I didn't intend to include the story below as a comment on my previous post, though it's hard not to make some comparisons, and to draw conclusions. The truth is that in our times Christians--especially Catholics--stand a better chance for persecution than in a long time.
BARTELLA, Iraq - The bullets lay on the desk amid Bibles and rosaries. They're for two pistols owned by Father Ayman Danna.
"The only solution left for our people is to bear arms. We either live or die. We must be strong," says the Syriac Catholic priest at the Church of Saint George in Bartella, a northern Iraqi town in a swath of fertile land called the Nineveh Plain that now has the largest concentration of a dwindling Christian community.
The Christians who fled sectarian persecution that followed the US invasion in 2003 are now battling to hold onto one of their final refuges. They are increasingly besieged by Sunni Arab militants on one side and by Kurdish ultranationalists on the other – both of whom have different agendas for the area.
In a sign of how grim the situation has become, Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church in nearby Mosul, was kidnapped last Friday and three of his companions were killed.
On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said everything must be done to secure Archbishop Rahho's release, days after Pope Benedict XVI described his abduction as "abominable." Sources in the Nineveh Plain say the kidnappers are asking for $1 million in exchange for Rahho's release.
Rahho is among nearly a dozen priests who have been kidnapped in Mosul since 2003. Many more ordinary Christians have been abducted. In most cases, a ransom was paid to free the priests, the sources say. Three priests were assassinated.
Of course it would be wrong to blame Islam itself for persecution and violence against Christians. However, the problem of violence carried out in the name of Islam is real. Also, "murderers dressed as Muslims" are not the only source of persecution. Any hatred or bigotry carried out against the Church is also a form of persecution, and left to itself, left to grow unchecked and without rebuke, it will grow into violence. Such is simply the nature of ignorance and hatred--and these present us with an even better cause for dialogue.
The Christian churches that have been attacked (mentioned in this article) are the very locations in which the U.S. military has been most violently present. I don't know what Christian persecution was manifested before our unwanted bullying, but methinks there's a heightened connection.
And priests can't be resorting to guns.
Is all this God's way of saying to us, "Go home"? Is the dying Rahho paying our price, now? It seems quite possible.
Posted by: Carol | March 06, 2008 at 10:40 AM