Iraqi prelate sees normalcy return but feeling of insecurity remains

Published: 2004-07-20

HUBERTUS, Wis. (CNS) -- The serene hilly countryside surrounding the Monastery of Mary Help of Christians, home to the Discalced Carmelite Friars at Holy Hill in Hubertus, seems a sharp contrast to images of war-torn Baghdad, Iraq. In the tranquil setting about 30 minutes north of Milwaukee, tucked in the rolling green hills of Wisconsin, Latin-rite Archbishop Jean Benjamin Sleiman of Baghdad relaxed in quiet retreat for a few days and reflected on the turmoil in his country. A Lebanese Carmelite named to head the Archdiocese of Baghdad in 2000, Archbishop Sleiman was in the United States to attend a July 21-25 conference in Chicago sponsored by the Washington-based Carmelite Institute. Prior to the conference, he spent several days at Holy Hill. Calling his surroundings "a very holy, beautiful place," the archbishop noted in an interview with the Catholic Herald, Milwaukee's archdiocesan newspaper, that even in postwar Iraq there are "areas of peacefulness and natural beauty." He explained that normal life has resumed for Iraqis, "but from time to time, bombs, car bombs explode. It's very difficult to describe it, you have to live it to understand it."

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