Writing Samples

Participating in a tradition beloved by schoolchildren around the world, pupils at Mar Qardakh International School in Erbil, Iraq this week celebrated the Solemnities of All Saints and All Souls Day as a student body. Donning a variety of outfits, students joined in games, a school-wide prayer, and shared about their costumes, recounting the lives of the saints who they represented. 

However, while holding a place of tradition in the school since its founding in 2011, this year held an emphasis on the message: we are each called to holiness.

The majority of students at Mar Qardakh belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church; a community that has dramatically declined in number within Iraq over the past two decades. The Eve of All Saints Day in the Iraqi community, while known in most other countries simply as Halloween, commemorates the wounds of a 2010 massacre on a parish in Baghdad that left 45 martyrs. While 12 years have passed since the horrific destruction at Our Lady of Salvation Church, the memory remains strong in a church that is working hard to rebuild and thrive against all odds. Learning about the communion of saints has been a strong theme utilized by catechists to give youth a blueprint for living as a christian in a world that does not support the faith.

With this in mind, the religion teachers encouraged their students when researching their saints to dig deep into looking at their lives and not just their costumes. In speaking with a group of 9th graders, several pointed to the impact their saints had on them and their day to day lives.

 As Maryam Martin shared ¨learning about Saint Maria Goretti inspired me. Whenever I have courage I know it is from her because I went to her in prayer. She knew that to sin hurt God and said she would rather follow God and die than do something wrong just to save her life, and I want to learn from that example.¨

Keeping in mind All Souls Day, middle school students also participated in the Mexican tradition of building an ofrenda or altar decorated with photographs of deceased relatives. The idea came from religion teacher Elizabeth Alva who recounted ¨I was familiar with the ofrenda because my family comes from Mexico. However, the idea of building one at the school really came about from listening to the students talk about their families; many of whom have had to leave Iraq due to displacement and are now located all around the world. It seemed like a natural solution to really helping the students remember just how important it is not only to pray for the souls in purgatory, but especially so for our families who have sacrificed so much for us.¨

During the last class of the day, students from the 6th to 11th grades gathered in the school gym to listen to speeches. Ranging from modern day Blesseds such as Sandra Sabattini to great theologians including Ignatius of Loyola, the speakers shared their personal connections to the saints and lessons taken from studying their lives.