Iraq: Kirkuk, sciiti e sunniti esprimono solidarietà ai cristiani dopo le ultime violenze

Fonte: SIR

Questa mattina 30 capi delle tribù arabe sciite provenienti dal Sud dell’Iraq si sono recate a Kirkuk, insieme ad alcuni capi religiosi sunniti per esprimere alla comunità cristiana locale vicinanza e solidarietà dopo l’uccisione del 55enne infermiere cristiano, Imad Elia Abdul Karim, rapito il 3 ottobre. A rivelare la notizia al SIR è l’arcivescovo di Kirkuk, mons. Louis Sako. “I capi religiosi sciiti provenienti da località come Najef e Karbala e quelli sunniti ci hanno espresso tutta la loro solidarietà – dichiara mons. Sako - hanno condannato gli attacchi contro i cristiani e hanno lanciato un appello al governo perché protegga gli abitanti. Abbiamo anche ricevuto visite da parte di tante persone di Kirkuk”. Subito dopo la notizia del rapimento di Imad Elia mons. Sako aveva lanciato appelli alle autorità per chiederne la liberazione parlando anche di “situazione preoccupante per la comunità cristiana sempre più oggetto di minacce e violenza. I cristiani sono cittadini iracheni e come tali vogliono contribuire al bene del Paese”. Il clima di paura, alimentato da questo ultimo fatto tragico, sta spingendo molte famiglie cristiane a lasciare la città.

Iraq: Kirkuk, Shiites and Sunnites assure Christians of their solidarity after the latest violence

Source: SIR

Thirty leaders of Shiite Arab communities from Southern Iraq along with some Sunni religious chiefs have come to Kirkuk this morning to assure the local Christian community of their closeness and solidarity after the assassination of Imad Elia Abdul Karim, the 55-year-old Christian nurse who was kidnapped on 3 October. The news was relayed to the SIR by archbishop of Kirkuk Mgr Louis Sako. “Sunni and Shiite religious leaders coming from regions like Najef and Karbala have expressed us their sympathy condemning the attacks against Christians and urging the government to protect the inhabitants. Many people from Kirkuk have also come to visit us”. As soon as he heard the news of the kidnapping of Imad Elias, Mgr Sako appealed to the authorities asking for his liberation. He also called the situation of the Christian community in Iraq “worrying" for Christians more and more subject to threats and violence. Christians are Iraqi citizens and, as such, want to contribute to the well-being of the country." The fear fuelled by this tragic event is forcing many Christian families to flee the country.

Christians press for autonomy

Source: The National

Phil Sands, foreign correspondent

Sarkis Agajan at home in Erbil on August 8, 2009. Phil Sands / The National
A Kurdistan politician, dreaming of an independent region for Christians, offered free homes as they fled the violence in Baghdad after the US invasion. His secrecy about the plan, however, has raised the suspicion of his opponents, Phil Sands, foreign correspondent, reports.

Erbil, Iraq. When Sarkis Agajan was a child, he harboured a dream that one day there would be a corner of Muslim-dominated Iraq set aside for Christians. An independent area where they could rule themselves and, if necessary, be safe from their enemies.
With the country now gripped by instability, the reclusive 46-year-old believes there is a unique opportunity to push the controversial plan ahead.“We have been demanding autonomy from the last century, but the national and international circumstances meant it was something we couldn’t realise,” Mr Agajan said in a rare interview with The National at his opulent Erbil home. “Then in 2004 our people were displaced and that gave me the momentum and enthusiasm to go on.”
As sectarian violence engulfed post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, terrified Christian families began to flee from Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. Mr Agajan gave them an attractive alternative to leaving the country entirely: he offered to build for them each, free of charge, a new house in the predominantly Christian parts of northern Iraq where the security situation was less dire.The population of Christian villages had been dwindling since the 1950s, as residents moved abroad or to the big cities. The migration was accelerated, sometimes forcibly, under the Baathist regime, and Iraqi Christians began to assimilate into a national culture that was officially secular and, at street level, primarily Islamic.
It was a trend that alarmed Christian nationalists, stoking fears their religion and culture were withering away and would eventually disappear. In the carnage and bloodshed following the US-led invasion of 2003 however, Mr Agajan and his supporters saw a chance to reverse the tide and repopulate the villages.“The fact of Christians fleeing the country was closely linked to the idea of autonomy for our people,” he said. “You cannot have autonomy unless you have living villages, and you cannot have living villages unless someone wants to stay there."
“When we have our people on our land we will be in a better position to demand our rights.”After a series of bomb explosions outside churches in Baghdad in 2004, Mr Agajan, at the time deputy prime minister in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), set up rehousing committees for Christians leaving the capital. They received the refugees in Kurdistan and began building homes for those who made a pledge to stay.
Since then, Mr Agajan said, 105 villages or compounds were rebuilt, and at least two settlements constructed, which accommodated 20,000 displaced Christians in Ninewah, Dohuk and Erbil provinces. It is these areas that Mr Agajan hopes will one day form an autonomous Christian land, although he admits the precise boundaries have not been defined, even in his mind.Key Christian villages are in the heart of disputed zones claimed both by Kurds and Arabs, putting the Christian autonomy project firmly in the centre of one of Iraq’s most divisive political issues. This year, the Kurdish authorities, in principle, recognised the right of Christian autonomy in areas under their administration. Baghdad has yet to do the same.
“It is really problematic to answer the question of borders,” Mr Agajan said. “Our people live in Ninewah province administered by Baghdad, and others are in Dohuk province, administered from Kurdistan.“The fate of our people in Ninewah hasn’t been settled, they are included in Article 140 [dealing with] disputed areas, but we will not wait anymore for that issue to be decided. We already have villages in the Kurdish areas where we can establish our autonomous institutions.
“We are not in a position to wait for the whole [Christian] area to be unified and then demand autonomy. We are demanding autonomy in both places. It is probable that the areas belonging to Ninewah will not be part of the KRG, but if we have a national right [to autonomy] within the Iraqi constitution then we will be in a position to establish autonomy in areas outside of the KRG as well.”Other details of what a future autonomous Christian area would look like remain similarly vague. There is talk of governmental institutions with independent budgets, a security force and police service, autonomous laws and elections that all Iraqi Christians can participate in and equal rights for non-Christians living in the autonomous zone. The Christian area would remain inside a federal Iraq. Such matters can be thrashed out at a future date, according to Mr Agajan. His opponents – many of whom are other Christians – insist that without clarity all talk of autonomy is empty.
The plan is highly contentious, even among Christians – some fear the creation of a religious ghetto – and Mr Agajan himself has been at the heart of the controversy. His opponents accuse him of being obsessively secretive, both personally and in his political designs.Millions of dollars have been pumped into rebuilding the villages but no one seems sure of exactly how much or where the money comes from, prompting speculation of varying plausibility: that the Vatican has been pouring in cash; that Mr Agajan uses his own money; that American and European donors are trying to divide and weaken Iraq via the Christians; that the Kurdish are buying Christian lands and loyalty as part of their own independence project, using Mr Agajan as a front.
Mr Agajan’s own explanation is more prosaic. As a powerful politician in the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party, he was able to direct KRG money to projects of his choosing, and he chose the villages.“It’s all government money and as you know, whatever is spent in the KRG, there is auditing and follow up,” he said. He, however, declined to put even an approximate figure on how much had been spent to date. “It’s quite normal in eastern countries to mention the prime minister doing this project as if it’s his own money, even if it isn’t. People think it’s a personal project,” he said.
“I was deputy prime minister. They have the power to order projects to be held, that’s part of his powers. I enjoy this authority. When I have this authority why wouldn’t I use it for my own people. This is a natural right.”Open political allegiance to the Kurds is perhaps the major cause of suspicion about Mr Agajan’s motives and plans. Even some Christians who favour autonomy believe he is willingly working for – or being unwittingly manipulated by – Kurdish interests. The Kurds have made little secret of their belief that large areas of Ninewah belong to them, and a Kurd-funded Christian autonomous zone could end up as a proxy for Erbil, handing the Kurds de facto control of the territory they covet.
Whatever the outcomes of the autonomy project, Mr Agajan made it evident that his own motivations are religious. “I’m very religious,” Mr Agajan said. “For everything I do, I have instructions from the Holy Spirit. I never plan. It is Jesus Christ who plans things in me. Quite often when I plan something in my mind, the Holy Spirit will advise me not to do this. “Although this might be seen as something of a weakness for a politician, for me it is a power.”

Kirkuk, ucciso infermiere cristiano. Mons. Sako: situazione “preoccupante”

Fonte: Asianews

E’ stato ritrovato ucciso Imad Elia Abdul Karim, 55enne infermiere cristiano, rapito il 3 ottobre scorso davanti la sua abitazione, nel quartiere di Mualimin, a Kirkuk. Fonti locali riferiscono ad AsiaNews che ieri sera, verso le 11, la polizia ha ritrovato il cadavere dell’uomo “gettato” sulla strada fra il quartiere di Dumez e Asra Wa Mafqudin: è lo stesso luogo in cui sono stati uccisi, in passato, Aziz Risqo – un importante funzionario cristiano della città – e altre due donne. Da un primo referto medico, il corpo “presenta segni evidenti di torture”.
Ieri mons. Louis Sako, arcivescovo di Kirkuk, ha lanciato un appello alle autorità e ai giornali locali per la liberazione, definendo la situazione dei cristiani “preccupante” perché negli ultimi mesi sono sempre più “bersaglio di minacce, sequestri e omicidi”. Il rapimento è avvenuto la sera del 3 ottobre. Durante le concitate fasi dell’assalto, il gruppo – formato da tre persone – ha aperto il fuoco ferendo l’uomo, sposato e padre di due figli. Fonti locali spiegano che Imad Elia Abdulkarim stava riparando la sua automobile, quando è sopraggiunto un “gruppo di tre persone che ha sparato” all’indirizzo dell’uomo. Gli assalitori lo hanno sequestrato, facendo perdere le loro tracce.
“Imad – afferma un cristiano – è un uomo molto conosciuto nell’ambiente della sanità a Kirkuk”. All’origine del sequestro potrebbero esservi sia un’eventuale richiesta di denaro, oppure legami con l’attività professionale dell’uomo.
La comunità cristiana conferma il clima di “paura” per i numerosi casi di “sequestri e omicidi avvenuti quest’anno”. In seguito al rapimento del medico Samir Gorja, rivela una fonte locale, alcune famiglie “hanno lasciato la città. Il governo non fa nulla e i cristiani – denuncia – sono diventati un obiettivo” da colpire. Ieri pomeriggio l’arcidiocesi di Kirkuk aveva lanciato un appello per la liberazione dell’infermiere 55enne. In un messaggio a media e autorità cittadine, mons. Louis Sako confermava che “i cristiani sono un obiettivo delle violenze” e denuncia quanti “mirano a guadagni politici” o “approfittano di una mancanza di ordine” per perpetrare sequestri e chiedere “riscatti in denaro”. “Tutti sanno – ricordava il prelato – che i cristiani sono cittadini di questo Paese e di questa città; nessuno ha dubbi circa la loro devozione alla patria, la loro sincerità”. Egli parla di “atti contro cristiani che vogliono avere un ruolo nella ricostruzione della nazione”, di “una cultura dell’umiliazione che rifiutiamo con forza” e invita “le autorità governative, le persone oneste dell’Iraq e di Kirkuk a fare di tutto per proteggere i cittadini, chiunque essi siano”. Rinnovando la richiesta di “dialogo e cooperazione sincera”, mons. Sako chiedeva “ai rapitori di Imad Elia Abdul Karim di temere Dio” e di rilasciare l’ostaggio perché potesse “tornare alla famiglia e ai figli il più presto possibile”. Un appello che è rimasto inascoltato.(DS)

Kirkuk, a Christian nurse killed. Archbishop Sako: the situation is "worrying

Source: Asianews

Imad Elias Abdul Karim, 55 year-old Christian nurse who was kidnapped on 3 October in front of his home in the suburb of Mualimin in Kirkuk, has been found dead. Local sources tell AsiaNews that yesterday evening, at about 11, police found the body of man "thrown" on the road between the district and Dumez and Asra Mafqudin Wa: the same place where in the past Risq Aziz - a Christian and ranking official of the city - and two other women were killed. From an initial medical report, the body "has obvious signs of torture."
Yesterday, Msgr. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, appealed to authorities and local papers for the man’s release, calling the situation of Christians "worrying" because in recent months they have increasingly become the "target of threats, kidnappings and assassinations." The attack took place on the evening of October 3. During the hectic assault, the group - made up of three people - opened fire, wounding the man, a husband and father of two children. Local sources state that Imad Elias Abdulkarim was on his way to his car when a "group of three people who shot" at the man appeared. The assailants kidnapped him, disappearing without trace.
"Imad - says a Christian – was well known in the health circles in Kirkuk”. Requests for a ransom or the man’s professional activity could be behind the seizure.
The Christian community confirms the climate of "fear" for the numerous cases of kidnappings and killings this year. "Following the kidnapping of Doctor Samir Gorj”, reveals a local source, “some families have left the city. The government does nothing and Christians – he complains - have become an easy target". Yesterday afternoon, the Archdiocese of Kirkuk had launched an appeal for the liberation of 55-year old nurse. In a message to the media and city officials, Msgr. Louis Sako confirmed that "Christians are a target of violence" and denounced those who "seek political gain" or are "taking advantage of a lack of order" to commit kidnapping and demand "ransom." "Everybody knows - the prelate recalled - that Christians are citizens of this country and this city and no one has any doubts about their devotion to their country or their sincerity." He speaks of "acts against Christians who want to have a role in rebuilding the nation," of "a culture of humiliation that we reject with force" and "calls on government authorities, the decent people of Iraq and Kirkuk, to do everything to protect all citizens, whoever they are". Renewing the call for "dialogue and sincere cooperation", Msgr. Sako asked “the kidnappers of Imad Elias Abdul Karim to fear God" and to release the hostage so he could "return to his family and children as soon as possible." An appeal that went unheard. (DS)

Jolie urges world not to forget Iraqi refugees

Source: AP

By Albert Aji (AP)

Damascus, Syria — Angelina Jolie met with Iraqi refugees in Syria on Friday and urged the world not to forget the plight of those among them who cannot return home because of the trauma they suffered and the country's instability.
Jolie visited Syria in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, and was accompanied by her partner, Brad Pitt, the agency said.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees have returned home from Syria and other neighboring countries over the past year, but many more are unable or unwilling to return to a country still shaken by violence.
"Most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services," a UNHCR statement quoted Jolie as saying. "They will, therefore, be in need of continued support from the international community."

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Out Of Iraq: The U.S. Legal Regime Governing Iraqi Refugee Resettlement

Source: Rutgers School of Law/Newark

By Jennifer Rikoski and Jonathan Finer

Rutgers Law Record

Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, an estimated 2 million Iraqis have fled to Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and other neighboring countries, and another 2.7 million are "internally displaced," meaning uprooted from their homes, but still within Iraq. Many fled not during the invasion, but later, because of the sectarian violence that erupted across the country after the bombing of the Al-Askari mosque in Samarra in February 2006, leading to the Middle East's gravest humanitarian crisis since the Palestinian diaspora of 1948.
Syria hosts roughly 1.4 million Iraqi refugees, many of whom arrived before October 2007 when its virtually porous border with Iraq was closed. Jordan, which effectively closed its border in late 2006, is thought to host approximately 500,000 Iraqi refugees, a group that on average tends to be more affluent and well educated.

Most Iraqi refugees live in cramped apartments in Damascus and Amman, rather than in refugee camps. Although they have access to health care and public schools for their children, few have the right to work and they must survive off of savings or blackmarket labor, making permanent absorption into these countries untenable.
While the hope is that most can eventually return to Iraq, for many, repatriation is simply impossible any time soon. Those who worked with Americans, for example as interpreters, cooks, or building civil society in Iraq, are indelibly branded "traitors" for "collaborating with the invaders." Others, such as secular professionals and religious minorities like the Yezedi and Assyrian Christians, risk being killed by extremists that the Iraqi government tacitly supports or is unable to control. During the peak of sectarian fighting, many Iraqis' homes were destroyed or occupied, causing previously mixed neighborhoods to become increasingly homogeneous. Conditions remain particularly harsh for internally-displaced Iraqis, with many lacking drinkable water, food, and shelter. For many of these Iraqis, moving to a third country is the only realistic solution.
The three main paths for an Iraqi to immigrate to the United States are resettlement in the country as a refugee, asylum for those already within U.S. borders, and "special immigrant visas" for Iraqis who have worked for the U.S. government in Iraq. Fewer than 25,000 Iraqis have been provided a safe haven in the United States since the U.S. invasion: 19,910 Iraqis have arrived as refugees, just over one thousand have been granted asylum, and roughly another thousand have arrived on special immigrant visas. To its credit, the United States is finally reaching its resettlement targets. But many of these Iraqis have been in the pipeline for several years. And the United States could be far more generous in the number of Iraqis it admits.
This article explains, analyzes and critiques the U.S. resettlement program for Iraqi refugees. We describe U.S. policy toward Iraqi refugees and how it has evolved, international conventions and U.S. laws providing protection for Iraqi refugees, and the U.S. refugee admissions process. We then analyze current U.S. law, asserting that, although existing legal mechanisms are largely sufficient to help vast numbers of Iraqi refugees, an understaffed bureaucracy, a lengthy and unnecessarily cumbersome application process, and our relations with Syria impede our ability to carry out the law effectively. We recommend a bureaucratic surge, vigorous diplomacy with Syria, and bold White House leadership to help the most vulnerable Iraqis quickly reach a safe haven in the United States.

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Restoring Iraq's Healthcare System Requires Teamwork

Source: Networklobby through AINA

by John Stinson

I am a retired American Army officer. Since my retirement, I have been hired by both the private sector and federal government to act as an advisor to friendly foreign governments. I recently spent two years as a State Department civil servant living in Baghdad, where I worked with the Iraqi police, judges, courts, and the Ministries of Interior and Justice.
During that period, I consulted with people from many nations and I also came to know Iraqis who are Assyrians, the descendants of the people we read about in the Old Testament, whose capital city was Nineveh. Among other things, they gave us writing (cuneiforms), the first legal system (Hammurabi's code), and many of the original folk stories and knowledge we credit to the Greeks (Aesop's fables) or the Persians/Ottomans (Tales of the Arabian Nights).
Education and the pursuit of knowledge have been important throughout the whole history of the Assyrian people, traditionally given to start in 4750 B.C. Their education helped them prosper -- but it was also a source of contention even in modern times, including during the time of Saddam Hussein. Since the invasion of 2003, large numbers of doctors, lawyers, bankers, university professors and other educated professionals have been targeted by insurgents and are now refugees.
When I write about the Assyrian people I am talking about the ethnic group who trace their heritage back 6759 years to Ashur in Mesopotamia and includes the entire native, non-Arab peoples of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys. They may also be called Chaldeans and Syriacs depending on what part of the region they originated in and confessionally are Eastern Rite Catholics (Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs), Orthodox (Syriac) and members of the Assyrian Church of the East. The Assyrian Church of the East Patriarch resides in Chicago, The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch resides in Baghdad, Iraq and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch is in Damascus, Syria. All these groups share a similar ethnic, cultural and religious background.

Iraqi Women Religious at Work
After I returned to the United States, I remained in contact with many of the friends and colleagues I met while in Iraq. In February of this year, one of the Americans contacted me. He was an advisor with one of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams at the same time I worked with the Iraqi Ministry of Justice. This friend had been asked by the Papal Nuncio for Iraq and Jordan to try to assist a group of Iraqi women religious.
These Sisters--the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Iraq--had operated various institutions in central and northern Iraq for a long period of time. Since the First Gulf War in 1990/1991 and the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the United Nations, their capacity to provide healthcare and education had been severely tested. After the invasion of 2003, a number of their institutions were attacked and several Sisters injured.
Despite the dangers and hardships, these Sisters have availed themselves of every reasonable opportunity to serve God through service to neighbor, including healing and teaching in Baghdad, in Mosul, and in the refugee camps of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
The Prioress of this order is a 69-year-old Iraqi, Sister Maria Hanna. She has a deep and abiding faith in a merciful God, a profound love for her neighbors, and extraordinary hope for a better future. Her order is consecrated in the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church and includes women of all the backgrounds which represent Iraq. Their spiritually is Dominican and they are part of the world-wide family of St. Dominic and St. Catherine of Siena.

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Allarmanti notizie giungono da Mosul

By Baghdadhope

Secondo il sito Ankawa.com ieri pomeriggio due poliziotti di guardia alla chiesa caldea di San Paolo nel quartiere di Hay Althaqafa sono stati uccisi da uomini sconosciuti.
La chiesa di San Paolo, dove Mons. Faraj Paulos Raho, il vescovo caldeo rapito ed ucciso nel 2008, per anni fu parroco, è stata già attaccata in passato ma nel caso dell’episodio di ieri non ci sono ancora particolari che indichino se sia trattato di un attacco mirato all’edificio.
Certo però la concomitanza con l’anniversario delle violenze che lo scorso anno tra settembre ed ottobre colpirono la comunità cristiana di Mosul è inquietante. Ed ad essa si aggiungono le notizie che vengono dalla Piana di Ninive, la zona ad alta concentrazione di cristiani vicina a Mosul che per anni ha rappresentato una delle mete dei cristiani in fuga dalle violenze.
Come ha infatti dichiarato ad Aid to the Church in Need Padre Bashar Warda, Rettore del seminario maggiore caldeo di Saint Peter ad Ankawa, nella zona della Piana si sta assistendo ad una lenta ma costante emorragia di famiglie cristiane che la lasciano.
Emorragia che potrebbe diventare presto una fuga di massa. A seminare il terrore, secondo Padre Warda, è stato il rapimento, il 26 settembre, di una nota dottoressa, Mahasen Bashir Toma, di Bartella, un villaggio quasi interamente cristiano, che sebbene risoltosi in un solo giorno dopo il pagamento di un riscatto ha distrutto la sensazione di relativa sicurezza nell’area.

E le cose potrebbero addirittura peggiorare con le elezioni generali del gennaio 2010 quando una nuova ondata di violenze, se non sicura è pessimisicamente attesa da una comunità che, sono sempre le parole del sacerdote, quando la situazione peggiora ha come prima soluzione l’emigrazione.
Si ripropone quindi l’annoso problema. Da una parte la Chiesa che invita i fedeli a non lasciare l’Iraq, e dall’altra le persone che antepongono la propria sicurezza all’attaccamento al paese ed alle tradizioni e pur sapendo di andare incontro ad un destino molte volte difficilissimo rispondono agli appelli al rimanere volgendo le spalle ad un passato troppo amaro.

Alarming news from Mosul

By Baghdadhope

According to the site Ankawa.com yesterday afternoon two policemen guarding the Chaldean Church of St Paul in the district of Hay Althaqafa were killed by unknown men.

The church of St. Paul, where Archbishop Paulos Faraj Raho, the Chaldean bishop abducted and killed in 2008, was parish priest for years, has already been attacked in the past but in the case of what happened yesterday there are not details by now indicating if it was a direct attack on the building. Certainly, however, the coincidence with the anniversary of the violence that between September and October of last year hit the Christian community in Mosul is disturbing. Especially considering also the news coming from the Nineveh Plain, the area near Mosul where many Christians live and that for years has been a popular destination for Christians fleeing violence. As declared to Aid to the Church in Need by Father Bashar Warda, rector of the Chaldean Major Seminary of Saint Peter in Ankawa, the area of the Plain is witnessing a slow but steady bleeding of Christian families who are leaving it. Bleeding that could soon become a mass exodus.

To sow terror, according to Father Warda, was the abduction, on September 26, of a well-known doctor, Mahasen Bashir Toma of Bartella, an almost wholly Christian village, that although solved in one day after the payment of a ransom destroyed the feeling of relative security in the area.

And things might even get worse with the general elections in January 2010 when a new wave of violence although not sure is pessimistically expected by a community that, said the priest, when the situation get worse has as its first option the emigration.

Again the age-old problem. On the one hand the Church invites the faithful not to leave Iraq, and on the other those who put their security before their attachment to the country and to the traditions and who, even knowing to expose themselves to an often difficult fate, answer Church’s calls to stay by turning their back to a too bitter past.

Germania: Messa di benvenuto per la comunità irachena cristiana di Essen

By Baghdadhope

Photo by Diocesi di Essen

Sabato 26 settembre, nella cattedrale cattolica di Essen (Germania) si è tenuta una speciale cerimonia: una messa di benvenuto alla comunità irachena cristiana arrivata nel paese grazie al piano di accoglimento per i rifugiati approvato dalla Germania alla fine del 2008.
Come ha raccontato a Baghdadhope Padre Sami Danka, parroco della chiesa caldea di Mar Addai e Mar Mari della città, uno dei concelebranti, a guidare la liturgia è stato il vescovo ausiliare di Essen Mons. Franz Vorrath che ha pronunciato parole di soddisfazione per il progetto ricordando come la diversità sia fondamento della creazione divina e che ha anche espresso l’opinione secondo la quale la Germania e l’Europa possono ancora dare accoglienza per motivi umanitari a chi fugge dal proprio paese.

Proprio come hanno fatto gli iracheni cristiani arrivati in Germania. E tra essi i caldei la cui tradizione religiosa, che risale al tempo degli Apostoli, è stata ricordata dal vescovo che ne ha rimarcato la particolarità rituale e l’uso ancora attuale della lingua di Gesù, e che ha voluto per questo che alla lettura del Vangelo in tedesco seguisse quella dello stesso passo in aramaico.
Alla cerimonia cui erano presenti diversi rappresentanti delle 22 diverse comunità straniere che vivono ad Essen hanno presenziato Rudi Löffelsend, responsabile degli affari esteri per la Caritas diocesana ed il ministro per le generazioni, la famiglia, le donne l’integrazione del Nord Reno-Westfalia, Armin Laschet, che in occasione della cena offerta dopo la cerimonia dalla curia vescovile ha riecheggiato le parole di Mons. Vorrath ricordando come la diversità, quando accompagnata dal processo di integrazione, significhi arricchimento per chi accoglie e per chi arriva.
Padre Danka, da canto suo, ha ringraziato il governo tedesco attraverso i suoi rappresentanti per il progetto di accoglienza che ha permesso a molte famiglie caldee di ricominciare una nuova vita in Germania auspicando anche che il governo tedesco si dimostri disponibile ad aiutare gli iracheni in Iraq contribuendo così alla rinascita del paese.

Germany: Welcoming Mass for the Iraqi Christian community in Essen

By Baghdadhope

On Saturday, September 26, a special ceremony was held in the Catholic Cathedral of Essen(Germany:) a welcoming mass for the Iraqi Christian community arrived in the country thanks to the plan for refugees approved by Germany at the end of 2008.

As Father Sami Danka, parish priest of the Chaldean church of Mar Addai and Mar Mari in Essen and one of the concelebrants told to Baghdadhope, the liturgy was lead by the Auxiliary Bishop of Essen Msgr. Franz Vorrath who spoke words of satisfaction with the plan recalling how diversity is the foundation of God's creation and who also expressed the view that Germany and Europe can still give reception on humanitarian grounds to those who flee their country.

Just as the Iraqi Christians arrived in Germany did. And among them the Chaldeans, whose religious tradition, dating back to the Apostles, was recalled by the bishop who stressed its particular rite, its still current use of the language of Jesus, and who wanted the reading of the Gospel in German to be followed by the reading of the same passage in Aramaic.

The ceremony, attended by several representatives of the 22 different foreign communities living in Essen, was also attended by Mr. Rudi Löffelsend, diocesan Caritas head of foreign affairs and by the Minister for generations, family, women and integration in North Rhine-Westphalia, Mr. Armin Laschet who, at the dinner hosted by the bishopric curia after the ceremony, echoed the words of Archbishop Vorrath remembering how diversity, when accompanied by the integration process, is an enrichment for those who welcome and those who arrive.

Father Danka, for his part, thanked the German Government through its representatives for the refugees project that enabled many Chaldean families to start a new life in Germany and expressed his hope that the German government can assist the Iraqis in Iraq contributing thus to the rebirth of the country.

Iraq: Kirkuk, 80 giovani per ridare speranza al villaggio di Levo

Fonte: SIR

L’Iraq di oggi non è solo odio e violenza ma esprime anche gesti di bene e di solidarietà. E’ la testimonianza che arriva da un gruppo di oltre 80 giovani, appartenenti alla fraternità Emmaus di Kirkuk, che per cinque giorni si sono recati nel villaggio di Levo, 250 case, situato a nord di Zakho vicino la frontiera turca, dove hanno trovato rifugio diverse famiglie cristiane di Mosul e Baghdad, in fuga dalla violenza settaria.

“Sono stati cinque giorni di preghiera e di solidarietà – spiega al Sir suor Anna, dell’arcidiocesi di Kirkuk – in un luogo dove la gente non ha nulla, privata anche della sua dignità. Non ci sono scuole, solo una elementare, non c’è ospedale, non ci sono mezzi di trasporto, non c’è lavoro. Esiste una chiesa dove si celebra solo la domenica poiché il parroco non risiede nel villaggio. Manca la pastorale, la catechesi. Gli abitanti di questo villaggio sono costretti ad andare in città vicine, per cercare lavoro, nella speranza di costruirsi un futuro”.

“In questi cinque giorni i giovani della fraternità hanno aiutato queste persone a pregare, dialogare, progredire e soprattutto a sperare, attraverso tante attività e con gesti concreti come visite alle famiglie più bisognose, portando loro aiuto concreto. Con i giovani anche un medico che ha potuto visitare diversi malati somministrando medicine e cure gratuitamente”.

Prima chiesa cattolica orientale in Georgia

By Baghdadhope

Appena il tempo di riposare qualche giorno a Baghdad dopo il ritorno da Roma dove ha partecipato all’incontro dei Patriarchi delle chiese cattoliche orientali con Il Santo Padre ed il Patriarca della chiesa caldea, Cardinale Mar Emmanuel III Delly, ripartirà per la sua prima visita in Georgia dove il 17 ottobre verrà consacrata la prima chiesa cattolica caldea del paese. “Un evento importante” ha dichiarato il Cardinale Delly a Baghdadhope “se si pensa che si tratta della prima chiesa cattolica di rito orientale* in Georgia dove i cattolici rappresentano un’esigua minoranza.”
In effetti, come ha spiegato Mons. Giuseppe Pasotto, che nel 1996 assunse la carica di Amministratore Apostolico del Caucaso con le funzioni di Vescovo della Georgia, Armenia e Azerbajan per i cattolici di rito latino, in un paese a maggioranza ortodossa con l’11% di popolazione di fede islamica, i cattolici, di rito latino, armeno e siro caldeo, sono solo l’1%. E vivono non senza difficoltà considerando, come spiegò nel 2008 lo stesso Mons. Pasotto all’Osservatore Romano, le difficoltà nel rapporto con la maggioranza ortodossa. La consacrazione di una chiesa cattolica caldea, la prima cattolica di rito orientale , potrebbe quindi essere il segno che qualcosa, magari lentamente, si sta smuovendo e che quei rapporti “difficili” si stanno appianando.

La chiesa caldea che verrà consacrata a Tbilisi è stata eretta con l’aiuto di diverse istituzioni che si erano dichiarate disponibili, come aveva fatto ad esempio, Aiuto alla Chiesa che Soffre, e soprattutto della diocesi caldea di San Tommaso Apostolo con sede a Detroit, nel Michigan (USA) retta da Mons. Ibrahim N. Ibrahim che nel 1994 consacrò sacerdote colui che dal 1996 guida i fedeli caldei in Georgia: Padre Benyamin Beth Yadegar.

Padre Benyamin, o come è da tutti chiamato Padre Benny, è nato nel 1963 a Zomalan, un piccolo villaggio vicino alla città di Urmia in Iran dove compì i suoi primi studi. Nel 1982 fu inviato da Padre Thomas Meram, ora vescovo caldeo di Urmia – Salmas, a proseguire i suoi studi teologici a Tehran. Nel 1986 arrivò in Italia per approfondirli e vi rimase finoal 1994 quando si recò a San Josè (California) dove fu ordinato sacerdote. Nel 1995 si recò per la prima volta in Georgia e tornato a Roma chiese di essere assegnato a servire i fedeli di quel paese che ora, finalmente, avranno una propria chiesa dedicata a Mar Shimoun Bar Sabbae , quel San Simeone, detto Bar Sabba’e, catholicos di Seleucia-Ctesifonte che nel 341 insieme a 100 tra vescovi, presbiteri e diaconi della chiesa siro-orientale fu martirizzato dal re persiano Sapore II che considerava i cristiani la “quinta colonna” dell’impero romano.

Nella piena tradizione della chiesa orientale viene così reso omaggio ad un martire della fede perché, come ha ricordato Mons. Najim, visitatore apostolico caldeo in Europa sotto la cui giurisdizione è anche la Georgia, furono proprio i 40 anni di persecuzione della chiesa iniziati con Sapore II che fecero chiamare la chiesa d’oriente la “chiesa dei martiri”.

A Baghdadhope Mons. Najim ha spiegato come la creazione di una parrocchia in Georgia fu fortemente voluta dal Patriarca Raphael Bedaweed che espresse questo desiderio a Mons. Pasotto che con Mons. Najim, all’epoca delegato patriarcale per l’Europa, la eresse canonicamente. “Era il 5 marzo del 2001, la parrocchia all’epoca aveva il nome di Mar Addai e Mar Mari, e lo stesso giorno Padre Benny fu uffialmente nominato come suo parroco” spiega Mons. Najim che ricorda anche come “non è stato un processo facile. In Georgia la maggioranza degli assiro-caldei viene dall’Iran come Padre Benny e quindi la lingua non è stata un ostacolo visto che si tratta della stessa variante dialettale dell’aramaico. La comunità però non aveva mai avuto un sacerdote a guidarla e tanti anni di isolamento avevano prodotto in molti una perdita di identità culturale e religiosa che sembrava impossibile da recuperare. Padre Benny però ha davvero lavorato con dedizione e coraggio ed ora finalmente, con la consacrazione di questa chiesa e la presenza del Patriarca che sarà accompagnato dal vicario patriarcale, Mons. Shleimun Warduni e dal vescovo di Urmia- Salmas, Mons. Tomas Meram, quella comunità si sentirà davvero parte della chiesa, erede delle sue tradizioni e non più isolata.”

Assente alla cerimonia sarà invece Mons. Najim, visitatore apostolico caldeo in Europa, che ad ottobre sarà impegnato a celebrare la cerimonia della prima comunione a Stoccarda dove verrà anche festeggiato l’accordo raggiunto per la cessione di una chiesa alla comunità caldea della regione. A rappresentare la comunità caldea d’Europa saranno alcuni sacerdoti – Padre Peter Patto (Monaco) e Padre Sabri Anar (Francia). Ma i nuovi contatti della comunità caldea della Georgia non finiranno con la cerimonia del 17 ottobre visto che in futuro è in programma una visita di una delegazione della diocesi di Detroit.

Per quanto riguarda l’anziano ma attivissimo Patriarca della chiesa caldea le sue visite non si fermeranno in Georgia. Dopo le visite alle diocesi caldee del nord dell’Iraq e quella in Libano le prossime destinazioni saranno infatti Siria ed Egitto.

*Anche la chiesa armena cattolica è di rito orientale ma risulta che in Georgia ci siano solo chiese Armene apostoliche ed Armene evangeliche

First Oriental Catholic church in Georgia

By Baghdadhope

Just the time for a short rest in Baghdad after his coming back from Rome where he partecipated to the meeting the Patriarchs of the Catholic Oriental Churches had with the Holy Father and the Patriarch of the Chalden Church, Cardinal Mar Emmanuel III Delly, will leave for his first visit to Georgia where on October 17 the first Catholic Chaldean church will be consecrated. “An important event” declared Cardinal Delly to Baghdadhope “if you think that it is the first catholic church of oriental rite * in Georgia, a country where the catholics are a tiny minority.”

Actually, as explained by Msgr. Giuseppe Pasotto, since 1996 Apostolic Administrator in the Caucasus acting as bishop of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbajan for the catholics of latin rite, in a country where most people belongs to the Orthodox Church and where the 11% of the faithful are of Islamic faith, catholics, of latin, armenian and assyrian-chaldean rites, are only the 1% and live not without difficulties considering, as Msgr. Pasotto explained in 2008 to the Osservatore Romano, the difficulties in the relationship with the Orthodox majority.

The consecration of a Chaldean Catholic church, the first catholic church of oriental rite, could so be a sign that something, maybe slowly, is changing, that those "difficult" relations are being solved.
The Chaldean church that will be consecrated in Tbilisi has been erected with the help of several institutions that had expressed their willingness, as done, for example, by Aid to the Church in Need, and especially of the Chaldean diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle, based in Detroit, Michigan (USA) ruled by Msgr.Ibrahim N. Ibrahim who in 1994 ordained the priest who, since 1996 is leading the Chaldean Christians in Georgia: Father Benyamin Beth Yadegar. Father Benyamin, or how everyone calls him, Father Benny, was born in 1963 in Zomalan, a small village near the town of Urmia in Iran where he completed his early studies. In 1982 he was sent by Father Thomas Meram - now Chaldean bishop of Urmia-Salmas - to continue his theological studies in Tehran. In 1986 he arrived in Italy to continue them and remained here until 1994 when he went to San Jose (California) where he was ordained a priest. In 1995 he went for the first time to Georgia and once back in Rome he asked to be assigned to serve the faithful of that country that now, at last, will have their own church dedicated to Mar Shimoun Bar Sabbae, the Symeon bar Sabba'e, Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, who in 341 together with 100 among bishops, priests and deacons of the East Syrian Church was martyred by the Persian King Shapur II who considered the Christians as the "fifth column" of the Roman Empire. Following the tradition of the Eastern Church is thus paid tribute to a martyr of the faith because, as said by Msgr.Najim, Chaldean apostolic visitator in Europe under the jurisdiction of which is also Georgia, it were just the 40 years of persecution of the church started with Shapur II that gave to the Eastern Church the appellation of "church of the martyrs."
Msgr. Najim explained to Baghdadhope how the creation of a church in Georgia was strongly desired by the Patriarch Raphael Bedaweed who expressed this desire to Msgr.Pasotto who with Msgr. Najim, then patriarchal delegate for Europe, canonically erected it. "It was on March 5 2001, the parish at that time had the name of Mar Addai and Mar Mari, and the same day Father Benny was officially appointed as its parish priest" says Msgr. Najim who also recalls how "it was not an easy process. In Georgia the majority of the Assyrian-Chaldean come from Iran as Father Benny so the language was not an obstacle since they speak the same dialectal variant of aramaic. The community, however, had never had a priest and many years of isolation had produced a loss of the cultural and religious identity that seemed impossible to retrieve. Father Benny really worked with dedication and courage and now at last, with the consecration of this church and the presence of the Patriarch who will be accompanied by the patriarchal vicar, Msgr. Shleimun Warduni and by the bishopo of Urmia-Salmas, Msgr. Tomas Meram, that community will feel to be truly part of the church, the heir of its traditions and no longer isolated. "

Msgr Najim will not be in Georgia for the ceremony as in October he will celebrate the First Communion ceremony in Stuttgart where it will also be celebrated the agreement for the handover of a church to the Chaldean community in the region. Representing the Chaldean community in Europe will be some priests - Father Peter Patto (Munich) and Father Sabri Anar (France). But the new contacts of the Chaldean community in Georgia will not end with the ceremony on October 17 because a visit of a delegation from the diocese of Detroit is already being planned.
As regards the elderly but very active Patriarch of the Chaldean Church who recently visited the Chaldean dioceses of northern Iraq and went to Lebanon his next destinations will be Syria and Egypt.

* Also the Armenian Catholic church is of Oriental Rite but it results that in Georgia there are only Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Evangelical churches.

Sinodo speciale per il Medio oriente, il coraggio contro la disillusione

Fonte: Asia News

di Louis Sako

Il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha convocato un sinodo speciale per il Medio oriente, che si terrà dal 10 al 24 ottobre 2010, sul tema "La Chiesa cattolica in Medio Oriente: comunione e testimonianza". Per l’occasione, vorrei esprimere i miei ringraziamenti al Santo Padre per questa opportunità e ricchezza data a tutti noi.
La Santa Sede vuole che le Chiese orientali progrediscano, ma esse stesse devono contribuire pienamente, sostenendo questo cammino comune: a questo sinodo, ogni Chiesa è chiamata a partecipare da protagonista. Ogni Chiesa è invitata ad andare avanti, a ricercare quell’aggiornamento globale che tende a ringiovanirla hic et nunc. Il Sinodo potrebbe essere una nuova Pentecoste.
Ci è di grande aiuto guardare all’esperienza del Concilio Ecumenico Vaticano II. La maggioranza delle nostre Chiese non ha ancora messo in pratica gli orientamenti del Concilio.
Perché il Sinodo abbia un effetto positivo, le Chiese orientali devono approfittare molto di questo impulso dello Spirito per riscoprire la loro identità e missione, per realizzare unità e comunione, per rendere attuale il proprio impegno e la testimonianza. Devono dire le cose pratiche e concrete, presentando in modo obbiettivo e coraggioso la situazione.
La Chiesa è ecumenica per natura. Questo sinodo è un tempo privilegiato e intenso: non bisogna perdere l’occasione propizia. Le Chiese Orientali devono aprirsi allo Spirito Rinnovatore e uscire dal passato, da una storia rigida, per vivere nell’oggi, in questo tempo, e preparare il futuro. La Chiesa ha una sua vocazione, chiamata, missione. La fedeltà alle radici non può voler dire chiusura, ma impegno ad essere fedeli all'uomo d'oggi, che è cambiato. Ogni Chiesa locale deve assumersi la propria responsabilità e trovare poi il modo migliore di tradurre le direttive di questo sinodo nella società attuale. Date le possibilità, una Chiesa da sola non è capace di fare fronte a questo, ma insieme e in comunione con la Chiesa universale, tutto è possibile.
Molti sono i problemi da studiare.
Ne presento alcuni:
1) La riforma liturgica. Le Chiese orientali sono Chiese e non etnie; hanno una missione aperta a tutti e non solo ai propri fedeli (caldei, siri, copti... ). Come dice san Giovanni Crisostomo, la liturgia è per l'uomo. Le Chiese Orientali sono quindi chiamate ad operare una riforma liturgica seria e appropriata al contesto in cui vivono i fedeli, pena la perdita di tanti di loro, che aderiranno piuttosto alle varie sette religiose.
2) E’ necessario dare più importanza e spazio alla Sacra Scrittura. In alcune Chiese ci sono finora due tavole: l'Eucaristia e la Bibbia. Non bisogna disdegnare nessuna delle due mense che ci sono preparate!
3) La riforma delle strutture (diocesi e i territori), che risalgono al Medioevo. Ci sono diocesi molto piccole, con un prete o due. Come si può fare? Poi c’è la situazione dei cristiani del Medio oriente che vivono nella diaspora... I cristiani orientali non devono rinchiudersi esclusivamente nelle proprie comunità.
4) L’emorragia umana, ossia l'emigrazione dei fedeli da Iraq, Terra Santa, Libano... Non è solo colpa degli “altri” se il Medio oriente si svuota dei cristiani, ma anche dei cristiani stessi. La Chiesa orientale deve avere una visione chiara, con piani concreti per arginare questo esodo. É necessario un lavoro comune con tutte le Chiese, presentandosi con una sola voce alle autorità locali. Forse ci vuole una nuova evangelizzazione dei cristiani orientali.
5) L'unità con le Chiese sorelle. In pratica ora è poca cosa, a parte qualche piccolo progetto di costruzione di abitazioni. É urgente dare una testimonianza comune! I musulmani non sempre capiscono le divisioni e le denominazioni dei cristiani. É importante restaurare l'unità fra ortodossi e cattolici, soprattutto considerando che a livello dogmatico esse sono già unite (ne fanno testo le Dichiarazioni di fede comune fra la Santa Sede e varie Chiese sorelle). In pratica oggi si fa poco con gli altri cristiani. Ogni chiesa continua a darsi da fare solo per i propri fedeli. Da parte delle Chiese ortodosse si parla di mancanza di solidarietà e mancanza di carità.
6) L'islam: i cristiani devono aprirsi alla dimensione missionaria della loro presenza in terra musulmana. La loro partenza è una perdita: anche per i musulmani, un Oriente senza cristiani non sarebbe più lo stesso. È importante anche il dialogo con gli ebrei, così da aiutare la separazione fra ebraismo e sionismo. Occorre promuovere il “dialogo interreligioso” partendo da identità diverse - siano esse culturali, storiche, sociali - attraverso le quali fondare un rapporto basato sulla “comprensione reciproca”, capace di portare la “pace in aree in cui è ancora forte la tensione fra fedeli di religioni diverse". Purtroppo, specie dopo l’11 settembre, la religione è diventata espressione di identità politica! Testimoniare l’incrollabile amore di Dio per gli uomini e la Sua onnipotenza è il compito che in modo rinnovato accettiamo di assumerci. Vogliamo credere alla speranza, nonostante la disillusione e le molte difficoltà.

Mons. Sako: Special synod for the Middle East, Christian’s courage versus disappointment

Source: Asia News

by Louis Sako

The Holy Father Benedict XVI convened a special synod for the Middle East to be held from the 10th to the 24th of October 2010; and the theme will be "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and testimony." On this occasion, I would like to express my gratitude to the Holy Father for this opportunity and wealth given to us all.
The Holy See wants the Eastern Churches to progress, but they themselves must contribute fully, by sustaining this journey together: during this synod, every Church is called to play a leading role. Every church is invited to go forward, to search for that global update in order to rejuvenate hic et nunc (here and now). The Synod could be a new Pentecost.
Looking at the experience of the Second Vatican Council is of great help to us. The majority of our churches have not yet followed the guidelines of the Council.
In order for the Synod be effective, the Eastern churches must take advantage of this very impulse of the Spirit to rediscover their identity and mission, to achieve unity and communion, in order to put into act their commitment and testimony. They must speak about things that are practical and concrete, presenting the situations objectively and courageously.
The nature of the Church is ecumenical. This synod is an intense and special period: and it must not miss this propitious chance. The Eastern Churches should be open up the Spirit of Renewal and leave the past behind, from a very rigid history, hard to practice today, in these times, and prepare for the future. The Church has its vocation, called, mission. Attachment to one's roots must not necessarily closure, but a commitment to be faithful to our contemporaries, with all their changes. Each local church must assume its responsibilities and then find the best way put into act the guidelines of this synod in the present society. Even if given the chance, a Church alone is not able to cope with this, but together and in communion with the universal Church, everything is possible.
There are many problems to be evaluated.
Some of them are:
1) Liturgical reform. The Eastern Churches are churches and not ethnic groups, their mission is open to everyone and not only to those who practice their faith (Chaldeans, Syrians, Copts ...). As Saint John Chrysostom says, liturgy is for man. The Eastern Churches are therefore called to make a serious liturgical reform, appropriate to the context in which the faithful live, or risk losing many, who choose to follow other various religious sects.
2) More importance and space should be given to the Sacred Scripture. In some churches till now there are still two Tables: the Eucharist and the Bible. We should not despise any of the two Tables that have been prepared!
3) Structural reforms (dioceses and the territories), which go back to medieval times. There are some small diocese with only a priest or two. What can be done? And then there are the Middle-East Christians that live in the Diaspora ... the Eastern Christians must not close themselves within their communities.
4) Human bleeding, i.e. the migration of the faithful from Iraq, the Holy Land, Lebanon ... Is not just the fault of "others" if the Middle East is emptied of Christians but of the Christians themselves. The Eastern Church must have a clear vision with concrete plans to stem this exodus. It requires a common effort of the churches who speak as one voice to local authorities. Maybe a new evangelization of the Eastern Christians is necessary.
5) Unity with sister Churches. Right now it’s nothing big, apart from some small project to build houses. Giving a common testimony is very urgent! Muslims do not always understand the divisions and denominations of Christians. It is important to restore unity between Orthodox and Catholics, particularly since dogmatically they are already united (and the proof is the same Statement of Faith that the Holy See and several sister churches have in common). Today practically very few things are being done with other Christians. Every church works only for its faithful. The Orthodox Churches talk about lack of solidarity and lack of charity.
6) Islam: Christians must be open up to their missionary dimension of their presence in Muslim lands. Their departure is a loss, even for Muslims, an East without Christians would not be the same. A dialogue with the Jews is also very important, so as to help the separation between Judaism and Zionism. We need to promote "religious dialogue" on the basis of diverse identities - whether cultural, historical, social – establishing a relationship based on "mutual understanding", capable of bringing "peace in areas where tensions are still high among the faithful of different religions. "Unfortunately, especially after September 11, religion has become an expression of political identity! To bear witness to the steadfast love of God for mankind and His omnipotence is the task that in a renewed manner we choose to undertake. We want to believe in hope, despite disillusionments and many difficulties.

Uncertainty and injustice for minority refugees from Iraq – new report

Source: Minority Rights Group

24 September 2009

Refugees from Iraq’s minorities face insecurity and risk losing their religious and cultural identity as they try to seek refuge in neighbouring countries and Western Europe, a report by Minority Rights Group International says. In a landmark new report on the situation of Iraqi uprooted minorities, MRG says that many of the people who flee Iraq undertake very dangerous journeys to get to Europe often only to be met with restrictive asylum policies, discrimination and in some cases forcible return. A disproportionate number of those fleeing Iraq – somewhere between 15-64 per cent, depending on the country of refuge – are minorities, including Christians, Circassians, Sabian Mandaeans, Shabaks, Turkmen and Yazidis.

‘Minorities are leaving Iraq because they are specifically targeted for attack due to their religion and culture, but getting out of the country is no guarantee of their safety and security,’ says Carl Soderbergh, MRG’s Director of Policy and Communications.

‘Many European countries are now rejecting asylum applications and returning people to Iraq despite the fact that attacks on minorities have actually increased in some areas,’ he adds. Sweden, for instance, has begun returning to Iraq a number of rejected asylum seekers including Christians on the grounds that some parts of Iraq are safe to go back to. The UK and other European countries have also begun enforced returns of rejected asylum-seekers.The integration policies of certain asylum countries also adversely affect Iraqi minorities. Dispersal policies, for instance, which divide refugees of the same nationality have a serious impact on minorities, who need to remain together as a community to protect their cultural identity and religious practices. ‘Some communities like Mandaeans, who number a few thousand globally, stand to lose many of their religious and cultural practices, as they are spread across and within countries. They are at risk of cultural eradication,’ says Soderbergh. Of Iraq’s neighbours, Syria and Jordan are the most common destinations for refugees, and this is also the case for minorities. UNHCR estimates that up to 2 million Iraqis have fled the country, with approximately 1.1 million in Syria and 450,000 in Jordan. Although Jordan and Syria have welcomed a large number of Iraqi refugees, many live in a state of limbo as they are unable to secure residency or work permits. Both countries have since 2007 begun to tighten their visa policies, making it increasingly harder for Iraqis to live there legally. The report includes a series of testimonies from Iraqi minority refugees, who describe the violence and trauma suffered before they fled the country and explain their fear and reluctance to return. ‘We will never go back, it is impossible. We will suffer death if we go back … If you stay in Iraq, you will convert to Islam or be killed. For that reason, the future is dead for us there,’ says an Iraqi Mandaean seeking asylum in Södertälje, Sweden.
Download full report
For more information on the situation of minorities in Iraq see Assimilation, Exodus, Eradication: Iraq's minority communities since 2003 and the Iraq country entry on MRG’s online World Directory of Minorities.
The report is based on research conducted in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Sweden. It includes a series of testimonies from refugees and representatives of minority communities.
For an embargoed copy of the report please contact MRG
Attached with this press release are some key points on the situation of Iraqi minorities in UK, Germany and Sweden.
Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is a non-governmental organisation working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide.
For further information or to pre-arrange interviews please contact:

MRG Press Office: Farah Mihlar or Emma Eastwood T: +44 207 4224205 M: +44 7870 596863/ +44 7989 699984

E: farah.mihlar@mrgmail.org or emma.eastwood@mrgmail.org
Sweden
Sweden currently hosts the second largest number of Iraqi refugees and asylum-seekers within the European Union, just over 32,000. Of the 40,500 asylum claims made by Iraqi refugees within industrialized countries in 2008, just over 6,000 were made in Sweden. The small town of Södertälje, Sweden had at one point taken more Iraqi refugees than the whole of the USA and Canada combined.
The Swedish Migration Board has ruled that Sabian Mandaeans are a particularly vulnerable and exposed group in Iraq, and that a lower threshold is required in their cases when granting refugee status. However, the ruling is intended only as guidance. The ruling is reportedly implemented very inconsistently. There are cases where the Swedish Migration Board refuses to accept self-identification: one ethnic Shabak complained that he was classified only as a Shia Muslim and not as he would have preferred.
Unlike the United Kingdom, Sweden has no dispersal policy for refugees and asylum-seekers, who are relatively free to chose where to settle. Subsequently Södertälje is home to a large Assyrian community that is able to organize more effectively to support each other and provides familiarity to new arrivals. The Swedish government does operate a year-long programme of support with integration, in which meeting religious and ethnic needs is a specific element. A number of refugees have commented on how they have benefitted from such programmes.
An Iraqi-Swedish Memorandum of Understanding makes clear that the option of ‘voluntary’ return is being offered to those who have been rejected and have no other option. The MoU states that if they do not choose to return voluntarily, they, ‘may be ordered to leave Sweden as an option of last resort’ which raises questions concerning the voluntary nature of any such deportations. The MoU was followed by a Swedish Migration Court of Appeal ruling that considers returns to central and southern Iraq as acceptable because it holds that there is no armed conflict there.
United Kingdom
The number of Iraqis seeking asylum within the European Union doubled between 2006 and 2007, to 38,286. The United Kingdom’s approval rate for successful applicants currently stands at 13 per cent, which places it at the lower end of the scale within the EU. There has been a steady decrease in successful applications since 2003 when the figure was 55 per cent. The Refugee Council, a non-governmental organization working to support refugees and asylum-seekers in the UK, advises all rejected asylum-seekers to appeal; around 50 per cent of those that do see their rejections overturned.
Figures show that the United Kingdom has seen little change in the number of applications made, receiving 2,030 claims in 2008 compared with 2,075 claims in 2007. The United Kingdom Border Agency’s guidance note on asylum claims from Iraq recognizes serious human rights violations being committed in Iraq, including, ‘discrimination against women, ethnic and religious minorities.’ The note documents violations against Christian minorities at length but does not mention any other minority group by name, an omission that may enforce the perception that Christians are the only persecuted minority in Iraq, whilst ignoring other suffering ethnic or religious minorities.
‘The response of the UK government to date, in particular, has been notably poor. The resettlement screening and administration process should be speeded up considerably’ says Minority Rights Group International. For the financial year of 2008-2009 Britain has a target of resettling 750 individuals, 500 Iraqis and some Palestinians ex-Iraq. This is fewer than Canada (10,600-12,000 places, approximately 30 per cent for Iraqis) and Sweden (1,900 places with 800 set aside for selection missions to Syria and Jordan). It is uncertain that the UK can meet this target, in the previous four years the UK has reached its target once. In 2008 it was reported that only five Iraqi refugees were resettled in the UK. Most worryingly, the UK Asylum and Immigration tribunal ruled in April 2008 that Iraqi refugees could be returned to war-torn regions of Iraq.
Also noteworthy is the policy of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office to locate asylum-seekers and refugees in diverse locations around the country in order to reduce strains on local services. However, this often weakens bonds and impacts negatively upon smaller communities who, in being dispersed, find their particular way of life subsequently suffers.
Germany
Figures for 2008 show that 40,500 asylum claims were made in industrialized countries by Iraqi refugees, of which 6,697 claims were made in Germany; now home to nearly 40,000 Iraqi refugees, the largest single population in Europe. In March 2009, Germany organized the resettlement of 2,500 Iraqis, it was widely reported in the press at the time that the majority of those resettled were Christians.
The government stated that priority for resettlement was given to, ‘refugees from persecuted minorities, vulnerable cases with specific medical needs, traumatized victims of persecution as well as female-headed households who have family in Germany’, yet there appears a strong bias towards Christians based on the notion that they will integrate better into the host society.
Germany began revoking the refugee status of Iraqi refugees that arrived during the time of Saddam Hussein’s rule, shortly after his fall. After considerable criticism, it suspended revocations for some minorities, including religious minorities. Germany has suggested specific measures to resettle Iraqi Christians, and pushed for such measures at the European Union in April 2008. This was resisted at the time by the Slovenian presidency which proposed measures to provide protection for all of Iraq’s minorities, regardless of religion.
Germany currently hosts some 40,000 Yazidis; some forecast that with the exodus of Yazidis from Iraq, Germany will soon house the majority of the global Yazidi community. Despite this, Germany continues to document the Yazidis (a distinct religious minority) as Zoroastrians on the basis that the Yazidi religion is thought to share historical links and origins with Zoroastrianism. This not only violates the rights of the Yazidis to identify their faith in the way they prefer but also might restrict their access to services.

Sinodo Medio Oriente: Per il bene di tutta la Chiesa Il patriarca caldeo di Baghdad, card. Emmanuel III Delly

Fonte: SIR

"Parlando di pace, il pensiero va, in primo luogo, alle regioni del Medio Oriente. Colgo pertanto l'occasione per dare l'annuncio dell'Assemblea speciale del Sinodo dei vescovi per il Medio Oriente, da me convocata e che si terrà dal 10 al 24 ottobre 2010, sul tema: La Chiesa cattolica in Medio Oriente: comunione e testimonianza: «la moltitudine di coloro che erano diventati credenti aveva un cuore solo e un'anima sola» (At 4,32)". Sono le parole con cui Benedetto XVI ha annunciato la prossima Assemblea speciale del Sinodo dei vescovi, durante l'incontro con i patriarchi e gli arcivescovi maggiori orientali, il 19 settembre. All'incontro era presente anche il card. Emmanuel III Delly, patriarca caldeo di Baghdad.

Il SIR lo ha incontrato.

Cosa si propone questo Sinodo e quale scopo si prefigge?

"Questo Sinodo è per il bene di tutta la Chiesa e non solo di quella mediorientale. È un segno di chiara benevolenza del Pontefice di Roma verso tutti i cristiani, orientali e occidentali. Benedetto XVI, nel corso dell'incontro con i patriarchi orientali, ha voluto ascoltare dalla nostra viva voce quali sono i bisogni dei nostri fedeli e confermarci nella missione che è quella di annunciare il Vangelo con la nostra vita cristiana per dare testimonianza ed esempio ai nostri fratelli musulmani. Questa è la missione da portare avanti, esercitando le virtù cristiane affinché chi ci vede scorga Cristo in noi".

Nel Sinodo è prevista anche la presenza di esponenti musulmani ed ebrei?

"Lavoreremo per fortificare la nostra fede perché ognuno diventi un cristiano esemplare anche agli occhi dei fedeli delle altre religioni. La presenza di delegati musulmani ed ebrei dipenderà dall'autorità ecclesiale. Intanto stiamo lavorando per avviare la macchina organizzativa. Lunedì e martedì scorsi abbiamo avuto una prima riunione. Non ci sono ancora scadenze definite ma l'intenzione è quella di avere i Lineamenta entro il 2009 e l'Instrumentum laboris entro i primissimi mesi del 2010".

Crescita del fondamentalismo, esodo dei cristiani, importanza della formazione e dell'istruzione. Sono alcuni dei temi che potrebbero essere affrontati durante i giorni del Sinodo…

"Tutto ciò che si dirà nel Sinodo, i temi che verranno affrontati, serviranno alla causa del cristianesimo affinché i fedeli restino in Medio Oriente, quali apostoli di Cristo".

Ai lavori sinodali lei rappresenterà la causa dei cristiani iracheni, mai come in questi anni vittime di violenze e di odio. Qualcosa, tuttavia, sembra cambiare in meglio. Può descrivere l'attuale situazione irachena?

"Innanzitutto vorrei ribadire, come ho già fatto altre volte, che in Iraq i cristiani non sono perseguitati. Qualche volta c'è discriminazione individuale ma nel nostro Paese cristiani e musulmani vivono insieme da secoli e continueremo a farlo. I cristiani resteranno in Iraq e con i musulmani contribuiranno alla rinascita del Paese per il bene di tutti gli iracheni. Dobbiamo collaborare sempre di più, cristiani e musulmani, per il bene del Paese anche in vista delle elezioni del 2010".

Eppure c'è chi pensa di relegare i cristiani nella Piana di Ninive, a nord del Paese…

"I cristiani sono dovunque, nel Nord e nel Sud, ad Est e ad Ovest, quale Piana di Ninive. Hanno la missione di santificare i nostri fratelli con l'esempio, aiutarli per progredire nelle virtù, nelle scienze. Siamo tutti figli di questa terra per la quale i nostri padri hanno versato il loro tributo di sangue. I nostri cristiani sono fedeli al loro Paese e al loro dovere religioso".

In che modo la Chiesa universale e le Chiese sorelle possono sostenere i cristiani iracheni e mediorientali in questa missione di annuncio e testimonianza?

"Siamo tutti figli di un'unica Chiesa e tutti dobbiamo portare Cristo al mondo, musulmani o non musulmani, cristiani e non. Al mondo chiediamo di sostenere i nostri giovani affinché restino nei loro rispettivi Paesi per lavorare, studiare, e costruirsi un futuro. Se non l'avranno se ne andranno via".

Statement of Pax Christi delegation to Iraq

Source: Indcatholicnews

An international Pax Christi delegation visited Iraq last week. They went to Kirkuk, Mosul, Erbil and Dohuk from 10 September to 17 September. The situation for the Iraqi people is very uncertain and more violence being expected in the period leading up to the elections in January 2010. The delegation encountered many good examples of work for peace. A representative said Pax Christi International was enormously grateful to the Christian bishops and communities as well as the civil society of the region for their warm welcome and hospitality and remains committed to the original goals of this visit to Iraq: to express solidarity with all Iraqi people; to gain a better understanding of Iraq’s complex reality; and to propose concrete actions that support the ongoing efforts of Iraqi people for peace and reconciliation in their country based on what was seen and heard.

The official Pax Christi statement follows: An international Pax Christi delegation visited Iraq with the generous welcome andassistance of Patriarch Cardinal Emanuel Delly, Bishop Rabban Al-Kass, Chaldean Bishop of Amadya-Shamkan and Erbil, Bishop Louis Sako, Chaldean Bishop of Kirkuk, Bishop Georges Casmoussa, Syriac Bishop of Mosul and Qaraqosh, Father Nageeb Mikhail, OP, the Chaldean Seminary in Erbil and many other religious leaders and representatives of civil society groups in the north of Iraq.

The delegation included International Co-president, Marie Dennis; Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Pax Christi USA; Christine Hoffmann, General Secretary of Pax Christi Germany; Wiltrud Rösch-Metzler, speaker of the Middle East Commission of Pax Christi Germany; Don Renato Sacco, Pax Christi Italy; Bishop Marc Stenger, President of Pax Christi France; and Katrien Hertog, Pax Christi International staff in Brussels.

They went to the governorates of Kirkuk, Mosul, Erbil and Dohuk from 10 Septemberto17 September 2009. A planned visit to Bagdad could not be realized.

The situation for the Iraqi people is very uncertain and more violence is expected in the period leading up to the elections in January 2010. On the one hand are forces that are aggravating divisions along ethnic and religious lines; on the other are those who promote dialogue, understanding, reconciliation and non-violence. The delegation encountered many good examples of work for peace. The extraordinaryefforts among religious leaders in the oil city of Kirkuk made it possible for them to visit Sunni and Shiite mosques and to interact with Muslim leaders. In Dohuk they learned about the program of Bishop Rabban's coeducational, interreligious International School which brings together Muslims, Christians, Yezidie and Turkman to provide a base of human values and an introduction to human rights.They learned from the Dominican sisters of Mosul about their commitment to peace education at a primary level and met dedicated health care professionals in Kirkuk who serve Muslims and Christians alike. In Erbil the delegation met with Iraqi Non-Violence group LaOnf, an Iraqi nongovernmental organization building a network on nonviolence. Pax Christi's organizational commitment to reconciliation and nonviolence made theseand other similar efforts particularly interesting to the delegation, which also experienced enormous tensions in the country. There were two major bombings while they were there and they encountered among people they visited a great fear of being kidnapped. Of the areas the delegation was able to visit, the level of security in the Kurdish provinces in the north of the country was much better than in the so-called disputed provinces, Mosul and Kirkuk. But even in the Kurdish provinces, the sense of long-term physical and economic security was lacking and UN representatives described human rights violations, particularly against political prisoners and women. 100,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain in the same area. Christians and other minority groups continue to feel threatened in Iraq and to leave the country. This fact is of deep concern to many people the delegation met, who believe that reconciliation is the way forward and that the loss to Iraq of the Christian community, which was established there in the second century, would be a grea ttragedy. At the same time, the delegation was told that the conflict in Iraq is political rather than religious, with violence erupting over the balance of power. Minority groups are faced with the choices to join the struggle for power, to remain neutral or to work for a society where everybody has a place. Finally, they heard from many people about the destruction of Iraq's infrastructure during the first Gulf War that had still not been repaired and about the impact of the long-lasting harsh sanctions that punished ordinary people. They were told that the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 destroyed security and created many new problems for the Iraqi people.

The delegation agrees with the Iraqi non-violence network that "refuses occupation and war as a way to build democracy and establish rule of law, even when it is presented as the only possible option." Pax Christi International is enormously grateful to the Christian bishops and communities as well as the civil society of the region for their warm welcome and excellent hospitality and remains committed to theoriginal goals of this important Pax Christi delegation to Iraq: to express solidarity with all Iraqi people; to gain a better understanding of Iraq's complex reality; and to propose concrete actions that support the ongoing efforts of Iraqi people for peace andreconciliation in their country based on what was seen and heard.

Pax Christi International will:*

inform the international community about the situation in Iraq and its minorities,as well as about the work for peace and reconciliation of the Iraqi Church, including the testimonies of the martyrs, Bishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Father Rajeed, Paulos and others;

* build partnerships between Pax Christi member organizations and Iraqi groups;

* explore the possibility of sharing Pax Christi expertise and resources on activenon violence, conflict resolution, peace building and responses to violent radicalization to interested institutions and communities in Iraq;

* promote interreligious understanding in our own countries, if possible by inviting Sunni, Shiite and Christian leaders from Iraq;

* advocate with our own governments to support reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

We urge our churches to:

* strengthen the church's role as a builder of bridges;

* send official delegations from Bishops conferences in other countries to Iraq tounderstand the reality better;

* promote reconciliation between the different Iraqi Christian churches;

* support work for peace and reconciliation in Iraq;* prevent and counter the growth of Christian extremism;We urge the international community to:

* support the reconstruction of Iraq;

* investigate and prosecute past and present war crimes and severe human rightsviolations on all sides; * build trust again in the international community and re-establish international law;

* work cooperatively to develop a regional system of security and cooperation in the

Middle East.

Brussels, 17 September 2009

For more information see: www.paxchristi.org.uk

Chaldeans in Europe. Projects of a web site and a meeting of young people

By Baghdadhope

The celebration of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross that commemorates the 14 of September 335, when the buildings built by the Emperor Constantine on the sites of Calvary and of the Tomb of Our Lord Jesus Christ were inaugurated in Jerusalem,is deeply felt by the Chaldean church that celebrates it all over the world, from the motherland Iraq to the countries of the diaspora. Among them Germany.
Baghdadhope spoke about it with Father Sami Danka, parish priest of the church in Essen dedicated to the Saints Addai and Mari, the two disciples of Jesus and evangelists of Mesopotamia.

Father Danka described the celebration as "a moment of true communion of the hearts of believers who through the adoration of the Cross strengthen their faith and their ties with the church, and who find in the fire that animates the celebration and symbolically represents the light of Christ the power of our Lord’s love that accompanies them in their life. A moving ceremony with the church full of people and love."
Father Sami Danka returned to Essen to celebrate the Celebration of the Cross after a trip to Rome where, as Secretary of the Chaldean priests in Europe, participated in their annual meeting. The meeting, held from 31 August to 4 September at the Pontifical College of St. Ephrem, included a meeting with the Holy Father at the end of the general audience on Wednesday September 2.

Apart from the meeting with the Holy Father what can be said of the Chaldean priests’meeting?
"These meetings are very important because they give us, Chaldean priests living in several European countries, the chance to compare our experiences, to improve through their comparison the way we operate on the path of faith and in our life as shepherds of a population dispersed all over the continent."
What about the job sessions?
"We had several job sessions and prayers and everyone of us could speak. To introduce the job sessions was Msgr. Philip Najim, Chaldean procurator to the Holy See and Apostolic Visitator for Europe who talked about the situation of the Chaldean Church in Europe highlighting the difficulties that priests have to face due to the massive migration that affected Iraq in recent years and that prompted many Chaldeans to flee from their homeland to Europe. Msgr. Najim also reiterated how our task is not and should not be only to be dispensers of sacraments but also to be missionaries among our people. To Father Paul Rabban, priest in Eskilstuna, Sweden, was instead given the task of commenting on Psalm 43:4 - Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.- recalling the happiness that fills our hearts on the way to the altar."

You are the secretary of the Chaldean priests in Europe, what practical results had this meeting?

"As secretary, in fact, it is my duty to take care of the practical life of priests in Europe. In this regard I reminded them the letter that months ago we sent to the Synod of our Church held in late April in Iraq and that has not yet been answered. A letter in which we asked the Synod a particular attention to the difficult situation we are facing in Europe where now more than 100,000 Chaldeans of old and new migration live, and reiterated that, despite our being physically far away from our homeland, our beloved Iraq, we are and we want to be part of the programs of the Chaldean Church that is in our hearts."
We also discussed some aspects of priestly life in Europe but above all we developed some proposals that we think can help us in the missionary task quoted by Msgr. Najim. The ideas that we will try to put into practice are those of a website for all the Chaldeans in Europe and a meeting of the Chaldean youth. We entrusted two different groups of priests to coordinate the work of the lay people who will work with them at the projects. It must be understood that many of the 100,000 and more Chaldeans living in Europe arrived here recently leaving behind them terrible experiences and that life is not easy, especially for young people who face the world of school or work without mastering the language of the country they live in, without knowing their culture. Many of those youngs are at risk of losing their identity and that’s why we think it is the duty of the church offering itself as a reference point. They are young and they must be addressed through a language familiar to them. That's why the idea of the website that will have some common parts in English and Arabic and others entrusted to the various churches in the European languages of the countries where they operate, and that's why the meeting: modern ways of giving to young people the chance to exchange views with their peers and better understand how the desirable integration in the countries where they live does not mean the cancellation of their national and religious identity."
In different percentages Chaldeans live all over Europe. It will not be easy to create and manage a multilingual website and even arrange a meeting among them. Yours is a brave challenge ...

"Yes Brave and maybe risky. A challenge that, divided as it is among several countries, will not be easy to translate into reality but that we want to face with the certainty that, maybe not in the short term, our faith in the Lord will help us to realize it.”

The Chaldean priests attending the meeting in Rome,
Msgr. Philip Najim (Italy)

Father Peter Patto. Monaco of Bavaria (Germany)

Father Sami Danka. Essen (Germany)

Father Cesar Sliwa. Stuttgart (Germany)

Father Faris Toma. Denmark

Father Antoine Goral. Belgium

Father Samir Dawood. Sweden

Father Maher Malko. Sodertalje (Sweden)

Father Paul Rabban. Eskilstuna (Sweden)

Father Paul Beshi. France

Father Firaz Ghazi. Netherlands

Father Sabri Anar. Sarcelles (France)

Father Fadi Isho (Sweden)

Father Mikhail Doman (France)