Could It Get Worse For The Iraqi Christians?

A few weeks ago, my friend's cousin was kidnapped in Iraq. Fortunately, he returned safely to his family. But, his safe return came at a price. His kidnappers gave him the choice of either being killed or released on the condition of him converting to Islam. You can guess which option he chose to guarantee his safe return.

My friend told me that since her cousin came back home, he hasn't been himself. He doesn't want to talk about the whole ordeal. He's silent most of the time.

Similar stories were reported lately where Iraqi Christians are being forced to either leave their homes or convert to Islam, especially at Al-Dora district in Baghdad:

Six Christian families from the Mualimien neighborhood of Baghdad’s Dora district have relocated to a church elsewhere in the city, said a Baghdad source who requested that the families’ location and identity remain anonymous.

Armed Sunnis told the families on Saturday (April 14) that an amir (independent Muslim prince or ruler) had issued a fatwa or judgment based on Islamic law against Dora’s Christians, the source said.

“They called the Christians infidels and told them, ‘If you don’t convert to Islam or leave your homes in 24 hours, we will kill you,’” the source told Compass after speaking with a member of the church helping the displaced Christians.

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many Iraqi families live(d) in Al-Dora including many of my friends and relatives. Most of them have moved to other areas after they received death threats from the armed militias.

If that wasn't enough, the armed militias have come up with a new tactic to drive Iraqi Christians from their homes:

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – “Get rid of the cross or we will burn your Churches”. This is the threat aimed at the Chaldean Church of Sts Peter and Paul, located in the ancient Christian quarter of Baghdad, Dora. Local sources say an unknown armed Islamic group is behind the threats which are inseminating terror in the capital. The Arab website Ankawa.com and Aina news agency speak of a campaign of persecution in act in the area. Even Mosul, a Sunni stronghold, the Christian presence is being gravely threatened.

Msgr. Shlemon Warduni, Chaldean auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, tells AsiaNews “in the last 2 months many Churches have been forced to remove their crosses from their domes”. In the case of the Church of St. George, assira, Muslim extremists took the situation into their own hands: they climbed onto the roof and ripped out the cross. In the Chaldean Church of St John, in Dora, which has been without a pastor for months now, the parishioners themselves decided to move the cross to a safer place following repeated threats.

Read more...

This is the real beginning of the end for the Iraqi Christian community that existed for thousands of years. We survived many storms. I'm not sure we can survive this one that seems to be getting worse by the day.

Please, keep the Iraqi Christian community in your prayers.

The Murder of Sisters Fadhila and Margaret Naoum

Last week, many media outlets and bloggers claimed the murder of two Iraqi nuns in the city of Kirkuk. The media got it wrong in regard to this story. The two murdered Iraqi Christians were laywomen and NOT nuns. Zenit News Agency reports:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, MARCH 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The murder of two elderly women of the Catholic Chaldean community in Kirkuk has heightened fears of the spread of anti-Christian violence in Iraq, says Archbishop Louis Sako.

The archbishop of the northern Iraqi diocese told the group Aid to the Church in Need that a Dominican nun telephoned him late Monday to report the death of Fadhila Naoum, 85, and her sister Margaret, 79.

The archbishop said the attackers broke into the home of the two women located near Kirkuk's city hall and a Dominican convent. The nuns had close links with the Naoum sisters.

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This doesn't make the crime less heinous. But, the media has a responsibility to check its sources before it publishes a report for the whole world to read and cause some to panic. I'm not asking too much from the media.

R.I.P Fadhila and Margaret.

11 Iraqi Christians Caught In Mexico

In the late 1990s, my best friend and her husband tried to enter the United States via Mexico. Their attempt failed when they were caught in Mexico carrying fake Mexican passports. They were shipped back to their country of departure after experiencing detention in Mexico. I lived in Australia at the time. Back then, I didn't know how popular these illegal immigration attempts among Iraqis were.

Two weeks ago, 11 Iraqi Christians were caught in Mexico with fake Mexican passports. I expected the Mexican authorities to deport them. Luckily, the Mexican authorities were more understanding this time:

MEXICO CITY — The head of Mexico's Immigration Institute said Wednesday the government won't deport or repatriate 11 Iraqi Christians detained Jan. 20 in the northern city of Monterrey.

Cecilia Romero said the detainees may be granted asylum or simply be freed and allowed to go where they want. The group of nine men, one woman and a two-year-old girl had said they were trying to reach California, where there is a sizable community of Iraqi Chaldean Christians.

"The situation in Iraq, as we all know, is a conflict situation," Romero told reporters. "The most recent group that arrived in Nuevo Leon were fleeing the war in their country, so we couldn't simply say to them 'go,' without raising the question, where?"

I don't approve of illegal immigration attempts. But, the current situation in Iraq is very dangerous and hopeless. There's no doubt those people went through too much. It explains their illegal attempt to enter Mexico and then the United States.

Fr. Douglas Al-Bazy Disapprears In Baghdad

UPDATE Nov. 28, 2006
This morning, I prayed to St. Anthony as his candle burned for Fr. Douglas. I prayed again for his safe return to his family, friends and church. This afternoon, I got the good news that Fr. Douglas has been released.

Thank you for everyone who prayed for his safe return. Thank you St. Anthony for your help.

---

ORIGINAL POST Nov. 20, 2006
Yet another sad story from Iraq. AsiaNews reports:

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – Christians in Baghdad fear yet another priest has been kidnapped. Fr Doglas Yousef Al Bazy - 34 years, Chaldean – left his parish yesterday morning and has not yet returned home.

The alarm was raised swiftly throughout Iraq and the diaspora via the Internet and SMS: the young priest’s community and leaders of Iraq’s Chaldean Church believe it is “highly likely” that he has been kidnapped. If their misgivings are proved right, this would be the latest in a long list of kidnappings targeting Christian clerics. Not only gangs of common criminals are suspected to be behind the spate of kidnappings.

The Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad, Mgr Shleman Warduni and the Iraqi Christian community have different theories regarding the latest wave of the kidnapping of Christian clergymen. AsiaNews reports:

The Auxiliary Bishop said: “There are many theories about why Christians are kidnapped: crime, religious fanaticism, money, the intent to create division among the people.” He continued: “We hope that those who have taken him have a conscience and understand that we priests desire only to bring the Good News to people and to work for the good of all Iraqis. We are for the unity of Iraq and we ask to be able to work together with our co-nationals to rebuild our country and to attain peace and security.” However, among the Chaldean community, the idea is increasingly taking hold that threats and kidnappings are not carried out indiscriminately, but that they “target those people who are most involved in the Christian community, the younger and more courageous ones, almost as if to give a warning to those who persist in hoping that they will be able to continue living in the country.”

I share the community's opinion. I think it's going to get worse for the community if the security situation doesn't improve.

Please, pray for the safe return of Fr. Doglas to his family, friends and church.

U.S. Bishops And The Plight of Iraqi Christians

It looks like the U.S. Catholic bishops have caught up with the serious situation facing the Iraqi Christians. Here's the latest:

WASHINGTON (October 30, 2006) — The chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Policy has asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to consider measures that would help improve the deteriorating situation for Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq.

In a letter to Secretary Rice, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando (FL) notes that Christians in Iraq continue to decline from a pre-war population of over 1.2 million to a current estimate of 600,000, and according to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, over 40 percent of Iraqi refugees are Christian even though they represent only about 4 percent of Iraq’s total population.

The following part is probably the strongest in his letter to Condi:

“The growing and deliberate targeting of Christians is an ominous sign of the breakdown in Iraqi society of civil order and inter-religious respect and represents a grave violation of human rights and religious liberty,” Bishop Wenski wrote, pointing to the recent beheading of a Syriac Orthodox priest in Mosul, the crucifixion of a Christian teenager in Albasra, the kidnapping for ransom of four priests and the rape of Christian women and teenage girls as indicators that the situation has reached a crisis point. “The vulnerability of Christians and other religious minorities is dramatic evidence of the serious and growing security challenges facing the entire nation of Iraq,” Bishop Wenski said.

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I've been writing about their difficult situation for the last three years. Most of the time, I get a deaf ear from both sides of American politics. At one point, I thought to stop writing on this subject and move on to more fluffy and happy news. I can't be silent anymore. If you're not interested in this subject, then you may need to stop reading this blog. I decided to continue to focus on this subject. Thank you for reading this far though.

The Diminished Iraqi-Jewish Community

I was always interested in the plight of Iraqi and Arab Jews. Then came the exodus of the Iraqi Christians from Iraq, which started after the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

I find similarities between the exodus of the two communities from a land they inhabited for thousands of years. I started to read any article related to the Iraqi and Arab Jews. I wanted to learn how they coped with their exodus.

According to Wikipedia [Via Mideast Youth], 135,000-140,000 Iraqi Jews lived in Iraq by the year 1948. By 2001, that number was down to 200. According to a recent article on Kuwait Times, very few Iraqi Jews still live in Iraq:

BAGHDAD: In his worn sandals and grey spotted shirt 82-year-old Abu Brahim-one of the last Jews in Baghdad, perhaps the last-seems tired but undaunted by the violence raging around him. "They came to take me away three years ago and wanted me to leave," said Brahim, explaining that well-wishers had wanted to evacuate him to safety in the chaos following the fall of Saddam Hussein. Old, but wiry and alert, Brahim remains determined to stay put. "Why should I leave? Why change? I always lived here. I do not want to shift," said Brahim.

According to the report, there's a synagogue in Baghdad that was built in 1942. I honestly never heard of the synagogue when I lived in Iraq. Kuwait Times has more details on the status of the synagogue:

Baghdad's main synagogue, standing behind a high beige brick wall, is located on a commercial street perpendicular to a large artery of the capital. It was built in 1942, according to an inscription on the front wall.

An Iraqi Shiite has the keys to the temple, and looks after it discreetly, but refuses to unlock it to visitors. "I have clear instructions. Nobody enters it. No movement inside," he stressed, refusing to give his name, and clearly both frightened and annoyed by the sudden visit of an AFP correspondent. Brahim does not need to go to the synagogue these days in any case. "There are no more prayers there. First there were people who came, but now perhaps there are still some Jews in Baghdad. I do not know. I do not see them any more," said Brahim,

This is very sad. Very soon I'll say the same about the few Iraqi Christians who continue to live in Baghdad, Basra and other troubled parts of Iraq.

Adopt an Iraqi Priest

 
I meant to publish this earlier. But, it's never too late to thank the Diocese of Turin in Italy for their support of the Iraqi Catholic priests.

Zenit reported:

Plan to Promote Long-Distance "Adoption" of Priests in Iraq

Initiative of Archdiocese of Turin

TURIN, Italy, SEPT. 22, 2004 (Zenit.org).- In the wake of attacks on churches in Iraq that prompted some Christians to emigrate, the Archdiocese of Turin has launched a plan to "adopt" Catholic priests in that country.

The project, entitled "I Have a New Friend: An Iraqi Chaldean Priest," is beginning with the objective to help 10 young parish priests of Baghdad.

Organizers of the initiative told ZENIT that the financial aid sent to these priests will be used "to improve the conditions of life of the communities themselves, by committing themselves to invest it, in the measure allowed by the situation."

The founders and directors of the project are Italian Father Fredo Olivero, who heads the archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Care for Emigrants; and Iraqi Father Douglas Shamshoon Al Bazi, parish priest of the Chaldean churches of Mar Mari and Mar Ephrem in Baghdad, and director of the Baghdad Catechesis Center.

The initiative has the approval of Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Isaac Jacques.

Father Olivero referred to the Chaldean priests the program aims to help.

"Each one of them knows his community and its needs, and each one is aware that material aid is useful if it is accompanied by the cultural growth that the aid can promote," the Italian priest said. "A growth that, although addressed to all, is oriented in particular to children, who need to be able to count on the hope of a better future."

The organizers stipulate that whoever commits himself to adopt an Iraqi priest must do so for at least one year.

The amount established "for the year 2004 is 1,000 euros" which "corresponds to the total annual figure that Iraqi young priests receive," Father Olivero added.

The project provides for direct contact between the priest and those who adopt it, which can be one person or a group.

ChaldoAssyrian Winners In The Iraqi Elections

I'm getting a lot of hits from search engines looking for ChaldoAssyrian winners. So, here are the ChaldoAssyrian winners:

• Iraqi National Assembly:
  1. Mrs. Wijdan Michael.
  2. Mrs. Jacklyn Qosin Zomaya.
  3. Gorael Isho Khamis.
  4. Yonadem Yousif Khanna.
  5. Abelhed Afram Sawa.
  6. Saleem Potrus Elias.
  


• Kurdistan National Assembly:
  1. Mrs. Bayzar Melko Rohan.
  2. Mrs. Klaweez Shaba.
  3. Anderyos Yokhana Korkis.
  4. Romeo Hakari.
  5. Jamal Shamon Elia.
  


• Arbil (hawler) Province Council:
  1. Ms. Sanaa Yagoub Fillo.
  


• Mosul Province Council:
  1. Jefara Zeya Youkhana.
  ** I think Jefara is a female. But, I'm not too sure.
  


• Dehuk Province Council:
  1. Mrs. Shammeram Misho Zyro.
  2. Korkis Shlaymon Khani.
  


• Kirkuk Province Council:
  1. Ms. Silvana Boya Nasir.
  

[Source: Ankawa.com]

Yonadem Yousif Khanna was the only direct winner. He ran under the ChaldoAssyrian Al-Rafidain List. The rest ran either under the Kurds Alliance or Iraqi Alliance List led by Iyad Allawi.

I'm happy to see females on the winners lists. Pretty cool.