Iraq’s suffering will ‘rise sharply’ in wake of coronavirus, priest says

Wau, South Sudan, Aug 20, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the civil war in South Sudan heightens, millions are fleeing their homes for safer ground, which many have found at St. Mary Help of Christian’s Cathedral in Wau, the country’s second largest city.

“Those who flee believe that even rebels still fear God and would not slaughter civilians in the backyard of a church,” said Fr. Moses Peter, a priest at St. Mary’s, according to IRIN News.

“Many other churches have also taken in hundreds of people,” he said.
 
South Sudan has been in the middle of a brutal civil war for the past three-and-a-half years, which has divided the young country between those loyal to its President Salva Kiir and those loyal to former vice president Reik Machar. The conflict has also bred various divisions of militia and opposition groups.

Since the beginning of the war, around 4 million citizens have left the violence-stricken country, in hopes of finding peace, food and work. This week, neighboring Uganda received the one-millionth South Sudanese refugee, highlighting the crisis as the world’s fastest growing refugee epidemic.

For those who have not fled the nation, many internally displaced persons (IDPs) are seeking refuge in churches – including St. Mary’s Cathedral, which is the country’s largest church and is located Wau. Over 10,000 people now seek shelter there.

The city of Wau, in the northern part of the country, had gone years without being touched by the brutality of the war, which originally drew IDPs to the area. But that changed this spring, when the conflict widened its reach to the area.

Among the IDPs are usually women, children and those who have lost most of their families in the war. Many are too fearful to stay in their homes because they know they could be killed, tortured, raped or even forced into fighting.

“Soldiers burned our houses, took our cattle, and almost murdered my whole village,” said Maria, a disabled, elderly woman who has been living at St. Marys for the past year.

“I don’t know why I was spared, but I was left alone and helpless,” Maria said.

A blind man named Juda, who is also staying at St. Mary’s, said that he “has nothing to return to, so I will wait here in the church.”

While the 61-year-old church welcomes those seeking refuge, it is running low on food supplies. It has been four months since the last food distribution from the World Food Programme.

Local bishops have also called for food aid and peace negotiations in the country, voicing their frustrations that their pleas have not been heard.

“Those who have the ability to make changes for the good of our people have not taken heed of our previous pastoral messages,” stated a Fed. 23 message from the South Sudanese bishops.

Despite successful partnerships between the local church, aid agencies and government, the refugees are still in need of a proper supply of food. However, the church has made recent upgrades, including water pumps, toilets, classrooms, and health offices, which were set up by international aid agencies.

While St. Mary’s may feel like a safe haven for many, the war rages on only 20 miles from the city. Local relief workers have faced various threats, and security at the church consists of only one guard.

“Between hunger and insecurity, people face a lot of pressure here,” Fr. Peter said.

One local businessman, Hasan, said that the famine in the country is not due to food shortage, but rather a result of corruption, inflation and lootings.

“There could be enough for all,” he told IRIN, saying, “if people had money, food would be available to them.”

The refugee crisis will persist as long as the bloodshed and violence in the country continues. However, international peacemaking efforts have stalled and neither side of the conflict have made advances towards a truce.

“I am not confident about peace,” said Juda, the blind man at St. Mary’s. “If it doesn’t come, I don’t know if I’ll ever have a place to call home again besides this church.”

[…]

Mosul, Iraq, Dec 9, 2019 / 03:10 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako has appealed for financial and spiritual aid for Christians in the Middle East, especially in Iraq. The Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, made the plea in a letter on Friday, December 6.

“Today, after two years of its liberation from ISIS, the Nineveh Plain area still needs the help of our brothers and sisters who can pray and give us a hand,” said Cardinal Sako. 

In the letter, addressed to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), social institutions, churches, and governments, Sako said that the Christians in the region “need your help so that all the people of the Nineveh Plain (can) remain in their homes, and those who have been displaced outside the region can return to it.” 

The Nineveh Plain is region in northern Iraq. 

Although ISIS was defeated, the need for assistance of all forms is still great, wrote Sako. Particularly, there is a “vital need” for healthcare services of all kind, he said.

“I strongly urge all actors to work specifically to restore life to the Nineveh Plain, for instance. By encouraging projects in agriculture, livestock, trade, etc.,” he said, suggesting that some more cooperation among bishops in the area could help achieve these goals.

The cardinal also asked Christians to “pray for Iraq, and in particular for the people of the Nineveh Plain,” as a special Advent devotion. 

Edward Clancy, director of outreach for Aid to the Church in Need, said that the biggest problem facing people living in the Nineveh Plains is a lack of infrastructure. 

“They don’t have have regular resources, as they should, because of the many years of war and now, sporadic help from the government as far as roads, security, things like that,” Clancy told CNA in a phone interview. 

Clancy added that Americans should work to become aware of the problems facing Christians in the Middle East. Without awareness, the entire Christian community there is facing extinction. 

“Awareness is a very big portion of it,” said Clancy. “Another thing is that people in the Christian world, the Christian community, tend not to self-promote. You don’t hear a lot of, you know, ‘this is happening to Christians.’ There seems to be a lot more interest in helping others, which is a great thing, but at the same time we have to understand that there’s Christians in great need in the Middle East.”

On the local level, Clancy said that parishes should work to provide “some sort of aid” to their brethren in the Middle East, either financial or spiritual. Without this aid, Christians will continue to flee their homelands or be at risk of terrorism. 

“We have to, as a Church, get the message out better, understand better that there are Christians there and then do something about it,” he said.  

“We should be shocked by the fact that over 90% of the Christians of Iraq have left, perhaps for good,” said Clancy. “And that means that it’s going to take a concerted effort of the global Church to help Christianity remain in places like Iraq and the Middle East.”

[…]

The small procession of Franciscan friars, with the Custos of the Holy Land, arrives in Manger Square, in front of the Basilica of the Nativity, in Bethlehem on Saturday, Dec. 2, the day of the solemn entrance for the beginning of Advent. The Sq… […]