Tuesday, July 22, 2025, marked the renewal of cooperation and partnership agreement between two leading institutions in Jordan that provide noble services to the Jordanian society, namely the Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM) and the American Unversity of Madaba (AUM). This agreement is designed to enhance efforts aimed at expanding media and cultural cooperation among local and international institutions, as well as to bolster joint action among institutions operating under the umbrella of the Latin Patriarchate.
Actually, the renewal of this agreement stands as a sublime model of cooperation among two leading educational and media institutions in Jordan, and serves as a manifestation of fruitful cooperation that would definitely bear fruit.
During the signing ceremony, AUM President Professor Mamoun Akroush expressed AUM's pride in this firm partnership which is concluded with "a prestigious media institution operating under the umbrella of the Latin Patriarchate". He added that the CCSM is a highly-valued media platform for its pivotal role in conveying the humanitarian and ecclesiastical message at the Jordanian and global levels. He also expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the Latin Patriarchate, headed by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, for its constant support for the AUM and its mission.
On the other hand, CCSM Director Fr. Dr. Rif'at Bader expressed happiness marking the renewal of the agreement, stressing the profound relationship between the CCSM and the AUM, which coincides with the 16th anniversary of laying the AUM's foundation stone by the late Pope Benedict XVI in May 2009. He added, "We are honored to steadily proceed hand-in-hand with the AUM since its foundation up to the present time, as it has become an excelling academic institution that enjoys local and international respect and appreciation. We, at the CCSM, affirm our continued commitment to covering the AUM's activities as well as supporting its educational and media mission."
This agreement provides cogent evidence of this fruitful cooperation that helps boost higher education as well as help Christian media, led by the CCSM, serve as a motive to instill peace and expose higher education as a means for spreading brotherhood among the various components of communities at the regional and global levels.
With the AUM scheduled to mark its 14th anniversary in October 2015, the Catholic University in Erbil (CUE) , northern Iraq, is on the threshold of marking its 10th anniversary, namely in September 2025. The CUE, which was founded to provide an education to minority groups fleeing ISIS, is making huge strides aiming at promoting peace by instilling the noble teaching of love and common living.
In an interview with Vatican media Fr. Karam Shamasha, CUE provost, elucidates on the situation that elicited the founding of the Catholic University in Erbil.
With the university’s ten-year anniversary approaching, Fr. Shamasha, its provost, spoke to Vatican News about its original goal of educating Iraq’s religious minorities and his plans for its second decade.
Fr. Karam Shamasha says, "The university began in 2014, when Iraqi Christians were being displaced from their villages by ISIS. In 2015, His Excellency Archbishop Warda, the Archbishop of Erbil, saw that the Church was helping people by feeding people, protecting them, giving them places to stay, and decided that we had to educate them, too. So, he started the Catholic University in Erbil."
He adds, "We began contacting people around the world to help us make this dream a reality. In the beginning, we had help from the Italian Bishops’ conference, and other organizations. At first, we had students from the minority groups, like Yazidis, Christians, and so on. They had been displaced by ISIS, forced to leave their houses… today, we have around 725 students. Most of them are Christian, around 60 per cent, around 30 per cent Muslims, and the other 10 per cent are Yazidis and other minorities. So we have all the colors of Iraq, all the ethnicities."
He continues, "We hope to be a light, the place where people can learn about virtue. We don’t want to just provide a normal education… we really want to be a light in society, not just providing education, but also peace-building, and building relations among different groups… for the next ten years, we want to integrate more into the world of international Catholic higher education. A few months ago, we were able to get membership of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, and I’m now working to connect with the International Federation of Catholic Universities."
The Catholic Church has all the time been exerting unstinting efforts to alleviate the suffering of people plagued by a recurring state of instability through opening windows of opportunity for the depressed people designed to create a bright future and turn bleakness days into a future abounding with hope. In this context, the establishment of universities provides cogent evidence of the sincere and noble message of the Church of God, namely the Catholic Church, which strives to dress the wounds of humanity and to open a chink in the walls of hopelessness that permeates hearts and spreads an atmosphere of hope for a better future.
In his address at the graduation ceremony of the first batch of the students enrolled in the CUE years ago, Cardinal Sako said, "The Catholic Church has distinguished itself since the first centuries of its founding for its cultural and social institutions, namely schools, universities, charities for the poor, hospitals and charitable clinics."
The CUE has contributed to helping survivors of ISIS rebuild a bright future with hopes for a better life and ensure that despite bitterness and hardships, hope of a better life still prevails. It continues its mission of replacing despair by hope, and instituting love instead of hatred.
The mission of the Catholic Church, which is mater et magistra (mother and teacher) will remain a source of hope for the hopeless, while spreading the Divine message of love and consolation.
