“We are living in a very critical situation.We ask you to pray for us so that we may be saved and may peace and serenity return to us. Thank you for all the prayers, emails and letters that you have been sending to us.”

Below, Read the full letter from Maria Hanna, OP, and the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena – Iraq. 

Dear Sisters, Brothers and Friends:

Thank you for all the prayers, emails and letters that you have been sending to us. We are living in a very critical situation. We ask you to pray for us so that we may be saved and may peace and serenity return to us. 

At the present, in terms of security, there is nothing certain; the government is not being able to control the country. Some parts of Iraq are controlled by the government and others are not. We are – like the rest of our people – unable to understand what is really happening. But we know for sure that this situation is not leading to any common good. There are many political groups and sects, however peace and prosperity of the country as a whole is not in their agenda. 

This leaves people in a position of confusion and perplexity. Additionally, the infrastructures are not available. Electricity and water supplies are really limited, which makes life so difficult in this hot weather -temperature is over 114 degrees. There is also very limited supply of petrol which means we cannot run our generators for electricity, nor can we drive our cars. Thank God we still have food supplies for now; we hope that would be enough till this cloud passes away.

The situation urged many people to leave their homes and cities and go to Kurdistan where the situation is much better but needless to say that the Kurds are unable to accommodate all the refugees, therefore there are so many living in tents outside the Kurdish cities. Other people sought refuge in some small towns around Mosul, in Nineveh plain. Residence in these towns and church organizations are trying to provide these refugees with their needs to survive.

You may have heard that there has been some attacks on churches, we have been hearing some rumors, but we are not sure how true they are. However, we know of one church of which the statue of Our Lady in Mosul was pulled down from the top of the tower of the church, and then it was destroyed.

We ask you, please, to pray for us. Be sure that your prayers strengthen our faith and give us courage to endure these days of turmoil. Also, we ask you to remember in you prayer those who have left their homes and have nowhere to go. Thank you again for your support and prayer.

Maria Hanna OP

And the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena –Iraq