Baghdad – Bishop Michael’s Statement

A STATEMENT BY BISHOP MICHAEL LEWIS

“The Rt Revd Michael Lewis, Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf and at present travelling in the Arabian peninsula, telephoned Canon Andrew White on Sunday evening to hear details of the devastating bomb blasts of the morning of Sunday 25 October very close to St George's Anglican church on Haifa Street in Baghdad.

‘Canon White, currently in England for preaching engagements but due to be back in Iraq soon, is examining photographs of the widespread damage to the church compound. The dental and general medical clinics and the Mothers' Union kitchen and food-aid facility have apparently suffered terribly, with equipment destroyed beyond use. Church vehicles, vital for transporting worshippers, have been wrecked. The lovingly landscaped and tended grounds, in which many children play, are a wilderness. While the church building itself stands, windows, both glass and frames, have been blown out entirely.

‘The photographs were emailed by a key lay leader. At present it is unclear whether church members were among the dead and wounded.

‘Bishop Michael and his wife Julia paid their most recent visit to St George's at the start of the summer, where well over a thousand people greeted them at the principal eucharist. "The faith and love of the people of St George's is powerful and extraordinary. So is their resilience," he said. "It's heartbreaking to think that the clinics, which I opened last year and have been in constant use since then by Baghdadis irrespective of creed or affiliation, have suffered so badly. But the impressive Iraqi leadership team, together with Andrew White, will be determined to carry on witnessing to the unstoppable compassion of God in that great, battered city.”’