The Voice of the suffering in Middle East

Camps take place in 11 different countries, with a particular focus on regions marked by war, displacement, and instability. After some 15 years of instability, civil war, and episodic persecution, Syria is a place where a “normal life” is no longer possible for many children. And that’s why summer camp can be a game-changer. Claude Semaan, coordinator of Faith and Light in Syria, an international movement fostering spiritual growth among people with disabilities, explains that for many kids, camps are ...

Iraq is no longer plagued by a jihadist group, but for Christians, evangelization is almost out of the question. Iraq is not the country it was in 2014, when the Islamic State group threatened Christians and other minorities as it sought to establish a caliphate. Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda, the Chaldean archbishop of Erbil in northern Iraq, said in an interview that his country is much more stable than it was a dozen years ago and that Christians are free ...

Fr. Youssef Semaan looks on as the conflict in Lebanon empties his village and threatens decades of coexistence between Christians and Muslims. The war in southern Lebanon is damaging more than just infrastructure, as it causes profound changes to the social relations and human fabric of communities where Christians and Muslims live side by side, says Fr. Youssef Semaan, a Maronite parish priest. Fr. Youssef serves in Kfour, a village in the district of Nabatieh, where Christians and Muslims have ...

The Israeli military on Tuesday attacked the Lebanese port city of Tyre, in a continuing attempt to disarm the threat from the militant group Hezbollah. Tyre is home to one of the largest of Lebanon’s historic Christian communities. The military action killed at least eight people and injured dozens. Last week, Israel said Hezbollah operatives were active inside the Christian neighborhood and called on residents “to demand the removal of the organization’s operatives from your areas.” Regina Lynch, President of ...

In a message to Paul III Nona, ACN’s executive president recalled the sufferings of the Chaldean faithful in Iraq, who “have been so often called to bear witness to their Christian faith in times of persecution and suffering.” The new Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church was officially installed on Friday, May 29, during a solemn ceremony in the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Baghdad, Iraq. Leaders of other Christian Churches, representatives from the Vatican, and Iraqi government figures were in ...

Lebanese bishop works to keep up evangelization efforts, welcome refugees, live alongside Shia Muslims, and encourage hope in the midst of war. The Congregation of the Monks of Beit Maroun, Servants of the Cedar of Lebanon, is a new congregation founded in 2019, composed of three priests and 20 brothers and placed under the authority of Maronite Archbishop Hanna Rahme of Baalbek Deir El-Ahmar. What distinguishes this congregation is that one of their vows is evangelization, and Archbishop Rahme knows ...