Bishop Geoffrey Rowell Travels to Iraq on Behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Last week, The Right Revd Dr Geoffrey Rowell, a bishop of The Society, went on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury to visit Iraqi Kurdistan, where there are some 1.2 million refugees and internally displaced persons. A large number of these are Christians who fled Mosul and the Christians towns and villages of the Nineveh Plain at very short notice in August following the advance of ISIS. He explained,

“The churches in Erbil, Dohuk and other places are faced with a tremendous challenge of accommodating these large numbers, providing them with shelter appropriate for the oncoming winter, food, heating, washing facilities and education for the children. Archbishop Warda, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, is leading, together with fellow bishops, a major relief operation. Together with Fr William Taylor, Chair of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, who speaks Arabic and Syriac, I visited those who have fled who are now living in containers, tents, and derelict buildings, both in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, and outside Dohuk to the north-west. We were enormously impressed by the vision and energy of Archbishop Warda and the clergy and others working with him, and will be reporting on their work to Archbishop Justin. Archbishop Warda will be visiting England in February, and we hope to enable him to speak of the situation to both the Church, Parliamentarians and more widely.”

Donations can be channelled through Iraqi Christians in Need

An interview with Bishop Geoffrey on the BBC Radio 4 programme Sunday can listened to here (from 8:51).