Iraqi Christians, Muslims share Mass

Published 10:33 pm Tuesday, December 25, 2007

BAGHDAD — Outside Mar Eliya church, not much had changed since last Christmas: Cement blocks still surround the building, and guards check the IDs of everyone entering.

But inside, hundreds of Iraqi worshipers — Christians and Muslims — crammed into the overflowing Chaldean church, celebrating the holiday and their feeling safe enough to venture out of their homes to attend Mass on Tuesday.

“Last year was the year of misery, desperation and sadness,” said Samar Jorge Gorges, 33. “But this year is better. So many people attend the Mass and you can see that their praying was joyful.”

Roman Catholic Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of Iraq’s ancient Chaldean Church who was appointed in November by Pope Benedict XVI as Iraq’s first cardinal, delivered the Christmas Mass, appealing for peace and unity across the war-scarred country.

“Iraq is like a garden, and its beauty is the variety of its flowers and scent,” Delly said during the service.

Among attendees were several Shiite Muslim sheiks, including Ra’ad al-Tamimi, who said they came “in solidarity with our Christian brothers … to plant the seed of love again in the new Iraq.” Al-Tamimi, a Shiite tribal sheik, was so excited to shake the cardinal’s hand that he requested a photo be taken with his cell phone.

In an earlier interview, Delly encouraged Iraq’s displaced Christians to return home to help rebuild the country. Although some have heeded his message, he acknowledged that many are still afraid.

“Some people have started to come back, but they are still asking for stability and security,” he said. “When this has been spread, when peace and forgiveness will be established, then everyone will return.”

Delly said he was encouraged by a recent visit to the Dora neighborhood, where he attended the reopening of St. John the Baptist Church, which had been abandoned and looted.

“It was our brothers the Muslims that encouraged us to open the church … and helped us raise the Christ over the church again,” Delly said.

The southwest Baghdad neighborhood was once a vibrant mix of Sunnis, Shiites and Christians. But most Shiites were driven out last year by sectarian violence. Earlier this year, Sunni militants gave the Christian population the choice of converting, paying a tax or leaving. Most chose to leave. But Delly said a few have started to return, encouraged by a downturn in violence.

Jameel Hamouda, 55, who attended the services, said four of his family members had left Iraq, but he is hopeful they will return.

“This is the first time the Muslim figures like sheiks and Shiite clerics attended the Mass,” Hamouda said. “I feel happy and my soul filled with peace. God willing, there will be a union.”

On American military bases around Baghdad, soldiers celebrated Christmas with a cautious view.

“There’s a tremendous amount of progress on the ground,” said Brig. Gen. Jim Huggins, assistant division commander in charge of operations in southern Iraq. “There’s a lot of momentum. It’s just that we’ve got to take a few pockets and take it to the insurgents a bit more. … We’ve got a pretty tough mission ahead of us. We’re going to need 100 percent.”