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A different journey to church

Canon Andrew White reports:
I know I have the best parish in the world. Yes, it is rather different from most, but it is wonderful. The journey to church is different from what any other vicar experiences. I leave my mobile home with my body armour and armoured helmet on. My bodyguards surround me as I get into the armoured vehicle. We drive through the International Zone, through many army checkpoints, and finally into the ordinary streets. Five minutes later we are at St George's, protected by razor wire and bomb barricades.

The Special Forces know that I am arriving and will have surrounded the church, cutting off the road. My security team search the church and the churchyard and ensure with our church guards that there are no unknown people in the building. They give me the all clear and at last I can go into my church.

Mothers' Union gift

The Mothers’ Union branch in Iraq was founded at Easter 2006. Its 400 members are directly affected by the increasing sectarian tensions, the difficulty in obtaining basic supplies and the everyday security threats. Nevertheless they meet every week to pray, and to gather resources for those in need.

Mothers’ Union Headquarters sent £5,000 enabling members in Baghdad to provide food, blankets and medicine to hundreds of people displaced or impoverished throughout the city.

I have been so impressed with the way the Mothers’ Union members have co-ordinated and distributed the emergency relief aid, they’ve been fantastic. Aid is going to Christians and to Muslims, and to members who are themselves in need.

Mothers’ Union food distribution, Baghdad

Information on the Diocese of Cyrus and the Gulf