Contacts & Publisher

Subscription Form

Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2008 /  Bishops fear for survival of Chaldeans in Iraq, Christians in the Middle East

by Marylynn G. Hewitt of The Michigan Catholic
Published December 5, 2008

Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO | The Michigan Catholic "I fear our future," says Bishop Antoine Audo, SJ, Chaldean bishop of Syria.

Detroit – Chaldean Catholics who remain in Iraq "are all in danger. They never know if they will be killed or kidnapped today or tomorrow," says Chaldean Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim.

"To be honest, we don't see any future for the Christian in the Arab countries. Not only Iraq, even Syria, even Lebanon, even Egypt," he says.

There were 650,000 Chaldeans in Iraq prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion into Iraq. Today, there are 250,000-300,000 – the same number now living in North America, says Bishop Ibrahim, the Southfield-based eparch of the Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle (Chaldean Catholic diocese for the eastern United States). The 150,000 in the Detroit area make up the largest group outside the Middle East, a population he says he's seen boosted by 40,000 in the past five years.

His brother bishops in Syria and Lebanon, host countries for Iraqi refugees, agree with his assessment of the dangers to those still in their home country. They all personally knew Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul who was killed in March 2007. They also knew the three priests who have been killed. And half of the priests now in Baghdad know what it's like to have been kidnapped.

"I fear our future," says Bishop Antoine Audo, SJ, Chaldean bishop of Syria.

"A very dangerous situation"

Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO | The Michigan Catholic Msgr. Michel Kassarji, Chaldean bishop of Lebanon, shown celebrating Mass at St. Raphael Cathedral in Beirut, says, "In 25 years or 50 years, the Middle East will become like a desert with not one Christian left."

During Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, which started in 1979, life for Christians in Iraq was relatively peaceful. Still, with the 2003 invasion "we were really happy to finish with Saddam. But the results? Everybody knows it," says Bishop Audo. "The Christians lost a lot in this situation. … Unfortunately, now it's a situation of violence, insecurity. It's not easy for the Christians to live now."

"The fundamentalism and extremism always existed in the modern society, but Saddam prevented it from going to the public," says Bishop Michel Kassarji, Chaldean bishop of Lebanon. "After the war, those groups who really believed in this fundamentalism started to be active."

The Chaldeans, the largest Christian group in Iraq, have been left without help since the fundamentalist militia erupted. "Every group has its own militia except the Christian. So the Christians were just looked over by everyone. Nobody was paying attention and then the Islam extremists were taken to persecutions to the Christians especially in Baghdad" where the largest numbers of Chaldeans lived, says Bishop Ibrahim. More than 100,000 moved north near Mosul in the past five years, he says, becoming displaced persons in their own country.

FYI Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO, who won a 2008 Egan Award from Catholic Relief Services for a story on the ROPE program at the Capuchin Soup Kitchens, traveled to the Middle east with CRS to look at the situation of Iraqi refugees. The interview with Bishop Joseph Absi was conducted through a translator.

"We are in a situation without authority, without a state," says Bishop Audo. "It is a very dangerous situation. The power of the state passed from the Sunni to the Shiite people. This is a big change in Iraq, historically and psychologically, in society."

Iraq "is a tribal society. That's a very important concept. We need a hand of iron to get to the people," says Bishop Audo. "But if there is no authority, like Saddam, we will have anarchy. I don't see any ray of democracy in our country."

Ongoing problems

Bishop Kassarji, based in Beirut, said arriving families plan to leave Lebanon and be resettled elsewhere and "have lost all hope to stay in Iraq." As violence has increased, so have the kidnappings in an attempt to raise ransom money to buy weapons. He says half of the families "have a son who was lost or killed, or a husband or a member of the family."

Aggressions and abuse are among the trauma-induced troubles of "almost every Christian family who arrives," he says.

Psychological issues "are the biggest problem" refugees arriving in Syria face, says Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Absi of Antioch, a Greek Melkite based in Damascas and president of Caritas Syria.

Walter Warren | The Michigan Catholic

There are initiatives undertaken by Caritas Syria such as a hotline and shelter for abused women and their children operated by the Good Shepherd Sisters, he adds, but it's not enough.

In the region surrounding Aleppo, with 4 million people, there are only seven psychiatric doctors, reports Bishop Audo. "I think it's a problem in Islamic and Arab cultures, this psychological approach, it's not really understood as important." There is no documented figure for how many Iraqi refugees have arrived in Syria. While country officials maintain they host 1.5 million, the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees states between 220,000 and 250,000 have registered for refugee status.

These are families who have left violence, but deal with the sorrow of leaving their homes, their homeland, their careers and a life where extended family lives nearby. They flee to host countries in broken family units and find there is no right to work. Unlike Syria, in some countries, their children aren't allowed in the school system.

The plight of the Chaldeans is dire, on that the bishops interviewed agree. What they don't agree on is the best solution for the future.

Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO | The Michigan Catholic Iraqi refugees "are more fragile, even in their faith, when they arrive," says Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, eparch of the Southfield-based Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle.

Plans for the future

In recent years, growing numbers of Iraqi refugees have been approved for resettlement by the UNHCR. That means leaving the Middle East for places with a very different culture, such as the United States, Australia or Sweden.

Whether Iraqi refugees should even leave the Middle East is a matter of debate.

Despite Michigan's economic crisis, coming to the United States gives them hope, says Bishop Ibrahim, who left his native Baghdad in 1978 when he was appointed as a priest to serve in California. He was named a bishop in 1982.

"They are more fragile, even in their faith, when they arrive," he says. But Bishop Ibrahim says it's not the same desperate situation they face while waiting in a host country.

Bishop Kassarji maintains the refugees should stay in the Middle East until it's safe to return to Iraq. He says he hears Christians in Beirut say, "'All of the west is taking us, so let's go.' That's sending the wrong message. And it's like a contamination, a virus. In 25 years or 50 years, the Middle East will become like a desert with not one Christian left." Chaldeans need to keep a presence in Iraq, Bishop Audo says. "It's very important even for the Church in the world to have this continuity of history because here are the roots, here are the beginnings.

Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO | The Michigan Catholic Psychological issues "are the biggest problem," says Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Absi of Antioch, a Greek Melkite based in Damascas, and president of Caritas Syria.

"For me it's important too because we have a unique experience of living with Islam. We've been living Christians and Muslims together as brothers and sisters for thousands of years," says Bishop Absi.

"Our dream is to help our people — in Iraq. To stay in Iraq. Not to go outside. That's it," says Bishop Kassarji. He admits it's not a very popular idea with those who have left the violence. And in order for it to happen, there has to be jobs and security, something not offered yet.

"My opinion is Iraq needs at least 10 years to return," maintains Bishop Ibrahim. "So where are they going to stay without school, residence, work? It's not a matter of one month or two years. It's a matter of years and years.

"They are going to suffer a couple of years here and there in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. But now when they reach Canadian soil, or America or Europe, they can wait for a better future – not for them but for their kids," he says from his Southfield office.

"We don't find, or we can not see, the future of our kids in this developing situation in the Muslim countries. So our destiny is to find a place for us."

Bishop Ibrahim advocates a community with regional autonomy based in the plains of Nineveh, in the northern part Iraq, for those who stay or those who return. "Not a kind of independence, but running their affairs by themselves" without a militia, but with special guards, he says. "That is the best we can have, otherwise we will lose our rights and be second- and third-degree citizens."

Bishop Absi, based in Damascus, says, "We as Christians refuse totally this idea. We are the original people. We've lived together for thousands of years."

Keeping Chaldeans living in diverse communities, as has been done in the past, is possible, Bishop Kassarji says. But the Church, he adds, must encourage them.

"The Muslims in the west have all their rights and those are migrants. We want our Christians who are not migrants, who are the originals of the land, to have all their rights, their full rights. This must be number one (in) any talk with the Muslims.

"It is like we are drowning and someone put out their hand. We are not very hopeful for what will happen," Bishop Kassarji says. "We are dreaming, but as Christians we always have."