In northern Iraq, bishops representing three Christian churches have laid groundwork for thousands of Christians who were displaced by war to go home and rebuild their lives in the Nineveh Plain. CNS photo/Ahmed Jadallah, Reuters
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By
Catholic Register
Editorial, April 6, 2017
There,
bishops representing three Christian churches have laid the groundwork for
thousands of Christians who were displaced by war to go home and rebuild their
lives in the Nineveh Plain.
This
culturally mosaic region in northern Iraq is the ancestral homeland for several
ethnic and religious groups, including Yazidis and Christians who mainly
worship as Chaldean Catholic, Syriac Catholic, Syriac Orthodox and Assyrians.
All were forced to flee by the tens of thousands in 2014 when the Nineveh Plain
was overrun by genocidal ISIS fighters.
Following
that terror campaign, which saw the region’s Christian population reduced to
200,000 from a 2003 peak of 1.5 million, there were fears that Christianity
might disappear forever from lands Christians have occupied since the time of
the apostles. But ISIS is being driven back and now there is hope. Catholic
bishops from the Chaldean and Syriac rites have joined with their Syriac
Orthodox counterparts and, with support from the international Catholic charity
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), they are co-operating on a pivotal plan to
rebuild Christian homes. The task is huge.
More
than 12,000 houses in Christian villages across the Nineveh Plain have been
destroyed or damaged, according to an ACN study. Rebuilding them will cost $250
million or more, which seems extreme until weighed against the possible loss of
2,000 years of Christianity in the region.
This
resettlement initiative deserves international encouragement and support.
Almost five million Iraqis have been forced out of their homes. About a quarter
million of them have gone abroad but the rest are displaced in Iraq or living as
refugees in bordering nations. An ACN study found that 87 per cent of these
Iraqis either want to return or would consider returning to their homes if the
region was safe.
Helping
them do so and ensuring their security should be a priority. It is the optimal
solution to a migration crisis that has spilled across the Middle East and into
Europe. Bringing these people home is what Iraq and Syria will both need to
begin the arduous journey of social and economic reconstruction. It also
assures a Christian future in the region.
The
re-settlement initiative launched by the regional bishops offers an encouraging
model. If this ecumenical project is successful, if the Nineveh Plain can be
repopulated with the Christians and, eventually, the Yazidis and other minorities
that were so brutally oppressed, it gives hope to millions of displaced Iraqis
and Syrians that one day they may also make it home.
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