Congolese bishop shares struggles of priests who do not have enough to eat

Jerusalem, Mar 21, 2020 / 12:00 am (CNA).- A bishop in Israel has renewed a call for educational leaders to address “bigoted attitudes” in the teaching of young people, and stated that failures of the Israeli education system to promote plu… […]

Rome Newsroom, Jul 7, 2020 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- More Christian families left the Nineveh Plains than returned to their hometowns last year amid ongoing security concerns in northern Iraq, according to a recently published report by Aid to the Church in Need. 

The report, “Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq,” documents how Iraqi Christians’ worries over Iran-backed militias operating in their region drive emigration and economic insecurity. 

“Christians who have returned to their homes still feel unsafe, and substantially more insecure than other groups in the region mostly because of the violent activity of local militias,” Fr. Andrzej Halemba, the leader of ACN’s Nineveh Reconstruction Committee, wrote in the report’s foreword.

“Although economic concerns, especially employment, are paramount in some areas, it is impossible to decouple these from security considerations. These key factors need to be addressed to tackle the physical and economic insecurity that forces populations to move. If the tendency to emigrate is not stemmed, it will place, in turn, even greater pressure on Christians remaining in Iraq by reducing their critical mass and thus creating a less hospitable environment,” he said.

The ACN report found that 57% of Iraqi Christians surveyed said that they had considered emigration. Among them, 55% responded that they expect to leave Iraq by 2024.

The number of Christians living in areas formerly occupied by the Islamic State has already declined from 102,000 to 36,000 people since 2014. The report stated that some displaced Christians who returned to the Nineveh Plains as their homes were rebuilt are now choosing to leave. 

“In the summer of 2019, the Christian population of this region reached an inflection point, with more families leaving their hometown than returning. In Baghdeda alone, 3,000 Syriac Catholics left over the course of just three months in 2019 – a drop of 12% in the number of Syriac Catholics in the town,” it said.

With continued migration, the future of the Western Neo-Aramaic language known as Surith, and sometimes called “Syriac,” is also threatened if the children of immigrants do not retain the language. One Christian in Bartella told ACN: “Learning Syriac is important because it’s the language of Jesus.”

The report named Australia as one of the primary locations where Iraqi Christians emigrate, with at least 139,000 moving there since 2007.

This is in part made possible by Iraqi Christians’ family connections abroad. The study found that most Christians had at least one family member living abroad, which provides an added incentive and knowledge of how to leave Iraq. 

However, the majority of the Iraqi respondents to the ACN survey cited security concerns over family reasons as the primary reason for wanting to emigrate. 

In particular, living under an Iran-backed militia was directly correlated with feelings of insecurity. These Shia militia groups operate with the permission of the Iraqi government, but they have previously refused to comply with the prime minister’s instructions to integrate into the Iraqi army. 

The ACN report detailed Christians’ complaints of theft, threats of violence, and injury perpetrated by these militia groups, which have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for human rights abuses.

Additionally, many Iraqi Christians live with the fear that the Islamic State or a similar group will return. The survey conducted by ACN found that 87% of these Christians felt unsafe or absolutely unsafe, and 67% believed that “it is likely or very likely that ISIS or a similar group will return in the next five years.”

“Disputes between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over certain Christian-majority areas have also hindered infrastructure reconstruction provoking further insecurity,” Halemba said.

The priest underlined that reconstruction efforts in the Nineveh Plains needed to continue, adding that the number of families in the immediate region that would still like to return is estimated to be more than 2,000. 

The report, published in June, is based on a stratified sampling survey conducted between August and November 2019 of 793 Christians living in areas formerly occupied by the Islamic State in the Nineveh Plains. The report was written by Halemba and Xavier Bisits, a management consultant for Bain & Company and ACN project support officer.

The authors said that the survey’s results indicated that NGOs, churches, and governments should focus on the causes that drive Iraqi Christians to emigrate and advocate for the restoration of security in the Nineveh Plains in partnership with local Church leaders.

“The findings of ‘Life after ISIS’ make clear that restoring the stability of the Christian community in this post-conflict region is only possible with a concerted effort focusing on security, education, long-term economic opportunities, and reconstruction,” Halemba said.

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Antananarivo, Madagascar, Sep 7, 2019 / 10:06 am (CNA).- Jesus has called you and has entrusted a mission to you, Pope Francis told a crowd of young people at a prayer vigil in Antananarivo, Madagascar Saturday.

“Through you, the future is coming to Madagascar and to the Church,” the pope said in the diocesan Soamandrakizay field Sept. 7.

“The Lord is the first to trust in you, but he also asks you to trust in yourselves and your own skills and abilities, which are many,” he continued. Jesus “wants to change us and to make our lives a mission.”

According to organizers, there were about 100,000 people present for the meeting, so far the largest gathering during the pope’s six-day trip to the African countries of Mozambique, Madagascar, and Mauritius.

In his message, Francis preached against falling into bitterness, which he said can be a temptation for young people, especially when they lack basic necessities or the means to pursue studies, or cannot find a stable job. “Beware of this bitterness, beware!” he added.

But, he said, “the Lord is the first to tell you no! [Bitterness] is not the way to go.”

“The Lord calls each of us by name and says: Follow me! He does not call us to run after mirages, but to become missionary disciples here and now.”

“He is the first to reject all those voices that would lull you to sleep, make you passive, numb and apathetic, and thus prevent you from seeking new horizons,” he continued. “With Jesus, there are always new horizons to be sought.”

Jesus also tells Catholics not to be afraid to get their hands dirty, he pointed out, explaining that Jesus’ disciples “must not keep still, complaining or looking inward. They need to be on the move, acting, committed, certain that the Lord is supporting and accompanying them.”

Pope Francis said he thinks of every young person as a seeker: “Each person shows it differently, but deep down all of you are looking for the happiness that no one will be able to take from us.”

The pope responded to two testimonies he heard from young adults in the course of the vigil. One was from a 27-year-old man named Rova Sitraka Ranarison.

Pope Francis commented on the story of the young man, who had recounted that he had for a long time felt a desire to visit prisoners, so he had begun to help a priest’s prison ministry, and eventually became more and more involved, adopting it as his “personal mission.”

“You realized that your life is a mission. This search, born of faith, helps make the world in which we live a better place, more in accord with the Gospel,” Francis told Rova.

He also noted the transformation the young man experienced, that it “changed your way of seeing and judging people. It made you a fairer and more sensitive person.”

Rova, the pope said, learned to see people as the Lord sees people. “He does not call us by our sins, our errors, our faults, our limits, but by our name; each of us is precious in his eyes.”

He added that Jesus never abandons his children; no matter how far they have wandered, he is always there, calling and waiting for them to return to him and start over.

Pope Francis also pointed to the testimony of a 21-year-old woman, Vavy Elyssa Nekendraza, who he said made this point well: that “it is impossible to be a missionary disciple all by ourselves.”

An encounter with Jesus as individuals and as a community is essential, he said.

“Certainly, we can accomplish great things on our own, but together we can dream of and undertake things undreamt of! Vavy put it nicely: we are invited to find the face of Jesus in the face of others.”

Francis said no one can say, “I don’t need you,” and asked the young people to repeat three times the phrase “No one can say, ‘I don’t need you,’” which they did in Malagasy.  

Catholics, he continued, are one great family that has a mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, patroness of Madagascar.

“That young woman is now the Mother who watches over her children as they walk in life, often weary and in need, but always anxious that the light of hope not be extinguished,” he said, adding that this is what he desires for Madagascar: “that the light of hope not be extinguished.”

“She, Our Mother, looks at this great assembly of young people who love her and seek her in the silence of their hearts, despite the noise of the world and the chatter and distractions of the journey,” he concluded.

“To Mary I entrust the lives of each of you, and those of your families and your friends. May you never lack the light of hope, and may Madagascar be increasingly the land the Lord has dreamt of.”

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