Catholic Church in Fez

L’eglise Saint Francis of Assisi

            I haven’t been to church since I’ve been in Morocco, and seeing as I usually go one or two times a week, I’ve felt a little unbalanced the past couple weeks, especially being so far from home.  So, when we got back to the hotel on Saturday night, I researched some Catholic churches in Fez and was able to find one near the hotel. 

            I am traveling with another colleague of mine, who I have actually worked with before because she is affiliated with another school in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  She showed an interest to go with me Sunday morning, so she and I  hopped in a cab around 10:00AM and headed for the church.  Fortunately, when we arrived, we realized mass began at 10:30, so it worked out perfectly. 

            It was interesting to me because I almost thought we were in the wrong place.  I told Beate, “I think this is it, but it looks very sterile.”  No signs on the outside, no street address, no cross like you would normally see in a church in France, Mexico or the US.  We went inside and were surprised that there were only very dark-skinned sub-Saharan Africans inside.  One young man came up to us and, of course, started speaking to us in French, which fortunately I can understand and Beate speaks beautifully, as she’s a German ex-pate. 

            The young man welcomed us, asked where we were from and got to talking to Beate about the church and its parishioners.  He said they were mostly French people living in Fez, the pastor was French, and the rest of the community were Christians from other countries like the Cote’d’ivore, Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, Sudan, and other countries, and they were mostly college students studying in Fez. 

            He invited us to stay for mass, and even asked Beate to do the readings, which thank God, were in French.  After a while some French citizens came in, a few sisters who were living in Fez, and even a Filipino couple who were living there for work.  Mass was beautiful, given in French.  Thank God I go to a Spanish-speaking church because I have trained myself to be able to recognize the parts of the mass in other languages, which was immensely helpful.  The French version seemed a lot longer than the Spanish or English version though. 

            I asked Beate at the end of mass what she and the man were talking about before mass, as I only got bits and pieces of it at the beginning until it tapered off into a more intense discussion that was well beyond my level of understanding.  She said that the man she was talking to was explaining why there were no Moroccans at the church.  It was something that I hadn’t thought of before.  She said that there is such a stigma with being associated with the Catholic church that people are afraid to participate in the faith publicly.  Morocco, for the record, boasts its multiculturalism and religious tolerance.  All the guides and lectors we have had have stated this “fact” over and over again.  However, it must be noted that Morocco is an Islamic state and there is no separation between politics and religion.  Religious scholars are consulted when political reforms are made because the religion is so deeply intertwined with the political structures that are in place here.

            Apparently, according to this man, Moroccans that have come to the church are chastised by the rest of the Moroccan community.  Whereas it might be accepted for people to follow Islam loosely, the question of openly practicing another faith is looked on with great distain.  People who have come to the church have been arrested, beaten, or worse if they find themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The pastor had even been called to the office of the civil authorities to explain what a person was doing at the Catholic church one day. 

            It was disturbing to me to find this out, true or not, because I have been here so long and found Moroccan people to be so accepting.  While the story could be fabricated, I doubt that he would have made it up.  It was just another reminder that we are traveling somewhere that is distinctly different from our country.  I have no doubt that the majority of the country is tolerant to religious diversity, because I have seen it being played out, even in asking for help finding the church from various people.  No one treated us with distain.  But, there are some people here who are of a very fundamental Islamic background, and those people might perhaps hinder the integration of other religions because they fear what could happen to the socio-political structure if it were to become secular, rather than Islamic, as it has been for centuries.