“The best place to spend your 20s is …” Not California. Not Rome. Not her hometown of Howell, Michigan. No, for Margaret Wittmann, it’s Iraq.
“The unique experiences and people I have encountered have shaped me in a way nothing else could. My work, especially my time spent with my students, is a constant testament to God’s providence,” she says.
Wittmann and I are among the nine Franciscan University alumni and past students living and serving in Erbil, Iraq, as part of the St. Thomas Mission—an outgrowth of the unique relationship between Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil.
The mission, now in its fourth year of operation, invites passionate Catholics to “equip Chaldean youth to live the light of Christ through intellectual formation, moral virtue, and a personal relationship with Christ in the land of Abraham.”
They work primarily at Mar Qardakh International School (MQIS), the flagship K-12 school of the archdiocese, in everything from kindergarten religion classes to high school administration.
In their free time, the missionaries explore the panoply of regional historical, religious, and cultural sites and experiences.
I have been hiking in the mountains where Alexander the Great’s soldiers fought, watched the sun go down on the Tigris River, and sipped steaming hot tea in the center of the city with a backdrop of carpet merchants, moneychangers, and old-time hagglers. However, nothing is so fascinating as going for a jog in the local park and watching families bring everything but the kitchen sink out for dinner.
Anne Mosier ’24 notes, “It is so easy for Americans to rush, whereas Iraqis demonstrate a beautiful capacity for hospitality that goes to show how much they value the other.”
That’s hard to picture against the image of bombs and war from the recent past. During the rise of ISIS, thousands of Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi families descended upon the city of Erbil fleeing from the terrorists. At that time, the future of the Chaldean Church weighed in the balance, and years later, the longterm survival of Christianity in Iraq remains a question mark.
While the situation in Erbil has stabilized and the missionaries serve without the least fear for their lives, they are palpably aware of what their work is all about—it is to help keep the light of Christ alive so basic charity can prevail.
The mission serves the vision of Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda, CSsR, of the Chaldean Archdiocese of Erbil, for preserving Christianity in the country through education. MQIS serves 560 Christians from the region to provide an equally rigorous education and Catholic identity.
The missionaries have “helped galvanize the faith among the young people in Erbil. Their work as teachers, coaches, mentors, and above all, persons committed to Jesus as number one in their lives has shown as a bright light leading youth to the Truth,” says Archbishop Warda.
Lizzie Amland ’23, a native of Pickerington, Ohio, who majored in clinical psychology and exercise science, is in her second year as a missionary teaching religion to middle school students.
“The students have a real curiosity to learn and are a beautiful inspiration to me of the power of Catholic education,” says Amland.
Amland also serves as one of the school’s “safe guardians” offering mental health, academic, and emotional support to all grades in the school.
One thing that makes St. Thomas Mission special is its “all hands on deck” approach to education. Amland was joined by second-year missionary Anna Cannon and me in creating a Catholic School Day for MQIS.
Students had their very first experience of eucharistic adoration coupled with small groups and talks on Catholic social teaching as part of the all-day retreat.
“My favorite thing about Catholic School Day is that we have five priests in the church, and we all got to say confession,” one sixth-grader commented.
Hala Warda MBA ’20 MEd ’21, head of school at MQIS, emphasized the spiritual work accomplished by the mission team.
“The missionaries have played a significant role in advancing our school and our students in every aspect, especially spiritually. Their contributions have strengthened our values of love and understanding, drawing us closer to God in our daily lives,” says Warda.
The feeling is certainly mutual. Colette Allen ’24 and Micholl Dumanig ’22 MA ’24 both describe the program as a deeply spiritual experience.
“The mission has taught me what it means to approach the Lord,” says Allen. “The first weeks were hard. I had never taught the really little ones before, and I felt frustrated. … But, for a whole week, the Mass readings were about childlike joy, and I realized these kids are teaching me how to approach the Father.”
Dumanig found spiritual growth in his appreciation for the Church’s various liturgies. The archdiocese is part of the Chaldean Church under Rome but with a distinct liturgy in Aramaic including the oldest anaphora (Eucharistic Prayer) in the world.
“There’s a lot of love … and I learned to see how people live out their faith in a way that may be different from my perspective,” says Dumanig.
St. Thomas Mission emphasizes the faith to its students, particularly through social and intellectual formation.
Rosemary Prezzia ’22 explains, “As a literature and language teacher, I often see our students grow most when they prepare for and perform semester plays. I have been personally impressed by one naturally shy student who, through the shared experience of performance, grew into an incredibly bold and outspoken individual.
“They may not recognize it yet, but it is my hope that these early experiences at Mar Qardakh will later help deepen their understanding of and appreciation for public, communal celebration of the faith as vital to their growth in personal holiness.”
St. Thomas Mission also assists with accreditation at the local Catholic University in Erbil (CUE), which prides itself on being the only institution of higher education with the name “Catholic” in its title from Morocco to Malaysia.
Bianca De Leon, a fourth-year missionary who serves both at MQIS and CUE, notes the importance of CUE within the cultural pluralism of Northern Iraq.
“CUE fosters an environment of peacebuilding based on the Catholic ideas of interreligious dialogue and common good-based education for Christians, Muslims, and Yazidis alike.”
The Catholic University in Erbil was founded in 2015 and now represents a new Iraq—one where people of all faiths live in close proximity and peacefully participate in each other’s lives. Will it hold? We can and should pray it does so that the light of Christ may always remain in this holy land.
Alex McKenna ’22 writes from Erbil, Iraq, where he is executive aide to the archbishop and a middle school history teacher at Mar Qardakh International School.
Current Franciscan University students or alumni interested in serving as part of the St. Thomas Mission can find information on the mission’s Instagram (instagram.com/st.thomas.mission) and website (stmiraq.org) or reach out personally to Alex McKenna ([email protected]).
