World Youth Day 2008 And The Iraqi Youth

Next week, more than 125,000 international visitors will attend World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Unfortunately, the Iraqi Christians youth team has been denied the opportunity to meet with the youth from around the world.

BaghdadHope wrote on his blog:

On March 2007 Father Rayan P. Atto, parish priest of the Chaldean church of Mar Qardagh in Erbil, expressed a dream. Today, more than a year after, but less than two weeks before the start of the World Youth Day in Australia that dream has been broken.

Alternating sad and angry tones Father Rayan from Erbil explains to Baghdadhope the end of that hope: "Last week the Australian Embassy in Amman to which we referred to for the bureaucratic papers required for our attendance at the WYD told to Father Bashar Warda, our group leader, that the visas had been denied "

Why?

"Because of the fear that some of the participants of the Iraqi delegation would not return home seeking refuge in Australia"

Can you affirm that this fear is unfounded?
"Yes. I can affirm it. To be present at the World Youth Day in Sydney for young Iraqi Christians was not a system to leave their country. Most of the subscribers to the group come from north Iraq, a calm area. They have no reasons to flee and certainly would not have done it exploiting an opportunity linked to faith. We are not talking of a vacation, but of a sort of pilgrimage that would made those young people feel part of a community gathered to meet, exchange views, pray."

As an Australian citizen, I'm saddened by this news. In my opinion, this is bureaucracy in action. It's not that everything else is going well with the preparations for the WYD Sydney 2008. This simply puts icing on the cake.

Chaldean Diocese of Australia/New Zealand

From the time I moved to Sydney in 1995, the Iraqi Chaldean community continued to grow in number. When I moved to the States in 2001, the Sydney Chaldean community finished building its first church.

The Chaldean community in Melbourne and New Zealand has grown at the same pace. Thanks to the immigration laws in Australia and New Zealand. People with proper education are able to immigrate to these two countries. Others arrive as refugees, but that's the hard way to get into those two countries.

It looks like the Pope noticed the growing number of this Eastern Rite Catholic community in Australia/New Zealand:

Australian and New Zealand Catholics who follow the Chaldean Rite will have their own Oceania eparchy or diocese and bishop, the Holy See announced on Saturday.

The President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Philip Wilson, welcomed the creation by Pope Benedict XVI of the Chaldean Eparchy of Oceania with the title of "St Thomas the Apostle of Sydney of the Chaldeans".

The Pope has appointed Archbishop Djibrail Kassab of Bassorah (Basra) in Iraq as the first Bishop of the new Eparchy. Archbishop Kassab will retains his title of Archbishop "ad personam", the Holy See announcement said.

Read more...

Archbishop Djibrail Kassab is one of a kind. He's very energetic when it comes to his church duties. I attended mass at the Sacred Heart Chaldean Church in Baghdad while he was still the parish priest. After I left the country, he became the Archbishop of the Diocese of Basra. Basra is my beloved city of birth and residence for the first 22 years of my life. It's strange how he ended up in Sydney and Basra. The two cities I love the most.

Anyway, he needed this move after years of serving the Chaldean community in Basra during the good and bad times. As they say, Basra's loss is Australia's gain. I wish him luck in his new destination.