[syndicate] Interfaith holiday celebrations in Kosova (RFE)

[Andrej Tisma]

Very touching. I'm just interested when will Albanians rebuild over 100
Christian churches, some from the 13th century, which they have blown up, or
desecrated since 1999, under the NATO "control"?

>Our religion teaches us not to hate other religions,
> but we go to celebrate together because Catholics are Albanians just
> like us,"

Albanians? And what with other nations living there? Or is Kosovo now really
cleansened, but by Albanians?

Andrej

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo at reporters.net>
To: "ed Agro" <edagro at verizon.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 6:09 AM
Subject: [syndicate] Interfaith holiday celebrations in Kosova (RFE)


> ------- Forwarded message follows -------
> http://www.rferl.org/balkan-report/
>
> Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Balkan Report
> 19 December 2003, Volume 7, Number 41
>
> YOUNG KOSOVA MUSLIMS JOIN IN CHRISTMAS MASS. Dom Nosh Gjolaj, a
> priest
> at St. Ndou Roman Catholic Church in the Kosovar capital, Prishtina,
> expects overflow crowds this Christmas for the traditional midnight
> Mass celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
>
> This may not seem like anything unusual, but what is remarkable is
> that about 10,000 members of Father Gjolaj's midnight congregation
> will be young Kosovar Albanian Muslims. Thousands more are expected
> at
> Catholic churches in other towns and cities across Kosova.
>
> What's more, the custom is welcomed by the Catholic clergy and
> generally smiled upon by Muslim religious leaders.
>
> Father Gjolaj says he does not know how or precisely when the custom
> of interfaith visitation began in Kosova. He said he would like to
> see
> the phenomenon studied by social scientists. "When it started, I
> don't
> know, [at least] since I've been here for the past 11 years," he
> said.
> "But it is obvious that massive participation began before the 1999
> war. I think we're talking about approximately 10,000 people, most of
> them standing inside the church's front yard, since there was not
> enough place for all of them inside."
>
> More than 90 percent of Kosova's 2 million people are Muslim. Kosova
> has been under UN administration since 1999, when a NATO air war
> ended
> a Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at Albanians in the
> province.
>
> The Kosovar Muslim interest in Christmas signals neither an
> abandonment of Islam nor the adoption of Christian belief. Blerta
> Krasniqi plans to attend Christmas Mass at Father Gjolaj's church
> this
> year. She's a Muslim who lives in Prishtina. "It is a fact that I
> will
> participate because I have friends who are Catholics. It doesn't have
> to mean that since I'm a Muslim I won't go. I go because of my
> friends
> and that's it. Our religion teaches us not to hate other religions,
> but we go to celebrate together because Catholics are Albanians just
> like us," Gjolaj said.
>
> Albanians in both Kosova and in Albania proper have long expressed
> pride in their religious tolerance, a tolerance that survived more
> than 50 years of communist rule, when the official religion was
> atheism. And that flourishes even now when Islamic terrorism and the
> Western war on terrorism have given new currency to fears of a "clash
> of civilizations."
>
> In any event, Islam came to the Balkans from the Ottoman Empire and
> not the Middle East. Balkan Islam is a relatively flexible,
> borderland
> faith, not generally known for dogmatism. Many Muslim Kosovar
> Albanians are aware, moreover, that their own ancestors probably were
> Roman Catholics before the Turks came to the Balkans.
>
> The president of the Islamic Union in Kosova, Naim Ternava, says he
> regards the Christmas custom as benign, an honoring of both faiths by
> youthful churchgoers. "Their participation at Catholic churches
> speaks
> of tolerance fed by Islam toward other religions. Religiously, we are
> allowed to be present inside the churches, not to do Christian
> ceremonies, but only to be present, to respect other religions.
> Therefore, the participation of Muslims on Christmas Eve gives a
> strong message that Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, respect,
> and honor towards other religions," Ternava said.
>
> Other signs that ethnic Albanian Muslims are comfortable with the
> Catholics in their midst stem from both recent and more ancient
> history. Among the two most important historical personalities to
> Albanians are the 15th-century national hero Gjergj
> Kastrioti-Skenderbeu, a Catholic who first embraced Islam and then
> returned to his original faith and fought for liberation from the
> Muslim Ottoman Empire, and the Catholic nun Mother Theresa, the
> world-famous ethnic Albanian who was beatified at the Vatican earlier
> this year.
>
> Kosovar Albanians also remember that it was the United States and
> NATO
> -- and not other Muslim states -- who came to their rescue in the
> 1999
> war over Kosova.
>
> Kosovar President Ibrahim Rugova, who keeps a portrait of Pope John
> Paul II on his office wall, has won both Muslim and Catholic support
> for a proposal to build a Roman Catholic cathedral in central
> Prishtina. At present, most religious buildings there are mosques,
> along with some older Serbian Orthodox churches and the abandoned
> shell of a Serbian Orthodox cathedral begun during the rule of
> Milosevic.
>
> The warmth shown by Muslims toward Roman Catholics is reciprocated. A
> young Albanian Catholic spoke to our correspondent in Prishtina: "I
> am
> Nyrton Dedaj, a Catholic from Peja. Not only now, but even before the
> war, a large number of Muslims took part during the Mass. After the
> war, the participation has grown, and this is a very nice custom. We
> celebrate together, contributing to each other. After all, we're one
> nation. We don't look at our religious differences. We respect them,
> be they Catholic or Muslim. It is tolerance."
>
> Father Gjolaj says he thinks Muslims in Kosova began attending
> Catholic Christmas as a kind of entertainment, a social happening
> that
> grew into a powerful statement of brotherhood and unity. "I think
> that
> at some point [ethnic] Albanian youth in Kosova didn't have any kind
> of entertainment, and they didn't spend much time together. So
> through
> Christmas they got together at the church's front yard. In this way,
> a
> custom was achieved. Another element is also important -- the fact
> that this nation lives in and is a part of Europe. Even more, it
> shows
> that Ilyrians, Albanians, are the seedbed of European culture. This
> is
> where European civilization and culture got started," Gjolaj said.
>
> Islamic Union President Ternava concurs: "I wouldn't say that is only
> a custom, but then again, it's something that came out of our past,
> although not 100 percent. It is also something that came out of our
> religious lessons, as well, having in mind that Christian teaching
> also proclaims inter-religious tolerance. It depends on church or
> mosque leaders -- how much do they respect the principles of the
> Bible
> or the Koran?"
>
> Whatever the motive -- entertainment, social custom, or religious
> statement -- the interfaith visitation appears to have taken
> tenacious
> hold in Kosova. It has grown year by year and shows no sign of
> abatement. (Don Hill and Melazim Koci, with contributions by RFE/RL's
> Prishtina bureau and Patrick Moore)
> Ivo Skoric
> 1773 Lexington Ave
> New York NY 10029
> 212.369.9197
> ivo at balkansnet.org
> http://balkansnet.org
>
>


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