Sharing Hope
In October, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement honored CNEWA with the Graymoor Sharing Hope Award at their annual fundraising dinner in New York City. Presenting the award, the Very Rev. Brian F. Terry, S.A., minister general, cited CNEWA’s “outstanding and steadfast work in serving our Lord by helping suffering people throughout the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe. CNEWA provides an inspiration of hope echoing the friars’ charism ‘to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.’ ”
After thanking the minister general for his generous gesture, CNEWA’s president, Msgr. John E. Kozar, reminded the guests that the friars and CNEWA “share the same DNA, as we together carry forward the legacy of Father Paul [Wattson], who shared in the founding of CNEWA some 90 years ago.”
It was a fitting occasion for the friars and the CNEWA family, as members of the church gathered together to honor the legacy of the servant of God, Father Paul of Graymoor, who was among the first to respond to help the sufferings of Christians in the Middle East in the early 20th century.
Iraqi Partners
This past autumn, CNEWA was privileged to welcome to our New York offices two distinguished partners from Iraq.
In separate visits, Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil and Church of the East Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana of Dohuk shared both their concern and their hope for their homeland.
During his visit in September, Archimandrite Emanuel noted that, overnight, Christian communities founded by the apostles on the soil stained with the blood of the martyrs lost their shrines, their relics and their patrimony.
“The sense of loss is profound,” he said, adding, “we share in the liturgy and in the sacraments. … We share all, as seeds of hope.”
In October, during a wide-ranging discussion, Archbishop Warda focused on the future.
“We can’t be a church that complains all the time about persecution,” he said.
“Persecution started on Good Friday. It’s not a new event for being a Christian. It started there and continues. It’s not the first experience, not the only experience. It’s happened in different parts of the world, and churches were able to emerge stronger than before.”
CNEWA, Coast to Coast
As part of CNEWA’s parish outreach program, CNEWA team members traveled in the autumn from one end of the United States to the other, raising awareness of CNEWA’s work, particularly among suffering Christians and minorities in the Middle East. Multimedia Editor Deacon Greg Kandra gave talks at Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic Church in San Diego in October; in November, he preached at St. Mary Mother of the Redeemer and Sacred Heart, two parishes in Groton, Connecticut. Talks were also held at parishes in New Jersey and Massachusetts as interest in the ongoing mission of CNEWA continues to swell. Contact CNEWA at cnewa@cnewa.org if you would like to learn more about how CNEWA can visit your parish.
Refugees Not Losing Hope
As displaced Syrians continue to flee to Lebanon, CNEWA continues to support the most vulnerable among them, especially children. Through the generosity of its donors, CNEWA has teamed up with local partners to provide education, psychosocial support, and skills workshops and training for about 4,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees, along with assistance to poor Lebanese children and women.
One 15-year-old Armenian Syrian boy named Mano lost a year of school and suffered serious trauma after fleeing Syria with his family. Tutorial classes at the Karagheusian Social Center in the Beirut suburb of Bourj Hammoud enabled him to catch up, and he is now enrolled in an Armenian school, where he is described as a “superb student in sciences.”
Hospital Help in India
In a recent letter, Sister Marylet, S.D., who administers Jyothi Hospital in the Indian state of Karnataka, thanked CNEWA and its benefactors for helping with the health care needs of the poor scattered throughout the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Belthangady.
CNEWA helped the hospital to purchase some instruments for their medical outreach programs — including a blood analyzer, oxygen supply system and heart monitors.
“We give free treatment to the patients who come from very desperate situations,” Sister Marylet wrote, “and your project was a great help.”
Jyothi Hospital is run by the Sisters of the Destitute, whose patients are among the poorest in local villages.
A CNEWA Success Story
Rachel Kassahun once studied at the Atse Tekle Ghiorgis Catholic School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Run by the Daughters of Charity, and supported by CNEWA, the school serves the poorest of the poor. More than 600 students who have passed through the school have gone on to higher studies and today live independent and productive lives — including Rachel. Today, she teaches at the school, giving back to those who gave so much to her.
CNEWA’s Response to African Drought
The drought in the Horn of Africa has placed millions of people at risk of starvation and sparked a worldwide call to action — and CNEWA has responded. Read more…
VIDEO: A Glimpse Inside the Dbayeh Refugee Camp in Lebanon
On a recent trip to Lebanon to visit my family, I got to encounter some of the people CNEWA helps: a small number of the estimated 1.5 million refugees living in Lebanon. Read more…
Fear and Hope in Iraq
As Iraqi soldiers intensify their offensive to retake Mosul from ISIS, we are getting scattered reports from local clergy, describing scenes of great fear — but also tremendous hope. Read more…
A Visit to Jordan’s Mother of Mercy Clinic
At the Mother of Mercy Clinic, Dominican sisters and Muslim medical professionals work side-by-side to bring health, healing and compassion to the poor and the refugee families seeking their out-patient services. Read more…