ABOUT ARCHBISHOP BASHAR WARDA
Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda was born in Baghdad on June 15th, 1969. After his primary and secondary studies in Baghdad, he continued his studies at St. Peter’s seminary for the Chaldean patriarchate, Baghdad. He was ordained a priest on May 8th, 1993. He began his priesthood at St. Thomas church and then served as an assistant priest for the Two Apostles Church in Baghdad in 1994, he next served as assistant rector in St. Peter minor seminary in addition to his service in the Church of Divine Wisdom from 1994-1995.
He joined the congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) in 1995 and was sent to Ireland to resume his novitiate. In 1999 he received a master’s degree in moral theology from the University of Leuven, Belgium. Returning to Iraq in the same year, he worked at Babel College in Baghdad as an assistant professor. He made his perpetual vows for the Redemptorist Order in 2001. In 2002 he was appointed parish priest of Mar Elia Church in Baghdad, in which he established a primary school “The Tent of the Virgin” or “Khaymat Al-Athraa” in 2005, which was a non-violent response to the bombing of the church the first of August 2004.
On December 14th, 2006, he was appointed rector at the seminary of St. Peter in Erbil where he served for four years and led the rebuilding of the seminary campus, following which he was elected as archbishop for the archdiocese of Erbil on September 3rd, 2010.
In 2011, Archbishop Warda established Mar Qardakh school, the first school in the Kurdistan region to adopt the IB system of education. In 2020 Mar Qardakh partnered with the Chesterton Schools Network and established the St. Thomas Chesterton Academy within the school.
In 2012, the Archbishop established the Catholic University in Erbil (CUE), which was formally opened on December 8th, 2015, in the midst of the ISIS war. While insisting upon the catholic name and identity, CUE welcomes students of different religious and ethnic backgrounds, following in the long tradition of Catholic universities worldwide, CUE is specifically recognized for providing educational opportunities for those from displaced and marginalized communities, with particular support for the education and support of young women.
Following the ISIS attacks of 2014 and the mass displacement of families from Mosul and Nineveh plain, many of whom had fled to the Erbil region for safety, four new schools were established in Erbil to serve the displaced.
The Archbishop played a pivotal and stabilizing role when 75,000 Christian IDPs fled ISIS to Ankawa. He quickly brought all the Churches together establishing pastoral, rental, food, clothing, medical and educational programmes by gathering many volunteers to work with the money received from the International Christian Aid Agencies such as Aid to the Church in Need, Knights of Columbus, the Italian Bishops Conference, Malteser International and Foundation de Mérieux, just to name a few.
In 2015 as further such initiative by Archbishop Warda was taken, and with the help of donors, a complex was built in Erbil for the students of Al-Hamdaniya University (Nineveh), which had been largely destroyed and was occupied by ISIS at the time.
In 2017 Archbishop Warda also established Maryamana school for displaced students at both the primary and middle school level. He also established Al-Bishara primary school in 2018 and Um Al Maouna secondary school in 2019. These schools serve students of all faiths.
On December 4, 2019, at a full meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, Archbishop Warda received national and international acclaim for his forceful and moving address in defense of the dignity of the Iraqi people at the height of the ongoing protests against government corruption and dysfunction in Iraq. Thus, he was at the White House in the signing of law H.R. 390 , the “Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018,” that allowed direct assistance to communities in Iraq or Syria. He also celebrated mass in the White House on that occasion.
Continuing in the building of a permeant service infrastructure for the community, in 2022 Archbishop Warda opened the Maryamana hospital in Ankawa, Erbil. In the same year he led the establishment of the Ankawa Humanitarian Committee, a local faith based non-profit entity engaged in humanitarian and developmental work in northern Iraq.
Through his decades of service, Archbishop Warda has become well known throughout Iraq and internationally for his vision of educating and providing meaningful opportunities to youth populations regardless of their origin or faith background, with a demonstrated special concern for the marginalized. Within his Archdiocese, Archbishop Warda has also initiated and established the building of three new churches in Ankawa, Erbil. He is known for delivering Christian teaching and biblical commentaries for the lay faithful in St. Joseph’s Cathedral. He is a widely sought-after speaker at major international conferences on the topic of persecuted religious minorities and religious freedom.
In recognition of his lifetime accomplishments, Archbishop Warda was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Australia in 2019, and further honorary doctorates, from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and the University of Dallas in 2021 where he also gave the commencement address.
Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda was born in Baghdad on Ju
ne 15th, 1969. After his primary and secondary studies in Baghdad, he continued his studies at St. Peter’s seminary for the Chaldean patriarchate, Baghdad. He was ordained a priest on May 8th, 1993. He began his priesthood at St. Thomas church and then served as an assistant priest for the Two Apostles Church in Baghdad in 1994, he next served as assistant rector in St. Peter minor seminary in addition to his service in the Church of Divine Wisdom from 1994-1995.
He joined the congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) in 1995 and was sent to Ireland to resume his novitiate. In 1999 he received a master’s degree in moral theology from the University of Leuven, Belgium. Returning to Iraq in the same year, he worked at Babel College in Baghdad as an assistant professor. He made his perpetual vows for the Redemptorist Order in 2001. In 2002 he was appointed parish priest of Mar Elia Church in Baghdad, in which he established a primary school “The Tent of the Virgin” or “Khaymat Al-Athraa” in 2005, which was a non-violent response to the bombing of the church the first of August 2004.
On December 14th, 2006, he was appointed rector at the seminary of St. Peter in Erbil where he served for four years and led the rebuilding of the seminary campus, following which he was elected as archbishop for the archdiocese of Erbil on September 3rd, 2010.
In 2011, Archbishop Warda established Mar Qardakh school, the first school in the Kurdistan region to adopt the IB system of education. In 2020 Mar Qardakh partnered with the Chesterton Schools Network and established the St. Thomas Chesterton Academy within the school.
In 2012, the Archbishop established the Catholic University in Erbil (CUE), which was formally opened on December 8th, 2015, in the midst of the ISIS war. While insisting upon the catholic name and identity, CUE welcomes students of different religious and ethnic backgrounds, following in the long tradition of Catholic universities worldwide, CUE is specifically recognized for providing educational opportunities for those from displaced and marginalized communities, with particular support for the education and support of young women.
Following the ISIS attacks of 2014 and the mass displacement of families from Mosul and Nineveh plain, many of whom had fled to the Erbil region for safety, four new schools were established in Erbil to serve the displaced.
The Archbishop played a pivotal and stabilizing role when 75,000 Christian IDPs fled ISIS to Ankawa. He quickly brought all the Churches together establishing pastoral, rental, food, clothing, medical and educational programmes by gathering many volunteers to work with the money received from the International Christian Aid Agencies such as Aid to the Church in Need, Knights of Columbus , the Italian Bishops Conference, Malteser International and Foundation de Mérieux, just to name a few.
In 2015 as further such initiative by Archbishop Warda was taken, and with the help of donors, a complex was built in Erbil for the students of Al-Hamdaniya University (Nineveh), which had been largely destroyed and was occupied by ISIS at the time.
In 2017 Archbishop Warda also established Maryamana school for displaced students at both the primary and middle school level. He also established Al-Bishara primary school in 2018 and Um Al Maouna secondary school in 2019. These schools serve students of all faiths.
On December 4, 2019, at a full meeting of the UN Security Council in New York, Archbishop Warda received national and international acclaim for his forceful and moving address in defense of the dignity of the Iraqi people at the height of the ongoing protests against government corruption and dysfunction in Iraq. Thus, he was at the White House in the signing of law H.R. 390 , the “Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018,” that allowed direct assistance to communities in Iraq or Syria. He also celebrated mass in the White House on that occasion.
Continuing in the building of a permeant service infrastructure for the community, in 2022 Archbishop Warda opened the Maryamana hospital in Ankawa, Erbil. In the same year he led the establishment of the Ankawa Humanitarian Committee, a local faith based non-profit entity engaged in humanitarian and developmental work in northern Iraq.
Through his decades of service, Archbishop Warda has become well known throughout Iraq and internationally for his vision of educating and providing meaningful opportunities to youth populations regardless of their origin or faith background, with a demonstrated special concern for the marginalized.
Within his Archdiocese, Archbishop Warda has also initiated and established the building of three new churches in Ankawa, Erbil. He is known for delivering Christian teaching and biblical commentaries for the lay faithful in St. Joseph’s Cathedral. He is a widely sought-after speaker at major international conferences on the topic of persecuted religious minorities and religious freedom.
In recognition of his lifetime accomplishments, Archbishop Warda was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Australia in 2019, and further honorary doctorates, from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and the University of Dallas in 2021 where he also gave the commencement address.