Two priests with strong ties to Egypt have said
they fear young Egyptian Catholics will turn away from the Church
because it did not back the protests that led to the resignation of
President Hosni Mubarak, reports the Catholic Herald in the UK.
Fr Makarios Isaac, an
Egyptian-born priest currently based in Kenya, said: "If we lose the
youth in the Church, then we are done."
Fr Isaac, originally ordained for the Coptic Catholic Diocese of
Minya, Egypt, and the former diocesan development director there, said
the main Muslim and Orthodox leaders forbade participation in the
protests.
He said the Coptic Catholic patriarch of Alexandria, Cardinal
Antonios Naguib, told protesters to go home.
The priest said he feared young people will "turn their backs on the
Church", and say: "You never stood with us ... you never taught us to
stand up for our rights."
Maryknoll Fr Douglas May, who worked in Egypt for 18 years of
Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, said he thought "the Christian leaders in
Egypt played it safe".
Fr May, now stationed in Nairobi, said: "I'm afraid that the Church
leadership has lost its credibility with the Christian youth over this."