{"id":8550,"date":"2014-10-28T08:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T08:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/martin-baani-the-iraqi-seminarian-who-will-not-leave-his-people-46979\/"},"modified":"2014-10-28T08:01:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T08:01:00","slug":"martin-baani-the-iraqi-seminarian-who-will-not-leave-his-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/10\/martin-baani-the-iraqi-seminarian-who-will-not-leave-his-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Baani: the Iraqi seminarian who will not leave his people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Erbil, Iraq, Oct 28, 2014 \/ 02:01 am (Aid to the Church in Need<\/a>).- Bombs are falling and the sound of the explosion is sending shock and fear into the hearts of the people. Amid the sound of crying and frenzied activity, people pack up what belongings they can carry and make off into the night.<\/p>\n

\tIn the midst of it all, on the night of Aug. 6, stands Martin Baani, a 24-year-old seminarian. It\u2019s dawning on him that this is Karamlesh\u2019s last stand.<\/p>\n

\tFor 1,800 years, Christianity has had a home in the hearts and minds of the people of this town so full of antiquity. Now that era is about to be brought to a calamitous end; Islamic State are advancing.<\/p>\n

\tMartin\u2019s mobile phone rings: a friend stammers out the news that the nearby town of Telkaif has fallen to \u201cDa\u2019ash\u201d \u2013 the Arabic name for Islamic State.\u00a0 Karamlesh would surely be next.<\/p>\n

\tMartin dashes out of his aunt\u2019s house, where he is staying, and heads for the nearby St Addai\u2019s Church. He takes the Blessed Sacrament, a bundle of official papers, and walks out of the church. Outside a car awaits \u2013 his parish priest, Father Thabet, and three other priests are inside.<\/p>\n

\tMartin gets in and the car speeds off. They leave Karamlesh and the last remnants of the village\u2019s Christian presence go with them.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tSpeaking to Martin in the calm of St. Peter\u2019s Seminary, Ankawa \u2013 a suburb of the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil \u2013 it is difficult to imagine he is describing anything except a bad dream. But there is nothing dreamy in Martin\u2019s expression. \u201cUntil the very last minute, the Peshmerga were telling us it was safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBut then we heard that they were setting up big guns on St Barbara\u2019s Hill (on the edge of the village) and we knew then the situation had become very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tTaking stock of that terrible night, Martin\u2019s confidence is bolstered by the presence of 27 other seminarians at St. Peter\u2019s, many with their own stories of escape from the clutches of the Islamic militants.<\/p>\n

\tMartin and his fellow students for the priesthood know that the future is bleak as regards Christianity in Iraq. A community of 1.5 million Christians before 2003 has dwindled to less than 300,000. And of those who remain, more than a third are displaced. Many, if not most, want a new life in a new country.<\/p>\n

\tMartin, however, is not one of them. \u201cI could easily go,\u201d he explains calmly. \u201cMy family now live in California. I already have been given a visa to go to America and visit them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBut I want to stay. I don\u2019t want to run away from the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMartin has already made the choice that marks out the priests who have decided to stay in Iraq: his vocation is to serve the people, come what may.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\t\u201cWe must stand up for our rights; we must not be afraid,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\tDescribing in detail the emergency relief work that has occupied so much of his time, it is plain to see that he feels his place is to be with the people.<\/p>\n

\tMartin is already a subdeacon. Now in his final year of theology, ordination to the priesthood is but a few months away.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThank you for your prayers,\u201d says Martin, as I take my leave of him. \u201cWe count on your support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tJohn Pontifex is a senior journalist for Aid to the Church in Need<\/a>, an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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