By Chaldean Patriarchate
His Beatitude Patriarch Louis Raphael
Sako led the opening ceremony of the annual Synod on Thursday, September
22, 2016 at the Patriarchate summer headquarters in Ankawa, Erbil. The
only absentee was Bishop Sarhad Jammo (Emeritus Bishop of St. Peter the
Apostle Diocese, in San Diego, United States. H. B. Patriarch Sako has
expressed regret for Bishop Jammo’s absence in the process of choosing
his successor and wished him a good health.
The participants started their day with a Mass, celebrated by H. B.
Patriarch Sako, who thanked them for taking the time to travel long
distances in order to participate in this important assembly. Also,
urged them to fully assume their responsibilities and keep the Synod in
their prayers.
The first session started with a reflection on John (21 / 15-24) presented by Bishop Antoine Audo, followed by the speech (below) of H.B. Patriarch Sako:
The first session started with a reflection on John (21 / 15-24) presented by Bishop Antoine Audo, followed by the speech (below) of H.B. Patriarch Sako:
Synod 2016 Opening Speech
Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako
Excellencies,
At the beginning, I would like to welcome
you and appreciate your participation in this annual meeting. I also
invite each one of you; to acknowledge honesty to God, Church, and his
own conscience; and to be trustworthy, responsible as well as authentic
through dialogues, discussions, and in voting process for making
decisions.
I hope that the convening of this Synod, which is the 4th for me as a
Patriarch, will contribute to enhance the mutual cooperation among us in
order to build the Chaldean church (i.e. the home we share), and
strengthening its’ foundation to stand firm against the numerous
challenges; pursue opportunities to provide the required spiritual
support to steadfast the Christian faith of our people and easing their
burden of the current “harsh” reality; to renew the perseverance of
supporting the church's role in establishing a culture of love, peace,
reconciliation and cooperation; and emphasize on everyone's right to a
full citizenship in our “oppressed” country.
As we thank God for all what has been
achieved so far, we believe that success is a common goal for all of us
and will not be realized without unity and undivided agreement. As we
know, the Chaldean Church is not the Patriarch alone and we all bear the
responsibility of the failure and accomplishments. Therefore, we must
be a “cohesive” team of bishops working hard together, in a way that
goes parallel to our changeable circumstances in order to serve our
church, country and parishioners all over the world. We ask our Lord to
grant us the grace and wisdom so as to be fully dedicated to such a holy
mission. On the other hand, I would like to assure you a perfect
openness to your constructive thoughts and the willingness to discuss it
with extreme transparency in order to reach a common vision within a
legal framework.
For the time being, we should pin down together some areas of shade and light spots in our reality:
For the time being, we should pin down together some areas of shade and light spots in our reality:
1. Areas of Shade
• Administrative and Financial Affairs: despite all the effort, cooperation and advice, the Patriarchate legacy inherited is still casting its’ shadow on the administrative, financial and pastoral affairs. Several factors contributed to this negative outcome, including; the leadership weakness in taking full responsibility of administrative, legal, systematic and pastoral concerns; the lack of highly qualified experts; the focus on self-interest, which indicates that the motivational and spiritual crisis has been maximized with the spread of digital culture; the third factor is the chaos caused by some priests and monks who departed their dioceses and monasteries. The continuation of such “phenomenon” is due to inadequacies in the upbringing / forming of these individuals spiritually as well as the way they were raised up in their families. However, in order to adjust the situation we began to provide guidance for the priests through organizing sustainable forming retreats, meetings, lectures, etc. It might be worthwhile to think about the possibility of opening the doors for the exchange of visits between the priests inside the country and their counterparts abroad, so as to allow sharing of experiences and the Iraqi priests of the center would not feel that they are carrying the burden of hardship and sufferings alone.
• Administrative and Financial Affairs: despite all the effort, cooperation and advice, the Patriarchate legacy inherited is still casting its’ shadow on the administrative, financial and pastoral affairs. Several factors contributed to this negative outcome, including; the leadership weakness in taking full responsibility of administrative, legal, systematic and pastoral concerns; the lack of highly qualified experts; the focus on self-interest, which indicates that the motivational and spiritual crisis has been maximized with the spread of digital culture; the third factor is the chaos caused by some priests and monks who departed their dioceses and monasteries. The continuation of such “phenomenon” is due to inadequacies in the upbringing / forming of these individuals spiritually as well as the way they were raised up in their families. However, in order to adjust the situation we began to provide guidance for the priests through organizing sustainable forming retreats, meetings, lectures, etc. It might be worthwhile to think about the possibility of opening the doors for the exchange of visits between the priests inside the country and their counterparts abroad, so as to allow sharing of experiences and the Iraqi priests of the center would not feel that they are carrying the burden of hardship and sufferings alone.
• Dioceses: There are some sluggish
and inactive dioceses suffering from the absence of institutional and
organized pastoral work, compared to the activities of the “incoming”
Christian groups!! Some parishes do not have any theological courses or
Bible studies to educate the faithful and legally considered negligent
for the lack of Diocese board, committees and financial officer. There
are signals of what is commonly known as financial and administrative
corruption. I would mention here what happened in the Patriarchate
diocese and other parishes as an example. Such matters should be
reconsidered and systematized transparently.
• Rituals: Each Diocese had adopted
its’ own liturgy without paying any attention to genuineness and
updating. Additionally, the spontaneous translations and imposing a
personal or local dialect on all parish churches have created sort of
confusion. This is unacceptable at all.
• The Dilemma of Displaced Christians:
The displacement of Christians from their towns and homes was very
painful and has preoccupied most of our time (as if what we had was not
enough). Yet, it must be emphasized that the Chaldean Church, in
general, has done a tremendous job in assisting all the displaced
families, without discrimination. Even though, some parishes did very
well in this aspect, while others did not pay any attention to it.
Therefore, I very much appreciate everyone who lends a helping hand to
the displaced people, and they are many. Moreover, the Church has
extended its full potential to stand by these families spiritually and
morally, by making a great effort to deliver the suffering voices of her
faithful to the international bodies / organizations and church forums
around the world.
• Outflow of Immigration: In spite of
the biggest challenge of the immigration “hemorrhage” and the fact that
we are unfairly pressured, we have tried to remain firm and plan for the
future with hope and confidence. This situation obliges us to
coordinate our work together and to harmonize our speeches. Besides,
this deployment of our faithful all over the world requires us to send
priests to serve them, which is not doable currently, due to the
shortage of priests and the time needed to prepare them culturally,
socially and linguistically, for the new locations!
• Unlimited Freedom in Using the
Internet: We have been frequently mistreated through different channels
of social media by people from inside the country and abroad. Such
damage is controlled / guided by certain political and non-Christian
agendas, which is not precisely a freedom of expression, but is rather a
declared “agenda” aiming against the Church and in particular the
Chaldean Church!
2. Lights:
• Financial and Administrative Affairs: We worked hard to adjust things, activate the law and regain control on the Patriarchate finance. We also follow-up on the priests’ issues, and unified the ritual prayers as much as possible. May God bless us during this Synod to improve it.
• Pastoral Affairs: We visited most of
the parishes and listened eagerly to the views of priests and faithful.
We did our best to help the needy at home and abroad in spite of our
limited and modest budget.
• Social and Political Affairs: During
the past four years we directed our effort enthusiastically to
reinforce the presence of the Chaldean Church in the Iraqi, ecumenical
and global forums, bodies, etc. This was achieved by; participating at
different international conferences; meetings with officials at both the
Iraqi Central Government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG);
exchanging visits with the religious authorities, who are powerful and
influential; strengthening relations with foreign ambassadors and envoys
of decision making countries as well as the officials at the United
Nations.
• Media Affairs: In this regard, we
achieved the following: Activating the Patriarchate's website; and
supporting the continuity of issuing two major Iraqi Christian magazines
(namely, Star of the East and Mesopotamia) in addition to publishing
several books, in spite of our limited physical and technical
facilities. Our ambition is to have the “first Iraqi Christian” radio
and television station in the near future.
• Cultural Affairs: We established the
Chaldean League to highlight the cultural and national identity of the
Chaldean component around the world, away from the political themes. It
was vital to have such an inclusive association, especially at this time
to encompass all Chaldeans and help them to face the ongoing “risky”
geopolitical change. With that said, we should think seriously and be
prepared to answer the following question: In case ISIS is defeated,
what would be our role in Nineveh plain?
• In conclusion: I repeat that the
dramatic developments that have occurred in our country and the region,
are forcing us to work diligently together as one team, to maintain the
cultural, social, ecclesiastical and political existence through
continuity and coordination.