Prince Charles has expressed admiration for a Dominican sister from Nineveh, northern Iraq, who fled the advance of Islamic State (IS) but has now returned to help rebuild Christian communities.
The Prince of Wales was speaking at a service in Westminster Abbey on 4 December celebrating the witness of Christians in the Middle East. He reported “great joy” in meeting Sr Luma Khudher (pictured), a Dominican Sister of St Catherine of Siena, who, in 2014, had fled along with 100,000 other Christians as IS extremists advanced on Qaraqosh.
“Churches, schools, orphanages and businesses are rising from the rubble, and the fabric of that society, which had been so cruelly torn apart, is gradually being repaired,” he said. “It was the most wonderful testament to the resilience of humanity and the extraordinary power of faith to resist even the most brutal efforts to extinguish it.”
Prince Charles made a strong plea for coexistence and understanding between people of different faiths, saying extremism and division are not inevitable. He heard a testimony given at the service by Sr Nazak Matty, from the same Dominican congregation as Sr Luma. She described how the sisters had now returned to Nineveh, because of their determination “to live our beliefs in the place where we belong, and where we feel deeply connected to our roots”.
The service – which Aid to the Church in Need helped prepare – was attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and by 13 heads of the Churches of the Middle East and North Africa. In his address, Archbishop Welby, said that “when any part of the Church suffers, we also suffer and yet distance and ignorance take away the pain we should feel”.
13 December 2018, The Tablet
Prince Charles salutes faith and courage of Iraqi sister
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