Testing!

The Fight between Carnival and Lent

By Peter Bruegel

FRME Update - 4 February

Iraq and Jordan - An Update

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Ahmed, FRRME's newly-appointed Director of Operations in the Middle East. In her new role, Dr Sarah will help oversee operations in both Iraq and Jordan. 

Dr Sarah Ahmed, FRRME's new Director of Operations in the Middle East, receiving the FRRME Peace Prize in the House of Lords last week

Iraq - The situation in Northern Iraq is getting worse. Many NGOs, including the UN, are scaling back their operations and are only providing aid to the most needy. However, thanks to your support, FRRME is continuing to provide food packages, hygiene kits, medical care, and schooling for hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons. We are now working across 17 camps in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan and will continue to distribute vital relief as long as we are able to. 

FRRME's team on the ground  in Erbil distributing aid packages last week

  

Jordan - As well as looking after 500 Iraqi refugee families now living in Marka (a suburb of Amman), this month we provided £3,500 worth of aid to Syrian refugees - the money was spent on heating, rent, food and medical relief. This support comes on the back of recent reports about Syrians starving to death in Madaya. We want to do what we can to help and so we are working with the Syrian Orthodox Church in Jordan to assist those we can. 

FRRME is now providing vital relief to Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Jordan

The Emergency Appeal for Iraqi Refugees - Our emergency appeal is at 17%, with £43,000 raised. Thank you to all those who have made a donation, your support is very much appreciated. To those who would like to make a donation, please click on the image below.

For more information about The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East (FRRME), please click here.

Lighter evenings!

Really looking forward to the warmer and lighter evenings!   Must look at the barbeque tomorrow and check the fuel level.

Middle East Update 13 January 2015

Greetings and blessings from Jerusalem

Dear Friends, Greetings and blessings from Jerusalem. After several days of cold and snowy weather the sun has now returned to Jerusalem. When the Middle East is cold it is very difficult to keep warm. This is the dessert and it can't cope with the cold and neither can I in the midst of it. It is very difficult to keep warm and the country almost shuts down it was not possible to even have any serious meetings for several days.   Meanwhile life at St George's Baghdad continues to go well. The Church and Clinic are in good shape. The Bishop recently visited and appointed Faiz as the head chaplain and me as the vicar emeritus, this is indeed a great act for celebration. The situation in the Iraq however remains terrible. The refugees displaced from the homes and towns have been suffering so much in the cold of the winter. Our team up there have been doing a great job continuing to provide food and warm clothing to the hundreds in distress. Dr Sarah continues to head up the work. We will be going to see her tomorrow in Jordan where we also have a lot of work to do amongst our refugees there.   Our work may be rather overwhelming and depressing at times but it is truly awesome to do the work of G-d in this place, and see his glory is truly awesome. Yesterday I had three very different events. The first was with Rabbi Melchior, he got me along to a meeting that he did not really want, it was with the leader of the Universal Peace Initiative. It is basically an initiative of the Unification Church (the Meanies) and he and I don't like them. Maybe people are going to not like me for saying that but that is the truth. Then I met with Pastor Seven Koury our major Christian partner in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We have decided to call our work Ishmael and Isaac moving forward. So there is a good foundation planned for much of our relief work here being done through the church. The final meeting was more than amazing I took my rabbi for dinner. Many of you will know that I studied at an Ultra Orthodox Yeshiva. My Hassidic Rabbi (pictured) was Shimon Naftalis. How I love this man, my teacher my hero, my tzadick. I have not been with him since the night of our wedding reception at our honeymoon in Jerusalem. Our meeting was just like we had never been apart I thank the Almighty for this meeting and I am sure we are going to do a lot together, starting with our Ishmael and Isaac project. The tragic events of the past few days in Paris just remind us of how much work there still is to do. I am now off to Jordan and there is much to do. Love and Blessings, Canon Andrew White

The proclamation of the date of Easter and the other moveable feasts

The proclamation of the date of Easter and the other moveable feasts on Epiphany is one of the many things that was a practical necessity in time of old, but is kept within liturgical use (similar to candles providing light at Mass). It is something that any parish can use this Sunday after the gospel.

There are two scores in the file, depending on which day your Diocese celebrates the Ascension.

www.musicasacra.com/cafemedia/yanke/2015-announcement-of-movable-feasts.pdf

Middle East Daily Update 31 December 2014

Middle East Daily Update 31 December 2014

Dear friends, 2014 has been an exceptionally traumatic year for the people of the Middle East, our team on the ground have heard so many tragic stories. As 2014 draws to a close we wanted to summarise what we have encountered and how we have begun responding to the crises and outline our plans for 2015. In Amman, Jordan we have been working with local churches supporting Iraqi refugees mostly from Ninevah. There are hundreds of families who have fled to Jordan, many of whom have received no or limited assistance. As refugees they are unable to seek employment and have to wait months to hear whether they will be moved. In the meantime they are relying on charitable support, but this only goes so far and we have found many families that have not eaten for days in order to pay the rent. Many of the children have been out of education for 6 months or more. A great deal of our time has been spent in Israel/Palestine following recent troubles both in reconciliation and relief. We have been providing aid to Gaza through the Adam Centre which is part of the reconciliation work between Israel and Palestine. We have also been supporting the Church in Bethlehem in providing for the welfare of Christian Palestinians, and the Joseph Storehouse Foundation assisting disadvantaged people in Israel. At St George's, Baghdad our work through the school, clinic and food relief programme continued and with many displaced Iraqis moving to Baghdad has increased. Many Iraqis have been displaced to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq where we have been providing relief such as food, blankets, bedding, and mobility aids. In 2015 we are supporting the construction of an IDP camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and in Baghdad. In Israel/Palestine we are partnered with Mosaica working towards a resolution to the conflict. In Amman we are seeking funding for a school and clinic for the Iraqi refugees, premises have already been located and urgent financial support is needed. We found despair, we brought hope and now through your love please help us. Wishing you a very happy new year, Terry Jones and Daniel Packwood

Canon Andrew White's Christmas Update

Dear Friends,

It is the most beautiful time of the year. A time of light, food, parties, fun and presents. We must not forget how much it means to children. The other day I was in Toronto. There were children all around me. There was snow on the ground and a log fire burning. It was reminiscent of everything you could imagine about Christmas. Despite being in Church one of the parents told her child "If you are not good, Christmas will not happen". So the little boy no more than 6 said, "What if we are not good won't Jesus be born". With me the preacher sitting there the parents did not dare answer.

The fact is that Christmas has one reason only, that Jesus was indeed born. Throughout history from the Jewish tradition there was the profound belief that one-day the Messiah, the anointed one of God would be born. He would be the one who would lead people to their heavenly father God. He would be the one who would change peoples understanding of God forever. He would be the one known as the King of Kings.

Yet he was not born of the right stock, he was born of an unmarried mother who was no more than a refugee. She gave birth to her son in a grotty stable, in a grotty little town just outside of Jerusalem called Bethlehem. Not a very grand start for the person who would change history. From the day he was born history was divided into before him BC or after him AD. Those who follow that refugee child now call themselves Christians.

Christmas is also a time when you assess what has happened over the past year. For me this year has been so hard because I am not the vicar in a leafy Parish in the Hampshire/Surrey boarders where my family live. My parish is Baghdad in Iraq. The nation where the Christians have been dismissed from their hometowns in there hundreds of thousands. They have fled in their masses to the very North of Iraq fleeing the onslaught of the terrorist group known as ISIS. There for weeks my staff team have fed and clothed, provided mattresses and cradles for the thousands and thousands of internally displaced people.

Here in their refugee camp, the Christians with no Christmas like us in the West have placed a refugee tent for Jesus and there in the camp is a tent for another person who was also a poor refugee who had nothing.

This Christmas as we celebrate what we have, let us not forget that we too are celebrating the birth of a refugee who had nothing but gives us everything. As we delight in what we can give to people this Christmas let us not forget what this Christmas is really all about the time when this refugee child comes to all of us as the one who leads us to God and offers us the most wonderful gift possible this Christmas. Christmas is all about relationship with our ultimate creator.

I will never forget the day in Baghdad when we had some visitors. They had come to see what it was really like for Christians in Iraq. They were so surprised by how happy the thousands of people were in our congregation. "How can you be so happy when you are surrounded, suicide bombs, mortar's rockets and such violence". One of our young people answered the statement. "You see when you have lost everything, Jesus is all you have got left".

All you have got left is the love of that refugee child. That to us in the Middle East is all that matters this Christmas. The terrorism has got so bad in Iraq that I have had to leave. So I have moved to the other place where I work Bethlehem. That little town where Jesus first came. Two thousand years after he first came he is still everything to the people, He is still everything to our Christians in Iraq and he can still be everything to us. You see when Christmas is over, when you have had all your presents and food, Jesus is all we have got left.

So Christmas is a time when we should never loose the meaning of this Christ Child who came to us so that by simply trusting in him we will have a life filled with hope and purpose and love. He is still with us 2000 years after he first came. This Christmas let us not forget that he so loves us that we must love him and in response our life will be changed forever.

Wishing you a happy and blessed celebration on the birthday of our Lord. 

 
Canon Andrew White

Middle East Update 2 December 2014 Happy and Blessed Christmas Canon Andrew White from Bethlehem and Baghdad

Dear Friends, As we approach Christmas I bring you blessings from Bethlehem and Baghdad. Bethlehem where I am most of my time now because it is deemed too dangerous for me to be in Iraq at the moment and Baghdad that I still see as my home and the place I love more than any other. I may not be there but our team still are working flat out to bring hope to our many thousands of Christians who have been forced from their homes at this time. Every day they are providing food, accommodation, clothing, and disabled aids to those in great need. Last year we could have never dreamt that we would be facing this level of crisis – with our people being hounded from their homes, our people being massacred and having nowhere to go for real safety. I want to thank you for all the help you gave us at this most terrible of times. With your assistance we have been able to help meet the needs of those who have nothing. The story may be out of the news now but the crisis continues. We are having to provide for the needs of those not just in Iraq but also those who have fled to neighbouring countries. Last week we were in Jordan with some of our desperate people. About to be forced out of their totally derelict homes because they could not pay the rent, no school for their children and their husbands and father having been kidnapped or killed by the terrorists in Iraq. Our job has been to provide them all the help and support they need and we can only do it with your help. Meanwhile down the road in Bethlehem it may seem peaceful and pleasant for the pilgrims and tourists but there is a very different side to this little town. We have been greatly privileged to form links with the wonderful evangelical Church in Bethlehem led by Naim and Stephen Khoury. The church is so alive with the glory and Spirit of G-d. It has a vibrant children’s and youth ministry and an extensive evangelism program. Whilst the mosques are proclaiming their words from their minarets this church is proclaiming the word of G-d from its loud speakers. 13 times this church has been blown up and had attempts to destroy it, but they will not stop allowing the love of Jesus from Bethlehem to be heard in Bethlehem. Will you give back to the Middle East something this Christmas as we give thanks for what we have received from there when Christ was born? Everything you give will go to those who need our help this Christmas here in the Middle East where our Lord Yesuah came. Wishing you a happy and blessed celebration on the birthday of our Lord. Canon Andrew White

Bishop Davies dedicates 2015 as a ‘Year of Vocations’ in the Diocese of Shrewsbury

Bishop Mark Davies has dedicated 2015 to be a “Year of Vocations” in the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
The theme of the Catholic Church’s new year, which began with the First Sunday of Advent, was announced in a pastoral letter “on the universal call to holiness” read at Mass in every church and chapel of the Diocese on Sunday November 30.
The year complements the “Year of Consecrated Life” opened by Pope Francis but it is also aimed at encouraging lay Catholics to better understand their own vocations, especially the vocation to marriage.
The year will also see the opening of a centre in Shrewsbury Cathedral for the discernment of vocations for men who are considering the priesthood or consecrated life.

In his letter, the Bishop of Shrewsbury reminded the faithful that all of the baptised have a vocation to be saints, and that for most people this road to perfection would involve carrying out daily activities with charity – such as parents spending time with their children and listening patiently to them – supported by prayer and the sacraments.
“In the Church, no one has a second-class vocation,” Bishop Davies said. “Every one of us is, by baptism, called to become nothing less than a saint.”
“Being comfortable or popular is not the goal of the Christian life – holiness is,” the Bishop said.
“This call to holiness lay at the heart of the Second Vatican Council’s call for renewal in the Church.”
The Bishop extensively quotes Pope Francis who, he says, wants “to remind us that at home or in work or at church; in marriage or in the priesthood; in every moment and in every state of life, ‘a door is opened on the road to sainthood’”.”
“Our path to holiness is to be found, then, amidst the apparently little things of every day,” Bishop Davies continued.
“Pope Francis gives us some very practical examples: avoiding malicious gossip in a conversation is a definite step, he said, towards becoming a saint.
“Exhausted after a hard day’s work but being willing to sit with your children and listen patiently to them, this too is a step towards holiness.
“Making time for prayer each day even when we are tired: this is a sure step towards holiness.  Being ready for Mass on Sunday, and at times making a good Confession, which Pope Francis says, ‘cleans us up’, are vital steps towards holiness.
“He adds that thinking of Our Lady and taking up the Rosary to pray, this is yet another step towards holiness.  Meeting someone in need, making time and being willing to help, are real steps towards becoming the saint we are called to be.
“In other words, the call to holiness is not found up in the clouds or in our dreams.  The call to become a saint is right in front of us every day.”

Bishop Mark Davies - Pastoral Letter: Marriage & the Family – 9th November 2014

A PASTORAL LETTER
On Overcoming the Crisis of Marriage and the Family
To be read in all churches and chapels of the Diocese on Sunday 9th November 2014

My dear brothers and sisters,
On this Remembrance Sunday we recall the great crises faced by generations
before us in the conflicts of the past century. Last month, Pope Francis
invited bishops from around the world to meet with him in Rome to address
what we might call a crisis of our time: the crisis of the family. This is
experienced in some parts of the world in poverty, war or persecution; but in
western countries like our own, it is a crisis most often caused by ideologies
opposed to the sanctity of human life and the institution of marriage and the
family.
The Catholic Church has long opposed these mentalities and the devastation
they have wrought on individuals, societies and especially among the young
and most vulnerable. Pope Francis recently declared that the “Christian
family and marriage are under great attack,” due, he said, to the growing
relativism regarding the very concept of marriage (Address to the Schoenstatt
Movement, 27th October 2014). God’s plan of marriage, which is written
into human nature and raised by Christ to be a Sacrament, is being replaced
by the idea that we can each make our own truth according to our own ideas
and desires (cf. Gaudium et Spes 47).
The first Christians required great courage to overcome and transform a vast,
pagan world whose ideas about marriage and sexual morality were not unlike
those which prevail in our own culture. Today we need this same,
supernatural, courage to give witness to all the Church believes and teaches
about marriage, the family and human sexuality. The Synod of Bishops,
gathered around Pope Francis, met precisely to consider how “the Church
and society can renew their commitment to the family” (Final Synod Report,

Yet, I am conscious that there have been many reports since the Synod suggesting the Church is about to change her constant teaching. Cardinal Nichols, who attended the Synod, wrote on his return that it is simply not true that this meeting was ever about changing the teaching of the Church on marriage, family life or sexual morality (Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop of Westminster, October 2014). The bishops considered the challenges being faced by families across the world. They sought a “pastoral response” which offers, in Pope Francis’ words, answers “to the many discouragements that surround and suffocate families.” The Church, he added, always seeks “to receive the needy, the penitent and not only the just or those who believe they are perfect!” Pope Francis insisted that we must not only welcome those who are lost amid this crisis, we must be ready to go out and find them!
The Church offers the truth she has received from Christ her Lord, not with hostility towards those who have taken a wrong path, but with the greatest love and concern for every person. The Church on earth is made up of sinners called to become saints; our practice of frequent Confession is, indeed, a constant reminder that every one of us is called along this path! It would be the ultimate failure in pastoral care or charity, to mislead people by encouraging them to remain in sin, or fail to call them to repentance and renewal (cf Lumen Gentium 8). Pope Francis describes such an approach as “deceptive mercy,” a false mercy which bandages wounds but fails to heal them.
Today I want to dispel any misleading impression that the Church will abandon her witness to the truth and change her teaching in the face of hostile trends in public opinion or the destructive ideologies of our time. Pope Francis spoke of this as: “the temptation to come down off the Cross, to please the people, and not stay there, in order to fulfil the will of the Father; to bow down to a worldly spirit instead of purifying it and bending it to the Spirit of God.”

Pope Francis has set before us the example of Saint John Paul II whom he named “the Pope of the family”; and of Pope Paul VI whom, at the end of the Synod, he declared among the Blessed, not least for his sometimes lonely witness to the truth. In the crisis we face today, let us look to the great inheritance of their teaching. May their courage and prayer inspire us to seek a greater faithfulness and a deeper understanding of what Christ and His Church truly teach about marriage, the family and human sexuality. At the end of the Synod, Pope Francis asked: “please do not forget to pray for me!” On this Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which celebrates our unity in faith and love with the Holy See of Rome, may we never fail to pray for our Holy Father as he confirms us in faith amid all the passing crises of time (Luke 22:32).
With my blessing,
+ Mark
Bishop of Shrewsbury

At last - "Thoughts and Meditations for Year B" !!

Sundays of Year B

(Catholic Lectionary – RSV Version)

This is the final one in a series of three books of thoughts and meditations based on the Readings of the Church Year.  Years C and A were published in 2012 and 1013.

They are offered not as difficult theology but as everyday encouragement to those who would learn to identify the King whose Kingdom we serve and find out more about his teaching and what implication that teaching has for how we live our lives.

There is no strictly ordered theme.  The lessons build and are developed as the readings lead from week to week.  Most of the themes and ideas are as they were preached in parish churches or expanded in group study.

This comprehensively revised edition is based on the Three Year Catholic cycle of the Lectionary.   The translation used is that of the RSV (Second Catholic Edition) as used in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Published by Jacquedaw

ISBN
978-0-9565118-7-4

(204 pages)

Price £9.99(+ £2.50 p+p)

buy online at

www.jacquedaw.co.uk

Years A and C are also available from the Jacquedaw webpage

Baghdad Update from Canon Andrew White - 8th July

Dear Friends, 

Back in Baghdad the situation is still very dire and is at a very crucial moment; for the future of Iraq is depending on how the next few weeks turn out and which side starts taking very active steps. The Iraqi army is surrounding Baghdad and shots can be heard from St. George's church every night. The situation is so dire and we need help more than ever. Thankfully we have a large amount of people praying all over the world but we always need more. It is hard to know how many members of the congregation have been killed or fled because the situation is still changing every day and it is so difficult to keep track of people during this crisis.

Iraq is where Christianity started in the very beginning and Christians are now being persecuted. Numerous churches have been burnt down and countless Christians have been forced to flee or killed. Even Christian graves are being desecrated and knocked over the hatred is hard to understand.

We are trying to help some of the families that have fled to Erbil in northern Iraq but the need is just so great it is difficult. People left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing and now the situation in the cities they fled to like Erbil is bad as the cities are being overwhelmed the power goes out at least once a day which makes things difficult when it often gets to 45/120 degrees. Parts of Iraq are also facing a gas crisis as ISIS disrupts the infrastructure and the lines for gas are filled with hundreds of cars and take hours just to get 20 litres because that is the limit.

There is just so much hardship in the country that is allowing ISIS to make such huge gains. The government is still very disorganized and has not been able to make a successful plan to combat ISIS. The Iraqi army is much bigger than ISIS and should have been able to easily crush their uprising but has not been the case while ISIS is still capturing land, supporters, money and weapons. All of these things make everything difficult and everything is really starting to cripple the country.

 
Blessings, 

Update from Canon Andrew White in Baghdad

Blessings from Baghdad

It is not possible to get across to you the reality of the problems in Iraq today. 2,500 people have been killed this month; 1 million 
people have fled their homes. The whole infrastructure of the nation has disappeared and the needs are greater than ever. Basic communication has been stopped, there is no longer any Skype, Facebook or anything beyond basic email and phone. Facebook was the main way I communicated with people, I cannot any more. If people want to communicate with me you can only do it through my private email apbw2@cam.ac.uk. Please do feel free to contact me here.

We continue to try and meet the needs of the people which are so great. Please keep praying for us and keep helping us, the needs are so great, we need you.

Yesterday I did an interview with CCN and BBC Radio 4 for the Today program probably on Wednesday. Whilst being interviewed I was asked if there will be any Christians left here soon. I said I don't know but I will not leave hear as long as one Christian remains, as long as the Lord allows me to remain.

Blessings, 

Meriam Ibrahim freed again after US apology

From 'The Times' :

A Christian woman who was condemned to death, acquitted and rearrested as she tried to flee Sudan, was released for a second time yesterday after a senior US diplomat apologised for issuing her with a visa.
Meriam Ibrahim was seized at Khartoum airport on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after an appeal court overturned her convictions for adultery and apostasy and ordered her release.
Agents from Sudan’s national intelligence and security service accused her of having a false passport and charged her with impersonation. She was arrested with her husband, Daniel Wani, an American citizen, and their infant children Martin and Maya, who was born in prison.
They had arrived at Khartoum airport in an American embassy car. Ms Ibrahim, 27, was travelling on a recently issued South Sudanese passport, with a visa to enter the United States. America’s charge d’affaires in Khartoum, Jerry Lanier, was summoned to the ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday.
A source familiar with the case said that Ms Ibrahim may have to stay in Sudan, but Abu Bakr al-Sideeg, a foreign ministry spokesman, said she could leave if she “follows the required legal procedures and holds the proper identification papers”. She had faced 100 lashes for adultery and death by hanging for renouncing Islam.

Christian mother Meriam Ibrahim freed, then detained again.

Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian mother sentenced to death for apostasy in Sudan, has been cleared on appeal and freed from prison – only to be detained at the airport with her family as they tried to leave the country.   
The 27-year-old was released from Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison on Monday (23 June) along with her two children, 22-month-old son Martin and newborn Maya, who have been locked up with her. They were reunited with Daniel Wani, Meriam’s husband and the children’s father.

Meriam with her two children, Martin and newborn Maya, in prison

But on Tuesday (24 June), the family were detained at Khartoum airport by around 40 security agents as they tried to leave the country, to go to the US. The powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) said Meriam was arrested after she presented emergency travel documents issued by the South Sudanese embassy while carrying an American visa. She has been charged with obtaining a false travel document, which is punishable with a jail sentence. The family are being held at Khartoum police station.
The BBC’s James Copnall said it is very possible that the NISS, which frequently intervenes in the country’s politics, did not like the decision to release Meriam, and re-arresting her and her family was a way of making this point to the rest of the Sudanese government.
The matter has now escalated into a diplomatic row, with the Sudanese Foreign Ministry summoning the American and South Sudanese ambassadors. South Sudans presidential spokesman said the family’s travel documents were issued from the country’s embassy in Khartoum because Daniel is a South Sudanese citizen.   
Meriam’s release on Monday was ordered by Khartoum Court of Appeals, which cancelled the previous court ruling of 15 May that had sentenced Meriam to death for apostasy and to 100 lashes for adultery in a case that sparked an international outcry.
Daniel, who has dual US and South Sudanese citizenship, had previously said that the family would need to leave if Meriam was freed and has been seeking asylum for them in America. Their case has gained the support of 38 US lawmakers, who last Thursday (19 June) wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry urging him to prioritise the matter. They called for Meriam to be granted asylum or refugee status in the country and for the couple’s two children to be registered as US citizens.
The US says it is working with Sudan to ensure that Meriam can leave the country.
Although cleared of all charges, there are concerns for Meriam’s safety as well as that of her family and legal team. Meriam’s accuser, a man claiming to be her brother, had publicly warned that the family would carry out the death penalty in the event that she was acquitted. And in an interview published on Wednesday (26 June), Al Samani Al Hadi Mohamed Abdullah reinforced the threat:

Our family is not convinced by the decision of the court. The law has failed to maintain our rights, and now it is a matter of honour. Christians deface our honour, and we know how to take revenge for that.

Extremist groups in have been pressurising the government to uphold the sentence and have also issued death threats against Meriam’s legal team, saying their actions have been “un-Islamic”.  
Under the strict application of sharia law, Meriam has been regarded as a Muslim because she was born to a Muslim father, even though he left the family when she was six and her mother raised her as a Christian. She was considered to have left Islam – committed apostasy – even though she never practised it and has maintained her Christian faith throughout. Meriam was also considered to have committed adultery because, under sharia, a Muslim woman is not permitted to marry a non-Muslim man.

24 June - Update from Iraq

Dear Friends,

The situation in Iraq continues to be quite difficult for everyone; just in the past 48 hours there has been numerous attacks and countless atrocities. It still remains to be seen how effective the Iraqi Army will be against fighting the ISIS as the situation is continually changing at a very fast paced rate.  A few of the highlights of recent events include a militant attack on an Iraqi convoy in which 69 detainees were killed. Around the area of Babil province in another attack one policeman as well as eight gunmen were killed. ISIS was able to detain 57 families that were in the process of fleeing to Hawija. On top of all of these awful things there was a double explosion which was specifically targeting a funeral for a Colonel but resulted in the death of eleven people.

It is also a very sad time for the Christians in Mosul. As this past Sunday was the first Sunday in 1600 years that there was no Mass on Sunday. Mosul was the ISIS' first main objective and large city they were able to capture and to this day it still remains under their control. They have even just recently raised their flags over some of the government institutes and departments. It still remains unclear how the Iraqi Army will free the city and remove the ISIS and how long this could take.    

With much love and grace,

 

Further update from Canon Andrew White in Iraq

Middle East Update 18 June 2014

Dear Friends,

The crisis in Iraq has now been in operation for over a week. Not hundreds but thousands of people have been killed. Thousands in the Iraqi army have been killed, the military have proved that they do not have the ability or authority to control the present crisis. Whilst the crisis continues causing total havoc we do not have the privilege of just sitting back and doing nothing. We have to think beyond today, whilst providing the immediate relief that is needed we also need to think about how we are going to bring about lasting change.

In the midst of this crisis we are already thinking of the long term plans to work for reconciliation. It is a process that we have been involved intimately in for over a decade but now we are faced with a crisis of new depth. We cannot even get access to most places where we need to bring people together. We plan and pray that we will be able to again soon, at the moment this is not possible but can only hope and pray that soon we will be able to.

At the moment the crisis and division is getting worse. Even embassy's are cutting down size and leaving Iraq. At the moment it is even considered too dangerous for us to be present. We hope to return in the next few days and have so much to do. The Anglican Church is one of the few bodies working in Iraq reaching out to people whatever their religion and sect.

Meanwhile the intense conversations continue each day with political and religious leaders working at how we can overcome the radical influence of the terrorist group ISIS which is now the richest and most powerful terrorist group in the world with over $1 billion. At the moment our priority is meeting the physical relief needs of those in the crisis. We then start working on the complex reconciliation process. When that will be we do not yet know.

With much love and grace,

 

Fr Kenneth Walker F.S.S.P.

Canon Andrew White on the situation in Iraq

Dear Friends,

 

Things are so bad now in Iraq, the worst they have ever been. The Islamic terrorists have taken control of the whole of Mosul which is Nineveh the main Christian stronghold. The army have even fled. We urgently need help and support.

Please, please help us in this crisis.

Iraq is now in its worst crisis since the 2003 war. ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Group), a group that does not even see Al Qaida as extreme enough, has moved into Mosul, which is Nineveh. It has totally taken control, destroyed all government departments. Allowed all prisoners out of the prisons. Killed countless numbers of people. There are bodies over the streets. The army and police have fled, so many of the military resources have been captured. Tankers, armed vehicles and even helicopters are now in the hands of ISIS.

Mosul residents fleeing the ISIS takeover.  

The area is the heartland of the Christian community. Most of our people come from Nineveh and still see that as their home. It is there that they return to regularly. Many Christian's fled from back to Nineveh from Baghdad, as things got so bad there. Now the Christian centre of Iraq has been totally ransacked. The tanks are moving into the Christian villages destroying them and causing total carnage. The ISIS militants are now moving towards Kirkuk, major areas to the Oil fields that provide the lifeblood of Iraq. We are faced with total war that all the Iraqi military have now retreated from.

People have fled in their hundreds of thousands to Kurdistan still in Iraq for safety. The Kurds have even closed the border, preventing entry of the masses. The crisis is so huge it is almost impossible to consider what is really happening.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

The summer is by far our worst time of the year for support. Both our Foundation in the UK and US have seriously had to reduce our funding. We are in a desperate crisis. So many of our people had returned their homes in Nineveh for the summer now they are stuck in this total carnage unable to even escape. We desperately need help so that we can help the Christians of this broken land just get through this new crisis. Please can you help us, we are desperate.

The terrible fact is that ISIS are in the control now of Fallujah in the South and Mosul in the North they could now move down towards Baghdad between the two and cause a total crisis there. So to be honest I don't know what to do, do I stay or go back? I have a huge amount of commitments here. If I go back, I cannot change the situation but I want to be with my people. Here we are with this huge crisis and need and we do not even have the resources to help those most in need. So the crisis is huge and we need help, will you please help us?

With much love and grace,