Jesuit Education Could Bring Hope for Iraq's Future

Between the Tigris River and Hope: A Father's Vision for Iraq's Future

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

—Romans 8:28

The nightmare of my brother's assassination (in a car) in Baghdad, Iraq has never left me.

Like an interminable shadow, it hovers over me, pressing against my chest until I can hardly breathe. At times, I feel as though I am inside that crushed car with him, unable to escape.

When the news of his death reached us, I was at my family's home (in Baghdad).

The weight of it sank into the walls, into the silence that followed. A few days later, I felt obliged to go to the scene to see where his life had ended, to try to understand what had happened.

I've learned that the combination of grief and faith asks us to believe in something we cannot yet see — to quote St. Paul, "all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose," Romans 8:28.

Standing in the devastation that had ended my brother’s life, I could not imagine anything good. But perhaps understanding comes only with time.

It was May in Baghdad, when the heat is at its fiercest, and the afternoon sun burns the streets. I stood before the car, twisted and torn apart by the explosion.

It looked as if it had been folded in on itself, crumpled by violence. I stared, filled with questions, which had no answers.

Overwhelmed, I sat down on the roadside, the dust clinging to my clothes, the heat pressing into my skin.

I cried alone, quietly, because no one could carry the weight of that sight but me. When I finally returned home, I kept the experience to myself. I did not tell anyone what I had seen.

Until now, I shared with no one the emptiness that experience left in me.

And yet, even in the silence, my mind has never stopped asking: what could have been different? My brother had a phone, and he had my number.

Could I have changed something, if only he had called?

At that time, I was working at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad: a place my late father once imagined as a symbol of hope.

He believed I would live the American dream in Iraq, bridging two worlds.

My father himself carried a vision: as a director of education, he wanted to reshape the curriculum for math students in Iraq, to move beyond narrow teachings, and to open the minds and hearts of students to a broader culture of diversity and possibility.

But dreams in Iraq were dangerous.

His efforts brought not only admiration but also threats.

I still remember the letter he received.

Inside the envelope was a single bullet, a warning written in silence: shut your mouth, or we will kill your sons, or burn your house to the ground.

In the end, my father's heart broke under the pressure of violence and fear.

He died shortly after my brother's assassination of heartache, haunted by the loss of his son and the dangers that surrounded his vision.

Even so, I carry my father’s hope within me.

Despite the shadows of violence, I am grateful that my family and I are safe in the United States of America. Here, I see with clarity that education remains the greatest tool we have, to open minds and reach hearts.

I believe Iraq still needs that same awakening. Jesuit schools, of which I am a grateful project, with their legacy of openness and moral strength, offer a powerful model.

Unlike regimented systems that teach only one way of seeing the world, Jesuit education invites exploration, diversity, and freedom of thought.

The very values Iraq has long needed to heal and to grow.

There are two formerly Jesuit schools in Baghdad: Baghdad College, an all-boys college preparatory school founded by New England Jesuits in 1932; and Al-Hikma University, founded in 1956 by New England Jesuits.

Both were nationalized under Sadham Hussein in the late 1960’s.

The history of the Jesuits in Iraq is chronicled in the 1994 book by Joseph F. MacDonnell, S.J., "Jesuits by the Tigris: Men for Others in Baghdad." Although out of print, the entire book can be downloaded at https://crossworks.holycross.edu/tigris/1/.

The dedication page reads:

This book is dedicated to the long-suffering and noble people of Iraq who have endured wars that they did not seek deprivations that they did not expect and sorrow that they did not deserve. May God deliver them from their suffering.

I recently learned that Sacred Heart Chapel, built by the Jesuits in 1953 for Baghdad College, is still intact physically, adjacent to the still operating — albeit without Jesuits — Baghdad College.

Perhaps one day, near the banks of the Tigris and beside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, where so many lives were risked in the hope of a brighter future, we will see a Jesuit educational legacy reemerge: a place where American and Iraqi values meet, where heritage and hope join, and where Iraqi children can finally inherit the future their parents once dreamed for them.

Rana al Saadi, a refugee from Iraq and now a naturalized American citizen. Prior to co-founding PACEM Solutions International in Falls Church, Virginia, Ms. Alsaadi held multiple Senior Executive positions and served with the US Department of State as a Cultural Advisor and the US Department of Defense as a Translator/Analyst in Iraq. Mrs. Alsaadi earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Baghdad University and her Executive Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University. Read Rana Al Saadi's Reports — More Here.