At a time when concern is growing about the rise of Islam, which is threatening to become the primary religion in historically Catholic countries such as France, a phenomenon of fundamental importance cannot be ignored: the exponential growth in conversions of Muslims to Christianity.READ FULL CONTENT>>>>>>
Marie-Anne and Nicolas are two such converts from Islam who were baptized this year on Easter. Like many other catechumens who have apostatized from their Muslim faith, their journey is as challenging as it is edifying to others.
It was while accompanying her dying husband from Algeria to a hospital in Belgium in 2015 that Marie-Anne (her baptismal name; her civil name will remain anonymous for security reasons) was overwhelmed by the humanity and compassion shown to her by a Catholic nurse — to the point of wanting to “know more” about the figure of Jesus, as she explained in an interview with the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner.
This thirst for Christ, which became unquenchable over the years, aroused the suspicions of her family back in Algeria. Once widowed and promised to a man who would “reeducate” her in the Muslim faith, she abandoned a prestigious position and her material comforts to flee to France with her two children, where she completed her catechumenate.
It was this same attraction to Christianity’s distinct relationship to charity and the undifferentiated love of neighbor that led Nicolas, a Frenchman who converted to Islam in 2008 at the age of 26 and then immigrated to Indonesia, to embrace the Catholic faith and return to his homeland. His conversion, which began to blossom in 2017 — and culminated in a spiritual experience at the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris, praying there beside a statue of St. Thérèse of Lisieux — resulted in a divorce from his Muslim wife and an estrangement from his two children, who remained in Indonesia.
He said that he is far from an isolated case in Indonesia, where he has met many former Muslims who have converted to Christianity without being able to formalize their new religion, as apostasy is prohibited in Islam.
“I have been able to observe that the civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS in particular have provoked a wave of apostasy, often in favor of Christianity,” he told the Register.
This ties in with the major study by missionary David Garrison, featured in his 2014 book “A Wind in the House of Islam.” He estimates that between 2 million and 7 million Muslims have converted to Christianity worldwide over the past two decades, calling this movement “the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in history.”
Welcoming the new converts
In the same way as local Churches in Europe are beginning to recognize the need to respond appropriately to young people’s return to Catholicism through traditionalist and charismatic communities, they are also beginning to consider how to welcome the numerous conversions from Islam.
The Archdiocese of Paris in 2020 set up a pastoral service, Ananie, designed to direct new converts from Islam to parishes suited to their needs and to train priests and the faithful to welcome them as best they can.
Father Ramzi Saadé, who leads the Ananie service in Paris, estimates that 10% to 20% of those who will be baptized at Easter in the capital’s archdiocese are converts from Islam. He points out that while the absence of official figures prevents a precise assessment, it is definitely an exponential phenomenon that he is witnessing on the ground.
“Some 50 people who have passed through Ananie will be baptized between this year and next year in the Paris Archdiocese, but I’ve heard of many other catechumens from Islam with whom I’m not in contact,” he told the Register.
This upsurge in baptisms of converts from Islam is part of a general trend of a sharp rise in baptisms of young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 in France, with an increase of the number of new catechumens for 2024 exceeding 30%, while it was 28% in 2023.
Amid the turmoil of their unforeseen conversion, Marie-Anne and Nicolas also faced the challenge of integrating into their new Catholic communities.
The Ananie network played a crucial role in this process, offering these new converts a valuable anchor thanks to the weekly Wednesday Mass followed by a time of study and friendly dialogue between former Muslims.
“I had felt a kind of aloofness in my new parish because of my past,” Nicolas remembered. “Although I’m French by birth, it took a long time for me to feel integrated; I felt very isolated, and meeting the Ananie network did me a lot of good.”.READ FULL CONTENT>>>>>>
