Did you know that somewhere between 5-10% of Kosovar Albanians are Catholic while the remainder of the region is comprised of approximately 90% Albanian Muslims and 5% Serbian Orthodox Christians?

Now here’s a quiz for you. Who is Albania’s most famous Catholic? I’ll give you a hint – it is a woman. Do you know now? She spent the majority of her life working in India, although she also initiated other programs around the world. She was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. She died just over ten years ago. A major thoroughfare here in Pristina is named after her (an aside: another street is named after Bill Clinton).

The answer is Mother Theresa! This woman known the world round was the youngest child born to an Albanian family. She was born in Skopje (now the capitol of Macedonia) in 1910 as ˈagnɛs gɔnˈʤa bɔˈjaʤiu (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu). Say that three times fast.

 Something I found interesting is that my (admittedly cursory) research indicates that once she left home at the age of 18 (1928) to begin her work as a missionary with the Sisters of Loreto, she never returned home (if you have information to the contrary – please let everyone know by posting a comment). Yet, she is most certainly revered here.

Speaking of Mother Theresa, Stephen & Nagham introduced E and I to the Catholic Church here in Pristina. There is a large statue of Mother T at the front of the church and some rather psychedelic stations of the cross mounted on the walls… one almost expects to see little grateful dead bears traipsing among the scenes. Trippiness aside, they’re quite nice.

The English language mass is on Saturday evenings at 7pm. The priest is an Irishman who is here with KFOR. He comes to church accompanied by two young lads with large “semi-automatic?” machine guns. They sit in the last pew and do take communion, guns slung across their backs. After mass, Father disappears into the Sacristy and quickly emerges in full-on fatigues. It’s out to the landcruiser with his two companions and back to the military base. Amen.