Hyderabad, India, Jul 3, 2008 / 04:14 am
Catholic evangelization, outreach initiatives and charitable work in Pakistan are continuing in the face of opposition from Muslim hard-liners and the country’s harsh laws punishing those found guilty of insulting Islam, according to Bishop of Hyderabad Max Rodrigues. The Church’s uplifting view of women and a recent translation of the Bible into the local language have assisted such efforts in the southeastern province of Sindh.
Speaking in an interview with the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Rodrigues said, “The task of evangelization in a theocratic country, strongly Islamicized… is a difficult thing, but in my diocese there is a large tribal apostolate.”
The bishop said that Catholic pastoral work was revolutionizing attitudes towards women, which he said is a key part of the Church’s appeal.
“The pastoral teams have changed the way that people think, and uplifted the status of women – women were seen as chattel, they had never sent girls to school as didn’t see the value in educating them, but now they send them to school as well,” he told Aid to the Church in Need.