Iraq Tops ROACO Agenda
(22 Jan 08 - RV ) A meeting of The Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches, ROACO, held its first full day of sessions in Rome today.
ROACO is a committee that unites funding agencies from various countries around the world for the purpose of providing assistance in different areas of Christians’ life in the lands where Christ’s Apostles first preached the Gospel.
ROACO sustains projects ranging from the construction and maintenance of worship buildings to scholarships, from houses of study and formation to social and health care facilities.
The Secretary-General of the ROACO is Msgr. Leon Lemmens: “ROACO’s attention goes first of all to the situation of Christians in the Middle East, and in particular of the Christians in the Holy Land. The presence of the Christians there is very important because they represent the ancient Churches that gave life to all the other churches of the universal Church and also these are the Christians who welcome all of the Christians from across the world as pilgrims to the Holy Land, they are the living stones. The situation of the Christians in the occupied territories is very difficult. There is a lack of economic possibilities to earn a living, there is a lack of freedom of movement, so many are leaving and this is a huge challenge. ROACO helped to found Bethlehem university in Bethlehem and it is a very beautiful university where there are more than two thousand Christian students and we are supporting and sustaining it”.
Msgr. Lemmens says the ROACO is especially concerned with the plight of Iraqi Christians:
“We think that more than half of them actually live outside Iraq, mainly in Syria and Jordan but also in Lebanon and Turkey. This situation is very difficult because they have no legal status, no means of supporting themselves financially the have no future prospective. Any given day they could be sent back to Iraq and the situation there for Christians is still insecure and unsafe. How can we help them more, beyond what we are currently doing this is the main challenge that ROACO faces”.
The ROACO meeting concludes on Friday, January 25th.
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