work out together the program of catechism and confir­ ment's requests for equipment to be used for a variety of purposes, mation classes. In some cases, Protestant children participate in Catholic confirmation classes, and in others the reverse is true.... ranging from underprivileged-youth centers in the cities to irriga­ The Lenten sacrificial giving program is jointly conceived, promoted tion projects in the drought-stricken south. and administered by Protestants and Catholics, all funds being Eastern and Oriental (non-Chalcedonian) Orthodox. In Algiers a pooled and distributed among jointly selected service projects. group of about thirty Greek Orthodox (Alexandria Patriarchate) is In Thenia, thirty miles to the east of Algiers, pastoral care is an led by a layman who is professor at a local univeristy. The group entirely ecumenical project, involving the cooperation of the Catho­ has neither church building nor priest. lic priests and Protestant pastors in ministry to the French- and En­ A Russian Orthodox church building in the same city dates to glish-speaking communities. the 1920s when a substantial number of White Russian refugees In Tizi-Ouzou, bi-weekly Protestant services are held in the came into Algeria. That building was used until the late 1960s by Catholic Chapel, and joint services are held once every two months. the handful of members still in the neighborhood, but it has since Since there is no pastor in residence, day-to-day pastoral care of Protestants is in the hands of the Catholic community, and the pas­ been closed. An estimated 6000 Russians are currently living in Al­ tor is kept informed." geria, but no provision seems yet to have been made by the Mos­ cow Patriarchate for the pastoral care of any among them who are church members. Protestant and Anglican. The remaining French population includes The total Egyptian community in Algeria is said to be be­ about 850 members of the Eglise Reformee de France. Most of tween 5000 and 6000. It is reasonable to assume that at least 1000 them (200 families) are in Algiers, and smaller groups meet in of them are Coptic Orthodox. No priest of that church has yet Oran, Mestaganem, and Constantine. Not content to minister been assigned to the country, but there are occasional visits from solely to its own rather transient community, this church effected the Coptic bishop of North Africa. A small number of Orthodox a merger in 1972 with a small group of Mennonites and some 300 Christians-perhaps 350 in all-are from other parts of the Arab Algerian Methodists. The latter are the fruit of an American Meth­ world. These belong to Greek, Syrian, and Armenian churches in odist mission that has served in Algeria for more than eighty years. the countries of their origin. In Algeria they are too diverse and They are scattered throughout the country, a major segment of scattered to organize local congregations of their own. them in Oran, but they have not been able to establish exclusively Algerian congregations under their own leadership. The new asso­ ciation, called Eglise Protestante en Algerie, is composed of people Morocco from a variety of national and denominational backgrounds. It will strengthen the relationship of the constituent bodies to a wider Morocco, a land area of 172,414 square miles, has a total popula­ Protestant fellowship, but the problem of real indigenization tion of slightly over 17 million. The major urban centers are Casa­ seems no closer to solution. blanca (more than 1 million), Rabat (550,000), and Tangier Around 250 other Algerian Protestants reflect the nondenomi­ (250,000). There are about 125,000 foreign residents, primarily national, conservative-evangelical character of the North Africa French and Spanish with smaller communities of British, Scandi­ Mission, Plymouth Brethren, and other agencies, some of which navians, Americans, and others. Some 30,000 Jews, many of them have been represented in the country for nearly a century. An esti­ Berbers, still live in the country but are steadily emigrating. Only mated 250 members of the Coptic Evangelical Church are among two decades ago they numbered 200,000. Many have gone to Israel the Egyptian residents of Algeria, and there are said to be about by way of France. 100 Protestants from various churches in other Arab countries. Primary, secondary, and higher education are all free except One of the most urgent needs for these small and scattered com­ for the cost of books, but there are no educational facilities what­ munities is for qualified Arab pastors to coordinate their worship ever for at least half the children between seven and fourteen and other activities. years of age. The universities in Rabat and Casablanca are of the The Anglican congregation in Algiers is the westernmost part European type; those in Fez, the Muslim intellectual center, and in of the now completely restructured Archdiocese of [ersualem. It Meknes are more traditional. has an estimated total constituency of 300, all expatriates. English­ Islam in Morocco can be described as conservative but speaking non-Anglicans of several nationalities participate as nondefensive. The general mindset is much less rigid than in members and even in conducting the Sunday services in the ab­ Libya, for example, but more conservative than in Tunisia. The lo­ sence of any full-time Anglican clergy. cal Christian leaders with whom we talked tend to regard dialogue The Bible Society has a shop in downtown Algiers, its re­ with Muslims in most parts of the country as unfeasible because, gional office being in Nairobi, Kenya. This organization provides they say, Moroccan Muslims are not sophisticated enough about Scriptures in various languages for all churches and has been a their own beliefs to engage in meaningful discussions. useful interdenominational Protestant contribution to Christian Roman Catholic. Between 100,000 and 120,000 Catholics, al­ life in Algeria for many decades. most all expatriates, belong to the two archdioceses in Morocco: The Christian Committee for Service in Algeria (CCSA) began Rabat and Tangier. The Tangier Archdiocese is relatively small and as a program of emergency relief in 1962. It is sponsored by the entirely Spanish. The present writer did not enter it in the course World Council of Churches with support from the Mennonite of his journeys, and learned only that it supports a few church­

86 Occasional Bulletin related schools and a limited amount of medical work. The follow­ whom receive only the cost of travel from their respective coun­ big comments relate therefore to the Archdiocese of Rabat alone. tries along with enough for daily maintenance and a small amount Several church buildings have been voluntarily closed in of pocket money, serve in various parts of the country. They are recent years because of the declining European population. How­ involved in such projects as rehabilitation centers for delinquent ever, only the cathedral in Casablanca seems to have been appro­ youth, vocational training for orphans, and occupational therapy priated by the government (for use as a national museum), and and vocational training for lepers. The objectives of Eirene have that presumably because the church had never had clear title to obvious kinship to those of the organizations in Algeria and Tuni­ the land on which it was built. Sixty-two parish churches and sia described above (CCSA and ESPRIT). The three directors do worship centers are still used in and around Rabat (II), Casablanca indeed meet together on occasion, but there can be little real inter­ (18),Kenitra (6), Marrakesh (6), Fez (4), Meknes (9), Oujda (6), and change of programs across the international boundaries in North Agadir (2). Mass is celebrated in French, except for one parish in Africa. Rabat and another in Casablanca attended largely by American Eastern Orthodox. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexan­ families related to USAID, USIS, schools, and business firms, dria has one priest in Morocco. About half the constituency of 600 where English is needed. are in Casablanca where they have a church building. The rest are In 1972 the Archdiocese of Rabat had a total of 126 priests, in­ in Fez, Marrakesh, and Meknes. In addition to his pastoral work in cluding those who belong to some ten different religious orders, all four centers, the priest conducts Greek-language classes in Ca­ and twenty-five lay brothers. An unspecified number of sisters, sablanca. belonging to twenty-one religious orders, help to staff kindergar­ tens, schools, hospitals, and dispensaries of both church and gov­ ernment. Thirteen primary, secondary, and specialized schools are re­ "Westward of Egypt, the Christian church lated to the church, but the only religious instruction permitted is Islamic for Muslim pupils. A major seminary was in Rabat until in North Africa has never been a church of the 1960s, but it is now closed and the buildings are used by the North Africa. " government's Department of Education. The Centre d'lnstruction et d'Education Africain (CIDERA) is a Jesuit institution for some 140 boys, located near Temara and about 14 kilometers from Ra­ bat. Training is given in masonry, carpentry, mechanics, and ani­ A congregation of about eighty White Russians maintain their mal husbandry. In the beginning the student body was primarily own small but attractive church building in Casablanca. A visiting French, but in recent years Arabic-speaking Moroccans have be­ priest comes from the community of Russian exiles in France to come a sizable majority. conduct the liturgy on major feast days only. In Rabat, the captial For political reasons, the Berber regions of the country are city, another Russian group of comparable size but related to the closed to Catholic institutions. A Benedictine monastery formerly Moscow Patriarchate has a resident priest. in the Berber mountain area refused to move to the coastal area on government demand, and relocated instead in France. Summary Protestant and Anglican. The French Reformed Church in Mo­ rocco (Eglise Protestante au Maroc) has a total of three ordained Westward of Egypt, the Christian church in North Africa has ministers and about 3000 members. Organized congregations are in never been a church of North Africa. The early church there did Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakesh, Meknes-Fez, and Tangier, and not successfully withstand the Islamic conquest because it was al­ small groups meet informally in Gharb, Oujda, Safi, and Agadir. ready in decline before the seventh century and because it had not Most if not all the earlier Moroccan converts to French Protestant­ become either indigenous or missionary. Centuries later, the ism have moved to France or Spain, and this church is now com­ churches that flourished under French, Italian, and Spanish colo­ posed entirely of Europeans. Their monthly paper, Vie Nouvelle, is nial power failed to achieve any more indigenous character or mis­ widely distributed among French-speaking Protestants throughout sionary inclination than had their predecessors. Hence, with the North Africa and the Middle East. rise of political independence and the expulsion of many Europe­ The Anglican church in Casablanca belongs to the Diocese of ans from the region in the 196Os, the remaining churches were Gibralter. Its small congregation of about 150 members, mainly once again much reduced in size and had few roots in the native British and Americans, is served by ordained members of the Bible soil. The last fifeen years have made no appreciable difference in Churchmen's Missionary Society (BCMS). that situation. The combined Christian community in each of the Moroccan Protestants living in the country number 200 at four countries remains a fraction of 1 percent of the total popula­ most, and perhaps no more than 150. They have no church organi­ tion, and the churches are more than ever circumscribed in their zation as such, and no ordained clergy from their own number, but activities. they maintain a close fellowship with several independent mis­ In the opinion of this writer, the hope of a truly indigenous sionaries and with people related to conservative-evangelical mis­ Christian movement in Libya and Algeria now depends to a great sion agencies. Some such agencies have served in the area for extent upon the ability of Egyptian Christians who live there, es­ many years: the North Africa Mission (since the 1890s), the Bible pecially those of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to initiate it. Few Churchmen's Missionary Society, the Gospel Missionary Union, Egyptians are in Morocco at present because of political tensions Action Biblique de Ceneve, and the Brethren Mission (British). dating from 1960-61, when Egypt sided with Algeria against Mo­ Eirene, an international organization, was founded by the tra­ rocco. More recent tensions have drastically reduced the Egyptian ditional "Peace Churches" in America-Mennonite, Brethren, and population in Libya as well. The restrictions in both countries will Quaker-with assistance from the Fellowship of Reconciliation surely be relaxed in time, however, and substantial Egyptian com­ (FOR). Eirene began work in Morocco in 1958, primarily to assist munities are likely to be found throughout North Africa for some Algerian refugees. Its budget is currently provided by contribu­ time to come because of the need for the technical skills they can tions from the World Council of Churches as well as from the offer. As I have already indicated, the percentage of Christians founding churches. The staff (total of thirty-five in 1972), most of among Egyptian expatriates is proportionately higher than in the

A_":l .. nan population of Egypt itself. They have not yet made a deep impact with a command of Arabic able to visit these inquirers. The same di­ upon religious life anywhere in the Maghrib, but I believe that the lemma exists concerning those studying Bible correspondence potential is there: they share the language and culture of the area; courses. So the missions want to hire the more mature believers to theirs is a vitality the Greek Orthodox of that region no longer continue these more successful ministries. Yet such a step tends to possess; and no legacy of colonialism colors their relationship to reduce the sparse leadership among the infant groups and remove the people of the region. those from the country who might be able to visit the inquirers gen­ 6 Other churches in the area seem less well equipped for the erated by the broadcasts and correspondence courses! task. Roman Catholics, although they are the vast majority of all Christians presently in North Africa, retain a distinctively Euro­ The one Protestant effort to escape isolation, that of the small Al­ pean orientation. That is the case even in Algeria, despite the Al­ gerian Methodist Church in its merger wth French Reformed and gerian citizenship of Cardinal Duval and some others of the clergy, Mennonites, does indeed result in wider relationships for the three because French remains the ecclesiastical language and the leader­ parties to that agreement, but it in no way furthers the process of ship is predominantly French. indigenization. Protestants in North Africa, except for the foreign and largely Christians throughout North Africa all live under Muslim transient communities among them, are individualistic, scattered, governments, although relationships with those governments dif­ and still too dependent upon the leadership of their foreign asso­ fer from one country to another. Evangelization, in the traditional ciates. They have no organized churches with North African lead­ sense of that word, is prohibited everywhere in the region. In Al­ ership and, for the most part, they lack a strong sense of belonging geria, Tunisia, and Morocco, however, church-related social to anything larger than the isolated groups in which they find their projects are possible in association with the governments them­ fellowship. To combine such groups into organized churches, an selves, for example, CCSA, Eirene, and ESPRIT. Yet neither those admittedly difficult undertaking in any case, has not been seri­ organizations northe more informal ecumenical associations found ously promoted by the nondenominational mission agencies in­ especially in Algeria and Morocco enjoy any support from the volved in the region. As one of their representatives in Morocco nondenominational missionaries, and the unfortunate dichotomy said to this writer: "Our stated objectives are (1) evangelism, (2) between /Ievangelism" and /Isocial action" is more evident in leadership training, and (3) the establishment of churches, but our North Africa than in most other parts of the Arab world. missionaries tend to lose interest in the second and third of those On a religious level, the only structured attempts at Christian­ objectives." Most of the potential indigenous leaders dare not risk Muslim dialogue are Roman Catholic: IBLA of the White Fathers taking the responsibility for organizing groups that would not in Tunis, and the Diocesan Center in Algiers. The interpersonal have the approval of the governments. Gregory M. Livingston of contacts made possible by those institutions are useful and com­ the North Africa Mission notes a further complication: "The few mendable, and the absence of either Orthodox or Protestant in­ North Africans who desire a full-time ministry have been re­ volvement is to be regretted. cruited by different missions almost competitively! In Morocco it Christian penetration of North African society as a whole re­ has become the mentality 'to serve the Lord full time, one must mains minimal. It is even less advanced today than in early centur­ work outside his country with one of the foreign missions.i ?" Liv­ ies, and the rise of modem Arab nationalism in these overwhelm­ ingston continues: ingly Muslim countries has compounded the problem. It seems clear that the Christian churches cannot expect to have wider in­ Yet even with the lack of witness initiative, there are many more in­ fluence without participating more heartily in the process of quiries than people available to answer questions! Radio broadcasts Arabicization now demanded by governments in all four countries. of the North Africa Mission and Gospel Missionary Union (and to Unless and until that happens, Christians in Libya and the Ma­ some extent short wave broadcasts from ELWA in Liberia) have ghrib will remain small, marginalized, and essentially foreign com­ ferreted out hundreds of serious inquirers. But there are few persons munities.

Notes

1. J. Mesnage, Le Christianisme en Afrique, vol. 2 (Algiers: Adolphe [ourdon, 4. Hugh G. Johnson, "Starting Over in Algeria," New World Outlook, June 1914), p. 286. 1979, pp. 32-33. 2. C. P. Groves The Planting of Christianity in Africa, vol. 1 (London: 5. Gregory M. Livingston, "The Comparative Status of Christianity and Is­ Lutterworth Press, 1948)/p. 88. See also W. H. C. Frend, "Christianity in lam in North Africa," in The Gospel and Islam: A 1978 Compendium, ed. the Middle East: A Survey Down to 1800,11 in A. J.Arberry, ed., Religion Don M. McCurry (Monrovia, Calif.: Missions Advanced Research and in the Middle East, vol. 1 (London: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969), pp. Communication Center, 1979), p. 260. 279-84. 6. Ibid., p. 261. 3. Groves, op, cit.,p. 82.

88 Occasional Bulletin