English bishops to celebrate Mass for Christians of Iraq

BY ANNA ARCO
AS THE PLIGHT of Christians in Iraq worsens Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor is to celebrate a Mass for Iraq in Westminster Cathedral.
The Mass, which will take place at 530pm on Monday, is expected to draw crowds of Iraqi Christians living in Britain. It is being held in order to pray for those who have been forced to flee from Iraq and who are suffering under violent persecution as well as those Iraqi Christians living in exile in Britain.
The Cardinal will be joined by Bishop Crispian Hollis of Portsmouth and Auxiliary Bishop William Kenney of Birmingham, who visited the northern Iraqi cities of Kirkuk, Erbil, and Sulemaniyah a month ago, at the invitation of the Chaldean bishops. They also spent time at the Chaldean Seminary of St Peter in AinIcawa, a Christian town near Erbil.
Their host, Archbishop Louis Salco of Kirkuk, said: "Many people have left their homes, their property and their jobs and they are losing their patience so this visit was very helpful to encourage us to continue with courage and hope for a better future."
At a conference in Switzerland Archbishop Sako spoke out strongly, saying that Christians in the West needed to realise the "gravity of the tragedy of the Iraqi Christians". He said: "They are the most ancient inhabitants of die country, and a significant part of its culture. But they are often the victims of violence that strikes them in that they are Christians.
"Iraqi Christians feel alone, isolated, and forgotten. They have no confidence in a secure future in the face of the great silence of the international community and of the Church itself, except for the Pope and some European bishops."
The Gospel will be sung in Arabic and the Our Father will he said in Aramaic. Special prayers will be said for the recently killed Archbishop Faraj Rahho of Mosul among other victims of Iraq's violence. Bishop Hollis is to preach the sermon.
According to Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic charity, the numbers of Christians in Iraq have been almost wiped out in some parts of Iraq. It is thought that their number has dropped from more than a million Iraqi Christians to under 400,000 within a few years. Some 100,000 Christians have fled to Syria. Another large group has found refuge in Jordan while thousands more have fled to Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey.
The charity has received worsening reports of Christian kidnappings, evictions, and extortion. There have also been reports of Christian women who have been forced into "marriages" with members of extremist militias.
Catholics of all backgrounds are urged to attend.