Christians represent a tiny minority in the overwhelmingly Muslim state of Turkey. Yet in ancient times, following the missionary travels of Saint Paul, Turkey was once a part of the Christian heartland, with large numbers of believers! Today, from a population of 66 million Turks, less than 250,000 people belong to one or the other of the Christian churches, thereby making up only around 0.2% of the total population. Of these churches, the vast majority of approx. 65,000 believers belong to the (Orthodox) Armenian Apostolic Church. The Catholic Church and its various rites have around 30,000 believers. Archbishop Emeritus, Giuseppe Bernardini, of Izmir in western Turkey, talks for example of 30 families within his parish who came to Izmir during the deportation of the Armenians, or who are descendants of ancient Syrian-Chaldean families. In order to escape persecution they have become strongly assimilated into the Turkish population and even state on their identity cards that they are Muslims, in order to have a chance of finding work. Since there are no Catholic churches of the Oriental rite in Izmir, they have found their way into the Latin-rite Catholic Church. The war in Iraq has led to an increase in the number of Christians today in Istanbul. With the continuing insecurity after the death of Saddam Hussein, many Christian Iraqi families have been forced to leave their country and flee across the border between northern Iraq and Turkey. Currently there are no fewer than 4,500 Chaldean Catholics -- the rite to which these Iraqis belong -- living in Istanbul. Prior to this, the Chaldean Catholic community consisted of several parishes in eastern Turkey and Istanbul and their numbers had fallen to just 600 members! Although few in number they are doing their best – along with the Latin-Rite Catholics - to care for their still needier new arrivals from Iraq. The Salesians, for example, are looking after the needs of the children of these refugees and have set up a school especially for them. The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is supporting the work of these Catholic parishes and communities as much as possible. "On Sundays the churches are relatively full -- but mostly with illegal immigrants who are waiting here in hope of obtaining a visa to Canada, the USA or Australia. Above all Filipinos, but also Chaldean Catholics from Iraq", says Dirk Kennis, a member of the Focolare movement living in Istanbul for the past eight years. In an interview at the time of the Pope's visit in November 2006, he added "We are really grateful for the fact that the Holy Father has found his way here. I believe it is an important sign, above all for the Catholic churches, that they are supported by the Universal Church, a sign that the Pope himself wishes to be personally there for them." The Papal visit was indeed an encouraging sign for the local church. Now 10 young people - two each from the dioceses of Istanbul and Anatolia and from the Archdiocese of Izmir, together with representatives of the Armenian, Chaldean and Syrian Catholic communities, are hoping to visit the Holy Father in Sydney for World Youth Day. The extreme diaspora situation in which they are living has brought the Catholics of the various different rites closer together and as a show of unity they wish to travel as one group to WYD! Archbishop Luigi Padovese, who is chairman of the Turkish bishops' conference, has asked ACN to help cover the costs of this long journey. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) wants to make it possible for these ten young people from Turkey to enjoy this amazing faith experience.
The charity has promised to help fund the Turkish youth delegation to WYD 2008 with a grant of $43,000. To support this cause, please send your donation to
Aid to the Church in Need
PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148
or ring through your credit card donation to the Sydney office of ACN on
(02) 9679-1929
e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or Web:http://www.aidtochurch.org/
Anyone helping the campaign will be sent a Prayer card and Papal rosary of Pope Benedict XVI to prayer for the success of World Youth Day.