Catholic Association condemns burning plan

President of the Catholic Association has strongly condemned Pastor Terry Jones and his followers.

KARACHI: The president of the Catholic Association, Herbert Fernandes, has strongly condemned Pastor Terry Jones and his followers in Florida, and denounced their plan to burn the Holy Quran on the eve of 9/11.

President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the plans could lead to a “recruitment bonanza” for al Qaeda. The pastor belongs to the Dove World Outreach Center, a small church in Gainesville.

Father Canisius Mascarenhas of Christ The King Church in Karachi was also unhappy about the decision. “There are no two opinions about it,” he said, adding that the Catholic Church of Pakistan has already condemned the plans. “I am sorry that its being done by a group of people that calls itself Christian, it is totally un-Christian.”

Shamshad Inayat, spokesperson for one group of Christians in Karachi, said that while people were entitled to their own personal opinion, their group condemned the plan. “First the issue was limited to the internet,” he said. “But now we are even receiving messages on phone and have been condemning it since the moment we heard the news.” PPI/Our correspondent

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2010.