Archbishop Sleiman Says Fear Overshadows Hope

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The challenge facing the Catholic Church after the Iraq war is to keep Christians from fleeing their homeland, said Latin-rite Archbishop Jean Sleiman of Baghdad.

“Christians are afraid [of the religious fanatic groups] and want to escape to other countries. It's not politically correct what I'm saying, but it's the truth,” Archbishop Sleiman said. “If Iraq were to lose all Christians, it will lose something vital for Iraq and the entire Middle East region.”

The archbishop, a Discalced Carmelite, spoke to the Register while visiting Our Lady of Mount Carmel monastery in Beirut on his way back to Baghdad from Rome in mid-June.

Archbishop Sleiman said that, prior to the war, he had witnessed Muslims and Christians sharing in funerals and weddings together. Now, however, both are feeling intimidated by the fundamentalist extremists.

It is especially dangerous at night, Archbishop Sleiman said. The most urgent problem facing Iraq is security.

“There is no control over thieves, murderers and fanatics,” he said. “There are no police, no judges. And no fuel available in a country rich in oil.

“Without security, there is no possibility of helping people. I can't emphasize enough the need for President Bush to really install security in Baghdad,” Archbishop Sleiman said.

Ambassador Paul Bremer, director of the Coalition Provisional Authority charged with reconstruction of Iraq, said in a news conference in Baghdad on June 12 that the coalition has completed the first phase of the “reconstitution” of Iraq. That phase has focused on “getting basic services delivered, utilities turned on and providing better law and order for everybody,” he said. Long lines for gasoline and cooking gas have almost disappeared, he added.

Bremer told reporters the authority now is turning its attention to restoring economic activity in the country.

For his part, Archbishop Sleiman said “the problem is rebuilding the peace.” Catholics around the world can help in that regard, not only with money and relief services but also by educating the Iraqi people, by “sharing something of life outside,” he said.

Many Iraqis have never been exposed to anything of life from abroad, the archbishop said. For one thing, they had only two regime-controlled TV channels under Saddam Hussein. The Baath Party also controlled education for the last 30 to 35 years, and now there is an opportunity for the Church to build schools and prepare teachers, the archbishop explained.

“Freedom is a reality now, but many people in Iraq have never been free before,” Archbishop Sleiman said.

He explained how professionals — doctors and teachers — had dedicated their lives to their country and in return received a monthly income. Now, these people, even the middle class and the upper-middle class, have nothing. When a shipment of used clothing arrived from France, it was quickly snatched up, even by those who were working professionals before the war.

Archbishop Sleiman arrived in Iraq from his native Lebanon in 2001, when Iraq was still suffering from sanctions imposed as the result of Saddam's failure to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions. He said he decided to preach a message of hope in the midst of the people's suffering.

“Christians in the Islamic world have always faced violence and revolutions,” he said. “Still, we must have hope.”

Carmelite ‘Miracle’

Another well-known Carmelite helped give Iraqi Christians hope on the eve of the 2003 war.

When the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux visited Bagdhad in November, the Iraqi Christians viewed this development as a miracle, especially as the threat of war came closer.

“When the relics of St. Thérèse came to Iraq, it was good news for the country,” said Archbishop Sleiman. “Many thought her presence there would be a channel to stop the war. But what the Iraqi people encountered was a woman who knows suffering. Even if she did not stop the war, she gave us an interior peace that we can survive the war. As a result, many people learned that they must live with hope.”

Archbishop Sleiman said one could see the hand of God in the war.

“There were fears that 1 million people would be killed,” he said. “This war was like a devastating earthquake, but the casualties were not.”

“I experienced God's providence,” he continued. “Near my cathedral the military base was completely destroyed, but there were no casualties.”

Doreen AbiRaad writes from Bikfaya, Lebanon.