In spite of widespread Muslim violence and killings carried out earlier this year in his native Nigeria in response to the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, Father Anyanike went ahead with the launch of his Ad Gentes Missionary Society.

And that society, formed in 2003 to serve and witness to Muslims, already is making inroads. The mission has been warmly welcomed by the mostly Muslim community near the Shirroro River where Ad Gentes will be based. The tribal chief there gave 25 acres on which Ad Gentes will build a formation house.

Seven thousand miles away, in the Archdiocese of Omaha, Neb., where Father Anyanike has served as a visiting priest, people have donated clothing, furniture, computers and money to the mission. Father Anyanike, 35, is hoping for gifts of self, too, through two-year missions with the Ad Gentes Volunteer Corps. The priest returned recently to Nebraska from Rome, where he spoke with Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze about Ad Gentes. Register correspondent Anthony Flott caught up with him in Papillion, Neb.

When did you get the idea to form Ad Gentes?

When I was in the seminary. I followed very closely the mission call of the Holy Father, John Paul II, and I was very much into the 1994 Synod of African Bishops. The other side of it also would be the fact that we are second-generation Christians in Africa for the most part, especially in Nigeria. Ad Gentes more or less is people who are grateful for their faith and for the great work done by the missionaries that came from Europe. Now we’re responding. We’re the fruit of their labor.

What Christian or Catholic presence do you recall growing up in Nigeria?

I grew up in the eastern part of Nigeria and the early missionaries that came to my part arrived around 1885, the Holy Ghost Fathers ... one of the fastest-growing missions the Church ever recorded in Africa.

Why do you think that is?

They targeted young people and children, and were able to reach their parents. Their approach to schools helped a lot. Many of the missionaries have provided tremendous essential services, like good schools or health institutions and other infrastructures. Especially in the areas where the government has failed, missionaries have seemed to be lifesavers in sustaining and carrying the people, and people will respond to that.

Describe the mission of Ad Gentes.

Ad Gentes is a missionary community that is dedicated to sharing the faith with other people, especially those who do not know Christ, and more especially in Islamic areas. We’ve decided to follow three steps. One, follow the same-old tried system of education.

By this, we focus on young women and school dropouts. No. 2 is to be present, to live in the community that is an intermix of Christians and Muslims. I believe that ... when you have religious men and women dressed in their religious garb and being present in the community and doing simple work, it speaks eloquently.

No. 3 would be to facilitate a community dialogue, sharing views and ideas and creating an oasis of peace, especially in the troubled areas.

Why pick this particular area in the Diocese of Minna?

That diocese needs primarily evangelization to the grassroots. It’s a large area ... predominantly Muslim. It’s an area that for the most part is very underdeveloped. Poor. And in these areas of great poverty and little education, it’s easy to promote religious fanaticism, especially the way the Muslims have done in recent times.

There’s a huge risk involved, I’m aware of that. Sometimes I get ... scared. But it has to be done. Christ must be made known in those areas.

You’ve mentioned that Muslims have a deep respect for consecrated women.

Their emphasis and respect for women varies from the Western concept. Muslims do have that dignity for women and respect them, but at the same time they have limited their roles of what they can be, what they can achieve, where they can go.

Muslims have respect for nuns, I think, partly because nuns who are dressed as nuns carry the image of consecration, and that appeals to Muslims. They see them as holy women, and that they respect. Just like they respect their women and have them covered up and dressed the way they dress. They compare that image as a woman set apart only to be exposed to their husband to a nun consecrated only exposed to God.

That’s one reason why I began with a women’s congregation in order to make inroads. They would be more accommodating to a religious nun then they would be of priests.

A Muslim chief gave you 25 acres? How can that be?

It was possible because this community has been marginalized for so long by the government. Having us is like a welcome gift. If that’s what it would take to develop the community, they are open to that. Also, one of the techniques we are using with the building structures is to involve the locals so they can feel a sense of ownership to what’s happening in their community. Our whole Ad Gentes ethos is toward community development, or the development of the people.

Our mission is pretty much in a very, very remote area. People still live in mud houses and have no electricity.

Young kids don’t go to school. Young women marry at the age of 12, 13, 14, and men are mostly farmers.

Did that give you pause to reconsider this area?

It scared me. I was very scared when we went on the ground because of ... the challenges that we have. I had a series of talks with the local bishop and at the same time we prayed.

I went into four days of intense prayer, and at the end of my four days of prayer in Minna I came to the conclusion that this is a project we have to take on.

Before your visit had any of the violence taken place in Nigeria?

No violence. Not at all. Actually, we thought that those outcries were over. We were very surprised when we got to Nigeria and the violence erupted. It started in Maiduguri in the northeast part of Nigeria.

The Muslim youth began demonstrating ... by inciting violence, burning cars and killing Christians. They burned churches, both Catholic and non-Catholic churches. They killed a priest, Father Michael Gajere, while he was celebrating Mass, and some of his parishioners. They destroyed the bishop’s house, the bishop of Maiduguri (Bishop Matthew Ndagoso).

Some Christians ran to the military barracks for safety. From there it spread to other parts of the country. There were more killings elsewhere.

Were you already in Nigeria when it broke out?

I was in Abuja when it broke out, and quickly the government sent policemen to safeguard the city. It continued to northern parts, then towards Minna.

The neighboring diocese is called Kontagora. The bishop’s house was also destroyed. I went to see the bishop, I went to that place and saw it was destroyed. Immediately we drove into Minna.

To visit Bishop Martin?

Bishop Martin Uzoukwu. When I went into the bishop’s house, nobody was there. It was about 6 o’clock in the evening, which is very unusual: The bishop’s house usually has people in and out.

We waited there about 45 minutes and I realized that it was getting dark. From the bishop’s window you could see the light. So I went upstairs and checked on him. He was surprised to see us, to see me, and he was wondering, “Don’t you know what’s going on?” I was like “What?” He said, “About the Muslims, the riots.” The Muslims had threatened to destroy and kill Christians, so in response to that, the majority of Christians went to the military barracks . . . for safety. Some security officials were sent to the bishop to evacuate, but Bishop Martin refused to go. He said he cannot leave his cathedral. He’d rather die with his people in the cathedral, because there were some who stayed in the cathedral.

And what did you say to the bishop?

I said to him, “Well, why don’t you want to go to the military barracks?” because where he lives was all Muslims. He said he’s not going anywhere. He was staying. I said, “Well, good for you; I’m not staying. I will go to the military barracks.” I kind of felt ... a little bit ... well, I can’t leave him here, either. So I stayed. It was a very fearful night, but we made it through. Nothing happened.

They did not come. I prayed. Slept. But pretty much awake. It was like being in a vigil all night to see what the day would bring.

You also had a precarious encounter in the city of  Buari.

I drove to a parish called Buari. My friend was made pastor there. So I went to see him, without knowing that we were driving though a city that was under intense religious demonstrations or rioting. That’s where we narrowly missed the ambush of the Muslims.

We were protected, somehow. They were just doing destructions, burning houses on the road ... chanting ... and at the same time the police were brought in.

We drove to the church, there was nobody; the church had been evacuated. So we were a ripe target.

They would have come there to destroy the church. That’s where they would have caught us.

The deputy police officer of the area came and notified me. I was scared. There’s one entrance to that city and one entrance out, so you can’t just turn back. So we waited there until the policeman came, and then we left. They helped us out.

By then, the police were taking charge of the roads.

Now you’re back in safe Papillion.

It makes you cherish what you have here. It’s a different worldview. Difference in areas, difference in sentiments. A different way of articulating thoughts and religious principles. Sometimes it’s difficult to comprehend. Why should one resort to violence to express their view? At some point my thoughts went into anger. You know, why do you have to kill people based on what happened in Denmark? They didn’t even know why they were doing these religious riots.

In a way, it reveals also the political and religious nature of Nigeria. It seems like we’re sitting on a time bomb waiting to explode.

Can Ad Gentes make a difference?

I think we can, but you know, we’re just beginning. There has to be a way we can sit down and say, “Look, there are things we have in common. Those things we don’t have in common, we’ll find a way to live with them.”

There will always be ... differences in Nigeria. There will always be ... religious pluralism.

But we have to find a way to, as Bishop Fulton Sheen always said, be a unity of religious people, not unity of religion.

Anthony Flott writes from Papillion, Nebraska.

Information

To contact Ad Gentes Missionary Society, e-mail [email protected]