Slain Iraqi aid worker remained a Catholic throughout her life

Published: 2004-11-30

LONDON (CNS) -- Margaret Hassan, the aid worker kidnapped and killed in Iraq, remained a Catholic throughout her life and never converted to Islam as was widely reported, the Archdiocese of Westminster said in a statement. A memorial Mass for Hassan, organized by her family, was to be celebrated by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor in London's Westminster Cathedral Dec. 11 at 12:30 p.m. Hassan's brother and three sisters live in London and organized the memorial Mass, said Austen Ivereigh, spokesman for the archdiocese. Ivereigh said Hassan remained a regular churchgoer in Baghdad, Iraq, where she lived with her husband, Tahseen Hassan, since 1973. In Baghdad, Margaret Hassan worked for the British Council until the first Iraqi war. She began working for Care International in the early 1990s.

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