By BaghdadhopeOn Saturday, June 14, a ceremony was held in Ankawa for the closing of the academic year of Babel College. The second academic year since when, in January 2007, the only Christian theological faculty in Iraq was forced to leave its historical seat in the district of Dora in Baghdad to transfer its activities in the north because of the situation of insecurity. To obtain the licence were, following the ecumenical tradition of Babel College, students belonging not only to the Chaldean Church that runs the institution, but also to other churches: Naur Hanush and Raad Hanna of the Syriac Catholic church that was represented by the bishop of Mosul, Mgr. George Qas Moussa, Sana 'Aliahu of the Assyrian church, Sevan Nazareth of the Armenian church and the Chaldean monk Ayub Shawkat.
The ceremony, important for its solemnity and as the demonstration of the continuity of a cultural tradition living, despite the difficulties, since 1991, brought together, after a long time, the Iraqi Chaldean church that in the last year had seen episodes of disagreement among its ranks. Disagreements that had became public in June 2007 in occasion of the Chaldean synod held in Al Qosh. A synod the decisions of which were suspended because of a "leak" and that saw the absence of five bishops who had declared its boycott.
Last Saturday, however, in Ankawa three of those five bishops were present. With the Chaldean Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III Delly, the rector of Babel College, Mgr. Jacques Isaac, and the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, Mgr. Shleimun Warduni, there were, in fact, Mgr. Louis Sako, bishop of Kirkuk, Mgr. Mikha Paulus Maqdassi, Bishop of Al Qosh and Mgr. Rabban Al Qas, bishop of Amadhiya and still patriarchal administrator of Erbil, since the appointment of the bishop of the city in the person of the Chaldean monk Fadi Isho was suspended following the betrayal of the synodal secret on last June.
Last Saturday, however, in Ankawa three of those five bishops were present. With the Chaldean Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III Delly, the rector of Babel College, Mgr. Jacques Isaac, and the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, Mgr. Shleimun Warduni, there were, in fact, Mgr. Louis Sako, bishop of Kirkuk, Mgr. Mikha Paulus Maqdassi, Bishop of Al Qosh and Mgr. Rabban Al Qas, bishop of Amadhiya and still patriarchal administrator of Erbil, since the appointment of the bishop of the city in the person of the Chaldean monk Fadi Isho was suspended following the betrayal of the synodal secret on last June.
Three bishops who in an open letter published by Asia News on last July declared to have refused to participate in the synod because of their disagreement with its agenda and who, among the priorities of ecclesial work to be pursued, cited precisely the situation of the major Chaldean seminary and of Babel College by saying, these are the exact words published by Asia News, that it was necessary to "to find a proper place and direction to enable students to pursue their call of priesthood and choose a spiritual director. The seminary team should be a model for the seminarians to achieve their priesthood. To develop and progress the Babel College, (faculty of theology) for which the students of all churches have their theological formation. "
Words that seemed to many critic of the management of both institutions.
Is the presence of the three senior prelates at the ceremony in Ankawa a sign of new developments inside the Chaldean church? Only time will tell. Or maybe another synod, when, once "unlocked" the situation of last year, it will be convened. Maybe in Rome, "under the auspices of the Holy Father" as the bishops who had not participated in the synod of Al Qosh had explicitly requested.