“When my brother Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ, visited me at the mission parish in Togo, West Africa, he wasn’t expecting to be smashing idols with a sledgehammer and burning the remains,” writes Father William Ryan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington who ministers in Togo.
“Tumultuous shouts of joy from our faithful” accompanied the destruction of the idols.
Togo, a West African nation of 8.5 million (map), is 48% Christian (30% Catholic) and 19% Muslim, with 33% adhering to ethnic religions.