Editorial

Let's help desperate Middle East Christians

Peter Westmore

Contents - Oct 2014 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Let's help desperate Middle East Christians - Peter Westmore Pope Francis' pastoral focus in visit to South Korea - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World Do we construct the Church in our own image? - Fr Ken Clark The implications of Anglican women bishops - Fr Dwight Longenecker Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint: What's the difference? - Andrew Sholl Art: Sacred art: window into eternity - Tommy Canning Dissent: Bishop Bill Morris: gone but not forgotten - Peter Westmore 'The Mother of Jesus' in St John's Gospel - Anne Lastman Students: Young adult ministry on Australian tertiary campuses - Br Barry Coldrey Letters: Using the missal at Mass - Charles M. Shann Letters: Use and misuse of language - Anne Lastman Letters: Evangelii Gaudium speaks to Victoria - Pat Shea Support: Support the Fighting Fund! Books: INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIANITY, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI - Helena Pasztetnik (reviewer) Books: PRAYER FOR BEGINNERS, Peter Kreeft - WAYS OF PRAYING, John Edwards SJ - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: A POSTCARD FROM THE VOLCANO: A novel of pre-war Germany, by Lucy Beckett - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: The Lord hears the cry of the poor - Fr Paul Glynn SM

Along with the governments of France and the UK, the federal government has responded to the humanitarian crisis in Northern Iraq by offering both immediate aid and refugee places to some of those displaced by the advances of the barbaric terrorist group, the Islamic State.

The situation of the Christians in this region is different from that of Sunni or Shiite Muslims who have also fled these terrorists. In close proximity to the war zone, there are Muslim countries and communities which can offer safe haven to those fleeing the war and persecution.

But for the Christians who have lived in this region for nearly 2,000 years, there is nowhere to go. In response to this, the Anglican Primate of Australia, Dr Philip Freier, has called for asylum in Australia for Christians facing death in northern Iraq.

The need to help these Christian refugees is therefore even more urgent. The government has announced that it will accept 4,000 Middle Eastern refugees under its Special Humanitarian Program, to deal with such emergencies. A further 4,000 places are available next year.

There are already communities of Iraqi and Syrian Christians in Australia, so there is a welcoming environment in this country for those fleeing war and death in northern Iraq and Syria.

In light of the unfolding emergency, Australia can and should do more to assist the Iraqi and Syrian Christians who not only face death, but have no place of refuge in the region where they can truly be safe and call home. Expanding the intake of Iraqi and Syrian Christians to 10,000 would not only make a significant contribution to addressing this crisis, but send a very clear message to other countries to do more to help these desperate people.

– Peter Westmore is Publisher of AD2000.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 27 No 9 (October 2014), p. 2