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Thursday,
November 26, 2015
The
Exodus of Middle Eastern Christians
Since 2003 (the Iraq war) and especially since 2011 (Arab Spring) the exodus of
Christians from the east increases. Some reports give only ten years for the
page to turn concerning Christianity in the Middle East. This seems to be a
pessimistic view, but observed experience shows an alarming and growing
emigration.
The subject of daily discussions is how to leave. Go anywhere and in any way,
even if it means taking dangerous risks. A family just sent their
twelve-year-old son away with a caravan of fugitives. A twelve-year-old child
has not returned.
Will he later be able to invite his family to join him? Will he find a safe
place? Given the military stalemate, an increasingly distant peace, and to
avoid Military Service, in order to escape an absurd war that has lasted too
long, young people are the greatest number of those who leave.
What is the future a Church without young people?
It
is the fatal end of apostolic Christianity in a Biblical Land which becomes a
hostage of violence and intolerance in the name of a radical faith that neither
supports pluralism nor accepts differences.
Envisioning the Future
How can the Church of the Middle East envision the future? Several paths are:
a) Follow the faithful in the countries of the Diaspora to help them to keep
their faith of origin.
b) Establish alliances between minorities to defend their citizens' rights
against the domination of an 'intolerant' Islam.
c) Seek guarantees of protection from the ruling authorities.
d) Accept living under the shadow of Islam and continue a life full of
difficulties and challenges.
The Christians of the East face an almost suicidal choice. Living under the
shadow of Islam remains a choice quite difficult to assume. Living in the
shadow of Islam requires a return to the early centuries of the Church, which
highlights the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth. This dynamism is favoured by
the Charter of the Year of Mercy announced by the Francis Pope. Showing the
merciful face of Christ gives vitality to the witness to the Gospel.
The social committee members who visit Muslim prisoners in Syria highlights the
Good Samaritan at the heart of people in distress. This is a providential way,
a challenge that enables the continuation of the Mission and the joy of the
Divine Child.
BON NOEL 2015
+Samir NASSAR
Maronite Archbishop of Damascus
Dear
Friends,
These
words from Archbishop Samir Nassar in Damascus (late November 2015) bring home
the reality of why the young people and especially Syria's young men are
leaving. Life has become totally unbearable and they see no future. They are
willing to risk everything for at least the HOPE of freedom.
The
Archbishop speaks of a twilight time for the Church in the Middle East. He
speaks of the exodus of Middle Eastern Christians and a Church without young
people. The Archbishop speaks to us of the suicidal choice which Middle Eastern
Christians daily face.
And
yet amidst this desolation the Archbishop challenges us and his own flock to
live the Year of Mercy with love, compassion and evangelical witness of the
mission and joy of the Christ Child.
This
courageous Archbishop has now lived in this war for nearly five years watching
his flock dwindling and ever dwindling.
I
ask you to continue to pray for Christians in both Iraq and Syria and in the
wider Middle East, and for the courageous Bishops, Priests, Sisters and lay
people who continue to be a light for Christ in an increasingly suffering and
persecuted Middle Eastern Church. I ask you to pray for all peoples, of all
faiths and most of all for Peace.
Please
ensure that these words of the Archbishop are heard in your Parishes, read out,
printed in Newsletters and given the attention they so richly deserve.
United
in prayer and great thanks
Antonia