Chaldeans unable to supply priests to diaspora

(CC) - The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate has announced that it cannot supply priests for all of the Chaldean communities living outside Iraq, and has urged those communities to find their own candidates for the priesthood.

Because of the enormous exodus of Christians from Iraq to Australia, the US, Canada, and other countries, the patriarchate explained, there are not “sufficient Chaldean priests to be sent in all the cities were new Chaldean communities are created.” The patriarchate notes that other Eastern Christian churches based in the Middle East are experiencing the same problem.

Chaldean bishops leading communities in the “diaspora” have been asked, therefore, to look for their own internal solutions to the shortage of priests. The patriarchate specifically suggested the ordination of married men, which is allowed in the tradition of the Eastern Catholic churches.