The Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., will open a new exhibit Nov. 22 that displays the realities facing persecuted Christian communities in Iraq and Nigeria, drawing on nearly two decades of on-the-ground experience from some of the Catholic Church’s most recognized advocates for displaced believers.
According to an emailed press release, the exhibit features 80 photographs by Stephen Rasche, an author, award-winning photographer and a leading international expert on religious persecution. Rasche is a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute. The Knights of Columbus supported his work on the project. His images, many of which global media outlets have used, “are all drawn from Mr. Rasche’s nearly two decades of front-line experience working on behalf of the Catholic Church in the Middle East and Africa,” according to the release.
The shrine will host an opening event on Dec. 2 titled “Seeing the Persecuted and Displaced: Experts on Religious Persecution Tell Their Stories.” The evening will introduce the exhibit, “Among the Persecuted and Displaced: The Christian Experience in Iraq and Nigeria,” which runs through Feb. 8.
Rasche will speak at the opening event alongside two priests known for their scholarship and fieldwork in regions where Christians face ongoing threats: Rev. Athanasius Barkindo, Ph.D., director of Nigeria’s National Peace Committee and the Kukah Center for Peace and Justice, and the Rev. Karam Shamasha, Ph.D., provost of the Catholic University in Erbil and a priest of the Diocese of Alqosh in northern Iraq.
The speakers will use selected photographs as the basis for an open conversation about current conditions facing believers in their home countries. The event includes a question-and-answer period and a reception where attendees may continue the discussion with the presenters.
Doors open at 5 p.m. for exhibit viewing; the program begins at 6 p.m. Registration is required for in-person attendance, and the shrine will livestream the event.
Grattan Brown, S.T.D., director of mission and ministry at the shrine, said in the press release that the initiative reflects the site’s broader mission.
“The Shrine is not only a place of pilgrimage and worship, but also of learning and support for all who suffer religious persecution,” he said.
During his 26-year papacy, the shrine’s patron, Pope Saint John Paul II consistently condemned religious persecution and challenged governments and religious leaders who distorted faith for political ends. His planned pilgrimage to Iraq during the Jubilee Year 2000 collapsed after Saddam Hussein imposed conditions that the Vatican believed would politicize the visit.
In Ecclesia in Africa, the pope thanked African Catholics for sustaining peace efforts throughout periods of political upheaval and civil war, writing, “I feel it my duty to express heartfelt thanks to the Church in Africa for the role which it has played over the years as a promoter of peace and reconciliation.”
The exhibit aims to place that legacy of solidarity before American Catholics at a moment when threats to religious minorities continue to escalate in parts of the Middle East and Africa.
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