Rebuilding Christian Villages in Iraq • Solidarity with the Persecuted Church

Rebuilding Christian Villages in Iraq

To help SPC rebuild Christian churches and villages in Iraq, You may use this link, or the form below

 

***April 6 Update: Father Ammar and other Christians on the ground compiled a list of churches, monasteries, cemeteries and other religious buildings that have suffered from the Islamic State. We are sharing that list with you here to show all the various states of condition of the religious structures. Because of this information, SPC now plans to send a team of construction experts to evaluate which churches are ready to be rebuilt.***

Over two years ago, the Islamic State conquered the city of Mosul, and the surrounding Nineveh Plain of Iraq.  This was the ancient ancestral homeland of Christianity in Iraq, and the occupation by radical Islamists devastated the Christian presence.  In the wake of the Islamic State occupation, over one hundred thousand Christians fled to the safety of the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Since then, SPC has been on the ground, helping the Christian churches care for the needs of their people.  Recent progress in the recapture of Mosul has made possible the liberation of numerous Christian villages (red stars on the map below) from the Islamic State.  As the liberation advanced, our friend Father Ammar Simon was on the ground as one of the first to visit the newly freed villages.  The pictures he sent to us are a sober reminder of the tragedy this ancient Christian homeland suffers.

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Father Ammar Simon (center-right) and Christian militia placing a makeshift cross atop the Grand Immaculate Church in Qaraqosh.

Though they may be feeling lost as they face even more strife, these Christians are resolved to rebuild their churches, as well as the presence of the faith. And now SPC is in a position to make rebuilding become a reality. We need to send a team of experts to evaluate costs and feasibility so that the first churches may be rebuilt.

To get an idea of what this team will encounter, we are sharing the photos we have been given from our friends in Iraq.

To help Christians in Iraq overcome this great suffering.  Please consider contributing here or by using the form below.

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The Grand Immaculate Church (pictured above before the Islamic State takeover) in the Christian village of Qaraqosh is just one of nearly 100 churches and monasteries damaged or destroyed by Islamic State terrorists.  As towns and cities like Qaraqosh are liberated, the intent of the terrorists has become all too clear: ethnic cleansing, pure and simple.  This work of preserving the faith in Iraq belongs to all of us and SPC is determined to make sure there are always Christians in Iraq.

 

The Grand Immaculate Church, Qaraqosh

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That desecrated edifice in Qaraqosh is just one emblem of the extreme need that you address through Solidarity with the Persecuted Church.  You and I cannot turn our backs on the misery our fellow Christians feel as they look at this kind of wreckage in what was once their home.  As you view the images Father Ammar and others have sent, and you begin to feel some of what the thousands of families from these towns must also feel, please consider offering whatever you can to help reconstruct these places of worship, and the lives of so many Christians.

St. George’s Church, Bartella

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