The Maghreb Region: Mascara, Algeria

Abstract

This remark of Father Arrupe, spoken some ten years ago, expresses the paradoxical nature of the presence and life of our companions in the Maghreb. Not that they are all extremely busy, but if someone should ask what they are doing, or question them about their plans or their apostolic thrust, they would be uncomfortable in their embarrassment. On the one hand they have hardly any works· at all to administer; on the other hand the weight of massive Moslem societies and the almost total absence of a native Christian community hardly favor traditional ministries and exclude any form of proselytism . If the mission remains a constant concern and a theme for endless reflection it is because of our efforts to extricate and nourish a spiritual attitude of openness and understanding rather than to define a field of activity which, when all is said and done, is beyond our grasp. And it is.........