The Yezidi Religion In Iraq

ORIGINAL POST - Mar 9, 2005
Many people never heard of the Yezidis. Since I'm originally from Iraq, I thought I'd introduce readers to this peaceful community in Northern Iraq.

American Aid for Children of Nineveh, Iraq writes:

The Yazidi faith goes back to the ancient Sumerian period (2500 BC) in Mesopotamia, what is currently the country of Iraq. Yazidism is a religion that believes in God and angels. The Yazidi respect people of other religious beliefs. The religion is non-missionary. Yazidi do not accept converts nor do they intermarry outside the religion. Their beliefs are based, in part on Paganism, Zoroastrianism –the earliest known religion, Christianity and Islam. Three principals govern Yazidi actions; good words, good intentions, and good deeds. Yazidi respect the elements that make up nature: air, water, fire and dust. Yazidi have values, beliefs, customs and traditions that have been held since ancient times.

Read more...

Read the whole thing for more details.

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UPDATE I - May 20, 2006
Last December, Egypt Today published an excellent article about Yezidis in Iraq. Here's what I learned from reading the article:

The Yezidi story of creation begins much the same as that taught to any Muslim, Christian or Jewish child. God created the angels from light (or fire). Later, He created the earth and then made Adam, the first man, from mud (or clay). The angels were told to serve as intermediaries, but one rebelled. This is where the stories diverge. For the followers of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths, God then banished the now ‘fallen angel’ from heaven. We call him Satan, Shaitan, Lucifer or, more commonly, the Devil.

In the Yezidi faith, God asked the angel why he disobeyed. The angel replied that he could not bow before anyone but God himself. God was pleased and made him the chief of all angels. They call him Azaziel or Al-Malek Al-Tawwus — the Peacock Angel.

This fundamental difference has led them to be mislabeled as devil worshippers by their neighbors, but in point of fact there is no such thing as a devil in the Yezidi faith, let alone Heaven or Hell.

Read more...

I covered this subject again because even as an Iraqi, I had my misconceptions about the Yezidi religion. Still, Iraqis respected them as much as they respected the Christian minority in Iraq. I hope that hasn't changed lately.

Patron Saint of Real Estate Sale

ORIGINAL POST - Sept. 16, 2005
We adore saint Joseph in my household. My husband calls him "my buddy." He's always there for us whenever we need him, especially when it involves money.

If we need extra money to pay our bills, I light a St. Joseph novena candle and the next day people would call to hire me or my husband for freelance gigs. He never disappointed us since we were married. He's definitely the patron saint of family protection and fathers work.

But I didn't know in parts of America, he's considered the patron saint of real estate sale. Here's what Newhouse News Service reported last month:

At the Saint Jude Shop in Somerville, N.J., the shelves are stocked with Catholic supplies such as rosaries, Communion dresses, Bibles, gifts and crucifixes.

But one of the hottest-selling items -- particularly these days with so many "For Sale" signs planted on suburban lawns -- is a 4-inch statue of St. Joseph. That is because St. Joseph, in addition to being venerated as the chaste husband of the Virgin Mary and earthly father of Jesus, is revered in many circles for his uncanny ability to sell real estate in a pinch.

To uncork St. Joseph's selling magic, the statue is typically stuffed inside a protective canvas bag and buried head first in the front lawn near the For Sale sign. Once the home is sold, the statue must be exhumed and displayed prominently in a person's next home.

Read more...

I guess it's part of being the patron saint of family protection and fathers work.

I checked Amazon for St. Joseph homes sale kit and found this oneand this one.I don't have to worry about it for now as we live in an apartment.

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UPDATE I - May 18, 2006
Here's the prayer to St. Joseph to help in real-estate sale:

Dear St. Joseph, household protector,

Please pray for a trouble free house sale.

Pray that a loving family is welcomed by this home and that a seamless settlement is completed.

Please ask that we find the perfect house to move into and that it becomes a peaceful dwelling for our family.

In the Lord's name, we offer our thanks.

Amen


Source: Saintly Advice

Could It Be a French Miracle?

ORIGINAL POST Dec. 4, 2005
You probably know that late Pope John Paul II is on the road to beatification, which requires a miracle after his death. But, could this miracle come from France? Well, here's what was reported last week:

Rome - A French miracle may take the late Pope John Paul II to beatification, a step towards sainthood, his former secretary archbishop of the Polish city of Krakow Stanislaw Dziwisz said, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.
[...]
The discovery of convincing evidence of a miracle - usually a medical cure with no scientific explanation - is a key part of the beatification process. A second miracle must be found for the process of canonisation as a saint.

Dziwisz refused to reveal any further details but I-media, a new agency specialising in the Vatican, reported the miracle involved a nun with terminal cancer who was cured when her fellow nuns prayed at her bedside to the late John Paul II in October 2005.
[...]
Dziwisz said the process of beatification was progressing very well and the case could be finished "in March".

Read more...

I guess we'll have some good news before Easter 2006. That will be cool.

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UPDATE I - Jan. 31, 2006
I posted about this back in December 2005. See the original post below this update. Here's more about the miracle:

ROME: The Vatican may have found the "miracle" it needs to put the late Pope John Paul II one step closer to sainthood: the medically inexplicable healing of a French nun with the same Parkinson's disease that afflicted him.

But Vatican officials said any decision about the healing was a long way off.
[...]
The elderly nun, who had been incapacitated by Parkinson's and was confined to bed, experienced a complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for the intercession of John Paul. The reported miracle occurred shortly after the pontiff's death.

The Polish cleric Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Catholic Church official in charge of promoting the cause to declare the late Pope a saint, says an investigation into the healing has cleared an initial inquiry by doctors.

"I don't want to speak yet about a miracle because it is something too important," Monsignor Oder said. But the nun, he said, "has been cured of Â… an illness that was so visible even in the last part of John Paul II's life".

Read more...

So, she had Parkinson's disease and not cancer as it was initially reported by some news organizations.

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UPDATE I - May. 16, 2006
The study case has been published in a Catholic publication. Zenit.org has the details:

VATICAN CITY, MAY 16, 2006 (Zenit.org).- An account of an inexplicable cure that might facilitate Pope John Paul II's canonization has been published in the bulletin promoted by the postulation of his cause of beatification.

The document was written by a French nun, whose identity has not been made public, who says she was cured of Parkinson's with the Polish Pope's intercession. He suffered from the same disease.

"It seems to me that I have been reborn," wrote the nun, in the testimony that appeared in the bulletin Totus Tuus.

"Today I can say that the friend who left our earth is now very close to my heart," she added. "What the Lord has granted me to live through the intercession of John Paul II is a great mystery, difficult to explain with words ... but nothing is impossible for God."

Read more...

I'll keep you updated.

Sr. Theresa Pham Awarded For Hurricane Work

With hurricane season starting in less than a month, it was nice to read this story in the Houstson Chronicle:

President Bush presented Sister Theresa Pham, provincial superior for the Vietnamese Dominican Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province [located in Houston, Texas], with the President's Volunteer Service Award at the White House.

"It's not for me personally but for the work the Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province have done for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," she said. "I was receiving it on their behalf."
[...]
The sisters themselves became evacuees when they fled ahead of Hurricane Rita with seven Katrina evacuee families.

"They didn't know where to go, so we took them with us," Pham said.

Read more...

Hopefully, there will be less deadly hurricanes this year.

God Is Missing

Two 6 year old boys were attending religous school and giving the teachers problems. The teachers had tried everything to make them behave - time outs, notes home, missed recesses - but could do nothing with them. Finally the boys were sent to see the priest.

The first boy went in and sat in a chair across the desk from the priest. The priest asked, "Do you know where God is?" The little boy just sat there.

The priest stood up and asked again, "Son, do you know where God is?" The little boy trembled but said nothing.

The priest leaned across the desk and again asked, "Do you know where God is?"

The little boy bolted out of the chair ran past his friend in the waiting room, all the way home. He got in bed and pulled the covers up over his head. His friend had followed him home asked, "what happened in there?"

The boy replied, "God is missing and they think we did it!"


Source: Comedy Central

The Murder of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl

ORIGINAL POST Apr. 27, 2006
It's been 26 years since the murder of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl in a hospital chapel in Toledo, Ohio. The murder was considered a cold case until 2004. TV Court reports:

TOLEDO, Ohio - Detectives investigating a nun's brutal murder 26 years ago in a hospital chapel were convinced a priest was the culprit, but did not have sufficient evidence to press charges, a retired police lieutenant testified Monday at the cleric's trial.

The officer recounted a host of promising early clues pointing toward the hospital chaplain, Rev. Gerald Robinson, in the 1980 slaying, including a potential murder weapon, witnesses and a strange lie by the priest.
[...]
The murder was consigned to the cold-case file until 2004 when detectives used new forensic techniques to link wounds on Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl's body and stains on an altar cloth to a letter opener found in Robinson's quarters at the hospital.

Read more...

Today, there was a new development in the case:

TOLEDO, Ohio - Blood on an altar cloth covering a nun's body and DNA traces on her underwear did not come from the priest charged with her killing 26 years ago, a DNA expert testified Wednesday.

The DNA found on Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was likely from a man, but tests did not link the sample to the Rev. Gerald Robinson, said Cassandra Agosti, a forensic analyst with the state's crime lab.

Prosecutors said the trace of DNA was so small that tests showing it came from a man might have been wrong, or the sample could have been left by investigators on the scene or in the coroner's office.

Read more...

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UPDATE May 5, 2006
The Associated Press reports more on the upside-down cross:

TOLEDO -- Investigators say stab wounds on the chest of a nun slain in a hospital chapel in 1980 formed an upside-down cross, a symbol that an expert on Roman Catholic law and the occult testified Monday has been used in satanic worship.

According to tradition, St. Peter asked to be crucified on an inverted cross because he believed he didn't deserve to die in the same manner as Jesus, said the Rev. Jeffrey Grob, associate vicar for canonical services in the Chicago archdiocese.

But the same symbol also has been used to mock the Catholic religion, he said.

"Any way you look at it, it's an affront to God," he said.

Read more...

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UPDATE May 11, 2006
The jury convicted Rev. Gerald Robinson of the murder of Sr. Margaret. The Associated Press reports:

TOLEDO, Ohio - A jury convicted a priest Thursday of killing a nun a day before Easter in 1980 in a hospital chapel, a slaying that prosecutors say was steeped with religious ritualism because of the pattern of her stab wounds.
[...]
The Rev. Gerald Robinson, a Roman Catholic chaplain at the hospital, worked closely with Sister Margaret Ann Pahl and presided at her funeral. He was a suspect early on but was not charged until two years ago.

Read more...

The part of him presiding at her funeral bothered me the most.

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UPDATE September 1, 2009
The Toledo Blade reports:

The DNA of notorious serial killer Coral Eugene Watts does not match a sample found on the fingernails of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, dealing another blow to Toledo priest Gerald Robinson's efforts to overturn his conviction in the nun's 1980 murder.
[...]
The Ohio Innocence Project, which joined Robinson's defense team in April, ordered the latest DNA test comparing Watts' sample with a minuscule amount of male chromosome found on the nun's fingernails.
[...]
"I would have been shocked" if they matched, said Thomas Staff, an investigator for the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office.

John Donahue, one of Robinson's defense attorneys, also said he had not expected a match.

"To be honest with you, I never gave a thought to Coral Watts as being the killer in this case," he said.

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Court TV: Full coverage of the trial.
CBS News: Timeline of events.
Court TV: Evidence File

Nuns and Geese

Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi in St. Francis, Wis. found a peaceful solution to keep the geese off the grounds of the order's national motherhouse.

The Associated Press reports:

Following in the tradition of their namesake's kindness to animals, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi are using two coyotes mounted by a taxidermist to keep geese off the grounds of the order's national motherhouse.

Sister Rose Sevenich, whose office overlooks the front walks on the grounds, said feces from the birds had caused a problem.

"It's a beautiful, parklike atmosphere," she said. "If they would just stay on the grass, it would be nice. But you're sloshing through this stuff as you're coming to the doors."

Groundskeepers put the mounted coyotes out each morning and take them in each afternoon, placing them in different locations each time to keep the geese guessing about whether they are real, said John Schmitt, the administrator of the complex.

Read more...

That's a great solution :-)

Honoring Bishop Kevin Manning

I was delighted to read that Parramatta's Bishop Kevin Manning received the 2006 Kahlil Gibran International Award. CathNews reports:

Bishop Kevin Manning received the 2006 Kahlil Gibran International Award at a celebration on Sunday night to mark the 25th anniversary of the Arabic Heritage League in Australia.
[...]
Bishop Manning said he was deeply honoured to receive the award, not only for the personal recognition, but for the recognition given to the positive role of religion in developing a culture of peace and harmony in the world.

He spoke of the need for many Australians to learn more about the contribution of Arab culture to our society and of the need for interfaith dialogues, particularly Christian-Muslim dialogue.

Read more...

More people need to follow in the footsteps of Bishop Manning.

A Soccer Game Between Imams and Pastors

FIFA World Cup will kick off next month in Germany. There are concerns that the neo-Nazis may try to disturb the games. BUT, the good news are more interesting. Deutsche Welle reports:

As part of an initiative aimed at increasing understanding among religions, Christian ministers will tackle Muslim imams in a pre-World Cup soccer friendly in Berlin. In an attempt to keep things clean and well represented, the match will be officiated by a Jewish referee. Reports of Buddhist waterboys and Hindu physiotherapists were unconfirmed at the time of publication.

The eight-a-side match is being organized by the German Protestant Church and will take place just over a month before the big World Cup kick-off on June 9.
[...]
Churches of different Christian denominations are also organizing a series of events including festivals and concerts under the banner "kickoff2006 - Kick-off Faith," using soccer's global appeal to promote tolerance and unity.

Read more...

I can't predict who's going to win this match. So, we have to wait until tomorrow to know the result of this interesting game.

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UPDATE I - May 6, 2006
The pastors won the game:

Berlin - A team of Christian priests thrashed a group of Muslim imams 12-1 to win Germany's first soccer cup between religious leaders on Saturday.

"We have tried for such a long time to strengthen the contact between the three faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam," said Imam Taha, who captained the Muslim squad. "I think we can say we have achieved that today."

Read more...

I guess German pastors are as good as any other German when it comes to soccer.

The Iraqi Christians Exodus

NOTE: Cross-posted on Fayrouz In Beaumont with minor modifications.

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Two years ago, I wrote an Op-Ed for The Dallas Morning News about the exodus of Iraqi Christians from Iraq. As usual, very few people cared at the time. Almost every time I wrote about the situation of Iraqi Christians, I got the deaf ear from people if not verbal insults.

USCIRF, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, announced its recommendations to Secretary of State Rice on countries of particular concern. Here's the interesting part [ Via TAI ]:

In Iraq, an escalation in the level of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims threatens to halt political reconstruction. Targets of religiously motivated attacks also include secular Muslims, non-Muslim minorities, and women. The result is that many non-Muslim minorities are leaving Iraq, an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient Christian and other communities that have lived on those same lands for 2,000 years.

Read more...

It only took two years for a U.S. government commission to confirm what I wrote back in 2004. They even used the word "exodus." That isn't bad after all.


And there's this from The Brownsville Herald:

May 2, 2006 - Three Iraqi men caught crossing the Rio Grande near Los Indios Saturday are asking for asylum, claiming they are members of the Middle Eastern nation's persecuted Christian minority.

Federal court records show that U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Ammar Habib Zaya, Aamr Bahnan Boles and Remon Manssor Piuz on an illegal entry charge shortly after they crossed into the United States from Mexico.

The three Iraqi nationals are facing six months in jail and a $5,000 fine after pleading guilty Monday to the federal misdemeanor before U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio.
[...]
The three are not expected to formally start the asylum process until after sentencing. A recent report, however, from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees shows that half of 500,000 Iraqi asylum seekers in Syria claim to be Christian despite making up less than 5 percent of Iraq's population.

Read more...

Many Iraqi Christians moved to Syria during the last two years. Their financial situation isn't great and their future is unpredictable. But they have peace of mind. At least for now.

A Blessing of The Home

O God,

make the door of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship, narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife.

Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling-block to children nor to straying feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter's power.

God, make the door of this house the gateway to your eternal kingdom.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Amen


Source: My church bulletin