Dear Friend,
You have seen the reports in the newspapers. You’ve heard accounts on radio and TV of the helpless children and infants suffering and dying, and the horrors being committed against Catholics and other Christians in the Middle East.
And this is happening right now, during our lifetime. How can we not respond?
I have been personally asked by Church leaders in Baghdad and Aleppo to share with you how desperate and dire the situation is for Catholics living in Iraq and Syria. The very existence of our Faith is under threat in these places.
Imagine a threatening knock at your door. Armed gunmen command you to leave your home, convert to Islam or die. Now imagine the front wall of your home being marked with the letter ‘N’ in Arabic (  ) to signify Nazarene or Christian, targeting you and your loved ones for theft, violence, even death. Imagine also your parish church, where you or your child was baptized, with all of the crucifixes and religious images destroyed by militant extremists. This is the reality our brothers and sisters face right now in Iraq and Syria.
The information arriving each day is alarming. It is heart-breaking! Throughout the Middle East, the Christian presence is being wiped out, eradicated – people, churches and symbols of our Faith are under siege. And babies, small children, innocent women and men are refugees in their own land.
“My heart is bleeding for the innocents who are dying, and for the countless refugees,” Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Baghdad told us.
But YOU can bring them hope. Your gift today will have an immediate impact on more than half a million Christian refugees. With your donation, we can reach out to families and offer them urgently needed shelter, food, medicine and water, especially as winter’s harsh weather arrives. All of our aid is distributed through the courageous bishops, priests and nuns in the Middle East who are tirelessly working to provide material support and spiritual comfort.
Your prayers are urgently needed as well. Please pray to Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, to grant our sisters and brothers the courage of our Faith as they confront evil: May Our Heavenly Mother bless you and keep you safe.
May she protect and watch over her fearful children in the Middle East.
Your prayers and support offer a powerful message that you, as their fellow Christian, are a witness to their suffering. That you, as a vital part of the Body of Christ, have opened your heart to offer comfort and hope.
Can our terrorized and afflicted sisters and brothers count on YOU? On your kindness and generosity? Will you assist Patriarch Sako and Archbishop Jeanbart in their efforts to aid those who have no one else to help them?
Please act now! Your gift of $25, $50, $100 or whatever your means allow, will save children and families from sickness, starvation, dehydration, homelessness, possibly destruction and death.
God bless you for any gift you can make. For every prayer you can offer.
P.S. Your help is desperately needed today! Refugee families in the Middle East are counting on you and me to save them from this needless pain and suffering. If you'd like to see additional photos or read more, visit us at churchinneed.org. |
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