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Erbil, Iraq, Apr 9, 2016 / 03:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After spending his first full day in Erbil, Iraq, Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave a special message to men studying in Iraq’s only remaining seminary for diocesan priests.“You, you will be the apostles. You will be the heralds. You will help convert the world,” Cardinal Dolan said April 9.He spoke to the nearly 30 seminarians currently studying at St. Peter Patriarchal Seminary for the Chaldean Patriarchate in Erbil after having toured different projects that help the internally displaced and listening to their stories of suffering.While some might be tempted to say that the Church is dying in Iraq, and that it is more alive in other areas, “we say to you no. Here is where the Church is alive.”“You are teaching us,” the cardinal said. “So please hear us say we love you, we need you, we cannot forget you.”Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, spoke to the seminarians on his ...
Erbil, Iraq, Apr 9, 2016 / 03:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After spending his first full day in Erbil, Iraq, Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave a special message to men studying in Iraq’s only remaining seminary for diocesan priests.
“You, you will be the apostles. You will be the heralds. You will help convert the world,” Cardinal Dolan said April 9.
He spoke to the nearly 30 seminarians currently studying at St. Peter Patriarchal Seminary for the Chaldean Patriarchate in Erbil after having toured different projects that help the internally displaced and listening to their stories of suffering.
While some might be tempted to say that the Church is dying in Iraq, and that it is more alive in other areas, “we say to you no. Here is where the Church is alive.”
“You are teaching us,” the cardinal said. “So please hear us say we love you, we need you, we cannot forget you.”
Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, spoke to the seminarians on his first full day in Iraqi Kurdistan, where he is currently on a pastoral visit intended to offer support and solidarity to families, Church leaders, priests and religious who were displaced as a result of ISIS attacks in 2014.
He is traveling in his capacity as chair of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) along with CNEWA board member Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, CNEWA President Msgr. John Kozar, and the Executive Director of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of New York, Msgr. Kevin Sullivan. CNA is also part of the delegation.
The seminary is the only one left in Iraq that provides formation for diocesan priests in the country, and is one of the many structures and projects supported by CNEWA. First established in Baghdad, the seminary was later moved to Erbil for security reasons, and is headed by the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda.
Cardinal Dolan’s visit to the seminary was the last activity on his packed itinerary for day one. Earlier in the day he paid a visit to a prefab school for displaced children run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena as well as two kindergartens overseen by the order. He also visited a medical dispensary for the chronically ill and celebrated Mass at the Dominican Sisters’ convent before meeting with families and care givers at a displacement center in Ain Qawa, which is currently home to some 213 Christian families.
Although the cardinal’s words at the seminary were spoken to the young men studying there, they could easily have been directed to the families and individuals suffering due to two years of living in the cramped, overcrowded camp after being forced to flee their homes.
During the cardinal’s visit to the displacement center, individuals shared with him the agony, frustration, anger and hopelessness that they feel.
One man said that while some say the situation has stabilized, he disagreed. “(I)t has not…we are still suffering, we are in misery, we want to go home,” he said.
Similarly, one woman tearfully said that while the displaced Christian community would be willing to host the cardinal 10 times or more, what they really want is to go home, and begged him for some sort of timeline.
Cardinal Dolan responded by embracing those who spoke and thanked them for their continued faith.
In his words to the seminarians, the cardinal said that after spending the day at the various projects, he was inspired by the witness of the priests, who tirelessly serve the people and are “great models” of living Pope Francis’ call for shepherds to be in the midst of their sheep.
He noted how one of the priests charged with the care of the camp, Fr. Bashar, had initially slept on a mattress outside when nearly 100,000 people poured into Erbil following ISIS’ attack on their hometown of Qaraqosh, preferring to let the faithful stay indoors.
“That’s the model of the priesthood, that’s Jesus. To be with our people all the time,” he said, adding that Archbishop Warda and the rest of the priests in the country “are very close to the people in difficult times.”
Bishop Murphy also spoke briefly to the seminarians, saying that to see them all present in the seminary “gives me great hope for the future.”
“I can see the strength of the faith that has brought you here,” he said, noting that while times may be tough, difficulties are nothing new for the Church.
Even the apostles faced their own challenges and persecutions, but the inner strength of their faith gave them two “great gifts,” the bishop said. These gifts, he explained, are “courage to speak the words of Jesus Christ and an inner serenity.”
These two things go together, he said, “because when we have the confidence to speak what the Lord has sent us to speak, and we have then the inner sense of who we are as faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ, our lives have an inner integrity.”
The bishop assured of his prayers for the seminarians and asked for theirs in return for the challenges the Church faces in the United States.
“There are challenges in the United States too, and we have to do our best to witness to Jesus Christ in our setting, just as you have to do it and will do it as members of the Chaldean Church as priests of Jesus Christ.”
In April 9 comments to CNA, Archbishop Warda said that Cardinal Dolan’s visit is one of love and hope in which “we really feel that we are not forgotten.”
The archbishop said he knows the Christian and Catholic communities in the United States are praying for them, which “means a lot for us.”
To know that they have not been abandoned brings confidence that authorities “will really make all possible efforts to remind the politicians, to remind everyone, that there are persecuted, vulnerable communities in Iraq – Christians, Yazidis – and that we have to do something for them.
”When Cardinal Dolan and his delegation see the situation firsthand, “they could tell the story differently,” with personal experiences.
Archbishop Warda said that they are “brothers,” and stressed that this brotherhood is the most important foundation to build on.
“When any brother feels and suffers any kind of sadness, the family can gather together, pray together, help each other to overcome (it),” he said.
Stockholm, Sweden, Apr 9, 2016 / 03:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious liberty advocates applauded a European court’s ruling in favor of asylum for an individual fleeing life-threatening anti-conversion laws in Iran, on the grounds that his security must be taken into account.“Asylum should be granted to individuals who are being persecuted and fear for their lives because of converting to a different religion,” said Roger Severino, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.“Iran’s anti-conversion laws violate the fundamental human right to be able to choose your own religion and live out your beliefs, which includes the right to change your religion without the government threatening imprisonment or in the case of Iran, death for apostasy,” he told CNA.Severino was responding to a European Court of Human Rights decision in F.G. v Sweden that Sweden must assess the dangers to an Iranian citizen who conve...
Stockholm, Sweden, Apr 9, 2016 / 03:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Religious liberty advocates applauded a European court’s ruling in favor of asylum for an individual fleeing life-threatening anti-conversion laws in Iran, on the grounds that his security must be taken into account.
“Asylum should be granted to individuals who are being persecuted and fear for their lives because of converting to a different religion,” said Roger Severino, director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.
“Iran’s anti-conversion laws violate the fundamental human right to be able to choose your own religion and live out your beliefs, which includes the right to change your religion without the government threatening imprisonment or in the case of Iran, death for apostasy,” he told CNA.
Severino was responding to a European Court of Human Rights decision in F.G. v Sweden that Sweden must assess the dangers to an Iranian citizen who converted from Islam to Christianity if he is denied asylum and forced to return back to Iran.
“Unfortunately, many people who live in totalitarian societies and convert to a religion not sanctioned by the state live in hiding because they feel threatened for doing so,” Severino said. “They are forced to flee and seek asylum elsewhere because they want to live freely and be safe.”
In 2009, an Iranian citizen applied for asylum and a resident permit in Sweden after suffering political persecution for opposing the Iranian regime. But two years later, the Swedish Migration Office denied his request, which he appealed.
In January 2014, a lower chamber of the court ruled that Sweden’s denial was justified because the applicant’s life was not in jeopardy, since Iranian authorities were unaware of his conversion and he could keep his faith private.
ADF International then filed a brief on behalf of the Iranian citizen with the European Human Court of Human Rights, arguing that the lower court’s decision violated his religious freedom and that converts to Christianity face numerous threats in the country.
According to the U.S. State Department’s 2014 religious freedom report on Iran, “Christians, particularly evangelicals, continued to experience disproportionate levels of arrests and high levels of harassment and surveillance.” The U.N. Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran also reported “that authorities held at least 49 Protestant Christians in custody, many for involvement in informal house churches.”
Robert Clarke, director of European Advocacy for ADF International, told CNA, that “the lower chamber (of the court) underestimated the severe danger to this convert’s life.” He said that the Grand Chamber grasped the real threat facing Christian converts.
“In its judgement, the Grand Chamber rightly noted that Christian converts are one of the most persecuted religious minorities in Iran. Moreover, the Islamic regime governing Iran has systematic mechanisms in place to identify all Christian converts – even those practicing in secret,” Clarke said.
“If a convert to Christianity is identified by the Iranian government, he or she is very likely to suffer substantial harm, deprivation of liberty, assaults and continual harassment. In the worst case the individual could face severe ill-treatment or death,” he warned.
The Grand Chamber ruled that Sweden would be violating Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect life and safeguard against inhumane treatment, if it deported the applicant.
“The applicant’s conversion to Christianity is a criminal offence punishable by death in Iran. In addition to the risk of social persecution as a Christian, the applicant risks criminal prosecution for the crime of apostasy,” the judgment states. “The order for the applicant’s deportation to Iran, where he could be tried under the above-mentioned criminal and procedural law, equates to a violation of principles deeply enshrined in the universal legal conscience.”
Severino said that governments with anti-conversion laws are motivated by a desire to control their citizens.
“These states with anti-conversion laws fear religious freedom. Ultimately, it is a matter of control because if there is something higher than the state, then the state has less control and less power,” Severino said. “The question then becomes: ‘Who do you pledge allegiance to: God or the state?’”
However, he said, the government has nothing to fear from people changing religions. “What they actually should fear are the divisions they are causing by forcing people to be hypocrites and violate their conscience.”
Severino also encouraged the United States to continue its tradition of embracing immigrants in need.
“Western countries should absolutely be open to taking people in who are facing this sort of oppression and this kind of violation of their human rights,” he said.
“America is about providing refuge and shelter. That is part of our history and our DNA. It is one of the best parts of American society,” he concluded. “People who are persecuted because of their faith can come to America and live in freedom and that is a tradition that needs to be reinforced and continued.”
Photo credit: Boris Stroujko via www.shutterstock.com.
