The chairman of the Committee of International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked his brother bishops to invite the people of their dioceses to pray for peace in Iraq this coming Sunday, August 17. Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, made the request on Wednesday, August 6. He also sent to the bishops a prayer composed by the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq, His Beatitude Louis Rafael Sako.
Yesterday Patriarch Sako said, "The Christians, about 100,000, horrified and panicked, fled their villages and houses with nothing but the clothes on their back." He described the scene as "a real via crucis" or Way of the Cross.
It has been much in the news over the past few days that the Islamic State has been persecuting Christians in northern Iraq. Iraqi Christians were forced to flee the city of Mosul with only the clothing on their back. Churches have been occupied and turned into mosques, the property, homes and businesses of Christians have been confiscated. The Islamic State (ISIS) has given Christians in Mosul and other towns a terrible choice: convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or face death.
A parish priest, Father Boutrous Moshi, in Qara Qoosh, a Christian area southeast of Mosul, said to a reporter for The Guardian, a British newspaper, "If Isis stays, there is no way the Christians can return. It is up to God whether we return or not. They have not burned the churches but they did set fire to the pictures and the books and broke the windows."
Again according to The Guardian, monks at the 4th century Mar Behnam monastery, a major pilgrimage site run by the Syriac Catholic church, were allowed to take only the clothes they were wearing. Another Christian said, "There is not a single family that left [from Mosul] and was not robbed. They took our money, gold, even the earrings from the women's ears. They have taken our houses."
On July 22 Chaldean Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona of Mosul said what is happening is "a crime against humanity--religious cleansing. It is an ugly word but it is what happened and is happening." Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad, in an interview with Catholic News Service, said, "There are no words to describe [the Islamic State fighters]. They have no conscience, no religion. Even though they talk about God, they don't know God."
Islamic State forces were also persecuting Muslims and members of other religions. Shiite mosques were also demolished and all Sunni, Shiite and Christian tombs were destroyed in Mosul.
Yesterday, President Obama directed that American military carry out airstrikes against the Islamic forces, who were evidently overwhelming the small Kurdish military attempting to protect their cities. Obama also directed that air drops of food and water be given to patches of Kurdish people fleeing from the Islamic State.
Christians in Iraq trace their heritage to the Apostle Thomas and other Apostles of Jesus. They are among the longest line of Christians in the world. Father Drew Christiansen, S.J., a noted expert on the Middle East, wrote in the National Catholic Reporter, "The persecution and expulsion of Christians from northern Iraq by the Islamic State is the latest, most organized, highly destructive blow to hit the Christians of the Middle East in more than a century...Not since the Nazis' war on the Jews has there been such complete depredation of a people."
Pope Francis has repeatedly asked for Christians around the world to pray for their persecuted brothers and sisters. Two days ago he also called for coordinated international action. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, "The pope is making a pressing appeal to the international community to take initiatives to put an end to the humanitarian drama underway, to take steps to protect those involved and threatened by violence, and to ensure the necessary aid for so many displaced people whose fate depends on the solidarity of others." Father Lombardi said the pope was appealing to the conscience of all people and every believer in God.
Here is the text of the prayer offered by Patriarch Sako:
Lord,
the plight of our country
is deep and the suffering of Christians is severe and frightening.
Therefore, we ask you Lord,
to spare our lives, and to grant us patience,
and courage to continue our witness of Christian values
with trust and hope.
Lord, peace is the foundation of life.
Grant us the peace and stability that will enable us
to live with each other without fear and anxiety,
and with dignity and joy.
Glory be to you forever.
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