Sustaining the Light The Persecuted Christians in Iraq, in Ireland and in the world
Aid to the Church in Need
helping the Church heal the world.
Dr. John Newton, Archbishop Bashar Warda & Cardinal Seán Brady at the Armagh Diocesan Pastoral Centre, Dundalk, Co. Louth for the launch of Aid to the Church Needs 2011 Edition of ‘Persecuted and Forgotten?’. 16 March 2011
Sustaining the Light Contents Page Little Lights
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Psalm 42 - ‘Where is your God?’
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John Paul the Great
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Father, Shepherd, Pilgrim and now Blessed
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50th International Eucharistic Congress Prayer
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Address given by Dr. John Newton at the Ecumenical Conference in Dundalk on March 16th.
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Not a time to hide our faith or identity - The Church in Iraq by Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in Northern Iraq.
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‘Why are you still here?’ A reflection on the persecution of Christians in Iraq and the World by Cardinal Seán Brady.
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Aid to the Church in Need helping the church heal the world
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A cháirde, The great Pope John Paul II came from a troubled land with a troubled history which saw the Church experiencing almost continuous persecution for most of the 20th Century. • From direct and deeply personal experience John Paul II knew the importance of Sustaining the Light of the Gospel for the present and for the future of humanity. • From his faith he drew the courage he required to proclaim the Gospel to his compatriots and to the World and • From his abandonment to God’s Will he held aloft the Light of Christ in sickness and in health and in the most un-Christian of times. We continue to live in the most un-Christian of times. Everywhere the Church is being threatened. In every land Christians are being tested in their faith. Commemorating the beatification of Pope John Paul II on 1st May, Divine Mercy Sunday 2011, this booklet reflects upon the great Pope’s contribution to Sustaining the Light of the Gospel in our time and updates our appreciation of challenges being faced by Church leaders and by the faithful in two very contrasting local Churches, Iraq and Ireland. Clearly a short booklet can do more than skim the surface of such a rich field of social, cultural and historical enquiry and can only generate some broadbrush observations. From among such observations let me highlight one: The central role of the individual in bringing about transformative change.
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All social change is personal and because man is a spiritual animal, ultimately all social change is spiritual. All of which implies that • to deny the spiritual means to deny the human and • to understand the human means to enquire after first things and to seek a balance between faith and reason, fides et ratio, the spiritual and the material. In his life Pope John Paul II found such a balance and proposed it ‘to the city and the world’. His work is being expertly continued and beautifully developed by Benedict XVI. His work is also being continued at a local level by Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in northern Iraq in what is believed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world (dating back to 6,000 BC). His work is also being continued by our own Cardinal Seán Brady who in a recent lecture, reproduced herein, invites all people of good faith to consider once again and rediscover the beauty of the Christian proposition. The life work of John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Cardinal Brady and Archbishop Warda helps each of us to recognize that, regardless of age or station in life, we are being asked • to re-embrace the beauty of truth and • to proclaim it by living it in lands which are increasingly hostile to Christians. (See also enclosed talk by Dr. John Newton on Christians being oppressed for their faith)
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So much for the times we live in. As psalm 42 however reminds us, our world has always rejected our God. This is our present, this was our past and this will be our future. It is into such darkness that each of us is required to bring a little light. In this we can of course draw great encouragement from great lights such as John Paul II and all the great saints that were, that are and that are yet to come. For my own part however I draw the greatest encouragement from ‘the little
lights’, those anonymous catholics who we meet every day. They Sustain the Light of the Gospel by sharing it with a smile, a prayer, a good word and a good example. Beannachtaí,
Declan
Psalm 42 - ‘Where is your God?’ As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help. and my God. My soul is cast down within me, therefore I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the thunder of thy cataracts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love; and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
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John Paul the Great In his life Pope John Paul II was universally recognised as one of the great figures of modern times. A charismatic leader, a man of exceptional courage and strength who, by words, gestures and journeys quite literally changed the geography of the world, the image of the Church and relations between nations and religions. Through his courageous ministry the Church was accepted as an essential contributor to the shaping of tomorrow’s world and one which often stood as a lone voice in defence of humanity and its truest and deepest values.
ability to “step out” from the “traditional” sphere of Catholicism onto the Global political and social scene. According to Mikhail Gorbachev, it is impossible to understand the momentous events which happened in Europe at the end of the 1980s without Pope John Paul II. It was much the same in the time of Pope Leo the Great and Attila the Hun, Pope, Gregory the Great and the Lombard kings, and again with Pope Nicholas the Great, of whom his contemporaries said that he commanded tyrants because he governed them with a higher authority.
But elsewhere too, most notably in Latin In every respect, the pontificate of John America, Pope John Paul II played a Paul II was one of superlatives. The sheer crucial role as catalyst and mediator where scale of his activity in every field for over right-wing dictatorships ruled on grounds a quarter of a century has marked him out of presumed national security. And he as an authentic world leader and as the remained unflinching and persistent as he “conscience” of the nations. It is true to remark that the depth of his message was Vicar of Christ on earth: mostly welcomed Despite his sufferings, with profound Pope John Paul II displayed strength and respect and from courage to the end. quarters far beyond the Church’s normal sphere. Especially through his travels, Pope John Paul II frequently “broke the mould” and went further than what was expected from the papacy. His great historic importance lay to no small extent in his
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opposed the invasion of Iraq. His social teachings also proved to be a fundamental point of reference in the discussions about ‘a new world order’, in which he always stood up for “global solidarity” and the God-given dignity of every person. On its own the enormous influence of Pope John Paul II on the world outside the Church should be enough to earn him the title “Great”. On top of that however John Paul proved himself also to be a giant within the Church and in his relations with other Christian denominations: He showed true determination; he took risks; he alone had the courage to ask forgiveness for the faults of the sons and daughters of the Catholic Church; he embraced Orthodox patriarchs as his brothers, even when this was not always acknowledged or reciprocated.
In 1978, when Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope, the then primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, urged him to accept so that he could lead the Church into the third Millennium. This he did, John Paul II opened the great Jubilee Year 2000 and launched the Church “into the deep” (cf. Lk 5:4) of the new Millennium a journey which is being continued by his esteemed colleague, dear friend and fitting successor, Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI.
The crossed keys, the symbol of the papacy, were for Pope John Paul II a symbol of Christ and man. His commitment in the human field can be summarized in three words: • liberty (especially in the battle against communism and all dictatorships), • solidarity (towards the poor of the world) and • dignity of the human person. Similarly, one can summarise his commitment to the Church in three key phrases: • Catholic identity, • Christian unity, and • dialogue with the other world faiths.
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Father, Shepherd, Pilgrim and now Blessed Sister Marie Simon-Pierre was cured of her advanced condition of Parkinson’s disease. This was recognized as a miracle, one that took place at the intercession of Pope John Paul II. The lame walk, the sick are healed... This is the work of God, through the intercession of the saints, of those who live with God. Pope John Paul II lived with God, worked with God and travelled the globe with Christ. For 27 years he was the Vicar of Christ on earth. He wrote 14 encyclicals, around 100 apostolic letters, exhortations and constitutions, made over a hundred journeys and visited over 130 countries. Some 400 million people saw him in person; he canonised almost 500 saints, and beatified close on three times that number. He drew millions of young people together, firing them with apostolic enthusiasm. In Manila, in the Philippines, he once celebrated Holy Mass in front of some 4 million people. Now, on the 1st of May this year, six years after his death, he is to be beatified, and once more, millions will come. A missionary without frontiers, a man for all times. He wrote books, reformed the Church, appointed over 200 cardinals, survived an assassination attempt – that too a miracle, for which he thanked Our Lady in Fatima. He brought about the demise of communism and overcame the division of Europe. He reconciled the Church with Judaism, and faith with reason. He
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Friend of youth. Pope John Paul II at the World Youth Day in Paris, 1997.
advanced the cause of reconciliation with the Orthodox Church, invigorated dialogue between the religions, launched peace initiatives, raised awareness of the value of the family and gained a hearing for human rights in many parts of the world. Pope John Paul II wrote history and made history; he himself became during his lifetime a giant of history, not only of the 20th century but of history full stop. A man of superlatives, who nonetheless always pointed us to the One in whom he put his trust. Feted as a media star in the early years, revered as a martyr in the later ones as it became clear that he stood, uncompromisingly and with love, for the truth. Loving, uncompromising, and historical in dimension – so were the projects that were dear to his heart, projects that we at ACN likewise made our own. For example the seminary of the Holy Spirit near Lviv in Ukraine, where
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250 seminarians are training today, not only from Ukraine but from many of the surrounding countries. Their selection criteria are strict, and the first fruits are already evident today. Or the love of this Pope for the Mother of God, which found expression in his many pilgrimages and in the Marian Year – and not least in the abiding treasure of the Luminous
Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Here too, you have helped. Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to send over one million rosaries to Cuba. More will follow. ACN is a charity of pontifical right, always following in the footsteps of Christ and his saints.
50th International Eucharistic Congress Prayer Lord Jesus, You were sent by the Father to gather those who are scattered. You came among us, doing good and bringing healing, announcing the Word of salvation and giving the Bread which lasts forever. Be our companion on life’s pilgrim way. May your Holy Spirit inflame our hearts, enliven our hope and open our minds, so that with our sisters and brothers in faith we may recognise you in the Scriptures and in the breaking of bread. May your Holy Spirit transform us into one body and lead us to walk humbly on the earth, in justice and love, as witness of your resurrection. In communion with Mary, whom you gave to us as out Mother at the foot of the cross, through you may all praise, honour and blessing be to the Father in the Holy Spirit and in the Church, Now and forever.
Amen
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Dr. John Newton A talk given by Dr. John Newton at the recent ecumenical conference in Dundalk. At the beginning of 2011 Pope Benedict XVI stated that: Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith. This is not an exaggeration. According to recent research at least 75 percent of all religious persecution in the world is directed against Christians – some would put the figure as high as 85 percent This statistic may sound very high. But let’s look at a few examples from the last six months, which illustrate the reality behind the statistics, focusing on Iraq, Pakistan and Egypt: Let us start with Iraq 58 people died and more than 70 were injured during an attack on the Syrian Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad by armed extremists in October 2010. Attacks on Christians in Baghdad have continued. Only at the end of last month 70-year-old Youssif Isho was stabbed to death. Sadly, there seems to be an attempt by political figures and the media to play down the situation faced by Christians. Continually we hear that it being said that other minorities are being attacked or that Christians are not being singled out and that these are general attacks. When the bombs in Karbala killed more
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than 50 during Shia celebrations no-one commented that it wasn’t just Shia Muslims who were being attacked or said that Shia Muslims weren’t being targeted. Why then do people underplay similar attacks on Christians? Yes it is true in many of these countries Christians are not the only minority to be targeted, but that does not change the fact that these are targeted attacks against specific religious minorities –and Christians in Baghdad have very obviously been targeted. Turning to Pakistan… …in November 2010 Christian mother-offive Asia Bibi became the first woman to be sentenced to death under the country’s blasphemy laws. As the first woman to be condemned to death we have seen significant media coverage of the situation in Pakistan. Asked to convert to Islam, Asia Bibi is said to have replied “Why should I? Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did Mohammed do for mankind?” For that she has been sentenced to death. The government has equivocated over revising the blasphemy law, shelving a proposed review, and those who have spoken out against the blasphemy law have not been safe. Most recently on 2nd March Pakistan’s Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti was shot dead by gunmen who ambushed his car in broad daylight in the capital, Islamabad. Mr Bhatti, a Catholic, had received death threats for calling for clemency for Asia Bibi and urging reform
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to the country’s blasphemy laws. As we will see time and time again, in situations where Christians are in the minority, most members of the majority religious group in society decry the terrible attacks against them. I remember when Bishop Joseph Coutts was visiting Scotland and England last year he described how working closely with leaders from the other Christian churches they have been able to meet with Muslim leaders and frequently defuse explosive situations following accusations of blasphemy. But he also told me the story about a high court judge who had dismissed a case of blasphemy which had been brought – as so many are – using religion as a pretext. The judge had sympathy for the Christian who was charged and saw that there was no case to answer. A few days after he dismissed the case a young man wearing
a suicide vest went to his house and blew them both up. It is the case that it is a significant minority of radicals who either perpetrate the violence or whip up crowds into a mob. Let us turn to Egypt In January 2011 more than 20 worshippers died and at least 70 others were wounded when a car bomb exploded outside an Orthodox church in Alexandria, Egypt. This was just one event in a long line of attacks. Now looking at the media and seeing scenes of Muslims and Christians protecting each other during the recent fall of Mubarak you might be tempted to think that the situation has improved over the last few months. But this is not the case. Again most Muslims in Egypt are moderate but there is still a sizeable
Dr. John Newton of ACN.
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extremist minority making life hard for Christians. Sometimes this is institutionalised oppression, for example, at the end of February the Governor of the Minya Governorate ordered the demolition of a church-run welfare centre for disabled children. Other times it is not, such as on the evening of 4th March when 4,000 Muslims attacked the Coptic Christian community in town of Soul, just over 18½ miles south of the country’s capital Cairo, torching the local Church. A priest and three deacons are still missing. This was followed by clashes between Muslims and Christians on the outskirts of Cairo exactly a week ago which left at least 13 people dead and 140 injured. Christians in Egypt are not safe from violent persecution. It is to raise awareness that Christians are undergoing serious difficulties of this sort that Aid to the Church in Need has put together Persecuted and Forgotten? Whether Catholic, Protestant, Eastern or Oriental Orthodox, Christians from all expressions of the Faith are suffering persecution in some form somewhere in the world Indeed the conclusions of Persecuted and Forgotten? are as follows: Firstly, in two-thirds of the countries examined in the report, there are strong indications that the situation for Christians has worsened.
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It is worth noting that in several of those countries where we found no change, such as Eritrea, Laos, and Saudi Arabia, this is because things could hardly get worse For example in Eritrea, up to 3,000 Christians continued to be imprisoned for their faith, many in underground cells or transport containers. Evidence suggests prisoners have died from torture or other forms of abuse The report also notes the rise of extremist Islamism not only in the Middle East but also north Africa and Asia. Despite good neighbourly relations with many Muslims, Christians feel threatened by increasingly well-resourced, coordinated and highly motivated Isalmists. • We already touched on the problems of blasphemy allegations in the context of Pakistan, but also of urgent concern is the continuing and increasing threats on the lives of Muslim converts to Christianity. • Christians in these countries frequently need to ensure that they are not perceived to be enticing members of the majority religion to convert, as they risk violent attacks on the pretext that they are proselytising. The report also shows a rise in nationalism linked to an increasingly assertive religiosity. This occurs not just in Muslim-majority countries but also in India with Hindu extremists and Buddhist extremists groups in Sri Lanka and Burma.
Sustaining the Light
Again it is worth stressing that in most cases this extremism is not reflective of the view of the general populace – which is not to say that it does not find expression in state or national government, but merely that these are minority views. There is a marvellous story from the initial riots in Orissa, India in August 2008. The Hindutva groups had just started their rampage, attacking churches and Christian houses, and a Catholic priest who had been sheltering in a house during the riots crept out believing the attackers had moved on. As he came out an elderly Hindu lady rushed up to him and told him he should get off the streets as quickly as possible as the rioters were still in the vicinity. He spent the next few hours while the attacks continued sitting on the floor with this elderly Hindu lady in her kitchen – so they could not be seen – drinking tea with her. 54,000 were made homeless during the attacks in Orissa, most have now returned. But in many cases the returning Christians have been uncomfortable returning to live in communities where they are the minority. Aid to the Church in Need is pleased to have helped support important inter-faith community building projects organised by the Church out in India, which helped re-integrate Christians back into their communities and build up trust and good relations between Christians and Hindus.
The report also shows a reassertion of control over religious activity in Communist countries… …particularly in China but it is also increasingly evident in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. Even registered churches in China are finding their activities disrupted by authorities and a tightening of state control. ‘Official’ bishops and priests in the government-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association were forced against their will to go to the capital to elect new leaders at the end of 2010. In Henshui diocese, Hebei, the seizure of the bishop was particularly notable. Bishop Feng Xinmao was seized by about 100 police officers and government representatives who fought for hours against the faithful and priests who were shielding their bishop. Yet despite these difficulties the Churches in China are growing. Perhaps the most shocking conclusion of the report is that in some parts of the Middle East, the numbers leaving are so high that it is uncertain if there will be any significant Christian presence in another generation. I will not say too much on this point as I know Archbishop Warda will be looking at the exodus of Christians which has occurred in his own country. So I will only make two brief observations. Firstly the Christian population is declining
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across the Middle East, in Lebanon and the Holy Land Christians numbers are falling – partly because of increased Islamist militancy but there are other factors and the reasons are complex. It is worth noting that in Jerusalem the number of Christians has declined from well over 50 percent to less than 2 percent today in the last 90 years. Secondly Aid to the Church in Need is helping those Christians who are having to flee because of violence. It continues to support various programmes for Iraqi refugees in Syria and other nearby countries, helping with spiritual aid, such as catechesis for children, as well as more practical necessities. And it has helped the Chaldean Sisters of Mary Immaculate providing food parcels for families who have fled to Zakho in the north of Iraq.
To conclude I would like to the quote Aid to the Church in Need’s founder, the Dutch Norbertine priest Fr Werenfried Van Straaten. He said: Christianity is being tested. Persecuted Christians are being tested in their faith… But we are all being tested in our love. We have to prove that we possess love, in spite of all our differences of opinion… a love that is patient, a love that understands, a love that helps and comforts, a love that burns like a flame in the dark night of the persecuted Church and sets hope burning there, so that they do not fall into despair in their affliction.
Cardinal Seán Brady and Archbishop Bashar Warda
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Not a time to hide our faith or identity The Church in Iraq by Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in Northern Iraq. Good afternoon Cardinal Brady, Bishop Clifford, ladies and gentlemen and fellow clergy. I thank you for the honor to mark the launch today of the 2011 edition of Aid to the Church in Need’s report on Christians oppressed for their faith, entitled ‘Persecuted and Forgotten?’
be worsening, sometimes to the point where we wonder if we will survive as a people in our own country. But this is not a time to hide our faith or our identity over such struggles. In Iraq, 40 years of war and oppression have strengthened our endurance and our resolve to stand strong and to claim our legal and historical right as a Church and as a people in Iraq. We have not come this far to give up. Through the international support and solidarity that this report will create, I believe we can be stronger in our unity and more strategic in our search for sustainable solutions. What we Iraqis are suffering is a crisis in cultural change. We are living in a region which cannot decide if it is for democracy or for Islamic law. It cannot decide if it is for the rights of human beings to live in freedom in all its exciting and challenging forms, or if it is for the control of the spirit and the minds of its people.
Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Northern Iraq
This report and the work of Aid to Church in Need is critical to us as members of the worldwide Christian community. This information will significantly contribute to building international support and solidarity for Christians around the world where our human rights to religious freedom has been stripped away. As the report states, in many countries, like Iraq, the situation for Christians seems to
This is the kind of control that welcomes the terrorist methods of intimidation, kidnapping and killing of religious minorities. The Middle East, now, is a crescent, fertile for terror and domination. A region founded upon a cultural and social environment that has depended on violence to keep its societies divided. History and a tribal mentality have been
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used to maintain that violence and those divisions. The Crusades, the aggressive West, Israel and American Christians are pointed to as the enemies. Yet, in reality, the enemy is within. What Iraqis are left with is a weak constitution that tries to please two masters: on the one hand the premise of human rights supposedly for all its citizens, yet on the other hand, Islamic law for its majority of Muslims. Islamists are not the only ones at fault. Secularists with an eye for profit are also responsible. Neighbouring governments in the region feeding the insurgents with money and weapons to destabilise the government are also responsible. The rest of world’s governments have turned their backs on us, as if the human rights abuses and near genocide conditions Iraqi Christians experience, are temporary. Yet for nearly 50 years, Christians in Iraq have suffered displacement and negligence. Here is a picture of the 233 Christian villages in northern Iraq in 1961. Dozens of those villages were destroyed in the 1950s and 60’s as Iraq evolved from a kingdom to a republic and this displacement continued into the years of Saddam Hussein. Moreover, Christian history is noticeably absent from the Iraqi history books used in our public schools. Our place as one of the original inhabitants of the region, has been wiped from collective memory. We are merely one of the non-Muslim, minority inhabitants of Iraq, lacking all the rights and rewards that full citizenship in a real democracy should bring us.
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During the Gulf War years, the Christian population in Iraq was estimated between 1.2 and 1.4 million. By 2003, it had dropped by over half a million. Iraq’s Christian population now numbers less that 500,000 and this figure is highly optimistic. Iraqi Christians live primarily in Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk, Erbil and Mosul and in small towns in the Nineveh plains of the north. Close to two-thirds of Iraqi Christians belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church, and roughly one-fifth belong to the Assyrian Church of the East. The rest belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, and various Protestant denominations. The main Iraqi Christian population centres are located along disputed boundaries between Iraq and Kurdistan and in areas with strong extremist militia presence. Christians tend to be persecuted by majority populations for two reasons: • Their Christian faith, which is not accepted in Iraq by Islamic fundamentalists and • For political purposes to control land and resource allocation in the disputed areas. Violence Against Christians Amidst Political Turmoil Since the occupation of Iraq in 2003 over 500 Christians have been killed in religious and politically motivated conflicts. Forty percent of the killings took place in northern Iraq, 58% in the Baghdad region and 2% in the south. Killings of Christians began in earnest in 2003 when the first translator was killed
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in Baghdad. In 2006, targeted killings of Christian leaders escalated when an Orthodox Christian priest, Boulos Iskander, was kidnapped, beheaded and dismembered despite payment of a ransom. Between 2006 and 2010, 17 Iraqi priests and 2 Iraqi Bishops were kidnapped in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk. Many were held for days; some for weeks. All were beaten or tortured by their kidnappers. Most were released, but one bishop, four priests and three sub-deacons were killed. In most cases, those responsible for the crimes stated they wanted Christians out of Iraq. These kidnappings and murders have left their mark on the minds and bodies of the Iraqi churches. Not only have our religious leaders been murdered, but also simple families, shop keepers, children, teachers, the elderly, mothers and their babies, and members of all element of Christian society. Intimidation is constant and widespread: • Direct threats using intimidating letters with bullets placed inside • Text messages direct sent to families • Direct threats, face-to-face in the streets • Threatening language from police and army representatives • Breaking into houses, stealing possessions or making extortion threats • Threatening graffiti with Koranic text. • Armed men standing in front of Christian homes or sitting in cars • Text messages about kidnapping children from their schools Also, our college students are severely intimidated. Thousands of college students have delayed their studies or transferred to Erbil for their course work.
Iraqi Church Bombings Now I would like to talk to you about the systematic bombing campaign of Iraqi churches. The first Iraqi church was bombed in June, 2004 in Mosul. Following that event, successive campaigns have occurred and a total of 66 churches have been attacked or bombed; 41 in Baghdad, 19 in Mosul, 5 in Kirkuk and 1 in Ramadi. In addition, 2 convents, 1 monastery and a church orphanage was bombed. The first Campaign of bombed churches took place on August 1 2004 at the Church of Saint Peter and Paul in Al Dora. That day, 6 churches were bombed across Iraq. As I am sure most of you know from the news, on 31 October 2010, 58 people, including 51 hostages and 2 priests, were killed after an attack on Our Lady of Salvation Syrian Catholic church in Baghdad. A group affiliated to Al-Qaida, Islamic State for Iraq, stated that Christians were a “legitimate target.” Among the thousands of examples of overwhelming suffering among Iraqi Christians, two come to my mind here that I would like to tell you about. One is the story of the father of a teacher in our kindergarten in Ankawa. Last year Mr. Dahan was the first of at least eight Iraqi Christians killed in Mosul prior to the elections. The abduction that ended in his death was the second time he had been kidnapped. Two years before, he had been abducted, beaten and stuffed in the trunk of a car until the family could collect the $5,000 ransom. The family says that after he returned the first time, they didn’t leave Mosul because
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their father would not move. “Our father said, ‘if all of us Christians leave, who is going to stay in the land of the prophets and pray in our churches?’ “ “He said, ‘we were all born in Mosul and we will die in Mosul.’ “ A second story is about my friend Father Mazen from Qaraqosh. Father Mazen was kidnapped 4 days after he had been ordained a priest. He was released but a year later armed men entered his home and killed his father and two brothers in front of his mother and sister in law. Despite this tragedy, Father Mazen serves the displaced families in his congregation in Qaraqosh with unfaltering faith. As I mentioned, there are thousands of examples of such senseless injury and killing. The grief and sorrow in our congregations is palpable, where not one person has been uneffected by tragedy since 2003. Moreover, each family has suffered decades of losses from the Saddam regime, the sanctions prior to the occupation, the devastation of the Gulf War as well as the Iran/Iraq War. Iraqis are a people who have experienced immense suffering but who are also strong, resilient and prepared to claim their right to existence. Christian Internal Displacement, Migration and the Diaspora The Kurdistan region, overall, has been a relocation site for over 55,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from other cities in Iraq in the past 7 years. The population has grown significantly since the military events of 2003.
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More recently, following the systematic intimidation and violence prior to the elections in 2010 and after the church bombing, about 4,000 Christian families fled Iraq’s cities to Erbil. Probably twice this have move from both Baghdad and Mosul City into the Nineveh Valley, an area to the north where life is relatively safer and more affordable. Over the past 8 years our Erbil Diocese Immigration Committee has registered over 3,000 families displace by conflict. Not all families register so we know this is an under-estimate of the size of those who have moved. Most of the families we have registered come from Baghdad and Mosul. It is difficult to know exactly how many Iraqi Christians live outside Iraq, but estimates suggest that over half the population has fled the country with hundreds of thousands in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. At least a million more Iraqis live in the US, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, and many other countries. Current Situation of Need for Christians in Iraq In Erbil, once our Church leaders are assured that our families are safely relocated, we have three main goals to assist them. • First of all we want to provide stability via employment and affordable housing, • Secondly we want to be sure that families have access to good education and medical care and thirdly, • And most importantly, we want a vibrant living Church to support the social and spiritual needs of our families.
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We are working hard to make these things happen, but the resources of Erbil and its neighbouring Dioceses have been stressed because of the high influx of people over a short period of time. • Erbil Diocese has grown by over 30% with churches, schools, health care facilities, housing and basic infrastructures feeling the burden. • Schools average 35-45 children per class, operate in two shifts a day. • Moreover, housing costs have skyrocketed as local homeowners have raised rents 200-300% to take advantage of the housing demand. At this time, diocese leaders are raising funds from inside the communities and donor organizations such Aid to Church in Need to build new churches and to restore old and damaged ones. Classrooms are being built and restored in all our churches to be used for Catechism classes and community education. A new Catholic primary school building has recently been funded to ease the burden of public education in the area. Church leaders are looking to construct low cost housing for displaced families as a longterm investment against rising land values. Diocese leaders also continue to search for development investments to stimulate the job economy and to employ displaced family members. With many problems facing Iraqi Christians, the greatest concern of Diocese leaders is that there are enough strong parishes prepared to assist families as they
continue to readjust to their lives; displaced from their jobs, homes, and extended networks. There is a real concern that if families are not assisted effectively and not embraced by the community, that we will lose them from the Church and to immigration outside of Iraq. Lastly we want the presence of the Christians Church to be apparent by a vibrant and active parish life symbolized by physical church buildings and obvious public spaces. We do not want to hide our faith or identity out of fear for our lives. We want to be seen and remembered by all Iraqis; those who threaten us, but moreover those willing to stand in solidarity with us. We thank Aid to the Church in Need for your solidarity with us. We thank your generous and kind hearted donors and those who have prayed with us and for us these past years of our struggles. I would like to finish with a prayer: “Renew your wonders in this our day as by a new Pentecost” -- Pope John XXIII. Father, pour out your Spirit upon your people, and grant us a new vision of your glory, a new experience of your power, a new faithfulness to your word, and a new consecration to your service, that your love may grow among us, and your kingdom come: through Christ our Lord. Amen
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‘Why are you still here?’ A reflection on the persecution of Christians in Iraq and the World by Cardinal Seán Brady On the 3 June 2007, Fr Ragheed Ganni, a former student of the Irish College, Rome, who visited the diocese of Armagh, and three sub-deacons were assassinated by militant Muslims as they left Sunday Mass in Mosul, Northern Iraq. Before killing Fr Ganni, one of his attackers was overheard to scream “I told you to close the Church . Why didn’t you do it? Why are you still here?” The question: “Why are you still here?” immediately calls to mind St Peter’s great injunction that Christians should be ever ready to give account for the Faith that is within them. By simply professing their Faith in public, Iraqi Christians are being persecuted physically, socially and economically; their lives and livelihoods are under continuous threat. The overt and aggressive private and public anti-Christian sentiment so evident in Iraq however is not limited to Iraq. It is to be found throughout the lesser and greater Middle East, throughout Asia. It is to be found also in Africa and increasingly it is being found within the once-Christian lands of Western Europe. The evidence is clear and it is persuasive, Christianity is being aggressively uprooted from the Middle-East, the very lands from which it first sprang. The evidence may be less clear and the aggression may be less blood-stained but the reality remains
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that Christianity is under threat in Western Europe and throughout the Western World by an aggressive Atheism. Not the old style heavy-handed militant Atheism and tyranny such as was evident in the former Soviet Union but by a more recentlyfashioned Nihilism which insistently denies the existence of any God-given Truth. Notwithstanding the fact that the ‘roots’ of European culture are profoundly Christian, an element of the culture of contemporary secularised Europe not only denies this reality but seeks to have Christianity eliminated, or failing that, ‘ghettoised’. Christian culture, Christian values and the Christian faith are under sustained attack in many quarters. Throughout Europe, and throughout the Western World, Christians are being asked “Why are you still here?” This fundamental question which was screamed at the about-to-be murdered Fr Ganni four years ago in Northern Iraq has not gone away. It is the same one which challenges each and every Christian at all times and in all places: Christians are required to “apologise” (in the true sense of the word), to give an account for what they believe. Self-evidently professing one’s faith and giving an account of it is more “lifethreatening”, at least from a physical perspective, in present-day Iraq as compared to present-day Ireland. But does the same hold true from a spiritual perspective? Could it possibly be the case that it is more difficult to be a Christian believer in Ireland than in Iraq?
Sustaining the Light
However we answer this question, I suggest that we should at least recognise that there is a culture war being fought in the West just as much as there is one being fought in the Middle East. It may be largely bloodless and there may be different ‘rules of engagement’ but the stakes are the same, namely, the rights of all Christians to gather in public and profess their faith in word and deed. And here let us be clear, Christians have every right to be “here”, • to gather in the public square, • to hand on their faith to their children and • to proclaim to the world the Christian truth concerning the dignity of every human being and the infinite love of our merciful God.
Some time ago, there was a cultural moment when it was commonplace to accept that, • tomorrow’s world would be better than today, • technological and scientific advances would solve humanity’s most intractable problems, • humankind’s reason would triumph and subdue its baser instincts and by dint of it • a city would be built on a hill where people would happily live in well-fed peace and harmony. Genuine, well-intentioned efforts to create such “New Harmonies” in both the new and old world did not succeed. Such efforts to radically reshape and “improve” society now seem to have been almost pre-destined to founder upon the flawed nature of the human condition.
Cardinal Seán Brady
Aid to the Church in Need helping the church heal the world
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One hundred years ago, Europe was the cultural, economic, social and scientific powerhouse of the world. Today, Europe has become eclipsed as a global ‘superpower’. Indeed Europe is, in the opinion of many, rapidly becoming a socio-economic ‘has-been’. I think the case is clear; any healthy sustainable vision for a ‘New Europe’ must embrace, not deny its Christian roots and in this what applies to Europe also applies to Ireland. In a nutshell, my central proposition is that • Europe is floundering because of its failure to warmly embrace its Christian heritage, • it is declining because of its failure to respect the God-given dignity of every person and the revealed truths of Christian faith. Furthermore I would suggest that when one takes the Christian leaven out of any society, that society’s development is greatly impaired. Indeed I would go so far as to argue that society’s development will regress. In which regard we should not forget that • It was a Christian ethic which strove for and succeeded in eliminating slavery. • Freedom of conscience was formulated from the Christian mindset. • Forgiveness for human failings is a supreme Christian imperative.
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Simply consider what type of world would we have where people are not free and where transgressions are never mercifully forgiven? In all of this we should remember that the Christian view of the world is founded on the understanding of both the greatness and brokenness of the human person; a greatness and brokenness which is reflected in every individual life and in every human community -- from the smallest to the largest. It is also founded upon the central belief that there is a God, a loving God, a God of infinite mercy who wants what is best for every human being. For the Christian, every life is worth living from the moment of conception to natural death because every life is a gift from God. 2,000 years ago, Christ’s healing mission on earth was to reconcile man to God. His Church’s enduring mandate is to continue this mission, this process of reconciliation and healing of broken spirits and broken societies. The earthly mission of Christ’s Church is to heal the world, to bring people and peoples into the light of God’s kingdom. That’s why the Church is still here in Ireland. That is why the Church is still in Iraq. That is why Father Ganni and countless others offer up their lives as martyrs, to bring the beauty of Truth, to shed the light of Faith into the dark recesses of the human heart.
Sustaining the Light
Participants of the ecumenical conference held at the Armagh Diocesan Pastoral Centre, Dundalk, Co. Louth for the launch of Aid to the Church Needs 2011 Edition of ‘Persecuted and Forgotten?’.
Pope John Paul II and Father Werenfried Van Straaten, founder of Aid to the Church in Need.
Aid to the Church in Need www.acnirl.org
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