Roots of Our Faith
New York City’s Church of St. Ignatius Loyola presented a four-week autumn lecture series on the church in the Holy Land. The program included a discussion of the origins of Christian art, the early growth of the church and a review of the people and problems faced by the church there.
Guest speakers included Brother Donald Mansir, F.S.C., Vice President of the Pontifical Mission; Chorbishop John D. Faris, Vicar General of the Maronite Eparchy of Saint Maron; Brother David Carroll, F.S.C., Assistant to the Secretary General, CNEWA; and Michael La Civita, Editor of Catholic Near East magazine.
Brother David Receives Papal Honor
On 23 October, the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross was presented to Brother David Carroll, F.S.C., by Angelo Cardinal Sodano, Secretary of State to His Holiness, at a Mass in New York City.
The honor, “for the Church and the Pontiff,” was awarded to Brother David for his assistance on Middle East issues given to the Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.
Order of the Holy Sepulchre
In late November, Msgr. Robert L. Stern, Secretary General of CNEWA, addressed the Northeastern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at its annual meeting in Boston. He discussed concerns for the Holy Land at a luncheon meeting and spoke about the status of the holy city of Jerusalem at the closing banquet.
Associate Secretary General Elected
The Rev. Denis J. Madden, Ph.D., a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was elected Associate Secretary General of CNEWA by the Board of Trustees at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on 14 November.
Father Madden brings a wealth of experience from the Holy Land. A resident of Jerusalem since 1987, he has served as Director of Our CNEWA-PMP Jerusalem office since January 1994. Father Madden has also taught courses in conflict resolution and peacemaking at the Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies, Tantur, Jerusalem.
Father Madden will continue in his present post until a replacement has been recruited.
Cardinal Meets Shiite Leader
The President of the Islamic Shiite High Council of Lebanon, Sheikh Mohammad Mehdi Chamssedine, met with John Cardinal O’Connor, President of CNEWA, at the Cardinal’s residence in New York. The Lebanese Consul General in New York, Mr. Antoine Chedid, and Msgr. Stern also attended the 29 November meeting.
The withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon, the Palestinian presence in Lebanon and the status of the city of Jerusalem were among the issues discussed.
New Leadership in Amman
On 1 December 1995, Mr. Raymond A. Riddick was appointed Director of our office in Amman with responsibilities for programmatic activities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Mr. Riddick’s previous experience includes parochial lay ministry and service with Catholic Relief Services as a projects officer in Vietnam, Cambodia, Ghana and Sudan.
Having completed his three-year term, Father William D. Corcoran, the former director of our Amman office, returns to the service of the Diocese of Burlington. Vt., where he had formerly served as Vice Chancellor.
Eritrean Bishops Visit CNEWA
Two prelates of the newly established Eritrean Orthodox Church, Archbishop Yakob and Bishop Dioscoros, visited our New York office on 20 November. The Rev. Berhanemeskel Matiewos Embaye, O.F.M. Cap., of Eritrea, who is presently studying in New York, accompanied the bishops and served as their translator.
The bishops discussed ways in which the Catholic and Eritrean Orthodox churches can work together and spoke of the positive relationship between their church and the Coptic and Ethiopian churches.
News from the Eastern Churches
Pope John Paul II has appointed Cyril Mar Baselios, O.I.C., the former Syro-Malankara Bishop of Battery, as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Trivandrum.
The Pope has also erected two new Eastern Catholic eparchies in North America.
The Eparchy of Our Lady of Deliverance of Newark will serve Syrian Catholics in the United States and Canada. Chorbishop Joseph Younan, who has served the Syrian Catholic faithful from New Jersey, was named bishop of the new eparchy.
The Eparchy of Our Lady of the Martyrs of Lebanon in Mexico will serve Maronite Catholics living there. Msgr. Pierre Wadih Tayah, formerly pastor of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church in Miami, was named bishop.
Assyrian and Catholic Bonds
The Common Christological Declaration of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church, signed at the Vatican in November 1994, was discussed by Mar Bawai Soro, Secretary General for Inter-church Relations and Religious Development for the Assyrian Church of the East, at a Fordham University symposium.
The Bishop explained in detail the steps taken to achieve this declaration. His presentation included a complete history of the origin of the Christological differences.
More than a hundred people attended the late September meeting, which was sponsored in part by CNEWA.