Persecution of Christians is a rallying call to prayer

    As we prepare for Christmas, it is so easy to become swamped by the multiple tasks that need to be accomplished. Last week, I asked Catholics of the Archdiocese of New Orleans to make a conscious effort to devote more quality time to each other during Advent, to pray together as a family during the Sundays of Advent and to reconcile with relatives and friends who may have been hurt by or grown distant from us.
    The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago is especially significant to Christians today, particularly in light of the dwindling presence and growing persecution of Christians in the Middle East. Just last week, Pope Francis called on Catholics worldwide to pray for five Orthodox nuns who were kidnapped in Syria and for all people who have been abducted during the conflict there.
    At the end of his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 4, the Holy Father appealed to those around the world to pray and work together for peace, particularly for the nuns from a Christian village in Damascus who “were forcibly taken away by armed men.”
    The nuns belonged to the Orthodox Monastery of Santa Tecla in Maaloula. They were kidnapped during the night Dec. 1, and most media reports suggested they were kidnapped by the Al Nusra Front, identified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida.
    Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo said Maaloula is an important symbol for both Christians and for Muslims in Syria and throughout the Middle East because people there still speak the Western Aramaic dialect – the language that Christ and his disciples used 2,000 years ago.
    It is very clear that as we approach Christmas, Christians in the Middle East feel more threatened than ever.
    At the recent gathering of U.S. bishops in Baltimore, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and outgoing president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, called on his fellow bishops to stand up for the people across the globe who are being persecuted because of their faith. This is in addition to our work at home speaking out against infringement of religious freedom in the U.S.
    It is not an exaggeration to say that many Christian lives hang in the balance. In addition to the attacks on Christians during Syria’s civil war, Christians have been targeted in Egypt, India, Nigeria and the semiautonomous island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania. Cardinal Dolan noted that Muslims, Jews and Buddhists in some parts of the world also are facing persecution, but not on the same scale as Christians.
    Because we Americans take for granted our own religious liberty, we may find it difficult to believe that violence and persecution of Christians can exist on this scale in other countries. But we are, in fact, living in a new age of martyrs. Cardinal Dolan cited some shocking figures: as many as 1 million Christians have been killed in the first 13 years of the 21st century because of their faith.
    In September, suicide bombers killed 78 Christians outside one of Pakistan’s most historic churches (built in 1883). About 600 worshippers had gone to church on a Sunday, and the attack occurred as the Christians walked outside to eat a lunch being distributed on the church lawn.
    In Maaloula – the same town where the nuns were kidnapped – Christians were grabbed by militants in September and threatened to renounce their faith or be beheaded.
    More than half of the 1.5 million Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. About 450,000 Syrian Christians have fled their homes, some being displaced within Syria and others seeking asylum in Lebanon.
    In addition to speaking out about this persecution, we also can contact our political leaders to urge them to make the protection of “at-risk Christians” a priority for U.S. foreign policy.
    As we prayerfully prepare for Jesus’ birth in a stable in Bethlehem, let us also pray fervently for our sisters and brothers in Christ whose lives are imperiled by terrorism in the Middle East. Yes, we must keep Christ in Christmas. We also must keep Christians in their ancient homelands and protect their right to religious freedom and practice.
    Questions for Archbishop Aymond may be sent to [email protected].