FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 11, 2014
CARDINAL DOLAN’S BLOG ON CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION AND REMEMBERING 9/11
Timothy Cardinal Dolan, archbishop of New York, wrote today on the persecution of Christians:
It seems to keep getting worse and worse…Father Paolo Mikko, the local parish priest, tells us how the ISIS forces drove the ancient Christian community from Erbil, in Iraqui Kurdistan: militants of the “Islamic Caliphate” took over churches and convents, burned crosses, statues, and the Bible, and instructed the few Christians who could not flee to “convert to Islam, pay a protection task – – or die.” The director of UNICEF in Iraq, Marzio Babelli, described it as a “jihadist ethnic cleansing,” as the persecutors brag that the city is “Christian free,” with the word “Nazarene” spray-painted in derision on the shells of the torched homes of the fleeing Christians…
Thirteen years ago today, this city we’re proud to call home saw raw evil, hate, and violence up close and personal, and we’re still rightly not over it. The supportive voices of our global neighbors helped get us through. They gave us a great example. Now suffering Christians need our voices, not our silence.
Read the rest here.