Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 08/28/2026 1:05:54 AM PDT by Cronos
A daughter of a imam made her first profession as a Catholic religious sister in Guinea-Bissau on the Feast of the Assumption.
Aicha Settimia Canté, 27, described making her temporary profession in the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Spirit on 15 August as a moment of “joy, emotion and profound gratitude”.
The celebration took place at a Mass in the Diocese of Bissau, with Bishop Emeritus José Câmnate Na Bissign presiding.
“Above all, I want to give thanks to God for calling me, choosing me and sustaining me until this moment,” Sr Aicha said in her thanksgiving speech, adding that her heart “overflows with joy, emotion and profound gratitude”.
Sr Aicha’s religious vocation has particular significance because she comes from a Muslim family background. She is the daughter of an imam and is originally from Safim. She was baptised at Our Lady of Grace Farim Parish in the Diocese of Bissau and received Confirmation at St Anne Mansoa Parish before embarking on her journey to consecrated life.
In her address during the Mass, Sr Aicha thanked Bishop Na Bissign for presiding over the celebration.
“Thank you very much for accepting to preside over this celebration, which is so meaningful to me. Your presence made this day even more beautiful and full of meaning,” she said.
She also expressed gratitude to the superior and sisters of her congregation for their accompaniment throughout her formation: “Each one of you contributed to my formation and to the strengthening of my vocation.”
Sr Aicha also acknowledged the formators who accompanied her through her formation, including during her study of French and in the Postulancy and Novitiate, saying their teaching, advice and gestures of love helped her grow as a Christian woman and religious.
In his homily, Bishop Na Bissign urged Sr Aicha to embrace her vocation as a mission of faith and dedication to God.
He emphasised that responding to God’s call requires determination, a generous response and a willingness to serve, noting that God continues to call men and women to participate in his plan for humanity despite the challenges facing young people today.
The bishop said a vocation should not be understood simply as an individual choice detached from mission, but as a response to the “divine mission”. He said faith was essential for navigating life and overcoming its challenges.
“Those who do not have faith in God find themselves completely disoriented,” he said, urging those responding to vocations to keep their relationship with God at the centre of their lives.
He also emphasised prayer and thanksgiving as essential elements of the Christian journey and integral to a permanent relationship with God amid personal and social challenges.
“[The Virgin Mary] is the complete response to God,” Bishop Na Bissign continued, explaining that she represents “the ark of the new covenant” because of her willingness to receive and fulfil God’s will. He also described the role of the Holy Spirit as “the principal companion of the Church.”
The temporary profession was celebrated under the motto of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus: “In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I will be love.”
Following offensive comments directed towards Sr Aicha and her profession on social media, the National Confederation of Islamic Youth in Guinea-Bissau issued a statement condemning hate speech and defending freedom of conscience and religion.
The organisation expressed “deep concern over the wave of offensive comments, personal attacks and hate speech”, citing the Quranic teaching that “there is no compulsion in religion”. It said Islam should be expressed through peace, mercy, justice, tolerance, wisdom and respect for human dignity rather than insults, humiliation, threats or persecution.
“Respecting someone’s choice does not necessarily mean agreeing with it,” the organisation said, stressing that disagreement over religious choices does not justify attacks on another person’s dignity.
The group also warned that freedom of expression should not be confused with the freedom to defame, insult, incite hatred or provoke religious conflict.
It called for a Guinea-Bissau in which Muslims, Christians and people of other convictions can live “with respect, fraternity and dignity”, describing the episode as an opportunity for reflection and dialogue rather than further division.
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
“...citing the Quranic teaching that “there is no compulsion in religion”. “
Well, if that isn’t a big whopper. How many compelled conversions to Islam has there been through history? Lots, I assure you.
CC
They’d better watch her six. Muzzies aren’t too keen about people leaving their fold.
It is a video about candy focusing on a type shaped like a Turkish fez hat. ?????
She needs to watch her family. Normally it is up to the family of an apostate to rectify the situation by beheading or smothering or the like.
huh?
Hurray for Christ!
Hurray for our Church!
It about 15 or 20 posts back...a quote from a muslim source about people who leave the muslim religion...”if they change their faith, kill them.” She is gonna need to go live on a Navy Seal base somewhere....
that is what I get when I follow the provided link.
I suppose that all Muslims are the same...they all believe that leaving Islam means death.
Does that go for ALL Muslims? The largest Muslim nation in the world in INDONESIA...Oriental Asians. There are 288 MILLION Indonesians. That's a lot of people.
Does that go for all American Muslims too?
I don't THINK that all Muslims believe that... except Iranians. They are all Muslim as well. They believe in their own superiority. Ignorant a******s.
They remind me of the movie 300, with Xerxes, the Persian a****** ruler...and Leonidas, the Spartan king. If it weren't for the Spartans, we'd all be writing in Farsi.
Persians are racially European.
Persia/Iran hasn't changed a bit, not in 2500 years. They sure haven't gotten smarter.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.