On November 11th Fr. Eric Hoog, C.Ss.R., and Archbishop Bashar Warda, C.Ss.R., of Erbil, Iraq met at the Baltimore Province Provincial Residence in Washington D.C. Archbishop Warda is a Redemptorist and is the Archbishop of the Catholic Chaldean Archdiocese in Erbil, Iraq.
Erbil is in the Kurdish region of Iraq, north of Mosul. Fr. Eric first met Archbishop Warda in 2005 when he was Fr. Warda and was the Pastor of St. Elias Church in Baghdad. Fr. Eric was the Command Chaplain for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. In 2010 Fr. Warda was made Archbishop of Erbil.
Archbishop Warda is dedicated to rebuilding his country through education. He has founded the Catholic University of Erbil. He has also started a Catholic elementary school and a Catholic high school in the Erbil area.
Fr. Eric and Archbishop Warda met to discuss how the elementary school and the high school at St. Mary’s parish in Annapolis might “team up” and financially help these two schools, as well as have an online exchange with their students. Idea are still being generated.