May 12, 2008 (Kaldaya.net) - In the atmosphere of Pentecost - that of spiritual joy and Christian love - the ecclesial unity celebrations between Chaldeans and Assyrians, Catholic and Apostolic, were conducted, as scheduled, on Saturday and Pentecost Sunday, May 10 & 11 2008, in the cities of Turlock, Ceres and Modesto CA. The liturgical ceremonies and the social banquet were performed in order to finalize and seal the merger, in the Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle, of four Assyrian parochial communities and two missions, including their clergy and faithful.
Bishop Mar Sarhad Y. Jammo, Eparch of the Catholic Diocese of St. Peter the Apostle, presided over the ceremonies, accompanied by Bishop Mar Bawai Soro, the spiritual leader of the unity movement among the Assyrians, with the participation of the Assyrian and Chaldean regional clergy, having all of them professed publicly, with their faithful, the Catholic faith in the Lord and his Church.
Chaldean Catholic and Assyrian Church of the East bishops process into the cathedral.
A view of the people gathered.
Blessing together.
Many more photos available here.
Posts
It's great that the reunion has been formalized. I heard this news earlier this year from Mar Soro's website.
ReplyDeleteBut I am concerned as well. The Assyrian Church is one of the most ancient Churches, but their liturgy now looks very 'liberal Catholic'.
And their Churches as well. There were a lot of Latinizations, eg statues, Risen Christ-cifixes. Their altar looks versus populum as well. I also noted that their clergy just wear stoles over their clerical suits. I'm pretty sure the early Assyrian Church wasn't like this. I hope this reunion sparks a return to the authentic traditions of this ancient Church.
It will be interesting to see. Each Eastern Catholic Church has its own hurdles to overcome; Latinizations being the dominant problem. After the Armenian Patriarch went to Rome I bought a few books on their history. I may just do the same thing for the Assyrian Church to better understand their historic and (vs.) current identity.
ReplyDelete