bishopwarda

Can we continue to live here without int’l support? Do our children have the chance to live decent lives & practice their faith, find work? Must we leave everything behind as we are rejected in our homelands? Our crucial role is to keep the voice of Jesus here & our communities.

The greatest threat to Christians in the Middle East is not just danger, it is the loss of hope & community. Families are forced to leave in search of dignity & a future for their children. Our strength is resilience, but this alone is not enough. We need int’l support to remain

“When the scale of values is disturbed & evil becomes mixed with good, individuals & groups consider only their own interests, not those of others. The result is that the world is not yet a home of true brotherhood”. Gaudium et Spes: The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965)

Jesus' teaching is marked by open dialogue with all the flaws of humanity that still remain in the whole world. Dialogue is vital for mercy, love of neighbour, to listen deeply, respond truthfully & act compassionately. We pray for dialogue to stop wars & to care for the other.

‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ Matthew 5:43-44. Jesus challenges our attitude toward hatred, revenge, dehumanisation & to see everyone as a unique soul to be treated with dignity.

A self-righteous world is confident in knowing everything & can see clearly in everything. They insist what they say is obvious. Confidence in one’s own understanding can blind us to deeper truths. Only by listening, dialogue, wisdom & understanding can we grow together in peace.

Our prayers & thoughts for those souls killed in drone attacks in Erbil & elsewhere. Each life is sacred & we pray for their families & communities who are grieving. We are all souls created by God to love thy neighbour as thyself. The 6th Commandment says thou shalt not kill.

Repercussions of any new war in our region are rarely immediate or direct. They often run deeper & longer, especially for small & vulnerable communities as the Middle East Christians: displacement, emigration, social fragmentation, cultural loss, generational impact.

Christians in the Middle East seek to live their faith & serve their societies industriously with peace & care. The greatest danger to our survival is the loss of hope due to persecution & constant wars that ruin economies, jobs & security forcing families into the diaspora.

We express our gratitude to His Beatitude Cardinal Louis Sako for his long and faithful service to the Church and to our people as a priest, bishop, and patriarch. He has dedicated his life to the service of the Gospel amid many challenges. We accompany him with our prayers and gratitude, and we wish him peace and every blessing.

What future do our children have if war is all they inherit? Every bomb dropped today affects the lives of tomorrow’s generation. Fear instead of lullabies, laughter, learning, hope, dreams & freedom. Peace & uninterrupted education are key responsibilities we owe our children.

Daily drone activity has indefinitely closed our 4 Christian schools, university & catechist centre. War lacks dialogue, wisdom & understanding . We form & educate our children to be leaders, critical thinkers in dialogue, wisdom & understanding as Jesus instructed us.

ISIS brought terror, insecurity, lost education, displacement, loss of jobs, mass Christian emigration. We have rebuilt with donor help & now a Middle East war, only 9 yrs after the retaking Mosul. Again terror, insecurity, lost education, displacement, loss of jobs, emigration.

When war erupts in the Middle East, we face another erosion, fast or slow. Do we stay? Do our children have a future ? What happens to our livelihoods & feeding our families. We fear bombs & uncertainty. Our hope in Jesus is not built on politics, but on His faithful presence.

A miracle no one was injured when 2 drones struck our community, 150 metres from our Catechist Centre that serves 1,000 Catholic children. Our university & schools are also closed so the young can be with their parents. Please pray for us & for all who suffer in this war.

2 downed drones hit our Chaldean convent & apartment building in our Christian quarter of Anakwa. The latter was funded by Knights of Columbus to house the displaced by ISIS. 12 years later more displacement/collateral damage. The cycle of violence becomes shorter & shorter.

We have become the scum of the world”: St Paul’s stark words describe falsehood, fear, abuse, hunger, displacement & homelessness Christians faced. 2000 yrs later, his lament still echoes these oppressions of many Middle Eastern Christians today & war only increases them.

I lived through the eight-year war with Iran. I endured the first and second Gulf wars. I witnessed the violence, displacement, and bombings that shook Iraq after 2003. These are not distant chapters in a history book for myself and my people ; they are our living memories we carry every day.

The Middle East does not need another war. Our children deserve stability. Our families deserve peace. Ordinary people have paid too high a price for conflicts they never chose.

When tensions rise again in our region, we do not see headlines. We feel old wounds reopen. Our people are still recovering—emotionally, economically, spiritually. The Middle East does not need another war. Our children deserve stability and peace.