Award-winning humanitarian Fr Khalil Jaar to visit Gozo

by Gozo News · October 21, 2015

Award winning humanitarian Fr Khalil Jaar, is visiting Malta from Jordan for a few days to take part in a number of events to promote the launch of the latest Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Report "Persecuted and Forgotten?"

This topical Report highlights the extent of persecution of Christians worldwide, with full coverage of the situation in the Middle East and Africa.

Fr Khalil Jaar, who in 2002 received the prestigious Robert PW Pierce Award for Christian Services and Reconciliation, is arriving in Malta tomorrow (Thursday) for a programme of events to promote the launch of the Persecuted and Forgotten? Report, which is due to be released in Malta next week by Aid to the Church in Need, a leading Catholic charity.

He will be coming to Gozo during Friday afternoon, the 23rd of October, when he plans to visit Ta' Pinu and Xaghra parish church as well as famous tourist sites like Dwejra.

Persecuted and Forgotten? offers an accurate and balanced view of religious persecution in 22 countries worldwide. In making its assessment, the analysis of the current situation draws on in-country reports, witness testimonies, interviews with bishops, Sisters and lay people. This research material is compared with evidence from NGOs with expertise in the field to ensure accuracy.

Fr Jaar is the key speaker at the launch of the Persecuted and Forgotten? Report, which will take place at Sala Madonna tal-Karmnu, Valley Road, Birkirkara at 10am next Saturday 24 October. During his stay in Malta he will also have a private meeting with the President, visit Dar tal-Providenza and several parishes in Malta and Gozo including Mellieha, St Sebastian – Qormi and St Gregory- Sliema.

At the launch event, Fr Jaar will speak about his experience in the Middle East where he has been doing humanitarian work for over 25 years. He has been running a programme for several years which offers medical care in hospitals abroad for seriously ill Iraqi children.

Through his organisation Messengers of Peace, Fr Jaar is also currently providing medical assistance, food and education in refugee camps in Jordan, where families from Syria, Iraq and other Middle East regions have sought refuge from Islamic State.

The responsibility of caring for so many displaced families who fled from violence in the Middle East is very worrying for Fr Jaar. He asks "What we can do to assist these brothers? We don't have the funds to help such a large number of people who came with nothing! Our local Christian Community in Marka is very poor. But as we trust the Lord, prayer is the best way to help us through this tragic situation. Now we are wondering how the Lord will inspire others abroad to assist us."

In 1990 Fr Jaar was in charge of Mercy Camp close to the Iraqi border where over 40,000 people took shelter after the first Gulf crisis. After the war of 2003 he started once again going to Baghdad to assist all the people in need – Muslims as well as Christian communities.

In November 2005 Fr Jaar was kidnapped by terrorists. Fortunately, he says "By a miracle I was released after six days."

Aid to the Church in Need is a Pontifical Foundation of the Catholic Church, supporting the Catholic faithful and other Christians where they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.

In Malta, the Charity has a national office in Attard.

In December 2011, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI had elevated the international organisation Aid to the Church in Need, of which the Maltese Office is a part, to the status of Pontifical Foundation.

Previously the organisation had been a Universal Public Association, whose revised decrees were approved by the Congregation of the Clergy on 10 December 1997 (Decree No.97003166, Vatican City).

At the same time, the Holy Father appointed the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, to the position of President of the Foundation. Baron Johannes Freiherr Heereman is the Executive President of ACN International.