By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News

An early-evening ecumenical prayer service to mark Red Wednesday was held Nov. 20 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Saskatoon. The service featured prayers for followers of Christ around the globe who face persecution, discrimination, violence, and death because of their faith.

Red Wednesday is an initiative of Aid to the Church in Need, an international Catholic aid organization founded in 1947, and recognized as a Pontifical Foundation since 2011. The annual Red Wednesday event began in 2016 in the United Kingdom, with a number of high-profile buildings bathed in red light to bring awareness to the issue of Christian persecution, said Myron Rogal, coordinator of Justice and Peace in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, who emceed the local event.

Around the world today there are an estimated 550 million Christians that are facing persecution, he said, noting this is the highest number in the past 18 years. “Many do not have the luxury or even the right to worship freely, or to take part in economies.” Others face imprisonment or even martyrdom for their faith.

“It is important that we come together like this, ecumenically, as many congregations,” he said, noting that persecution is aimed at followers of Christ, no matter what their particular denomination.

In countries like Canada, there is freedom to worship, but even here there are subtle forms of discrimination, and a general lack of awareness in the wider society about Christian persecution throughout the world, Rogal noted, stressing the importance of initiatives such as Red Wednesday. “In this society, it goes so much below the radar, we do not hear much about it.”

There is consolation in knowing that in areas where there is great persecution, there is also great faith, courage, and witness, he said, describing the work of the Holy Spirit in “the seeds of the martyrs.”

Myron Rogal, coordinator of Justice and Peace for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon welcomes participants to the Red Wednesday service Nov. 20 at Holy Spirit Parish, Saskatoon. (Photo by Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News)

 

Bringing greetings from Saskatoon Bishop Mark Hagemoen, Holy Spirit pastor Fr. Joseph Salihu opened the event with words of welcome, noting the challenges and dangers faced by Christians in many parts of the world, simply because of their faith.

“We recall the words of St. Paul in the scriptures that we should rejoice with those who rejoice, and that we should mourn with those who mourn,” he said.  “We hope that our prayers will bring about awareness and transformation.”

Ashley Cardinal brought greetings from Bishop Jakob Palm of of Holy Covenant Evangelical Orthodox Church in Saskatoon.

The service included scripture readings, prayer intentions, a time of silent prayer, and music ministry by Tysyn Cardinal of Holy Covenant Evangelical Orthodox Church.

Fr. Bassim Shoni of Sacred Heart Chaldean Catholic Church spoke about persecution of Christians in Iraq. He began with words of Christ in the scripture: “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and do every kind of evil against you, because of me; rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”

“We should not be amazed or surprised that there is a reality of persecution for Christians,” said Shoni, because Jesus himself was persecuted, and persecution began in the very earliest days of the Church.

Christianity has been present in Iraq since the first century, when the apostle St. Thomas went out to evangelize there before eventually being martyred himself in India. “During his stay in Iraq, he established there the first church, with the help of his two disciples, St. Aggai and St. Mari — those two saints were able to establish a very disciplined life of faith and liturgical ritual.”

Over the centuries, Christians in Iraq benefited the whole region in education, science, math, and philosophy. The coming of the new religion of Islam in the seventh century ultimately threatened Christianity in Iraq, with many forced to convert, others martyred, and still others fleeing to hide in the mountains and practise their faith.

Persecution continued through the centuries, and in more recent times has led to an exodus of Christians from the area, dropping from about 15 per cent of the population in the 1970s to 0.3 per cent today, with only about 200,000 Christians left in Iraq.

Groups of terrorists or extremists have targeted Christians and Christian communities, he described, with kidnappings, killings, and the destruction of churches. “And so many priests were killed, and people, families in those cities were killed,” he said, including members of his own family killed by terrorists during celebration of Mass in Baghdad.

Beginning in about 2014, ISIS began attacking all the villages of Christian people around Mosul. “They said there were four options for Christian people: either to be killed, or to pay tax, or to convert, or to leave the country,” he said. Some 150,000 people fled, leaving everything behind.

“So many things have happened, so many have been persecuted in Iraq,” he said. “You don’t know when it might start again.”

In spite of everything, Iraqi Christians have been faithful and persevered in their faith, he added, ending by citing the longest scripture verse from the Book of Revelation about those who have been killed because of their faith in Christ: “they came to life and they reigned with Christ.”

“So there is good news: even though there is persecution, even though there is death, one day we will be with Jesus, and all these people are with Jesus, and we are sure because God himself has promised us this.”

 

Bishop Emeritus Albert Thèvenot of Prince Albert provided information about the Saskatoon-based organization Canadian Aid to Persecuted Christians, a non-profit organization dedicated to giving legal and humanitarian assistance to Christians who are persecuted for their faith or unlawfully imprisoned. He described how CAPC helps victims of illegally-applied blasphemy laws, as well as working to address the issue in some countries whereby young girls are kidnapped from their homes, raped and forced to convert from their Christian faith and marry much older men. The CAPC organization will also provide assistance to families whose livelihood is threatened because of their faith in Christ.

 

 

 

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Kiply Lukan Yaworski is the communications coordinator for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon – rcdos.ca

 Justice and Peace, Diocesan Communications and Catholic Saskatoon News are supported by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal: dscf.ca/baa.