Week
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August 7, 2002
Inside the Register
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Maronite mission invites all to Eastern Catholic liturgies
Maronite rite Masses held at All Souls Church in Englewood
By Roxanne King
If
you'd like to hear the consecration of the Eucharist in the language Jesus
spoke, you can every Sunday at the 6 p.m. Maronite rite Mass at All Souls
Church in Englewood.
Elated that a 21-year desire for a permanent priest was recently satisfied, the Maronite community invites all Catholics to celebrate Mass with them and experience the Eastern Catholic Church. Catholics from the Middle East are especially invited to attend, organizers said.
Maronite Father Jean Jabbour, 44, heads the Maronite mission St. Rafka's established earlier this year with the permission of Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Conducted in Arabic, Aramaic — the language spoken by Jesus — and English, the Maronite rite follows the liturgical tradition of Antioch. Based in Lebanon, the Maronite Church shares unity of faith with the Roman Catholic Church, including belief in the seven sacraments and the primacy of the pope.
Founded in the fourth century, the Maronite Church is named after St. Maron, a Syrian monk who was renowned for his sanctity and ability to work miracles.
From Lebanon, Father Jabbour is an artist, musician and Maronite monk. The priest said he is delighted to offer the Maronite rite here.
"I am very grateful to Archbishop Chaput and the people of the archdiocese for welcoming us," he said. He extended special thanks to the mission's archdiocesan representative, Msgr. Tom Fryar, vicar for clergy and seminarians, and Father Phil Meredith, All Souls pastor.
Maronite spirituality is a rich blend of oriental monastic piety, and occidental theology and science, that Father Jabbour said he hopes Catholics here will find edifying.
About 60 people attend the liturgies that are comfortably familiar to Latin-rite Catholics, yet intriguingly different — primarily due to the language, which is predominately Arabic. The consecration, however, is conducted in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. At a Mass the Register attended July 21 the Nicene Creed and Our Father were both said in English.
Communion is done by intinction, a process traditional to Eastern-rite churches whereby the priest dips the consecrated hosts into the consecrated wine before distributing them.
What is different to Latin-rite Catholics is soothingly recognizable to the mostly Lebanese congregation and provides a vital link, parishioners said, to their heritage.
Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, Lou Charara, 40, grew up attending Maronite churches and schools before moving to Colorado 20 years ago.
"I missed having that here," Charara said during a Middle Eastern dinner the mission sponsored after the Mass. "We went to Roman Catholic churches and I feel like I belong to those churches but I feel more at home in the Maronite Church.
"It means to me that I can worship exactly as I did during my upbringing," he said. "The language is important. To go the Catholic Church anywhere is great — having it in our own language is great."
Colorado native Tammi Haddad, 31, has attended Maronite rites — whenever they were offered — since marrying her Lebanese husband, Nabil, 32, five years ago.
"It's similar to Roman Catholicism but it has a stronger heritage for my children," she said. "It's important for them to learn their father's heritage."
That is of the utmost importance to Nabil, who is from a mountain village southeast of Beirut.
"It's a continuation of our heritage for our children to know their religious roots and to socialize with other Lebanese," he said, "and to worship with Americans to introduce them to the Maronite rite and let them know that not all Middle Easterners are Muslim — most are, but not all."
The Maronite Church has two eparchies — similar to dioceses — in the United States, where over 1 million Maronites live, said Father Jabbour. There are some 5 million Maronites worldwide.
Dr. Louis Ashkar, 69, is on the advisory committee that diligently pursued acquiring a Maronite priest for the archdiocese. The Maronite community first approached the bishop of the eparchy of Los Angeles — which recently moved its see to St. Louis; the other eparchy is in Brooklyn, N.Y. — in September 1981, he said. "There were no priests available at the time," Ashkar said. "We (originally) had an itinerant priest come from Salt Lake City once a month or less who would do a Mass for us at various churches. It's been hit and miss." Most recently a Maronite missionary priest from San Diego, who is a friend of Father Jabbour's, was celebrating Masses for the Denver community. That priest, Father Nabil Mouanness, asked Father Jabbour to fill in for him a couple of months last year. The eparchy head, Bishop Robert Shaheen, then asked Father Jabbour if he would stay on in the U.S. as several communities were in need of a permanent priest. "Father Jean (Jabbour) said, `Wherever the bishop sends me is where I'll go,'" Ashkar said. The Denver Maronites agreed to provide a salary and home for a permanent priest and the archdiocese approved the opening of a Maronite mission here, paving the way for Bishop Shaheen to establish St. Rafka Maronite Mission. The mission is named after a Lebanese Maronite nun who was canonized last year. She was known for enduring great suffering with grace and infectious joy in Christ. The Denver mission is the first in the U.S. to carry her name, Ashkar said. "When Father Jean heard that St. Rafka would be our patron, he was very happy to be appointed to Denver," Ashkar said. A beaming Father Jabbour added that he has great devotion and many connections to the new saint. He is a close friend of and served as an adviser to the artist whose popular icon of the saint is used on the mission's holy cards. Assigned three years to the archdiocese, into which he has been incardinated and can therefore celebrate both the Latin and Maronite rites, Father Jabbour said he aims to help the mission community realize its goal of building a permanent church. During his homily July 21, the feast of St. Charbel, a 19th century Lebanese Maronite hermit, Father Jabbour sought the saint's intercessory help. "I asked from St. Charbel to help us one day have our Rafka's church here," Father Jabbour said, explaining the homily he delivered in Arabic. "Because Charbel and Rafka are from the same order — the Lebanese Maronite Order — I asked St. Charbel to help us with our church. I said, `You and St. Rafka are like siblings.'" The mission would not exist were it not for the generosity of the archdiocese, the priest and parishioners said. "People went out of their way, the Catholic Church in Denver went out of its way to help a small group they could have easily not helped," said Charara, who is an advisory committee member. "It's unbelievable. I will never forget that." All Souls Church is at 4950 S. Logan St. in Englewood. The mission sponsors a fund-raising dinner after the Mass the fourth Sunday of each month. For more information about the mission, call Father Jean Jabbour at 303-761-3415.