A large group of displaced Iraqi children living in a makeshift camp in Erbil, Iraq, made their First Communion on Friday (27 May).
Out of the 5,500 people living in Erbil’s Aishty 2 camp for the displaced, the majority – more than 2,000 – are children. Of these, 470 are making their First Communion in three different groups between 27 May and 10 June.
All of the children are from the Syriac-Catholic rite, and most fled the city of Qaraqosh, Iraq, with their families when Islamic State terrorists attacked on the night of 6 August 2014, according to a report by Catholic News Agency.
Syriac-Catholics have now been left without any official diocese or headquarters. Residing in a largely Chaldean-dominated Erbil, they have been welcomed by the local Church.
Friday’s Mass was celebrated by Syriac-Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Yohanno Petros Moshe in the camp’s large, prefabricated church.
With a capacity for roughly 800 people, the church started out as a tent when the Christian refugees first poured into Erbil two years ago, asking for a place to pray. Now it serves as the main parish for the city’s Aishty camp, which is the largest in Erbil and is divided into three smaller camps: Aishty 1, 2 and 3.
The majority of people in the camp are from Qaraqosh, which is where the former See of their Church had been located before ISIS’ assault in 2014.
Photo: courtesy of Deacon Roni Momica
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