‘Courage to Be a Christian’ Award honors Nigerian

Margaret Attah, who lost both her legs in an attack on a church in Nigeria, traveled to London to receive the award, presented by the UK office of Aid to the Church in Need.

The survivors of an attack that left 41 Christians dead and more than 80 injured in Owo, Nigeria on Pentecost Sunday in 2022 were honored at an award ceremony on November 22nd at St George’s Cathedral in London. The award recognizes fortitude and faith in the face of persecution.

The “Courage to Be a Christian” award was created by the UK office of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) as part of its 2023 #RedWednesday activities. The goal of #RedWednesday, which, in some countries, has become #RedWeek, is to remind the world of the persecution faced by Christians globally. In parts of Nigeria, the simple act of going to Mass is an extraordinary act of courage.

Margaret and Dominic Attah were both in St. Francis Xavier Church on the day of the attack and travelled to London to receive the award on behalf of their fellow parishioners. “Just as Mass was finishing, we heard the first gunshots. The bandits soon realized that their guns couldn’t kill people quickly enough, so they lit dynamite and threw that into the crowd,” Dominic Attah said during an event held in Parliament on Wednesday, November 22nd.

After the terrorists fled, Dominic scoured the church, searching for his wife, who had hidden behind the altar in the attack. He walked past her three times before he recognized her, because of the extreme injuries she sustained in the explosion. Margaret, a nurse, lost both her legs and her vision in one eye. Many others also received life-changing injuries. The Nigerian government blamed Islamist terrorists for the attack, but so far, no one has been brought to justice.

“We need to shout louder”

At the event in Parliament, which was attended by MPs and members of the House of Lords, Fiona Bruce, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, told her fellow parliamentarians, “We need to shout louder. We need to tell the world what is happening in Nigeria. Margaret is a very precious person, who sadly represents thousands of others who are suffering and being attacked simply because of what they believe. Both our government and the government of Nigeria need to do more to address this.”

Later that day, Margaret and Dominic Attah attended a Mass organized by ACN at St. George’s Cathedral in London. The papal nuncio to the UK, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia, who presided over the Mass, said that “religious freedom is of the utmost importance, and Aid to the Church in Need is doing a wonderful service by honoring those who have shown such extraordinary commitment to their faith in the face of persecution.”

Dr. Caroline Hull, National Director of Aid to the Church in Need in the UK, stated before the event: “Margaret represents so many others in Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere who are called to live out their faith in ways that we in the West can hardly imagine. And they do it – Margaret does it – with so much dignity and love and devotion. This cannot fail to inspire in us a greater commitment to demanding an end to religious persecution in our world today.”

—Felipe d’Avillez