By Baghdadhope*The territory of the Church of the Ascension in Baghdad is the largest among those of the other Chaldean Catholic churches in the city. It is located in the district of Hay Al Hamin in Baghdad Jadida, a predominantly Shiite area at south east of the city centre. The parish priest, since 32 years ago, is Father Jamil Nissan who told to Baghdadhope about a life of light and shadow, marked by the hope of not seeing the disappearing of the Christians from the country but also by the increasing difficulties the community is facing.
"I'm saddened," said Father Nissan "saddened by what is happening to my people, my confession and to my country."
Fr. Nissan is, and shows to be, fiercely Iraqi. "No offense," he says "but I would not change a square metre of my country with all Italy. I love my country and its people but I am more and more worried. The Christians are disappearing. If we talk about numbers this phenomenon is clearly visible. Although the flight from the country of Christians already begun since 1991, from the time of the first Gulf War and the beginning of the embargo, before 2003 the Church of the Ascension had over 4,000 families. Since the beginning of 2010 I personally visited 860 families, mostly Chaldean but also Christians of other confessions, and I still have to visit about 600 other families, to be optimistic. A bid decrease. Each year about 50 children are missing for the first communion compared to the previous year, in 2010 I celebrated 16 wedding in 6 months while the average was about 100 and 37 baptisms per year against about 200 of the past. "
Why Christians are fleeing?
"They do it because to live in Iraq, and in Baghdad in particular, is not easy. 7 years after the war we are still lacking basic services: water, electricity, garbage collection, roads, employment and especially security. They do because they are victims of violence. Violence that is not systematic but continuous. A few weeks ago right next to my church someone killed a man who left a widow and four children. I learned that six families related to that man have already left the area. Once we, as priests, were aware of what our people did. We were their referents. Now the families leave and not even tell us. They are afraid of everything. They undersell their asset, if they have, and run away. It’s really sad. Those abandoned houses often in a hurry will never be inhabited by Christians who no longer have money to buy they or have only one thought in mind: to flee abroad."
What does the Church, as an institution, do to try to stem the flow?
"The church did nothing and has no power to do anything neither for the Christians in Iraq nor for those who now live abroad. Many priests look for the ways to stay close to their faithful. We cannot change the course of events related to political choices made in previous years, but we can make feel the presence of the church and try to be helpful. We stayed in Iraq for the people, the poor people, because in our country the relationship between priests and believers is still very tight so that if a priest is forced to leave the area where he operates many families tend to follow him. Just as how happened in Dora, the scene, since 2004, of violence that hit the community and where the kidnappings of priests emptied the area of its Christian inhabitants."
In the Church of the Ascension are there many activities for the faithful?
"There is a kindergarten for children aged from three to five and a small infirmary with a chemical analysis laboratory and a pharmacy where each service is free and where in the four opening days work, paid by the church, four doctors including a Muslim one who examine the patients, make ultrasound examinations and, if necessary, send patients to best equipped facilities. This service is very much appreciated by the Muslims of the area who represent the 90% of patients, sometimes just to get free medicine without asking to be examined by the doctor.”
What about security?
"Security is a word that in Baghdad still has a strange meaning. Iraqi people had to learn particular behaviors. When I go to visit a family, for example, I travel with a driver and a female catechist because two men in a car arouse suspicion while the presence of a woman suggests to be a family and attracts less attention."
Are the churches protected?
"In front of every church there is a roadblock made by a police and a army patrol but someone thinks that in some cases they are harmful. Not only they are unable to secure protection in case of a well organized and preordained attack but as government representatives they may themselves become targets and involve who and what is near to them.”
Fr. Nissan, how can you get out of this situation?
"It’s hard to say. Without any doubt not to have a government months after elections is serious. The state must then resolve what now, as I said, are the problems of everyday life: security, water, electricity, transport and waste. It 's necessary to concentrate all efforts in creating jobs for young people who are the true hope of the future but jobs not related to a specific political affiliation.The government must not forget the most important thing: the past divided us but the future cannot disregard what we are, we "all" are: Iraqis!"