Eritrean Catholics

Eritrean Catholic: Ge'ez in the Bay Area. Now, I would like to give a brief information about the historical

and demographic of our Ge'ez community in the Bay Area. Background: Most of our community

members immigrated to the U.S.A. As refugees from the Sudan and Europe in the late 1980s. It was a

resettlement program that was conducted jointly by U.S.A. and U.N. These families were displaced from

their homeland due to the protracted 30 years long war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Unfortunately,

that war has been re­ignited and the rage of war continues to hurt our people. Everyone knows the

destruction of war and its

consequence, and I ask you to

remember us in your prayers. We

realize that an organized

community will be good for the well­

being of the people at large and will

have also a positive impact for those

back home. We also believe it will be

very helpful for our church to have a

well organized church in

Diaspora.

With this in mind, Fr. Tecle Yohannes

came to San Francisco to study

in 1990 and started to organize the community. He was celebrating mass on alternate Sunday in San

Francisco at the Jesuit Community, in Berkeley at Saint Joseph the Worker Church Parish, and in Santa

Rosa. There are about 350 Catholic families in the Bay Area cities mainly in Oakland, San Francisco, San

Jose and Santa Rosa. So far, we only know the numbers of our active members, but we are trying hard

to have the definite count of the remaining majority. We have started distributing membership

registration forms, and we expect to

reach them all. Since I have been

here, we are offering mass

every Sunday by rotating to

Berkeley, San Jose, and Santa Rosa.

The community members in these

cities are organized, especially those

in Oakland, San Jose and Santa Rosa

(Mass Schedule look at the

bottom). I am particularly

impressed by the community in

Oakland. I am deeply motivated

and pleased by relationship our

community has established with the Diocese of Oakland. The diocese has fostered us to be where we

are now.

Ge'ez and Eastern Rite: Most of you may not know the meaning of Ge'ez and to which rite we belong. If

you allow me, I would briefly like to explain it. Ge'ez Terminology: Ge'ez is one of the four Semitic

language ( the other three are Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic). Ge'ez was spoken language during the

Axumite Kingdom, a kingdom that ruled in the so called Abyssinia­now Ethiopia and Eritrea as it is shown

in the map. At this time, the use of the Ge'ez language is limited to liturgical prayers and scholastic

studies. There are now three other languages derived from Ge'ez namely Tigre, Tigrinia and Amharic.

They are spoken primarily by

Eritreans and Ethiopians.

Eastern Rite: Eastern Church

represent all the churches that

were in the eastern part of

the Roman Empire, as opposed to

those in the western (Latin)

part of the Empire as it is shown in

the map. In modern usage,

it includes three groups: Oriental

Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox and

Eastern Catholics. Oriental

Orthodox are those who

accept the first three councils.

They include the Armenians,

Coptics, Ethio­ Eretreo,

Jacobite Syrians, and Malankar

Indians.

Eastern Orthodox are those who accept the first seven ecumenical councils. They are associated with

the ancient patriarchate churches i.e. Antioch, Alexandria. Constantinople, Jerusalem, and later

Moscow.

Eastern Catholics are in full communion with the Roman Church and have been known as the "uniate"

churches. We belong to this group. These eastern catholic churches maintain their original tradition.

They include from Orthodox, oriental orthodox, Syrian eastern churches etc

Despite the good hospitality for the eastern Catholics, there still remain some misconceptions about the

eastern rite. to overcome these misconceptions, we need to work hand­in­hand to properly share our

collective experiences and exchange warm heart.

Mass Schedules :

Berkeley, please see Saint Joseph the Worker Parish Website (stjtwc.org).

Third Sunday 9:30 A.M., St. Clare Church, Mass held in Rectory Chapel, 725 Washington St., Santa Clara

95050

Fourth Sunday 9:00 A.M., St. Rose Church , 398­10th St., Santa Rosa 95401

Fr. Ghebriel Woldai

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