By Fr Łukasz Bankowski
When Oblate Father Andrzej Madej arrived in Turkmenistan, the Catholic Church there had to be built almost from the ground up. There were no established structures and no large Catholic communities. Even so, there was the possibility of meeting people.
The Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate (OMI) recalls inviting people for tea, talking with them, and reading the Gospel together. Step by step, a community began to take shape. The first baptisms were celebrated at Easter in 2000.
“They saw the Church being born before their eyes,” recalls the Oblate missionary. It was a small Church, growing within an overwhelmingly Muslim society.
Living among Muslims
Daily life meant, above all, living alongside Muslims. Speaking to Vatican News, Fr Madej recalls sharing in their joys and sorrows, being invited to weddings and funerals, and spending time with families.
Rather than engage in religious disputes, he stressed that the point was to be present and bear witness through his life.
Over the years, he became convinced that mutual respect opens the way to genuine encounter. In this way, Christians can live among Muslims while remaining faithful to their own identity and building relationships rooted in peace.
For Fr Madej, these everyday relationships became one of the most important dimensions of his mission. The Gospel, he believes, should be visible not only in words, but above all in the way one treats another person.
Peace is born between people
Fr Madej’s experience in Turkmenistan taught him that peace does not begin with grand declarations. Instead, it grows out of ordinary encounters: when people can sit together, listen to one another, share everyday life, and show kindness.
The missionary says that the presence of Christians in a Muslim-majority country can itself become such a sign.
“Where Christ comes, love comes with him,” he says.
After nearly three decades, Fr Madej leaves behind a community that grew out of those first encounters, shared readings of the Gospel, and baptisms.
He is also thinking about another way of building bridges. He hopes to write a book entitled “The Lamb,” intended for both Christians and Muslims.
As his experience in Turkmenistan has shown, bearing witness to Christ among people of another faith does not have to begin with debate. It can begin with an encounter. – Vatican News
