Intervention of Mons. Jacques ISHAQ, Titular Archbishop of Nisibi of the Chaldeans, Curia Bishop of Babylon of the Chaldeans (IRAQ)

The goal of the cultural institutions and Catholic universities is the formation of witnesses of Jesus Christ, which is carried out admirably in the Middle East by dozens of theological universities, seminaries and institutes of religious sciences for catechesis.
As an example I give you the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy of “Babel College” which is the only university of theology and philosophy affiliated with the Urbanian University in Iraq, which contains the faculty of philosophy and theology and two institutions of religious sciences for preparing catechists.
This university is attended by seminarians of all the Churches in Iraq, that is, the Chaldean Church, the Syriac Catholic and Orthodox churches, the Assyrian Eastern Church, the Armenian Catholic and Orthodox Churches, novices of different religious congregations: Chaldeans, Syriacs, Redemptorists, Dominicans, Carmelites, etc.
The fruits of Babel College for the Churches of Iraq during the years 1991-2010 are the following:
- 391students obtained diplomas in theology and philosophy; among them 126 students obtained baccalaureates in theology from the Urbanian University in Rome.
- 344 students obtained diplomas in religious sciences, who had followed their courses for three years. Thus, Babel college provided 735 workers to work in the Lord’s field in Iraq, some of them even outside of Iraq.

[00184-02.04] [IN118] [Original text: French]