WCR This Week

WCR PHOTO | RAMON GONZALEZ Archbishop Richard Smith, surrounded by members of Our Lady of Good Hope Maronite Parish, addresses local media Aug. 27 on the local Church's response to the suffering and violence in the Middle East.

Catholics in the Edmonton Archdiocese are reaching out to victims of violence in the Middle East with prayer and solidarity.

Hundreds of people, including many with roots in the Middle East, attended a special Mass for peace at St. Joseph's Basilica Aug. 27.

In addition, Archbishop Richard Smith has authorized a special collection to support the work of Catholic aid agencies working to alleviate the suffering in Iraq, Syria and Gaza.

The archbishop is also asking parishes to consider sponsoring refugee families "who need to come to Canada to escape the horror."

At a news conference prior to the Mass, Smith said the archdiocese wants to offer not just concrete help but also "a sign that even far away here, in Edmonton, we are close to the suffering in our prayer and to share with them our awareness and our deep concern for them."

Surrounded by members of Our Lady of Good Help Maronite Catholic Parish on the steps of the basilica, Smith said many in the Edmonton Christian community have been left broken-hearted by the atrocities committed against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.

"We want the broader community to be aware not only of the suffering that's happening so far away but also to be aware that that suffering has real echoes here; it echoes within the hearts of the people who come from those beautiful lands and in the hearts of people who have family members there," the archbishop said.

WCR PHOTO | RAMON GONZALEZ At the Aug 27 Prayers for Peace Mass in St. Joseph's Basilica, pastor of the Chaldean parishes in Calgary and Edmonton, Fr. Noel Farman, proclaimed the Gospel in Arabic.

Speaking in Arabic, Iraqi-born Asem Yousif said thousands of Christians were forced out of their homes in Mosul, site of the most horrific crimes by the Islamic State forces.

"One of those families is my sister and her family - eight people," he said. "They raided the house and then they burned what was left."

CONTINUOUS DISCRIMINATION

Anna Michail spoke about persecution with a generational perspective. Her family was forced to flee Turkey in the 1930s and they settled in Iraq, where she was born.

"Due to continuous discrimination and harassment of Christians in Iraq, I left Iraq in the early 1980s and I ended up in Canada, where my daughters were born," she said. "So we have three generations with three or four birthplaces and nobody asks why, nobody listens when we talk; I don't know if anybody cares now."

Michail said after 200 years of persecution of Christians in the Middle East, the world has been awakened and she hopes it is not too late.

"To the enemies of Christianity I say, 'The more you kill us, the more we will pray for you. The stronger your hatred is, the stronger the laugh of Jesus Christ and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ in our hearts will be.'"

RECALLS ANGUISH

Fadi Yalidku sounded nervous as he recounted the sounds of war, the dead bodies and the anguish he witnessed during a recent trip to Northern Iraq to visit family members.

CNS PHOTO | MORRIS BERNARD, UNHCR HANDOUT VIA EPA An Iraqi woman gestures at the Al Waleed refugee camp in Iraq Aug 19. One group of sick, elderly Iraqi Christians said they defied terrorist demands to convert to Islam or be killed.

His father, uncles, aunts and grandma had fled to Erbil in Kurdistan from the ancient Christian town of Alqosh, near Mosul, to escape certain death at the hands of the Islamic State forces, which had encircled several Christian towns in Northern Iraq.

In an interview Yalidku said he saw children dead in the streets because people couldn't carry them.

"I saw a lot of people living in tents with no clothing, no water and no food," the 17-year-old Iraqi Catholic said. "This shouldn't be happening."

Yalidku, who immigrated to Canada six years ago with his mother, planned his vacation before the Islamic State's advance began. Despite the danger, he decided to go because he missed his family. He hopes to return there soon.

At the news conference, Smith said prayer is critical to solving the Middle East conflicts "because part of the frustration and the anguish we are all experiencing is the fact that all our human efforts, political and diplomatic, don't seem to be making any headway. People continue to suffer."

To reach a true and a lasting peace, "there needs to be fundamentally among all parties a profound change of heart," the archbishop said. "That's something that can only be brought about by prayer; that's something that only God can bring about in people's hearts."

Violence perpetrated in the name of God is an abomination, Smith said at the Mass. "Violence and terror in the name of God can in no way honour the Almighty. On the contrary, such action blasphemes him."

In addition to the collection taken at the Aug. 27 special Mass, there will be collections in all parishes on the weekends of Sept. 6-7 and 13-14.