Aid to the Church in Need: IRAQ CLERIC REVEALS THE SUFFERINGS OF HIS FAITHFUL

IRAQ CLERIC REVEALS THE SUFFERINGS OF HIS FAITHFUL

Posted by Information Report on 2/10/2002, 10:01 am

IRAQ CLERIC REVEALS THE SUFFERINGS OF HIS FAITHFUL
By John Pontifex, Press officer for Aid to the Church in Need.

AN influential Iraqi cleric has lifted the lid on the sheer scale of suffering endured by the country's Christian community petrified by the threat of war.
The cleric, who would not be named for fear of reprisals, sent out a desperate SOS for aid.
He said people lacked everything right down to the basics - food, clothing and housing included.
The clergyman, who has worked for many years in Baghdad, spoke of the crying need to rebuild a Church shaken by generations of conflict and hardship.
"We desperately need your prayers and your help to give our people a chance," he said. "They are very, very anxious."
He spoke of the struggle for life in the face of large-scale poverty and unemployment - all in a nation suffering a seemingly endless cycle of despair.
"Many, many young people just want to leave the country," he said, "but it is very difficult for them to do so."
"We need peace" he stressed. "We don't want to even think about war."
He said the Christian community did not face repression from Suddam Hussein. The Iraqi dictator, he said, had nothing against the country's Christians because they did not represent a threat to his regime.
The clergyman was speaking during a trip to Aid to the Church in Need's headquarters in Germany as part of a bid to rally support for his flock.
The clergyman said Iraq's 800,000 Christians - more than half of whom are Catholics - faced a severe test of faith with many finding it hard to get to Mass.
"Once I had the foolish idea of building a church but it was so very, very difficult," he said.
But the Church in Iraq is not without support and the clergyman praised charities - especially Aid to the Church in Need - which he said had given Catholics help where it was needed most.
He said such support had softened the blow of sanctions which place such a stranglehold over the country.
He spoke of how Aid to the Church in Need helped fund transport so that people could attend Mass.
It has helped pay for the training of seminarians and supported Babel College, the philosophical and theological institute in Baghdad used by Catholics and Orthodox Christians.
ACN has helped to provide the college with an auditorium and improvements to the library.
The charity supports construction of churches, catechetical programmes, means of transportation and Mass stipends for the priests.
Marie-Ange Siebrecht, ACN Middle East co-ordinator, stressed the ecumenical flavour of the charity's work in Iraq which supports Orthodox Christians as well as Catholics.
She highlighted the importance of ACN’s support of the Assyrian Orthodox Church in northern Iraq.
She said ACN had established strong lines of communication with the various churches in Iraq which ensures that aid does reach the people for whom it is intended.

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