Sierra Leone: in wake of brutal war, churches full

September 28, 2011

Nearly a decade after a civil war in which 50,000 were killed, thousands were mutilated, and every church in the nation’s largest diocese was destroyed, Sierra Leone’s leading prelate has offered an overview of the state of the Church and society.

“That is the one difference between us and the rest of the world, Europe and America,” says Archbishop Edward Tamba Charles of Freetown and Bo. “Our churches are full of young people; actually they constitute the vitality of the church. Since the war the churches are really full. People are coming back.”

5% of the nation’s 5.9 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; another 5% are Protestant, and 60% are Muslim.

 

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Further information:

• Sierra Leone – Is there a just God? - An interview with Archbishop Edward Tamba (Aid to the Church in Need)