CWN - A bishop in Ethiopia has expressed horror at the looting of a Church compound, by a mob of "the people for whom, and with whom, we work closely."
Bishop Abraham Desta of Meki reported that a pastoral center in the Gighessa parish, the rectory, and a neighborhing Ursuline convent and clinic were thoroughly vandalized. Beds and bedding, office machines and generators, and even doors and windows were carried out of the church buildings. More than 13 tons of rice, wheat, and pasta was taken-- a year's worth of food for the complex-- along with livestock.
The mob attack occurred of February 19, while a conference on nursery education was being held, and the guests were quickly taken to safety. But the Ursuline sisters stayed with their patients at the clinic, until they too were driven out and the clinic was ransacked. "They have lost everything, except the precious gift of life that is being given freely by God almighty," the bishop said.
Bishop Desta said that he was unable to explain the reason for the attack. "Today there is a question in our hearts and minds: Why, Lord?" he said.
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