Catholic parish secretary
murdered in Ivory Coast
A parish secretary is found murdered in her office at a
Catholic church, in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan.
By Devin Watkins
On Saturday evening, 10 August, Mrs. Faustine Brou let a man
into her parish office at St. Cecile’s Catholic Church in the southern Ivory
Coast city of Abidjan.
In an act of unspeakable violence, the unknown assailant
inflicted multiple knife wounds upon Mrs. Brou.
She was found alive in her office at around 11 PM and taken
to hospital for treatment. She succumbed to her extensive wounds and died at
around 4 AM on Sunday morning.
Mrs. Brou served as the secretary to the parish priest at
St. Cecile. Parishioners said she was known for her availability and spiritual
commitment to the Church.
Despicable act
The tragic news was announced at Mass on Sunday.
A post on the parish Facebook page called Mrs. Brou's
murder “appalling”.
“We are all in shock,” it read, “but we believe that life
here on earth is only passing and that our eternal homeland is the Kingdom of
Heaven.”
The message also called on local Catholics to pray for the
soul of Mrs. Brou, as well as for the assailant who took her life and “those who
may have commissioned this despicable act.”
Anti-Catholic violence
The final cryptic comment leaves open the question on
whether someone besides the assailant may be behind Mrs. Brou’s murder.
Other incidents of anti-Catholic sentiments have recently
occurred in the southern part of Ivory Coast.
In early July, a statue of the Virgin Mary was decapitated
in Grand-Yapo, some 60 km north of Abidjan.
A similar act of violence against a Marian shrine was
carried out on 3 August in the Yopougon neighborhood in Abidjan.
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