{"id":15539,"date":"2016-06-08T06:36:08","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T06:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=15539"},"modified":"2016-06-08T06:36:08","modified_gmt":"2016-06-08T06:36:08","slug":"iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"IRAQ &#8211; Refugee children make First  Communion in Erbil camp &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>I<\/strong><strong>RAQ &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><strong>R<\/strong><strong>efugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There is a moment of joy in the bleakness of life for displaced Iraqi Christians. A record number of refugee children are making their First Communion in a refugee camp in Erbil. Out of the 5,500 people living in Erbil\u2019s Aishty 2 camp for the displaced, the majority \u2013 more than 2,000 \u2013 are children. Of these, 470 will make their First Communion in the coming weeks. All of the children are from the Syriac-Catholic rite.<\/p>\n<p>Because the number of children receiving First Communion is up from last year\u2019s class, which numbered about 400, the children have been divided into three groups. The first, numbering around 175, made their First Communion on Friday, 27May. A second group of about 145 will receive the Eucharist on 3 June, while the third and final group of about 150 will do soon Friday, 10June.<\/p>\n<p>The May 27 Mass for the first group was celebrated by Syriac-Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Yohanno Petros Moshe in the camp\u2019s large, prefabricated church which was built with aid from ACN. 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\u2019s Aishty camp, which is the largest in Erbil and is divided into three smaller camps: Aishty 1, 2 and 3.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the children fled with their families from the city of Qaraqosh, the former Christian capitol of Iraqi Kurdistan, when IS jihadists attacked the city in August 2014. After moving the official See of their Church from Mosul to Qaraqosh several years ago due to both security concerns and the fact that most of the faithful resided in the city, Syriac-Catholics have now been left without any official diocese or headquarters whatsoever. Now residing in a largely Chaldean dominated Erbil, they have been welcomed by the local Church and are working daily to keep up the spirits of their faithful, who face an uncertain future in the country.<\/p>\n<p>For nearly 500 children to receive their First Communion in the camp is a sign of hope in a country where the flame of Christianity is flickering, growing dangerously closer to burning out. Another sign of hope for Iraq\u2019s Christians was the March ordination of four deacons in the same prefabricated church. They are now working with refugees around the clock, and will likely be ordained priests in a few months\u2019 time. Three of the deacons, alongside the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena \u2013 who are key workers among Erbil\u2019s extensive displaced Christian community \u2013 have been in charge of teaching the children\u2019s catechesis in scripture and liturgy.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IRAQ &#8211;\u00a0Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp &nbsp; There is a moment of joy in the bleakness of life for displaced Iraqi Christians. A record number of refugee children are making their First Communion in a refugee camp in Erbil. Out of the 5,500 people living in Erbil\u2019s Aishty 2 camp for the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>IRAQ - Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IRAQ - Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IRAQ &#8211;\u00a0Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp &nbsp; There is a moment of joy in the bleakness of life for displaced Iraqi Christians. A record number of refugee children are making their First Communion in a refugee camp in Erbil. Out of the 5,500 people living in Erbil\u2019s Aishty 2 camp for the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-08T06:36:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"662\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"496\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/\",\"name\":\"IRAQ - Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-08T06:36:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-08T06:36:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg\",\"width\":662,\"height\":496,\"caption\":\"Celebration of the Holy First Communion for 40 children at the destructed \u0084Our Lady of Peace Church\u0094 in Homs (Syria) with Archbishop Jean Abdo Arbach (Melkite Archbishop of Homs) and His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorios III Laham on 14.05.2016: Group of children receiving their Holy First Communion today\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"IRAQ &#8211; Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp &#8211; ACN Malta\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\",\"name\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"description\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\",\"name\":\"ACN Malta Media\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ACN Malta Media\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IRAQ - Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"IRAQ - Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","og_description":"IRAQ &#8211;\u00a0Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp &nbsp; There is a moment of joy in the bleakness of life for displaced Iraqi Christians. A record number of refugee children are making their First Communion in a refugee camp in Erbil. Out of the 5,500 people living in Erbil\u2019s Aishty 2 camp for the...","og_url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/","og_site_name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","article_published_time":"2016-06-08T06:36:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":662,"height":496,"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ACN Malta Media","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ACN Malta Media","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/","name":"IRAQ - Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg","datePublished":"2016-06-08T06:36:08+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-08T06:36:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ACN-20160530-41343-1v2.jpg","width":662,"height":496,"caption":"Celebration of the Holy First Communion for 40 children at the destructed \u0084Our Lady of Peace Church\u0094 in Homs (Syria) with Archbishop Jean Abdo Arbach (Melkite Archbishop of Homs) and His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorios III Laham on 14.05.2016: Group of children receiving their Holy First Communion today"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/06\/08\/iraq-refugee-children-make-first-communion-in-erbil-camp-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IRAQ &#8211; Refugee children make First Communion in Erbil camp &#8211; ACN Malta"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/","name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","description":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2","name":"ACN Malta Media","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ACN Malta Media"},"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}