He has seen his native Iraq decimated by a decadelong war with neighboring Iran and economic sanctions from before the Gulf War, imposed as a response to the invasion of Kuwait. He has seen families and children die and a culture literally brought to its knees. But since his 1995 appointment to minister to the Assyrian Catholic community, first in Newark, N.J., and then the Chicago suburb of Techny, his vantage point has been from 3,000 miles away. Abdulmasih was here in part to lend moral support to a Springfield Dominican nun, Sister Beth Murphy, who will be traveling with nine others to Iraq March 5-19. The trip, illegal under U.S. law, is the third such undertaking by the Dominican community in support of its own nuns and priests there and others victimized by the economic sanctions, Murphy said.
Nobody defends the rights of dying people.
It's not fair to forget dying people. It's not fair to forget children and women who are suffering. From 1982 to 1992, Abdulmasih served as pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Basra, a city in southern Iraq. The church was bombed three times and destroyed during the conflict with Iran. The church, eventually rebuilt, sheltered Muslims and Christians of Basra.