Author: richardburbach

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Coulda, Shoulda Been Different

What’s the largest Christian country in the world?

Think about it! United States? Brazil? Italy? Nigeria?

Let’s ask it another way (the answer is the same): Which country has more Christians than any other country?

What do you think? It stumped me! Ideas? Take a guess!

Within a generation, actually in about ten or twelve years given growth patterns, the largest Christian country, and the country with more Christians than any other, will be China!

Yes, China is the world’s largest country with 1.4 billion people and will soon boast the largest number of Christians – approximately 5% of its population.

This fact shocked me and challenges me to get outside of my American or Euro-centric mindset. We are not the center of the universe and Westerners do not have an exclusive right to define Christian faith for the rest of the world.

I learned this startling fact about China last week. Yesterday, although Mothers Day deservedly took top billing (at least in the United States), I also was reminded that May 11, 1610 was the anniversary of the death of Jesuit missionary to China, Matteo Ricci.

But, wait a minute. Before you give Ricci credit for what we are seeing in China today, we need to know that his efforts were short-circuited and ultimately rejected by narrow-minded, bureaucratic church leaders.

The history of Christianity in China over the past 500 years could have been very different. I believe history – and Scripture – suggests it should have been very different.

Matteo Ricci was an Italian Jesuit who mastered the Chinese language and Confucian teaching and won recognition from the educated elite and the imperial court as a scholar of the highest distinction.

Ricci’s mission strategy presumed that any real progress by Christianity in China required that it be “incarnated” within the Chinese culture and recognized as inviting by the educated leaders of the country. Therefore, Ricci dressed as would be expected in elaborate silk attire, published works on astronomy, science and philosophy and labored to become highly esteemed as a Confucian scholar.

As a Christian missionary, Ricci’s primary motivation was to reconcile Confucian precepts with Christian belief and practice. He recognized in the origins in Confucianism a belief in a supreme Creator and worked meticulously to link this belief with the God of Christianity.

Despite great respect and considerable agreement from his Chinese peers, he was not accorded the same esteem from his own church leaders in Europe. Ultimately his efforts to “incarnate” Christian faith within Chinese culture were rejected.

Although Ricci died with provisional approval for his mission strategy, Roman church official would become more Euro-centric, defensive and monolithic. This culminated in 1742 with a vehement condemnation of Chinese cultural practices such as ancestor “worship” as superstitious and idolatrous. Christian incarnation within Chinese culture would have to wait for another day.

World history and 21st century Christianity would have been very different if other decisions had been made. With the 20/20 benefit of hindsight I’d like to believe other decisions should have been made and higher Christian values should have prevailed.

Sadly, this is not a new issue for the Church! The Apostles wrestled with acculturating the Gospel and Peter needed to be called to task. Ultimately, when encountering others with our particular “brand” of Christianity, we’d do well to remember Apostolic teaching and what Peter finally came to understand:

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.  He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:5-11)

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In Praise of Mrs. Dugdale (and others)

FLASHBACK! Cathedral Grade School, Omaha, Mrs. Dugdale’s religion class. It’s the 1960-61 school year. I am in that stage of brain development when rote learning and memorization is what my gray-matter does best.

It’s the time that most boys collect baseball cards and can cite every player’s statistics like they were their own. I collected photos of cars and could identify every new make and model Detroit could churn out.

Mrs. Dugdale: “Dick, what are the Corporal Works of Mercy?”

Richard (AKA “Dick”): “The Corporal Works of Mercy are seven: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, ransom captives and bury the dead.” I smile with pride.

Mrs. Dugdale: “Very good, Dick! What are the Spiritual Works of Mercy?”

Dick (AKA “Richard”): “The Spiritual Works of Mercy are seven: instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowing, admonish the sinner, gladly forgive injuries, bear wrongs patiently, pray for the living and the dead.”

Mrs. Dugdale: “Excellent, Dick. You may be seated.”

I was beaming! That was as easy as distinguishing the characteristics and relative merits of the Pontiac Catalina, Chieftain, Fire Chief, Star Chief and Bonneville. I boasted a broad smile as I took my seat.

My friends who went to public school would learn the same information in Sunday School or summer Bible camp. They would most likely learn it directly from Scripture by memorizing 1 Peter 3:8; Romans 12:8 or 15:2; 2 Corinthians 7:15; Philippians 1:8 or 2:1; Colossians 3:12 or Hebrews 13:3. But those of us who went to Catholic school also knew that the best list to memorize was from Jesus’ teaching about the Last Judgment (Matthew 25).

FAST FORWARD: Today, 63 years old, Minneapolis, retired. I am immensely proud of Cathedral Grade School and remain eternally indebted to the Dominican Sisters who ran our school and teachers like Mrs. Dugdale. They knew what was going on, and was comprehensible, in my ten-year old noggin and gave me the education for a lifetime.

Yes, they taught us the Ten Commandments. But quite honestly, I just memorized them without understanding what the heck many of them meant. “Loving God alone with my whole heart, soul and mind” seemed like a worthy idea but wouldn’t change a thing – Mom and Dad and the teachers at Cathedral saw to that! I didn’t steal, except once I took a candy bar from B&B Grocery – but I apologized to Mr. Brannigan the next day! I didn’t have a clue what it meant to covet a neighbor’s wife and no one would even talk about “adultery”!

Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy… At least I understood the vocabulary. Even more, I saw my parents, neighbors, teachers and people at church actually doing these things. They were praised, practiced and possible.

Now that I have 63 years of trying to “walk the talk” I am recognizing the profound difference! Too many pious Christians are hung up on the Ten Commandments. They are scary as hell! Not enough people understand that Jesus says absolutely nothing about violation of these commandments when giving us the criteria by which we will be judged.

In Jesus speech about the Last Judgment, no one who murdered, stole, committed adultery (I now know what that is!), lied or cheated is condemned. Jesus’ condemnation does not concern violations of the Ten Commandments!

Jesus’ admonition focuses on failures to do good! Yes, we sin by failing to live according the teaching handed down to Moses on Mt. Sinai. But, Jesus exhorts us to live by something more, by a higher righteousness. (Matthew 5:20)

Seems to me we’d be better off erecting marble monuments on our court-house lawns that quote the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy rather than the Ten Commandments!

On this Mothers Day weekend I am eternally grateful and indebted to Mrs. Dugdale, the Dominican Sisters, and so many other great women who “mothered” God to me. Of course my own mother, Gert, tops that list!  Today, I hope all of you are beaming with pride for what you did with your lives and how you taught others to love.

Still very much a ten-year old boy, someday I want you to be able to say that I’ve done you proud!
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I am indebted to Mercy: The Essence of the Gospel and the Key to Christian Life by Walter Kasper, Paulist Press, 2013 for prompting these – and many other – reflections. Taken especially from pp. 142-5.

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Let Us Pray!

Last week we got a thank you note from a friend who is living with a very serious melanoma. We had seen “Joe” at a social event and were grateful for his report of being in remission. As we have in the past we assured him of our prayers. Joe was deeply touched when we told him that his name was “in the box.”

We explained briefly that we have a “grocery list” of names on index cards. Lists go back four or five years by now. We toss the cards into a handsome 4×6 marble box we picked up at a garage sale for a few bucks. It sits on our kitchen table where we see it many times through the day.

Each evening before dinner we ask, “Who should we pray for today?” Generally, people we have seen that day or immediate needs take priority. But we often say, “And for everyone in the box” or silently touch the marble lid near at hand as we say “Amen.”

Joe’s thank you note really touched us. I guess it shouldn’t have, really. When you get down to it, what is it we all want? To be validated, recognized, valued, appreciated – to know when we take off our dress-clothes after a social event that we truly are in relationship and part of a caring community.

There is a whole lot more intercessory prayer going on than meets the eye! But one image has remained with me all week. It comes from First Communion Sunday at Christ the King. Such occasions bring out the multi-generational family like nothing else. A woman I would guess to be the great-grandmother of a well-represented clan knelt after communion with eyes closed and her hands gently clasped near her quiet lips. What must have been in this lovely matriarch’s heart?

Moses interceded before God innumerable times. The one that comes to mind in regard to the woman at Christ the King is recorded in Deuteronomy 9:25 – Moses lies prostrate in prayer before God for forty-days and nights. Similar “standing in the breach” is attributed to Jeremiah (18:20), Ezekiel (13:5 and 22:30) and many others in Scripture. Jesus teaches us to ask for what we need.

But who needs more testimony than the serene focus of a grandmother on First Communion Sunday? So, in her honor and on behalf of all those for whom we have offered to pray, please join me in what I imagine was on her heart:

For this reason I kneel before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

 

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Doing Our Mothers Proud

Sunday will be the eighth Mothers Day without my Mom. I no longer turn away from the greeting cards prominently displayed at Target. Pop-ups offering flowers interrupting my web-surfing don’t make me sad as they did. Yet, I still miss my Mom and wish I could tell her again – with new insight and fresh motivation – how much I love her.

A few days ago I even posted a request on Facebook: share your best suggestion for how those of us who have lost our mothers are to mark this weekend holiday. Friends offered some great ideas: make one of her favorite recipes, do something she enjoyed doing, share favorite stories about her with others, visit someone in a nursing home.

The suggestion I like best did not come from Facebook but from columnist Nicholas Kristof. The world community is increasingly aware and outraged by the 276 school girls kidnapped by religious fanatics in Nigeria. His “update” from yesterday deserves to be read [here] regardless of his great suggestion for celebrating Mothers Day.

Neither Mr. Kristof nor I begrudge anyone celebrating our mothers with flowers, chocolates or out-for-brunch. I wish my Mom were here to enjoy them. Kristof’s brilliant idea is to celebrate them by honoring the girls still missing in Nigeria. Think of their mothers’ anguish.  In my family’s case this would be especially appropriate.

Regulars here will recall that my favorite Grandmother was orphaned at age 7 and sent from Boston to South Dakota on an orphan train. Her formal education ended at the third grade. My mother earned the highest score in her county on her eighth-grade standardized exam. However, cultural values prevented her from going to high school, despite the protestations of her teacher, because my grandparents presumed she had enough education for what they envisioned her future to be. (Read my previous post [here]).

The greatest threat to the extremism of the Nigerian kidnappers is a girl with a book. Boko Haram, whose name means roughly “Western education is a sin,” admits responsibility for this violent abuse being played out in Nigeria. The greatest antidote to their fanaticism would be to educate and empower women. I am absolutely certain my mother would agree.

Kristof offers a number of excellent suggestions: One would be a donation to support girls going to school around Africa through the Campaign for Female Education [link]; a $40 gift pays for a girl’s school uniform.

Or there’s the Mothers’ Day Movement [link] which is supporting a clean water initiative in Uganda. With access to water, some girls will no longer have to drop out of school to haul water.

You may wish to support something closer to home. This year I plan to send what I would have spent on flowers for my Mom to Avenues for Homeless Youth [link].  On any night in the state of Minnesota, 4,000+ youth and young adults are homeless and unaccompanied by an adult. Youth homelessness has jumped 63% in Minnesota since 2009.

Other than keeping the pressure of global outrage on the tragedy in Nigeria, there is little you and I can do to rescue the kidnapped girls. Whether our mothers are with us to receive our expressions of gratitude and love or they have passed from us, there is still so much we can each do to honor these girls and celebrate the lives of our mothers.

Let’s make them proud!

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Your feedback, please!

First, thanks for reading.  Though I’d like to say writing is worth it whether anyone reads or not, a blogger doesn’t “put it out there” without the hope that others want to read. So, thank you.

In that spirit, I would really like to hear what you think?  Yesterday’s piece marked a threshhold of sorts — my 100th posting on Kneading Bread.  Seems like a good time to ask for your feedback.

Please let me know what you think.  Do you read regularly?  What do you like about Kneading Bread?  What don’t you like about it?  What suggestions would you make?

My motivation and goal have been to raise awareness, prompt reflection and promote action — all this from the perspective of a Catholic Christian trying to “practice” his faith in the context of community.

Please let me know your thoughts, opinions, suggestions.  You may do so by using the “comment” icon below — these comments would be posted for others to see.  Or, you may email me directly at <rburbach@umn.edu>  In either case, I do want to hear from you.  Your comments are important to me and to what Kneading Bread will become.

Thanks!

 

 

 

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Until Death Do Us Part!

The botched execution in Oklahoma, in conjunction with a conservative estimate that 4% of current death row inmates are innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted [link], should ignite moral outrage. I am grateful to live in a state that does not resort to the death penalty. And, I’d be proud to compare Minnesota crime rates – or any state that does not impose the death sentence – with states that do at any time!

Sadly, nothing is likely to change. Too many seek revenge and retribution and tenaciously hold to disproven beliefs that the death sentence serves as a deterrence – it doesn’t! All it does is to give expression to a vindictive impulse within a fearful populace.

I admit personal interest in the topic – my cousin’s son Peter was sentenced to death for a contract murder I have no doubt he carried out. Only a minor fluke in Constitutional Law enabled his sentence – begrudgingly by Nebraska legal officials I might add – to be commuted to life in prison. My previous post on this topic is available [here].

Yet, with a persistent and perennial hope that things can actually change, that societies like individuals can mature and become more enlightened, I dust off “Ten Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty” first published in 1982. Perhaps something in Mary Meehan’s collection of arguments will provide the tipping point for America to finally claim some civility and sanity in our execution of justice. 

1. There is no way to remedy the occasional mistake. 

2. There is racial and economic discrimination in application of the death penalty. 

3. Application of the death penalty tends to be arbitrary and capricious; for similar crimes, some are sentenced to death while others are not. 

4. The death penalty gives some of the worst offenders publicity that they do not deserve.  

5. The death penalty involves medical doctors, who are sworn to preserve life, in the act of killing. 

6. Executions have a corrupting effect on the public. 

7. The death penalty cannot be limited to the worst cases.

8. The death penalty is an expression of the absolute power of the state; abolition of that penalty is a much- needed limit on government power. 

9. There are strong religious reasons for many to oppose the death penalty. 

10. Even the guilty have a right to life.

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You may read Mary Meehan’s 1982 article in it entirety [here].

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Christ, You and Me

Forty-nine children made their First Communion this weekend at Christ the King. Unlike 1958 when I made my First Communion at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, all the kids processed in with their parents. Most had a Mom and Dad but kids with only one parent were equally radiant. Families have enough challenges – great to see them so prominently celebrated!

Fr. Dale did his typically fine job of speaking directly with them during the homily. He recalled the childrens’ Baptisms and how the first question parents were asked is “What name do you give your child?” He bridged that with God also calling each of them today, uniquely, personally by their special name. Later, each child heard her or his name called forth inviting them to full communion at the Lord’s Table.

Without explicitly referencing St. Augustine’s frequent exhortation, “Be what you see! Receive what you are – Body of Christ!” Dale eloquently made the same point to the children. In receiving the Body and Blood of Christ (yes, he actually said “into your bellies”) the children were praised for the way they are now commissioned to be Jesus’ real presence in the world today.

We used the regular readings for the Third Sunday of Easter. Rich in their own right, they were freshly poignant in the context of First Communion. In the Acts of the Apostles a recently fear-filled and disloyal Peter was now courageously proclaiming Christ. Given what Dale had said to the kids, isn’t that what all who are called to the Table of the Lord are commissioned to do — give strong voice to our encounter with the Risen One?

The well-worn story of disciples returning home dejected on the road to Emmaus also carried fresh vitality. Previously, my attention has focused almost exclusively on their recognizing the Risen One in the Breaking of the Bread. Yes, a perfect text for First Communion!

But in the context of these families – with beaming grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents in abundance – and Dale’s “sending-forth” of the children, something else hit me with fresh urgency. The dejected disciples turned around. They did not proceed home. They went back to Jerusalem to proclaim what they had experienced. They reconnected with community!

I, perhaps like most, struggle to find a faith community that is truly nurturing and feels like “home.” Like the families who processed in for First Communion, univocal definitions or one-size-fits-all no longer works in our homes or our churches.  Yes, we need new and differing models to give full expression to the Body of Christ.  As wonderful as St. Cecilia Cathedral was for my family in 1958 that model doesn’t cut it any longer.

But of this I am sure… we are all hungry, Christ calls each of us – every single one of us – uniquely by name, we all have a place with others at the Table, we are collectively sent to be Christ’s real presence for the world’s healing and flourishing, and we cannot do this alone but are continuously called back into the life-giving pulse of community.

Christ is risen! Yes, risen in you and me – or not at all!

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“Graciousness Draping the World”

Admittedly, recent postings here have been challenging and intense. My consistent motivation remains – to stimulate awareness and action. My conviction is that no one of us can do everything, but we all must do something!  It’s as simple as “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I also believe in the cliché, “You can only do what you can do”…  as long as it is not a cop-out!

Favorite nephews and nieces come to mind… they are building careers, serving communities, committed to marriages, raising kids. Their generosity and dedication inspire me. In them I learn just how challenging it is in our culture to introduce the verb, “to share” into the vocabulary of young children. Courage! Keep it up! You can only do what you can do! But in doing so you are your children’s first and best teachers about loving God and loving others.   Good job!

Today my heart is sick over the 326 young girls kidnapped on April 15 in northern Nigeria. They were taken by armed terrorists from their boarding school because “western education is a sin.” Fifty girls have escaped. Reports indicate the others are being auctioned off for $12 each to become “wives” of militants.

But there is something known as “compassion fatigue”! We can only do what we can do. We can only care so much until we burn out.  But if you are not yet aware of this horror playing out in the lives of these young girls, I ask that you at least take a look at Nicholas Kristof’s compelling report [here].

Today is Sunday, a day for Sabbath rest. It’s a good day to remember the fullness of the love command – Love your neighbor as yourself! In that spirit I share something that has long been a favorite of mine. Take a rest. Enjoy your day! Show some well-deserved love for yourself. Take care of tomorrow, tomorrow… 

I think we who work for justice and come face to face regularly with its negation are at risk of losing that which animates all healthy beings: the capacity to respond to the graciousness draping the world in colors vivid and electric, the warmth of the sun, a lover’s touch. If we neglect to notice these, why attend to anything else?  

E.B. White said, “Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. That makes it hard to plan the day.” But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first. 

Shortly before he died, [the noted Nigerian environmentalist and human rights activist] Ken Saro-Wiwa wrote from prison to a friend: “I’m in good spirits. … There is no doubt that my idea will succeed in time, but I’ll have to bear the pain of the moment. … I’m mentally prepared for the worst but hopeful for the best. I think I have the moral victory.”  

He did, of course, but he also lost his life in its pursuit. Think of that and weep, but then take the hand of a child, beam over a rose and shout praises to the stars. And then begin again. Begin again. No better tribute could there be to all that is right and proud and free. 

— William F. Schulz, Former Executive Director, Amnesty Internatoinal

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Each Child: A Reason for Hope

The birth of a child is such reason for hope. The occasion brings joy and conjures dreams about what this child might become. This is true the world over!

One of the biggest new ideas in international development comes from economists, academics, doctors, politicians, and aid workers. There appears to be a broadening convergence of evidence confirming the profound ways in which proper nutrition in the earliest years of life influences a person’s ability to grow, learn, and work.

The 1,000-day period from the beginning of pregnancy to a child’s second birthday will largely determine your child’s health, ability to learn in school and perform at a future job. It all seems so obvious… proper nutrition for the mother and child, as well as good sanitation and personal hygiene, are vital to prevent stunting of the body and brain.

For years, ensuring good nutrition during the first 1,000 days was largely absent from national and global development priorities. Efforts to improve young lives and brighten future prospects focused on getting children into school. It has been in primary schools where interventions related to childhood nutrition usually begin.

Yes, global resolve and cooperation are essential. But all is not dependent on governments and creating new bureaucracies. Much is already within reach of families and villages. Farming needs to be diversified by growing more nutrient-rich crops for household consumption. Homes need to maintain clean living environments. Culturally ingrained behaviors such as women eating last at mealtime even when they are pregnant or breastfeeding must be challenged and changed.

In 2012 some of the world’s leading economists and development specialists gathered to consider a question: If they had an extra $75 billion to improve the state of the world, which problem would they solve first? The group declared that investments to eliminate hunger and malnutrition would do the world the greatest good. It found that improving child nutrition was also the most cost-effective intervention, with a return on investment of at least 30 to 1.

In essence, malnutrition keeps poor countries poor. This is true in the United States as well. We are beginning to acknowledge connections between poor nutrition in the 1,000 days and poor school performance, as well as increasing rates of obesity and diabetes.

When he hosted a Scaling Up Nutrition summit in 2012, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel estimated that as many as 500,000 of the city’s citizens could be living in “food deserts” without nearby access to affordable vegetables, meat, and fresh fruits, leading to unhealthy diets centered on cheaper junk food and readily available fast food.

It is in these 1,000 days where so many of America’s social problems begin: failing health, failing students and schools, a weakened labor force and high crime rates. What might a single child have contributed to the world had he or she not been stunted during the first 1,000 days?

Every child is a reason for hope.  Each looks to us to be nourished and nurtured.  What are we to do?

___________________________

I am indebted to Roger Thurow’s brilliant article in the May 2014 issue of The Atlantic for this information. I encourage everyone to read his entire report [here].

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Eric Ohena Lembembe

Remember that name… Eric Ohena Lembembe.

Last evening was the first I heard the name. We were guests at a neighbor’s home to learn about The Advocates for Human Rights. We were duly impressed by all we heard.

The Advocates is a Minnesota based network that investigates and exposes human rights violations, represents immigrants and refugees seeking asylum, trains and assists groups that protect human rights, and uses research, education and advocacy to engage the public and policy-makers in human rights work. I encourage you to check-out their website [here]. 

Eric Ohena Lembembe was a human rights worker in Cameroon. Somehow international reporting of his torture and murder in July 2013 escaped my attention or failed to register in my memory. Imagine… the courageous and tragic story of Eric Ohena Lembembe was retold and honored in a neighborhood gathering last evening in south Minneapolis.

Mr. Lembembe was a well-known gay rights activist, who led an organization which campaigned for people with AIDS in the central African country. Under Cameroon law homosexuality is illegal and punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. His killing followed several attacks on the offices of human rights defenders in Cameroon, including those working for gay rights.

In his last blog post before he died, Lembembe – who had recently contributed to a 55-page report on prosecutions of gay people in Cameroon – described attacks on gay and lesbian groups, and criticized the lack of action by the authorities to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators.

The Advocates actively collaborated with Mr. Lembembe. Last evening friends spoke of him on a first-name basis. To this day police have failed to investigate his murder. Though his body was found in his home with his feet broken and his face, hands and feet burned, the cause of death on his official death-certificate remains blank.

A representative of Human Rights Watch has aptly observed: “It’s extremely ironic and really sad that Eric seems to have been killed by the same violence he was speaking out against.” Again, we are reminded of a recurring, tragic pattern of our lives.

Last evening, at the home of neighbors right here in south Minneapolis, I had my Easer faith confirmed… He who has died, LIVES!

Eric Ohena Lembembe, we remember!

__________________

I have relied on The Guardian and their July 2013 [report] on Mr. Lembembe’s death.