Erbil, Iraq, Aug 8, 2016 / 14:02 pm
Fr. Roni Salim Momika, one of three priests ordained in an Erbil refugee camp Friday, said the event has turned the dreary mood of displaced Christians into one of joy, which he hopes will give them the strength to stay in their homeland.
"My feeling is happy, happy!" Fr. Momika told CNA after his Aug. 5 ordination, adding that he feels "something inside" that makes him deeply joyful.
He was ordained a priest of the Syriac-Catholic Church alongside his friends and fellow deacons Emad and Petros in the large, prefabricated church inside Erbil's Aishty 2 camp for the displaced, which is home to some 5,500 people forced to flee their homes due to ISIS.
The ordination, he said, "will give hope to (the people)" in the camp, mostly Syriac Catholics from Qaraqosh, who for two years have been forced to live as refugees.