Pakistan nuns' order obliged to cancel jubilee celebrations

(December 4, 2009) Threats from Islamist militants in Pakistan obliged the Daughters of the Cross in the country to cancel celebrations planned to close the jubilee year marking the order's 175th anniversary. The Paris Foreign Missions Society has reported that the sisters cancelled events planned for Nov. 25 due to threats from the Taliban and a general climate of insecurity in Pakistan. The Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross was founded in Liège, Belgium, in 1833, by Mother Marie Therese (Jeanne Haze). The sisters have worked in Pakistan since the second half of the 19th century, and currently run 11 convents, six schools and three homes for young girls. St. Joseph's Convent School, founded in Karachi in 1862, is a leading educational institution in the country highly regarded by the elite. The Daughter of the Cross have reported that some of their girls' schools have received threatening letters that demand their closure and threaten to attack them with explosives should they fail to comply, hence they have cancelled the celebrations in all the cities. However Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha of Lahore visited the sisters Nov. 25 to celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving on the day the sisters would have hosted a larger celebration.