First Iraqi Dominican dies

By La Croix International
Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner

Photo by Chaldean League

Ordained in the historically important city of Mosul in northern Iraq in 1954, Yousif Attisha joined the Dominican Order (Order of Preachers) a few years later.

An education specialist, he dedicated his life to teaching children and adults alike.

Amir Jaje, also an Iraqi Dominican, said Attisha was regarded affectionately as "a little like our father."

He died on June 2 and his funeral was celebrated on the afternoon of June 11 at the Convent of the Annunciation in Paris.

Born on 29 June 1928 in Mosul, he entered the minor seminary at the age of 15. After ordination he was sent to serve in a southern Basra parish.

Attisha then moved to Baghdad where he met the Dominicans and felt "called" to join them.

Wonderful catechist

His obituary said the priest was sent to Lille in France where he discovered the values of prayer, community life and preaching.

Attisha entered the Dominican Order in Lille in 1959 and took his simple vows the following year.

It was at the Saulchoir Dominican school of theology, in Etiolles near Paris, that he made his final profession.

In addition to his mission as a priest, Attisha was a wonderful catechist and loved to teach the young Dominican students.

In 1975, he returned to Baghdad where he taught theology to adults and catechism to children.

He participated in the activities of the Babel College for Philosophy and Theology, which was founded in the early 1990s against the backdrop of the First Gulf War.

Books and articles on education

Attisha translated many books into Arabic in the fields of education in general and Christian education in particular. He has also published a multitude of articles in the journal al-Fikr al-Masihi (Christian Thought), which was founded in 1965 by a congregation of Iraqi religious before later being taken over by the Dominicans and others.

Attisha spent his last years in a Dominican-run retirement home in Paris.

Two of Attisha's nieces traveled from the United States to attend his funeral, which was celebrated by Dominican Archbishop Najib Mikhael Moussa of Mosul.