Roman Run for Erbil

Dear Friends,

We are at it again! Encouraged by the success of previous years, a group of seminarians studying over at the North American College in Rome is planning to run across the Italian peninsula to benefit the suffering members of the Church in the Middle East.

This year we have partnered with Aid to the Church in Need to offer both our prayers and what we are able to give materially to displaced families in Eribil, Iraq. As one of the few stable cities in Iraq, Eribil has become a refuge for many fleeing violence, especially from the citiy of Mosul. The Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Eribil, under the guidance of Bishop Bashar Warda and in conjunction with various aid agencies, is the largest provider of aid to displaced persons and families there. In addition to their regular pastoral activity for Christians, they administer 7 schools which welcome around 8,000 rufgee children who cannot be absorbed by state schools, and provide food aid to many families.

We are seeking to support an ongoing project by Aid to the Church in Need which has been extended for another six months this year to offer food packages to some of the 12,000 displaced families from Mosul (on the other side of the Tigris from ancient Nineveh) in the Erbil and Alqosh province. A volunteer committee of lay Christians purchases the supplies from local markets, packages, and distributes the supplies to families in the diocese. Aid to the Church in Need is a Catholic charity under the guidance of the Pope, which began in 1946 to help German Catholics find proper housing after the war. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI elevated the organization to the status of Pontifical foundation. Today, the organization sponsors 5,000 projects in more than 130 countries around the world. Generally, they support support pastoral activites in poor and threatened dioceses by constructing parish buildings or educating relgious and seminarians; in fact, 1 in every 9 vocations in the world is somehow supported by ACN. However, they have expanded their activity in Iraq and Syria to more immediate material needs beacuse of the dire situation facing many displaced families and a threatened Christian community.

Thanks to our partnership with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) 100% of what is given to the project through this website will go directly to the food package project. 

Please feel free to visit our individual pages to learn more about why we have decided to run for the church in Erbil this year.

Saint Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 8, "for you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich." May the gospel which impelled St. Paul in his day inspire us Christians today to run so as to win our race of faith.

On behalf of our brothers and sisters in Erbil, we hope you can join us in prayer and thank you for your consideration of material support. This is first and foremost a work of prayer: prayerful solidarity with the suffering Church in Erbil and supplication that this ancient community be built up so that she can flourish again. "Those who sow in tears, shall reap in joy," Psalm 126

May God bless you,

The "Roman Run" Seminarians of 2017