Iraq Ordinations Seen as Sign of Hope (+ Evangelical Churches growing)

ANKAWA, Iraq, FEB. 7, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The ordination of three deacons is a sign of hope in Iraq, says the bishop of Kirkuk.

Kirkuk's Chaldean Archbishop Luis Sako was present at Friday's ordinations in Ankawa.

According to AsiaNews, the ceremony took place in the Church of St. Joseph and was celebrated by Bishop Rabban Al-Qas, of Amadiyah and Erbil. Bishop Mikha Pola Maqdassi, of Alquoch, was also present.

The ordained deacons are Salar Soulayman Bodagh of the Diocese of Alquoch, Raymond Hamid Sargis of Baghdad, and Louya' Gilyana Dinkha of Mosul.

Friday's ceremony follows the Jan. 27 ordination of Wassim Sabih Youssif in Baghdad. As well, four Syro-Catholic deacons will be ordained later this month.

Archbishop Sako told AsiaNews that the ordinations are "real signs of hope amid so much violence."

However, he also mentioned the latest threat to the Christian community: another kidnapping.

"A Catholic from Karaqosh, Abdul Khaliq Bakos, the brother of a Dominican nun, was kidnapped a few days ago in Baghdad; an hour after the kidnapping, his relatives paid the ransom demanded only to find him dead two days later," the archbishop explained. The slain man had three children.

The archbishop continued: "In Kirkuk, some Christian doctors left the city after receiving a letter asking for an enormous sum of money to be delivered on pain of death."

Archbishop Sako told AsiaNews that the insecurity threatening the daily life of all Iraq's communities has left "a real vacuum at pastoral level."

Yet, he mentioned that evangelical groups that arrived with the U.S. Army are multiplying. "They are conducting aggressive proselytism even among Catholics and Orthodox," the archbishop said, "and they already have 36 new churches in Baghdad alone."

I am not going to comment on this article because I may just say things that are going to get me barred for life from FR.

But I am pissed to no end when I think that Christian men and women are dying in Muslim Iraq to give these people some semblance of dignity and also because I see no Christian politician in America raising a voice in protest or offering any help. Hey, Bush, Pelosi, Obama and others do or say something!!

We deserve to be eaten up by Islam because we choose to be lambs.

Yet, he mentioned that evangelical groups that arrived with the U.S. Army are multiplying. "They are conducting aggressive proselytism even among Catholics and Orthodox," the archbishop said, "and they already have 36 new churches in Baghdad alone."

So.....they're proselytizing and converting Muslims???

Tell us more. We might yet win the war!

Or should that sentence read "They are conducting aggressive proselytism especially among Catholics and Orthodox"??

Phl 1:18 (RSV) What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice.

A couple of items on this:

Because of anti-prostletyzing laws in Muslim countries, there are a tremendous number of Muslims that have never actually heard about Christ Jesus. I saw that a lot when I lived in Turkey, a relatively free country, as far as Muslim countries go. I cannot think of the number of times that honest, curious questions were asked of me or that I was approached with misconceptions about Him. I was able to speak the Gospel to many people over there...not as a matter of attempting to convert them, but as a matter of helping them understand Christianity or to correct their misconceptions. I even believe that a couple of the people with whom I spoke may have had a conversion in their hearts (although, with the proscriptions against "apostacy" in Islam, they had to be extremely circumspect).

I have seen the same type of curiosity and interest with some Muslim immigrants that are neighbors of us...not to the same degree (yet)...but I am hopeful. I respectfully listen and ask questions...and then respectfully explain and answer their questions.

As to the subject of Evangelicals gaining converts among Catholics or Orthodox, it would be far better for people to be active, believing, practicing members of the Ekklesia Katholikos and in an authentic particular Church, but I'd rather they be active, believing, and practicing in some ecclesial group (see the Phillipians quote above), rather than a mere "cultural" Christian.

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