In Nigeria, now we are following on the best practices learned in Iraq, so there is very much a connection.
In Iraq, the Church responded to ISIS by building hospitals and schools, housing for the displaced, opening a university for displaced students. The Church at work in these conflict zones is directly confronted with this in a way that is quite different from the doctrinal and political disputes which seem to take up all our energies in the West. Over time in Iraq, and now in Nigeria as well, this effort evolved into working directly within the Church in responding to the violence around them in a manner which clearly shows the core of our Christian witness, what we can actually be when we step out and serve. This came out of the earlier work in Iraq, much of it funded by the Knights as well, in which we sought to bring effective messaging to the world as to what was taking place with the religious minorities in Iraq as a result of the ISIS war. I began work in Nigeria two years ago under a project funded by the Knights of Columbus to gather information on persecuted Christians there in the northern part of the country. You’ve just returned from your latest period of work in Nigeria - what is your work in Nigeria, and is it connected with your work with the persecuted Christians in Iraq? He was recently interviewed by Vatican correspondent Edward Pentin and offered his analysis of the Pentecost Mass massacre of Nigerian Christians in Owo. Since 2019, Rasche has taken on additional work for the purpose of bringing best practices from his experience in Iraq to the ongoing and violent persecution of Christians in Nigeria. He is presently a visiting scholar at the Kukah Center in Abuja, where his work is focused on the plight of internally displaced persons. He also serves as counsel to the Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil. He has served as an official representative to the Vatican Dicastery on Refugees and Migrants and is an official member of the Historical Commission to the Vatican postulator in the cause of Father Ragheed Ganni and three murdered Iraqi deacons. Rasche, the author of The Disappearing People: The Tragic Fate of Christians in the Middle East, was a founding officer of the Catholic University in Erbil in 2014, where he presently sits on the board of directors.
He brings more than 35 years of experience in international business and humanitarian-aid projects in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America, with much of it in high-risk locales, including his current focus on Nigeria.
Stephen Rasche is the senior fellow for international religious-freedom policy at the Religious Freedom Institute.
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