Page 13 - AECA.org.uk ¦ Koinonia 65

There are then two things that we as a church can do. The ?rst is to pray
and to keep praying. The second is to use all of the relationships and networks
we share in a part of the Church of Christ as a pulpit to raise awareness about
the true risk to our survival as a people. I cannot repeat loudly enough that our
well-being as an historic community is no longer in our hands. The future will
come, one way or another, and for us this means waiting to see what sort of aid
(whether military or relief) arrives.

There are a number of relief projects for which we need funding; in par-
ticular we are requesting help to support renting houses for the Christian refu-
gees who are living in public schools and to support us in creating residential
rental units on church land. That is a necessary and worthy project. With your
help it will allow families a more stable environment and enable them to seek
suitable jobs locally and even as they make long-term plans regarding immigra-
tion. Your help with implementing this short term and long-term solution is
very necessary. There are other projects which will help us as well.

We are thankful for the help that the organisations have been giving to
us since day one. This generosity has fuelled the hopes of many. So I ask you,
after thanking you for this invitation, to keep praying for our community and
please raise the awareness of all politicians. We have lost in Iraq the Jewish
communities in the 1940s of the 20th century and when we lost them, we lost a
lot. Please do not let another community disappear from the Iraqi community.
Thank you very much.

THE CHAIR: Please note that during the service of Holy Communion on
Thursday, collection envelopes will be available for those of you who wish to
donate to the Christian Aid Iraq Fund. We will hold a moment of silence be-
fore proceeding.

Bashar Matti Warda (born 15 June 1969 in Baghdad, Iraq) is a Chaldean Catholic cleric
and the current Archbishop of Erbil, Iraq. Warda joined the Saint Peter's Chaldean semi-
nary in Baghdad and was ordained a priest in 1993. In 1995 he joined the Redemptorist
order of Flanders in Belgium. After receiving his master's at the Catholic University of
Louvain in 1999 he returned to Iraq. Warda was apostolic administrator of the Diocese
of Zaku from July 2007 until its merger with the Diocese of Amadiyah in June 2013. In
2009 the Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church elected him Archbishop of
the Archeparchy of Erbil. After Pope Benedict XVI gave his consent to this election in
2010 he was consecrated on 3 July of the same year.

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