An Iraqi boy is glad to receive food stuffs provided by the Knights of Columbus. The Catholic fraternal organization has raised and committed almost $19 million in aid to Christians and other persecuted religious minorities in the Middle East.
ishtartv.com - prnewswire.com
Mar
27, 2018
NEW
HAVEN, Conn., March 27, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Holy Week
begins, the Knights of Columbus is transferring more than $1 million in aid to
persecuted Christians in the Middle East. The support includes $800,000 in new
financial assistance and $250,000 as part of its ongoing commitment to
rebuilding an Iraqi Christian town.
The $800,000
brings to almost $19 million the aid the Knights has committed to Christians
and other religious minorities in the region since 2014. That total includes $2
million committed to the rebuilding of the predominantly Christian town of
Karamles on the Nineveh Plain. Karamles had been overrun by ISIS, which
destroyed homes and desecrated churches before it was liberated last year.
"As
we recall the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, it is particularly
timely for us to remember and support our brothers and sisters in Christ who
have, in places like Iraq and Syria, endured so much persecution for their
faith," said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. "Having faced
suffering and even death at the hands of ISIS, we hope that our assistance will
help these communities to rise up again and rebuild for the future."
Some
$500,000 from the Knights will help support the food program run by the
Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil. An additional $300,000 will be sent to the
Syriac Catholic Patriarchate to support its aid programs for the nearly 3,000
families from Iraq and Syria who have lost everything and are in need of
assistance with food, clothing, shelter, and access to education and medical
care.
"Our
people know that without the direct support from the Knights of Columbus to
Christians in the region, and without its assistance in making our case to the
United States government, Christianity might already have been driven out of Iraq
completely," said Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil Bashar Warda, CSsR.
Syriac
Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan wrote that he relied "on
[the Knights'] compassion and understanding of our plight in the Middle East,
particularly in Syria and Iraq."
As
part of its advocacy on behalf of persecuted religious minorities in Iraq, Syria
and the surrounding region, the Knights led a major campaign urging Congress
and the State Department to declare ISIS' terrorism an act of genocide. To
support the cause, it produced a nearly 300-page report on ISIS' atrocities
against Christians that was used by the U.S. State Department to supports its
2016 finding that a genocide was indeed taking place.
In
addition, the K of C has urged the U.S. government to ensure that communities
targeted for genocide not be overlooked in its aid programs and applauded Vice
President Mike Pence's announcement last fall that the Trump administration
would begin providing aid directly to religious minorities impacted by ISIS'
genocide.
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