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 re-ignited last May and the rage of war continues to hurt our people to May 1998. 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 Frincisco 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 Abyssinia-now 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 hand-in-hand to properly share our collective experiences and exchange warm heart.
Mass Schedule
Berkeley
First and Second Sunday, 10:30 A.M.
St. Joseph the Worker Church.
1640 Addison St.
Berkeley, CA 94703
San Jose
Third Sunday 9:30 A.M.
St. Clare Church
Mass held in Rectory Chapel
725 Washington St., Santa Clara 95050
Santa Rosa
Fourth Sunday 9:00 A.M.
St. Rose Church
398-10th St., Santa Rosa 95401
Fr. Ghebriel Woldai
1640 Addison Street.
Berkeley, CA 94703
Home phone (510) 549-3620
