From the Washington Times, with thanks to EPG:
AL QOSH, Iraq — Compared with the ferocity of war in much of Iraq, the isolated Monastery of the Virgin Mary — 25 miles north of Mosul — exists in tranquility.Surrounded by desert, this cool shelter — complete with olive trees, honeybees and a Chaldean church — houses six monks and 36 orphaned boys, ages 5 to 14. Twenty-two girls live at a convent in nearby Mosul.
Over the years, the Rev. Mofid Toma Marcus, 37, an Assyrian Christian monk in charge of the monastery and orphanage, has kept the wolves away. During dictator Saddam Hussein's reign, he passed off his orphanage as a seminary for students preparing for the priesthood, because the government was not anxious to let the outside world know the actual number of orphans in the country.
Even today, when the boys, dressed in jeans and T-shirts, line up after their naps and are asked how many want to become priests, six raise their hands. They will go to a Catholic seminary in Baghdad.The fate of the other boys is uncertain, because Father Marcus will not give them up for adoption to Muslim families.
"In an Iraqi orphanage, they make you change your religion," the monk said, "and I don't want our Christian kids to be Muslims."
Bound by law
He wishes he could send them to places like Detroit, which has many Iraqi Chaldean families who belong to the same ancient stream of Christianity and are willing to raise an orphaned child. Although the U.S. State Department says it has received many inquiries from American citizens asking about adoption, its Web site says adoption is not possible under Iraqi law.
One reason: Adoption is prohibited under Islamic law, which informs Iraqi civil law. Unlike in the West, orphaned Muslim children do not take the name and family relationships of their new parents. Instead, Islam allows "kefala," a type of guardianship in which children retain their original family identities.
But U.S. immigration law considers kefala insufficient for immigration purposes. Moreover, anyone raising a child under the kefala system must promise to raise the child as a Muslim.
"The chances of adopting a Muslim child is nil," said Roni Anderson, a former Southern Baptist missionary who worked with Father Marcus for 12 years — until this year. "They'd prefer the child be stranded than be adopted by a Christian."
However, Father Marcus' charges are Christians and not subject to Islamic law. To date, Iraqi law has not permitted foreigners to obtain legal guardianship of Iraqi children. But Iraqis living abroad might be allowed to do so.
Much depends on whether human rights issues for women and children are addressed in the new Iraqi Constitution and whether adoption is part of subsequent international treaties or agreements between Iraq and the United States.
So, Father Marcus' charges continue to live in limbo.
Read it all.
Robert, do you know of any way of contacting one of these orphanages if we are interested in adoption?
Near the end of the Vietnam war (I was just a very little girl), there were U.S. military airlifts of Vietnamese orphans to the U.S.
What surprises me is that these 36 boys and 22 girls (and their caretakers) haven't quietly "disappeared" from the desert and quietly appeared in homes throughout the U.S.
Shame on the Bush Administration. This is something that can be easily taken care of. Iraqi/islamic sensibilities can take a backseat to placement in a loving home.
Reading this article and reading the words of Father Marcus I am convinced that if there were one hundred Christians in all of Iraq, and the U.S. put these one hundred in charge of the whole country, Iraq would enjoy a more equitable democracy than it ever will by including Muslims.
And the U.S. would have a far more reliable ally, too.
Robert, Hello. I come from an Assyrian family. As you may or may not know, Assyrians are Christians from the middle east. Can you please recommend how we may go about contacting these orphanages. We would like to adopt Christian children from Iraq.
An equal number of adult Iraqi Christians -who wish to return and teach- should be sent to hold the place for any child who later wishes to return.
This way any kids -adopted out to the U.S.- would have a 'vote' in their stead. Someone to keep the balance of governing in Iraq as equitable as it can be for the general minority voice.
And, to add a little leaven of 'the voice of the self-sacrificing spirit' [-especially the one that does not involve suicide-] that finally silenced the God of Vengeance.
In these vendetta-riddled areas, "forgiveness" is so rare a thought that an example of a 'God' who does not threaten, but lays down his life -out of love- can change the heart, slowly.
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Happy Holidays, and to All a Good Night!
When all the Christians and Jews are forced out of the middle east who will the Muslims have to blame for all their social ills and poverty.
Allah sucks