AKL Catholic and Anglican Bishops express concern over Iraq

Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

Bishop Patrick Dunn and Bishop Ross Bay, the Catholic and Anglican bishops of Auckland New Zealand have issued a joint statement expressing their sadness at the extreme violence of the current insurgency of troops affiliated with the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

“Acknowledging the religious and political complexity which characterises Iraqi society, we hold in our prayers not only the Christian minority, but all Iraqi citizens whose greatest desire is for peaceful and just participation in the ordering of their country’s affairs,” the statement says.

“We offer our prayerful support for the Iraqi and other migrant communities within Aotearoa New Zealand who have reason to fear for the safety of loved ones and those who share their faith and culture.”

Last week the Syrian Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan said Christians in the Middle East feel “abandoned, even betrayed” by the West as a militant Islamic force occupied large areas of Syria and Iraq.

Christians “are facing the biggest challenge for their survival on the lands of their forefathers in Iraq and Syria,” the patriarch told Catholic News Service June 18 by email from the patriarchate in Beirut.

“We are very anxious, even devastated, because of the horrendous news that keeps coming to us from Mosul (Iraq) and surrounding areas,” Patriarch Younan wrote.

The majority of Iraqi New Zealanders came to New Zealand as refugees during the 1990s and many were Assyrian Christians who had been persecuted for their religion.

The greatest concentrations of Iraqis are in Auckland and Wellington.

Catholic Iraqis belong to the Chaldean Rite of the Catholic church.

Click here to read more about the history of Christianity in Iraq.

To begin with the they participated in the activities of the local Latin Rite church.

In April 1996, a group of community members visited Bishop Dunn to ask him to assist them in their efforts to obtain a priest to serve the Iraqi community.

Dunn showed his willingness to make a place for any priest that would come to serve the Iraqi community either temporarily or permanently.

He agreed that the Iraqi parishioners contribute financially for the priest’s upkeep.

He sent a letter of support to that effect to the Chaldean Patriarch at the time.

Saint Addai the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Parish was established in New Zealand in May of 2003 with the arrival of Father Fawzi Koro in Auckland.

He established the Church for the Iraqi Chaldean Catholic community in New Zealand.

The community is made up of about 3000 people distributed throughout the country, but the majority live in Auckland and Wellington.

There are about 250 families living in South Auckland.

At first a house was bought in Manurewa to be used as the centre for the Chaldeans.

It was was opened by Bishop Dunn in November 28, 2003 in the presence of Monsignor Zuhair Toma Qijbu the Patriarchal Vicar at the time along with a number of priests and a crowd of parishioners.

Later on a new centre was bought in Papatoetoe.

This centre, which includes the church building, a hall, classrooms and the priest’s house this was acquired first in April 2005 with the help of the Catholic Diocese of Auckland who gave a loan of one million three hundred thousand dollars.

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