CNEWA
ONE Magazine
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Helping Children in Need

As the Catholic Church begins the Jubilee Year of Mercy, CNEWA, in this edition of ONE, turns to those crying out in a special way for compassion and mercy: the children of our world.

For decades, Catholic Near East Welfare Association has been a champion of needy children throughout the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe. Working through our partners in the field — priests and sisters, bishops and caregivers of the Catholic Eastern churches — and strengthened by the generosity of our benefactors and friends, CNEWA has touched the lives of countless children suffering from abandonment, persecution, poverty and war.

Annual Report Online

CNEWA’s 2014-15 Annual Report, outlining programs, projects and financials for 2014, is now available online. For the first time, this year the report is posted as a “virtual magazine.” In his introduction, Msgr. Kozar underscores the important role of our donors. “Because of you,” he writes, “CNEWA has been able to extend the loving hand of Christ to the poor and displaced in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon — reaching out to some of the tens of thousands of people who have had to flee their homes and start over.”

To read the report and view the video, visit this link: www.cnewa.org/web/annualreport2015.

Reports on the Middle East

By any measure, it’s been a difficult year in the Middle East, with hundreds of thousands of people facing extraordinary challenges. War, persecution, displacement and poverty have all taken a toll. But CNEWA has accompanied our brothers and sisters on this difficult journey, as they have fought to maintain their dignity, their hope and their faith. Our regional directors in Amman, Beirut and Jerusalem have sent us updates that help paint a clearer picture of what that work has entailed in 2015.

You can read them all online at www.cnewa.org/web/mideastreport.

CNEWA Visits Virginia

As part of CNEWA’s parish visitation program, Development Director Norma Intriago and Multimedia Editor Deacon Greg Kandra visited St. Thomas More Parish in Lynchburg, Virginia, to speak about CNEWA’s work with refugees in Iraq and Syria. The response from the parish was enthusiastic and generous. The pastor, Msgr. Michael McCarron, has been a longtime supporter of CNEWA and of our work in the Holy Land.

If you would like CNEWA to visit your parish, contact Ms. Intriago at nintriago@cnewa.org.

Parish Hall in Gaza Restored

In November, the community center for Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Gaza reopened, following its restoration by CNEWA’s staff in Jerusalem. Funds for the restoration represent a portion of CNEWA’s allocation from a collection authorized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — totaling $1,835,200 — taken up last autumn in parishes across the country.

The parish, which housed families seeking refuge during the violence between Israel and Hamas in summer 2014, can now utilize the center for events such as presentations, plays and parish receptions. The facility also includes bathrooms, a computer lab, a gym and a kitchen.

For more on how CNEWA utilized funds from its portion of the collection taken up in parishes in the United States, including a third disbursement released in late December, visit: www.cnewa/usccbreport.org.

Refugees in Jordan

CNEWA continues its support of Iraqi Christian refugee families in Jordan, many of whom fled ISIS in the summer of 2014. While safe, they struggle to find a place to live or ways to feed their families. Jordan is treating these refugees as guests — their situation is considered temporary, with Jordan just a transit station until they can move to a third country. As a result, refugees are not permitted to find permanent work. They are living very meager lives, lacking even the most basic necessities. But just ahead of Christmas 2015, CNEWA distributed food tickets, milk and blankets to help nearly 2,000 families.

Schools for Iraqi Refugees

Since the displacement that began in the summer of 2014 with the ISIS invasion of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, thousands of Iraqi children have faced the challenge of attending schools in Iraqi Kurdistan that teach in Kurdish, a different language. Now that is changing.

In October, four new schools opened in northern Iraq, serving more than 2,400 displaced refugee children in Erbil, Dohuk and Zakho. One of the schools, run by the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, is fully supported by CNEWA, which furnished, equipped and supplied the first year’s operating costs of the school, built by our partner, Misereor. The school has enrolled nearly 600 students and is providing job opportunities for dozens of displaced Iraqi Christian teachers and staff.

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