San Jose (AINA) -- Saint Mary's Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church of San Jose will present a Christmas charity concert on December 16. The proceeds will be donated to Assyrian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. The concert will be performed by the adult choir and the children choir.

Assyrian refugees live under difficult conditions, with little or no income. It is estimated that nearly 40% of Iraqi refugees in Syria and Jordan are Assyrians, even though Assyrians are only 8% of Iraq's population (report). This is the result of a low-grade genocide that has been conducted against Assyrians, starting on June 26, 2004, when the first church was bombed (see Church Bombings in Iraq Since 2004). Since then thousands of Assyrians have been killed, 70 churches have been bombed and hundreds of thousands of Assyrians exiled.

The proceeds will be donated to Adopt a Refugee Family. An ecumenical organization dedicated to helping Assyrian refugees. Checks should be made payable to Saint Mary's Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church (put Christian Iraqi Refugee Funds in the memo) and mailed to:

Saint Mary's Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church
Christian Iraqi Refugee Funds
109 North First Streeet
Campbell, CA 95008

For more information on how to donate, see here.