In Pace Christi

Fr. Thomas Ibrahim Riad was born on 30 April, 1933 at Souhag, a town in the diocese of Luxor, Egypt. The unexpected news of his death reached us on Saturday, 17 May. He had left for Khartoum on 2 April for his holidays at home together with his sister Odette, a Comboni Sister. Before leaving he had booked a routine medical check-up. Sr. Odette was with him in his last moments and told how, after lunch on that Saturday, Fr. Thomas went to his room to rest. When he got up he showered. It was then he suddenly felt ill. The doctor was called and arrived within minutes only to find him dead. Fr. Thomas had celebrated his 75th birthday just two weeks previously.

On hearing of the death, the bishop proposed to carry out the funeral rites that very evening at 21.30 since the following day was Sunday, which would render it difficult for priests to attend. The funeral was attended by many priests and faithful.

On 19 May, various requiem Masses were celebrated. One of these was in the Cordi Iesu church in Cairo attended by the Catholic Coptic Patriarch Emeritus, Cardinal Stéphanos II Ghattas together with men and women religious, and many lay people who had known Fr. Thomas.

Another of the requiem Masses was celebrated in his native parish on 20 June. The family members prepared a booklet for the occasion, revisiting the more important events of his life and the testimonies of the many people who knew and esteemed him.

One picture of him celebrating Mass in the Coptic rite bore the legend: “Fr. Thomas Riad Ibrahim: first priest of the Alexandrian Catholic Coptic Rite to join the Comboni family”. In fact, Fr. Thomas joined when he was already a priest. At first his bishop had disagreed with his decision to become a Comboni missionary but Fr. Thomas insisted saying that he had always wanted to join a religious Institute. He entered the novitiate in 1972 at Venegono and took his first vows two years later, on 5 April, 1974.

He was then appointed to Sudan. An Arabic speaker, he needed no language studies for the mission. From 1974 to 1980 he was director of St. Joseph’s technical school and superior of the community. Given his Egyptian origin and his Coptic formation, he became the reference point for the Catholic Copts of Khartoum and Omdurman. He kept in touch with them for the rest of his life. This was clearly shown by the many Catholic Coptic friends present at the requiem Mass for him at Omdurman on 19 May.

In 1980 Fr. Thomas moved to Atbara, another important mission in North Sudan, as parish priest for one year. He was then placed in charge of the secondary school where he remained until 1987. He had, in the meantime, taken his final vows in 1982. From Atbara he moved to Damasin. At that time, the Christian community of Damasin was growing and was a cause of unease among the authorities. In previous years, the priests had been imprisoned and attempts were made to destroy this centre of Christian worship. Fr.

Giacomo Francesco De Bertolis, who had Fr. Thomas as his curate, appreciated his calm and serenity, fruit of deep interior peace. Fr. De Bertolis remembers him going out wearing his usual jallabia and making a tour of the market, stopping to greet the people, to have a cup of tea and chat with the traders. That was the best way to approach people, to build up relationships and to break through indifference and hostility.

After 16 years in Sudan, the superiors in Egypt insisted he should be available for service in that delegation. After a brief course at the famous St. Anselm centre in England, he was placed in charge of mission and vocations promotion. He carried out the work with his usual seriousness and calm, without ever being discouraged by lack of results.

In 1997, after six years in Egypt, he returned to Sudan. For a short time he was parish priest of Wad Medani. He fitted in easily to the parish, providing his own contribution with his common sense and wisdom. However, he began to feel unwell and suggested he be transferred to Khartoum where he could receive medical attention more easily. In 1997 he was placed in charge of the chapel at Comboni College. The chapel had become a hive of pastoral activity due to the efforts of missionaries such as Bro. Michele Sergi and Fr. Mario Castagnetti. Again, Fr. Thomas took up the challenge and quietly continued the work begun by his predecessors. After two years he was asked to take charge of Comboni Boys School at Omdurman. This proved to be his last pastoral experience and lasted nine years. His final months there were spent enlarging the school in order to serve the students better.

During this time he was a member of the pastoral department of the Episcopal Conference of the Middle East to which he contributed a great deal. In Sudan he represented the Catholic Church in the work group made up of representatives of various Christian denominations which had to prepare the religious text books for all the classes of the government schools. He was one of the more active members of that group. Besides preparing the text books, he also devoted himself to attending meetings with the teachers of religion in order to facilitate their use of the books.

“Fr. Thomas loved his native church, absorbed its spirituality and practised it”. Thus spoke Fr. Davide Ferraboschi, superior and parish priest of the community of Omdurman. “When he entered the Comboni Missionaries and, some time even before that, during his studies in Rome, he came to know and love the church of the Latin rite. I know that Fr. Thomas managed to harmonise belonging to both rites in a way that was both personal and profound. He was approachable both for Copts and Christians of the South who felt he was one of them. Fr. Thomas knew his heart could give out at any moment. Nonetheless, he employed all his energy up to the last in directing the school and even working on a project for its enlargement. He lived with an interior peace without fearing sister death. Christian hope shone on his face”.

Fr. Thomas was a happy priest and Comboni Missionary. He knew he was entirely in God’s hands. He also knew that God is generous with his gifts and these two certainties enabled him to face the situations with serenity. He was not ingenuous and was aware of the difficulties he faced but nothing could destroy his confidence in God. Thank you, Fr. Thomas.
(Fr. Salvatore Pacifico)
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 239 suppl. In Memoriam, ottobre 2008, pp. 10-16.