By Baghdadhope*
On February 9, despite the many absences, it was held in the Armenian Orthodox monastery of St. Karabet in Baghdad the meeting of the Council of Heads of Christian communities in Iraq." Present at the meeting were the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church, Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III Delly, the Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East, Mar Addai II, eleven bishops and four representatives of the Latin, Protestant, Evangelical and Presbyterian churches.
The bishops and archbishops attending the meeting were:
Msgr. Louis Sako (Chaldean Church - Kirkuk)
Msgr. Shleimun Warduni (Chaldean Church- Baghdad)
Msgr. Jacques Isaac (Chaldean Church - Baghdad)
Msgr. Andraous Abouna (Chaldean Church - Baghdad)
Msgr. Avak Asadorian (Armenian apostolic Church - Baghdad)
Msgr. Emmanuel Dabaghian (Armenian Catholic Church - Baghdad)
Msgr. George Alqas Musa (Syriac Catholic Church - Mosul)
Msgr. Matti S. Matoka (Syriac Catholic Church - Baghdad)
Msgr. Severius J. Hawa (Syriac Orthodox Church - Baghdad)
Msgr. Timotheus Musa Alshamami (Syriac Orthodox Church. Eparchy of the monastery of Mar Matti)
Msgr. Gewargis Sliwa (Assyrian Church of the East - Baghdad)
At the end of the meeting Msgr. Avak Asadorian, bishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church in Iraq and Msgr. George Alqas Musa, Syriac Catholic Bishop of Mosul, were appointed respectively General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary of the Council .
The Council gathers the churches of the minority communities officially recognized by the official gazette No. 2867 of 18 January 1982, as they are cited in the final report of the meeting, namely:
Chaldean Community (Chaldean Church)
Athuri Community (Ancient Church of the East Church)
Nestorian Athuri Community (Assiryan Church of the East)
Syriac Orthodox Community(Syriac Orthodox Church)
Syriac Catholic Community (Syriac Catholic Church)
Armenian Orthodox Community (Armenian Orthodox Church)
Armenian Catholic Community (Armenian Catholic Church)
Rum Orthodox Community (Rum Orthodox Church)
Rum Catholic Church (Rum Catholic Church)
Latin Community (Latin Church)
Protestant National English Community (Presbyterian Church)
English Protestant Athuri Community
Seventh-day Adventist Community
Coptic Orthodox Community (Coptic Orthodox Church)
The Council had already met in March 2009, but that of 9 February was its first operational meeting.
"The goal of the meeting of the Council was to develope a better organization among the churches and to find a common position" told to Baghdadhope Msgr. Louis Sako, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk.
"It was a meeting marked by dialogue between the parties," added to Baghdadhope Msgr. Shleimun Warduni, Chaldean Patriarchal Vicar. "No fundamental decisions have been taken but we exchanged views about the fundamental principles to be followed in the future, first among them the unity among the churches. Any effort in this sense by the representatives of the churches is viewed positively." "In this regard" continued the prelate "we mentioned the desire that we know is that of the majority of Christians to reunify the holy recurrences such as Christmas, and we hope that it can be put into practice in the future."
Q: The patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East, Mar Addai II, already suggested such a reunification in the past ... "Yes, but it was never put into practice. For this reason it was one of the topics under discussion."
D. The exact name of the Council is the "Council of heads of Christian communities in Iraq." The term "Tawā'if" means communities but also "sects", "religious minorities", "ethnic minorities". Can't the use of this term remark your being a minority in spite of the numerous statements according to which you want to be considered first of all "Iraqis"?
"Tawā'if is the term used in official documents and we decided not to change it by now."
Q: Considering it was a meeting of the Council of Heads of Christian communities operating at the national level there were not many ecclesiastical representatives from outside Baghdad. Why?
"Someone had previous commitments and maybe someone has been prevented from attending the meeting for security reasons. Even the Latin bishop of Baghdad, Msgr. Jean B. Sleiman sent a representative."
Q. Talking about security, how is the situation with the approach of the elections in Iraq that always meant attacks and blood?
"Even in the precarious conditions Iraq is there is a slight improvement. But this does not relieve us from concern, we never know what it can happen even within an hour. What we can do is to pray and to hope. "