Monthly Archives: June 2015

By the Rev. Gerald Ragan In this land, we lack everything today, but we have the one thing that matters most, the treasure hidden in the field: our faith. – Maronite Bishop Elias Sleman, of Latakia, Syria Even before ISIS launched its ultra-violent campaign targeting Iraqi Christians in the…

• Crowd hears personal message from Pope Francis • Scottish minister Humza Yousaf says Government “strongly condemns” persecution of Christians By Michael J Robinson and John Pontifex A YOUTH rally took place yesterday (Thursday, 11th June 2015) at which young people…

By Catholic News Service Syriac Catholic Archbishop Yohanna Moshe of Mosul, Iraq, is pictured in a 2011 photo. (CNS photo/courtesy Aid to the Church in Need) NEW YORK (CNS) — Syriac Catholic Archbishop Yohanna Moshe of Mosul, Iraq, called on the world’s government to oust Islamic State militants from northern parts of…

By Sargis Sangari – ASSIST News Service GARLAND, TX (ANS – June 10, 2015) — Currently some 660,000 Middle Eastern Assyrians are refugees or in displaced person status in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Lebanon. Many of them reside in camps and other temporary settlements that are under constant threat of attack by the Islamic…

By Clare Creegan and John Pontifex GOVERNMENTS should step up efforts in Iraq to “free” Mosul and neighbouring Nineveh from so-called Islamic State so Christians and others can fulfil their dream of returning home – according to a leading archbishop from the region.…

‘There is a kind of feeling that they cannot express,’ Archbishop Bashar Warda said, ‘but they at least feel relaxed in a way that even if, God forbid, something would happen, they are in safe hands.’ BY ANN SCHNEIBLE/CNA/EWTN NEWS CNA/Daniel Ibanez Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil, Iraq, in his cathedral city on March…

By ISAIAH NARCISO (NEWS@GOSPELHERALD.COM) Children of a Christian family, who fled from the violence in Mosul two days ago, stay at a school in Arbil, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region June 27, 2014. (Photo: Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah) An Iraqi official in Baghdad claimed in a recent TV interview that 70 percent of Christian…

By Eben Blake @ebenblake iraq christians An Iraqi Christian woman holds a cross during a Mass at the Church of the Virgin of Nasiriyah in Amman, Jordan, July 30, 2014. Reuters/Muhammad Hamed A city official in Iraq claims that almost 70 percent of Christians living in Baghdad have…

By Ray Nothstine , Christian Post Contributor An 1,800-year-old church being burnt to the ground in Mosul, Iraq. One of Mosul’s largest Christian churches is being destroyed and turned into a mosque for Islamic State jihadists. The Islamic State terror group posted flyers throughout Mosul announcing in a decree…

IRAQI FORCES BATTLE ISIL IN ANBAR PROVINCE Photo by John Moore/Getty Images The murderous Islamic terrorist organization, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, IS, and ISIL), continues to expand its rampage and murdering hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians since ISIS came to light nearly a year ago and Christians are becoming…

Iraq’s Christians Need Sanctuary, and the West Should Provide It Iraqi Christian woman in Erbil. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty) by NINA SHEA It has been one year since Islamic State began its conquest of a third of Iraq and its destruction of that country’s ancient Christian civilization. While a massive international…

Mark Woods CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR The Islamic State flag flies over a church in Mosul Islamic State is to convert one of the largest churches in Mosul into a mosque for its radical fighters. The announcement was made in notices posted in the streets of the city, which fell to…

Robert Ewan Under the auspices of Bishop Joseph Thomas, Archbishop of Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, in northern Iraq, the Catholic Chaldean Diocese of Kirkuk organised a blood donation campaign. The event took place at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral recently. The purpose of this drive was to show appreciation and solidarity with the…

What it’s like to live in Mosul one year after Iraq’s second largest city fell to ISIS MONA MAHMOOD, THE GUARDIAN ISIS MosulAPIn this June 23, 2014, file photo, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq.…

Wadie Deddeh Photo by Dustin Michelson Partner Voices Interested in East County narrative? As the first Chaldean Christian to hold public office in the United States, I can say that the current crises we face in both El Cajon and throughout the Middle East are not new…

West Bloomfield, MI and Washington, D.C.– The Iraqi Christians Advocacy and Empowerment Institute (ICAE) somberly marks the one year anniversary of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) takeover of ancient Nineveh Province including Nineveh plain in Northern Iraq, and the more than 800.000 Christians and Yazidies who were…

ANKARA Selina Dogan Ozuzun (R), an Armenian candidate for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), chats with a CHP supporter during an election rally for Turkey’s June 7 parliamentary election, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 2, 2015. REUTERS Photo Turkey’s Christian minority will be represented in the Turkish parliament in greater…

Washington D.C., Jun 9, 2015 / 03:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- One year after ISIS invaded Mosul, the Iraqi city’s diverse religious heritage is on the verge of extinction, warned a U.S. government commission on Tuesday. If appropriate actions are not taken, the U.S. Commission on International Religious…

For Ammar and his family, the bell tolled at midnight. AMMONNEWS – As ISIS continues advancing through Syria and Iraq, it’s leaving tens of thousands of refugees and shattered lives in its wake. Some Christians who fled the Islamic State are trying to rebuild their lives.…

JOHN BURGER Mosul woman and kids go for waterUNHCR-cc One year after the ISIS take over, BBC reveals a population eager to get rid of Islamist masters You take your wife out to what you thought was a family restaurant, far removed from the watchful eye of the puritanical rulers of your city. To get…