Meet Jordan’s Father Rif’at Bader
Back >>by Nicholas Seeley
Father Rif’at Bader is what many would call an innovator. In 2003, the Latin priest created the web site, Abouna.org, with only a dial-up modem. At the time, he was ministering to the tiny Catholic parish in Smakieh, a traditional, desert village of about 2,000 residents near Kerak.
The first of its kind, the site provides information and news in Arabic about the region’s Catholic community. Today, Abouna.org, which takes its name from the Arabic term “Our Father” used to address priests, receives between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors each day and has become a major resource for Arab-speaking Catholics around the world.
“The language of yesterday does not go for the man today,” explains Father Bader. “You have to develop your way of making the word of God arrive to these people. … The man today is asking you to convince him in a new way, and here you can talk about technology.”
Many people in the secular West view the Middle East as a place where religion plays a central part of daily life. Father Bader, on the other hand, expresses concern about the waning role of religion in the lives of Middle East Christians.
“You know, we have a lot of people who do not care anymore for religion. How to speak to them? This is the biggest challenge, I think,” he says.
“We still have religiosity, but religiosity sometimes depends on social habits,” he adds. Though the social fabric often remains in tact, says the priest, the threads of belief and faith are wearing thin.
“So I decided to found Abouna.org, to have — a voice from the desert,” continues Father Bader.
Abouna.org presents Catholic news from Rome and around the world in a user-friendly, magazine-style format. The site features a section devoted to the issues facing Middle East Christian communities in Jordan and elsewhere in the region, including Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq. Another section covers developments in the ongoing Christian-Muslim dialogue. Abouna.org also provides a space for local parishes in Jordan, where parishioners post articles, pictures and information about past and upcoming events and activities.
Reporters in the region often contribute pro bono articles to Abouna.org. The site also receives stories from local newspapers and foreign outlets, which staff translates into Arabic.
When Pope Benedict XVI visited Jordan last May, Abouna.org posted real-time Arabic translations of his speeches. Visitors to the site jumped to 10,000 per day.
Father Bader continues to run Abouna.org, now with the help on one full-time staff member. Though the site does have a regular source of income, it receives some support from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and private benefactors.
Still, Father Bader soon hopes to secure funding to add an English version to the site. Eventually, he would like to establish a media office with staff reporters.
The priest does not shy away from new media and technology to spread the word of God, regularly sharing his message with his more than 6,000 friends of Facebook. In addition, he writes columns in local newspapers and is a local correspondent for Vatican Radio. Through mass media, he says, the priest’s voice can reach every corner of society.
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