“The first time our Father Amaliri got up for his homily and started to sing in Ibo, it threw the staid Midwestern congregation for a loop, but they warmed up to him big time.”
There was a Kenyan priest assigned to an Orthodox parish up here aways back. His use of some African tongue (not Ge’ez or Amharic) in the Liturgy did not go over well. Nor did he. He’s gone now.
Ge’ez or Amharic would have been okay? You just needed an Ethiopian.