(LifeSiteNews) — More than 1,000 children celebrated their First Holy Communion in Iraq this year and others are preparing for next year, showing a vibrant Church despite heavy persecution.
ACI MENA, Catholic News Agency’s Arabic-language partner, reported that churches in Iraq were packed as many Catholic boys and girls received the Eucharist for the first time.
Eleven years after the Islamic State seized Nineveh and Mosul, the Catholic Church appears to be growing again in the majority Muslim country.
In Baghdad, 50 children from the Chaldean parishes received First Communion, and 32 children from the Syriac Catholic Church received the sacrament.
In Qaraqosh, 461 children received Holy Communion in churches belonging to the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Mosul. In another Mass in nearby Bashiqa and Bartella, Archbishop Younan Hanno gave a sermon in which he “praised the faithful’s determination to stay on their ancestral land and their courage in returning after forced displacement.”
“He commended their commitment to preserving their faith and passing it to their children, who have grown up in stable, united, devoted families,” ACI MENA reports.
Eleven children received their First Holy Communion at the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Deliverance where, in 2010, members of the Islamic State murdered dozens of Catholics, including two priests, and wounded 100 in a horrific massacre.
Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda presided over three Masses in Ankawa, a suburb of Erbil in the Kurdistan region. Over 200 children received their First Holy Communion there. In his sermons, he stressed that the Most Holy Sacrament goes far beyond pretty white gowns and beautiful photos.
“It represents a lifelong commitment that transforms communicants’ homes into places where Jesus’ presence lives through forgiveness, active listening, and generosity,” he said.
The ACI MENA report noteed that many children in Iraq are also currently preparing for their First Holy Communion:
In Karemlesh, part of the Chaldean Archdiocese of Mosul, 26 children are preparing to receive the Eucharist. Meanwhile, the Chaldean Diocese of Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah celebrated first Communion for 26 children at Kirkuk’s Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. The Church in Sulaymaniyah, like Basra, is looking ahead to next year.
The vast majority of Christians in Iraq are Assyrians, who descend from the ancient civilization of Assyria. Most are Catholic, while a minority belongs to various Eastern Orthodox churches. They are one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world, and most of them speak neo-Aramaic, a language descended from Old Aramaic, which Jesus Christ Himself spoke during His time on earth.
Many of the great biblical figures came from the territory that is modern Iraq, including the patriarch Abraham, Rebecca, and the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel.
