Ordination of three Chaldean deacons “real sign of hope” for Iraq Christians

(08 Feb. 07) : “A sign of hope amid so much violence and despair”. This is how Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, described the ordination of three new deacons that took place on 2 February in Ankawa in Kurdistan. The ceremony took place in the Church of St Joseph. Courses offered by the Chaldean Major Seminary of St Peter and Babel College, the only Christian theological faculty in Iraq, resumed officially last month in Ankawa, after the forced relocation of both institutions from Baghdad, which had become too dangerous. Speaking about the new ordinations, Archbishop Sako described them as “real signs of hope amid so much violence.” He talked about the latest threats to the Christian community and rampant kidnapping. Archbishop Sako said the insecurity that threatened the daily life of all Iraq’s communities had created “a real vacuum at pastoral level” in the church. Meanwhile evangelical groups that arrived with the American army are multiplying. The Archbishop said: “They are conducting aggressive proselytism even among Catholics and Orthodox and they already have 36 new churches in Baghdad alone.”