Ecumenical Patriarch Dies

His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of more than 250 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, died of cardiac arrest Oct. 2 in Istanbul. He was 77.

A native of Istanbul, the patriarch was elected in 1972 and held spiritual primacy over self-governing Orthodox churches in a score of nations. Last year he became the first patriarch to visit the western hemisphere when he presided over a congress of clerical and lay leaders in Washington.

Patriarch Dimitrios and Pope John Paul II made history with an exchange of visits to each other’s sees and when they established in 1979 a high-level international theological dialogue commission.

Armenian Hospital Dedicated

Dedication ceremonies were held Oct. 6 for a new hospital in northern Armenia as a gift of the Holy Father.

The contribution is historic, in that it is the first recognized Catholic project of this dimension in Armenia. Until recent changes in the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church had been outlawed by the former government.

The dedication was attended by Achille Cardinal Silvestrini, the Vatican’ s prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, representatives of Catholic Near East Welfare Association and other dignitaries. Since the earthquake, the Association has contributed more than $700,000 to Armenia for relief purposes.

The hospital, a 200-bed facility, is called “Redemptoris Mater,” or “Mother of the Redeemer.” It will work in partnership with an Italian hospital based in Verona.

Armenian Hospital Dedicated

Dedication ceremonies were held Oct. 6 for a new hospital in northern Armenia as a gift of the Holy Father.

The contribution is historic, in that it is the first recognized Catholic project of this dimension in Armenia. Until recent changes in the Soviet Union, the Catholic Church had been outlawed by the former government.

The dedication was attended by Achille Cardinal Silvestrini, the Vatican’ s prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, representatives of Catholic Near East Welfare Association and other dignitaries. Since the earthquake, the Association has contributed more than $700,000 to Armenia for relief purposes.

The hospital, a 200-bed facility, is called “Redemptoris Mater,” or “Mother of the Redeemer.” It will work in partnership with an Italian hospital based in Verona.

Bibliography Available

A guide to reference material on the Middle East is now available from the Association.

“Resource Materials on the Middle East” is a 17-page guide which includes listings of video cassettes, books, periodicals children’s books and educational materials for elementary and secondary schools.

Additional emphasis is given to the Eastern Christian Churches and Islam.

This guide is available from the Association for $5.00.

Cardinal Meets with Lebanese

The three leaders of Lebanon’s current unity government met with John Cardinal O’Connor in New York on Sept. 25.

Cardinal O’ Connor, president of the Association, conferred separately with President Elias Hrawi, who is a Maronite Catholic; Prime Minister Omar Karami, a Sunni Muslim; and Speaker of the House Hussein El-Husseini, a Shiite Muslim. The three lead a government of national reconciliation brokered in 1989 in Taif, Saudi Arabia, and backed by Syria.

The cardinal was accompanied by Msgr. Robert L. Stern, who is both secretary general of the Association and president of the Pontifical Mission, which is involved extensively in relief in Lebanon.

Assyrians Discuss Refugees

In visits to the Association’s New York office in September, two bishops of the Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East discussed the needs of thousands of their refugee countrymen along Turkey’s border with Iraq.

Anticipating the potential emigration of these victims of the Gulf war, Mar Aprim Khamis, bishop of the Eastern U.S. and Canada, and Mar A. Bawai Soro, bishop of the Western U.S., are also trying to prepare their communities in the United States to absorb some of the refugees. In separate meetings, the two also discussed the possibility of assisting their Iraqi brethren if they are in the region of the Associations “Iraqi pipeline,” where supplies have been trucked in from Jordan this year.

Sister Receives Papal Award

The Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award was presented to Sister Maureen Grade, C.S.C., by Archbishop Pablo Puente, apostolic nuncio to Lebanon in a June 22 ceremony.

Sister Maureen is the chief operating officer of the Pontifical Mission, and was its field director in Beirut from 1986 to 1990.

The honor, “for the Church and Pontiff, was presented to the special assistant to the president for the Pontifical Mission for tier “personal devotion … to all the suffering peoples of Lebanon.’’

Eritreans request church role

Reports from Eritrea indicate that the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) has asked the local Catholic Church for increased assistance.

The EPLF has asked Bishop Zeccarias Yohannes of Asmara to increase the church’s involvement in the education of Eritrean youth.

The previous regime neglected the state of education in Eritrea, primarily because of the province’ fight to secede from Ethiopia.

Domingo Sotero, the Association’ program coordinator for Ethiopia and Egypt, visited Eritrea in August, the first representative of a non-government organization to do so since the end of the region’s 30-year-old civil war, which ended in late May with the collapse of the former communist regime.

Silvestrini Named Prefect

Pope John Paul II named Achille Cardinal Silvestrini prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. Cardinal Silvestrini, who spent more than 35 years working in the Vatican Secretariat of State, replaces D. Simon Cardinal Lourdusamy