Catholic Online: SPECIAL REPORT: Catholic Archbishop Kidnapped by Armed Extremists in Iraq

Deacon Keith Fournier files a special report on Catholic Online.

"We call on President Bush and the current American administration to do everything within their power to secure the release of Archbishop Rahho."

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Archbishop Faraj Rahho is deeply loved by the faithful.

He is known to be a holy man, whose devotion to the Lord and his beloved Chaldean Catholic faith is matched only by his dedication to the faithful who are suffering increasing persecution in Iraq.

Chaldean (also referred to as Assyrian) Catholics are the majority Christian representation in Iraq. Most estimate their numbers to be around 550,000 strong.

They have also become the focus of a growing wave of anti-Christian violence in that war ravaged country, which is their homeland.

These deeply devout Eastern Catholic Christians are also living in the United Sates and elsewhere throughout the world. Their largest communities in America are in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan and El Cajon, California.

In fact, their numbers are growing and the vibrancy of their Catholic faith is a model to many Catholics right when the Pew Foundation reports of the results of lukewarm Christianity being reflected in declining Church membership and vocations.

Just this month in California, Mar Sarhad Yawsip Jammo, announced at St. Peter Cathedral in California, that he intends to open a Diocesan Seminary to train the growing number of young men who are presenting themselves for discernment for a priestly vocation.

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