ACN: 'On the front line of hate and front line of hope'

l-r: ACN Chaplain, Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, Sr Annie, Fr Nishantha

The most persecuted religion in the world today is Christianity. More Christians have been attacked or killed around the world recently than at any time in history. These stark facts were revealed in Aid to the Church in Need's new report: Persecuted and Forgotten? A report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2017-19 which was launched in the Houses of Parliament last Wednesday and then showcased at ACN's annual gathering at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.

The report describes how in parts of the Middle East, the Christian community has declined by up to 90 per cent, following a decade of war and genocide. In Africa - from Nigeria in the west to Madagascar in the east - Christians are threatened by Islamists wishing to eliminate the Church either by force, bribery and forced conversion. In Sri Lanka and the Philippines, China, parts of India and other countries in Southeast Asia Christians have faced attacks by Islamist, Buddhist and Hindu extremists as well as pressure from populist nationalism and authoritarian regimes.

The plight of Christians in Syria and Sri Lanka was brought vividly to life in the testimonies of Sister Annie Demerjian from the Order of Jesus and Mary, who works with displaced families, the elderly and children in Aleppo and Father Nishantha Cooray, a Franciscan priest who described events surrounding the Easter Sunday church bombings in Sri Lanka this year.

Throughout nine years of war, Sr Annie worked with a team of volunteers who risked their lives in the bombed-out city of Aleppo going from house-to-house, providing basic help and support, especially for the sick and elderly, women and children. Since 2016 the conflict has subsided in Aleppo, but Sr Annie said: "People, especially Christians are afraid for the future. A generation of children have lost their childhood, people exhausted by war. Ordinary people still pay the price and suffer the economic, physical, spiritual an damage. There is a shortage of medicines and fuel. Many old people died last year because of the harsh winter.

Sr Annie said many Christian families are broken, because family members have been killed or children have gone abroad looking for more opportunities. Half a million elderly people have no income.

Parishes and monasteries are trying to alleviate the suffering. She said: "The Church in Syrian is a suffering church but it is also strong, able to carry out its work... When a church was bombed - everything stopped - but next day everyone would come back and worship in the ruins. "

Sr Annie described one women who had to sell her family home after her husband got sick, in order to pay for his treatment. With support from ACN the Sisters helped the family with fuel and medicines. The woman was skilled with crochet work and has now joined with 26 other women making hats and scarves for poor children.

The gift of a wheelchair thanks to ACN has made a huge difference to the life of one elderly lady who is housebound. She can now get out, but also just loves looking out onto the street from her balcony.

Besides helping with emergency needs, Sr Annie and her team are working on a number of development projects. Life is coming back. Gradually homes and furniture are being repaired. Sr Annie described setting up several Hope Centres with sewing workshops, a honey project, agriculture groups, growing pistachios, training courses to give people new skills and study groups to enable young people to catch up with their education, and find jobs.

The Sisters also run health awareness groups, and therapy groups using art and music. After showing a short clip of parents speaking about their daughter and her family who were killed when their house was bombed, Sr Annie said: "So many lives were shattered by years of war. it will take years for people to recover from the traumas they have experienced."

Fr Nishantha Cooray a Franciscan Catholic priest from Kandy in Sri Lanka gave a harrowing account of the church bombings which took place on Sunday, 21st April 2019 2019, which 260 people died and more than 500 were injured.

Fr Nishantha was celebrating the Easter Mass at St Peter and St Paul's Church 12km outside Colombo when the police came and evacuated the building because there had been massive bomb attacks on other churches in the area. From that moment Fr Nishantha and the other Franciscans rushed to the hospitals where they spent many hours giving people the last Sacrament, comforting the injured and bereaved and helping identify the dead.

It was a very traumatic time, he said. "I knew most of the people personally." Several of the children died holding his hand.

For the next three days Fr Nishantha and the Franciscan brothers and sisters visited every family. "We also received huge help from the Buddhist monks" he said.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith asked all Christians not to take revenge on their Moslem neighbours. Fr Nishantha said there was no recrimination at all. There were so many coffins, Buddhist and Hindu neighbours opened their homes to take them in. For three days the funerals were held - under heavy security from the police, army and navy.

Just five months have passed since the attack and the pain still very fresh. The Franciscan have opened a counselling centre with trained staff to work with adults and children. They are visiting family regularly and doing all they can to support the bereaved.

Fr Nishantha said: "People need justice. We are waiting for the Sri Lanka government to release the results of an enquiry into the crime… Those responsible for the atrocities are still at large. We have security - police, army and navy protecting us. But until these people are brought to justice no one will feel safe."

He said: "Our people need healing. This will take time. Years. The Christian community is near to a Muslim one where there are extremists. No more violence must be allowed to happen.

" What has inspired me and given me hope is that the people who have suffered most show the strongest faith in the aftermath of the atrocity. They have lost so much yet they are full of trust in the Lord. Your prayers, both on the day of the Easter attack and after have given us strength to carry on. "

Fr Nishantha said: "There was one man, a taxi driver, who had just seen his wife and two daughter in the mortuary. He came to me and asked if I had seen his other little daughter. He hoped she had been spared. But no. I had just seen her in another mortuary. She died in my arms. That evening I visited him at home. He was just sat silent. Since I was a friend for a long time I wanted to encourage him to talk. I felt so helpless. But he told me: 'what else can I do except be silent? He said, 'Father just two days before it was Good Friday and Jesus was in front of Pilate keeping silent. And that was the biggest injustice that happened in the history of the world. And this is my chance. My time to keep silent. Some day there will be Resurrection. Be patient.' "

LINKS

Has your MP signed this Early Day Motion on Persecuted Christians? www.indcatholicnews.com/news/38183

Aid to the Church in Need - https://acnuk.org/