I HAVE FAMILY IN IRAQ

Iraq is a country of about 23 million people, mostly Muslim with about a half million Christians, most of whom are Roman Catholics of Syrian and Chaldean rites.  Christianity came to this region of the world by the end of the first century AD.  Iraq's biblical sites include: the traditional site of the Garden of Eden, Abraham's homeland in Ur, location of the Israelite's exile to Babylon, where Jonah prophesied to the people of Nineveh, and where the Good News has been for centuries.

Historic accounts of the Dominican Order indicate that at least one friar was part of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad in the middle ages.  This "House" was a gathering of scholars from around the world brought together by the Caliph reigning at that time.  This Caliph wanted to nurture both the gathering and dissemination of knowledge worldwide.

Dominicans came as a part of the church more permanently when friars arrived to minister among Christians more than 250 years ago.  In 1873, the Presentation of our Lady Dominican Sisters arrived.  A second congregation, the St. Catherine of Siena Dominican Sisters, began to organize in 1877.  While the later congregation consists entirely of Iraqi sisters, there are now Iraqi friars and Presentation Sisters as well.

Today Iraqi Dominicans, including the laity, minister among Christians and Muslims in schools, clinics, orphanages, hospitals, and numerous other apostolates.  since the Gulf War, our family in Iraq has suffered greatly.  The Dominican Family in Iraq continues to witness, through their ministry, the love of God in the midst of hardship.

We are all children of God.  I have Dominican Family, Christian Family ... HUMAN FAMILY ... in Iraq.  And so do you.

Roberta Popara, OP

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