Ecumenical Patriarch in Baltimore
On 23 October, the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, joined William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore and Vice President of CNEWA, in a service of prayer and praise at the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore.
The Ecumenical Patriarch expressed his “deepest and abiding thanks to this gracious invitation and likewise grace-filled welcome” and spoke warmly of “the aspirations of the American people to achieve a society in which the light of conscience is raised high as a torch of freedom.”
According to Cardinal Keeler, the occasion marked “the first time, to our knowledge, that an ecumenical patriarch of the Orthodox Church has come to a Catholic church in this country to preside and preach.”
Father Denis J. Madden, Associate Secretary General and a priest of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, participated in the ecumenical event.
Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Increasingly, CNEWA’s staff has played an important role in educating the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem about the current situation in the Holy Land. This fall, staff members spoke on several occasions.
A formula for peace in the Holy Land was the subject of addresses by Msgr. Robert L. Stern, Secretary General, at the annual meetings and investitures of three lieutenancies. Msgr. Stern spoke to the Northern Lieutenancy in Kansas City on 20 September, to the Southern Lieutenancy in New Orleans on 4 and 5 October, and the Southwestern Lieutenancy in Albuquerque on 26 October.
At its annual meeting and investiture in Washington, D.C., on 1 and 2 November, Brother David Carroll, F.S.C., Assistant to the Secretary General, addressed the Middle Atlantic Lieutenancy regarding the work of the order in the Holy Land today.
On 27 September, the Eastern Lieutenancy welcomed Father Madden into its ranks. The investiture took place at a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Carlo Cardinal Furno, Grand Master, and John Cardinal O’Connor, Grand Prior of the Eastern Lieutenancy and President of CNEWA, presided.
Reflections About Former U.S.S.R.
Brother David conducted a workshop profiling the work of CNEWA in the former U.S.S.R on all three days of the Second International Conference to Assist the Catholic Church in the Former Soviet Union.
Bishops, priests, religious and lay persons from the U.S. and Eastern Europe met in Englewood, Colo., from 9 to 11 October for the meeting.
Heroic Archbishop Mourned
Ukrainian Catholics mourned the death in Lviv, Ukraine, of retired Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk, who spent more than 40 years secretly ministering to the needs of Ukrainian Catholics when the church was outlawed by Soviet authorities.
Archbishop Sterniuk went from “one house to another, earning the esteem and deep affection of the clergy, religious and faithful,” said L’Osservatore Romano, in an obituary published on 29 September, the day of his death.
Secretly ordained a bishop in his apartment in 1964, he led the underground church from 1972 to 1991, when the church regained its freedom and its leader, Myroslav Cardinal Lubachivsky, returned to Lviv from exile in the United States.
Catholicos of Cilicia Visits
Armenian Apostolic Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia, paid a visit to our offices on 2 October. While here, the Catholicos toured the office and spoke with staff members, whom he called “partners in the one mission of God.” Before leaving, he thanked CNEWA and its benefactors for all the good work we have been able to do, especially in Lebanon.
Based in Antelias, Lebanon, the Catholicosate of Cilicia shepherds more than 800,000 Armenian Apostolic faithful in Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Lebanon, Syria and parts of North America.
Armenian Sisters Celebrate
The Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception celebrated the 150th anniversary of their congregation this year in three orphanages and 25 schools throughout the world, including schools in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Lexington, Mass.
Dedicated to the education of Armenian children and the preservation of Armenian culture, the sisters were founded in 1847 by Anthony Cardinal Peter IX Hassounian. They began their work in a one-room schoolhouse in Constantinople (now Istanbul). Soon thereafter, the sisters were educating youngsters in 22 schools throughout Asia Minor.
In 1915, the Turks massacred 1.5 million Armenians, including 13 sisters, and the community was forced to close half its schools. In 1922 the community established its present headquarters in Rome.