THE
P RTAL
December 2018
Page 20
Aid to the Church in Need
The Church in Syria
Murcadha O’Flaherty reports
A Syrian religious
Sister described how the Church is helping families to cope with the
trauma caused by ongoing conflict – including an aerial bomb attack on the school where she teaches.
Sister Jihane Elaoudatallah of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity spoke to Catholic charity Aid to
the Church in Need about how the Christian message of hope and healing is overcoming the pain and loss
endured by Syrians.
Describing
the
“extremely
difficult times” people have lived
through, Sister Elaoudatallah said,
“A few months ago, in my school in
Damascus, a bomb fell, killing one
of our female teachers. Another
bomb fell in the grounds of the
school, but fortunately it did not
injure anyone. Later on a bomb
killed one of the children and badly
injured another, who had to have
his leg amputated.”
the additional burden this places on
them in bringing up their children
is an enormous one.”
Speaking about the bomb-
destroyed homes and schools across
the country, she added, “With their
houses demolished, where can they
return to? How do you go back to a
bombed-out house? On its own, the
desire to return is not enough.”
Sr Jihane Elaoudatallah of the
Congregation of the Sisters of Charity
She also described how she ran
spiritual retreats to help the children overcome their
fears of returning to school. Sister Elaoudatallah said.
“The children were deeply traumatised and no longer
wanted to go to school. For them, going to school
meant going to their deaths.” She added, “We had to
go through a long process of reconciliation in order
to overcome this psychological barrier. To do so we
organised spiritual exercises in a remote and quiet
place for those families who had been through really
traumatic situations.”
Describing the retreat, she said, “A Jesuit priest
spoke to them about the Christian life, about how to
live through their fears together with the children…
And we also studied the encyclical Laudato Si. As a
result, the families involved asked us to organise these
meetings on a regular basis, and so we now have a
meeting every month to pray, reflect and also eat and
relax together.”
Outlining the hardships suffered by the Syrian
people due to the West’s embargo of Syria, Sister
Elaoudatallah said, “This situation only exacerbates
the sufferings of the people, who have already been
scattered and humiliated. Humiliated by having to ask
for help, above all now that the sanctions have made
it still harder to get help. For the families especially,
As well as trauma counselling
helping people in need, Aid to
the Church in Need is supporting local Churches to
provide emergency rent support and food packages for
thousands of Christian families in Syria. The charity
is also backing a pilot scheme restoring 100 homes in
Hom’s Christian Quarter.
Aid to the Church in Need - www.acnuk.org
contact: [email protected] or call 020 8642 8668
Ecumenical Marian Pilgrimage Trust
Registered Charity no. 1108173
Ecumenical Pilgrimage at Walsingham
Tuesday 19th - Friday 22nd March 2019
CATHOLIC, ANGLICAN, ORTHODOX AND FREE CHURCH
LITURGIES, TALKS AND DEVOTIONS
Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (Orthodox)
HE Archbishop Edwin Adams (Papal Nuncio tbc)
Bishop Jonathan Goodall of Ebbsfleet (Anglican)
Prof Frances Young (Methodist) Preb Norman Wallwork (Methodist)
Eleanor Jackson (Society of Friends) Fr Peter Farrington (Coptic Orthodox)
Rev Dr Gareth Powell (Methodist) Fr Philip Corbett (Anglican)
Fr Kevin Alban O.Carm (Catholic) Michael Russell (Catholic)
Further details and booking form:
[email protected]
or online at: www.EcumenicalMarianPilgrimage.org.uk