Monsignor Luigi Padovese
Many of you have asked me about my friend Monsignor Luigi Padovese, the Catholic bishop of Anatolia and President of the Catholic Conference of Bishops in Turkey, who was killed on June 3, 2010 in Iskenderun, Turkey outside his residence. He was stabbed by his driver.
This sad and tragic event has taken the life of an important leader in the church and especially Turkey. Last year Monsignor came to hear me preach after Mass at his church and was very supportive and encouraging. On another occasion in 2005, he accompanied our team on an evangelistic home group visit. But it was last year's event that prompted the Life in the Spirit seminar we just completed 3 parishes and their priests from his diocese. He lent his support to our idea of a pilgrimage/retreat to Cappadocia and had expressed an interest in coming along. Since the Pope was to be in Cypress in June he wasn't able to commit.
Finding church leaders willing to support our work in a country like Turkey isn't easy. We've lost a very good man. Please pray for his soul to quickly see the Light of Christ. Also, please pray for his chief assistant Sr. Leonora. She's from Massachusetts (like me) and has been working with the Monsignor for many years. Sister and I have become good friends and I'm not shy to say that she loved the Monsignor like a mother. She never missed an opportunity to tell everyone what a fine and hard working man he was.
As for the man who killed him, Murat Altun had been Monsignor's driver for 4 1/2 years. His brother-in-law also worked at the church as did his father (now retired). The Monsignor had been trying to help him for a while. I spoke to one of my priest friends in the area two days before the murder mentioned to me that Murat was having serious issues and to please pray for him.
Contrary to at least two news stories, Altun was not a convert. I seem to recall having prayed with him and/or other family members on a recent visit, but none are Christian.
The murder was very likely religiously inspired. Again, because many papers reported early on that both religious and political motivations were not in question because of the drivers apparent unbalanced mental state, confirmed by Sister Leonora, I initially concurred. But more recent articles and conversations with a friends in Turkey have caused me to reconsider. The ritualistic way the Monsignor was mutilated and Altun's shouts of "Allah Akbar" point clearly to a religious motive rather than "depression." A friend who is very close to the situation told me that Altun had been medically evaluated recently and received no such diagnosis.
Some of you have sent me articles stating that the government had chosen the driver. This is false. Monsignor picked Altun to be his driver 4½ years ago, not long after arriving in Turkey. Monsignor allowed Altun to accompany him everywhere, including two trips to Italy. Many have told me that M. Luigi really loved him as a son and trusted him.
The question of whether this was an independent act of one individual probably won't ever be known with certainty. I'm not the type of person who tends to suspect conspiracies, but I don't know and don't care to speculate.
What is clear is that Monsignor Luigi is a martyr and I will regularly be
calling on his intercession. I will also pray that Altun comes to repentance.
I would like to address those who call or email me with safety concerns. It's not uncommon for me to receive pleas from friends and family, especially Armenians, to not go to Turkey before each trip. By some "strange coincidence" something often happens in Turkey that makes international headlines just prior to one of my planned visits. The bombing of foreign banks in Istanbul, the journalist Hrant Dink's murder, and now this, just to name the ones that immediately come
to mind, all happened within a few days or weeks before departure.
As for safety, I know there are significant fundamentalist and nationalist elements in Turkey but I can honestly say that I can't recall one occasion from my 20+ visits in which I or my team felt we were in danger. We have traveled all over Istanbul and to many parts of Anatolia. We've spoken in many venues, but almost exclusively in churches and private homes.
Please understand that I'm not trying to argue that there's no danger. We just haven't seen any nor has anyone we cooperate with there ever said that what we are doing is dangerous. I've also asked leading lay people, pastors, priests, bishops and the Patriarch (all from Turkey) if they think we are exposing ourselves or them unwisely. Believe me, when I first started traveling to Turkey and acted more as a guide than a leader, I was looking for good reasons (excuses maybe) for why I shouldn't go. I've never come up with one and not once have I heard from a leader, from the US or there, that we shouldn't be doing what we do because it's dangerous.
We are careful to follow certain protocols like not passing out literature or preaching in public and we don't refer to ourselves publicly as missionaries.
I'm not trying to say by all this, that Monsignor Luigi did something wrong or that there aren't any risks in going to preach in Turkey. It's a big country (over 75 million people) and 99.9% Muslim. Although the modern Turkish republic's history and a large portion of the population is very secular, its violent past and official denials of the Armenian massacres are never far from my mind.
But I want everyone to know that I feel called to go there. By called I mean that I believe God is encouraging and inspiring me. When I'm there I really sense a deep joy and peace. There's also a sense of anointing I experience that I don't have when I'm at home and the fruit that's being born from our work there is touching many lives.
I know it's out of love that people have for me and our family that leads them to express concerns for our safety. But I feel it's important to recognize that all Christian mission work includes the possibility of harm. It's part of the Gospel.
The important questions for me are:
1. Are we taking uncalled for risks?
2. Are we wantonly putting ourselves in harms way? Ignoring danger?
3. Are we letting our zeal blind us to reality?
4. Are we acting independently without the authority of the church?
5. Are we breaking any laws?
My answer, after careful and prayerful thought to all these questions is "no."
This doesn't mean that I don't have fears. I do and I think healthy fears are important and helpful. I can't say "nothing's going to happen" or "you have nothing to be concerned about." But I can say that based on what I've seen and experienced in Turkey, I don't believe we should refrain from traveling there and continuing the work. Our contribution to building God's Kingdom in Turkey
is small, but I think it's important and shouldn't cease because of what happened on June 3rd.
I do want to say thank all of you who have expressed your sincere concerns. I know you want the best for me and my family. I just don't share your level of concern, but I will continue to be open to new information and reevaluate each time I travel there.
