Posted on 04/16/2006 8:17:00 PM PDT by Philistone
So I had just finished dropping my daughter off at Psychotic-Ex-Wifes house and decided to stop off at my favorite watering hole.
One of my favorite bartendresses was there looking very glum:
Me: Why so glum? Her: It's Easter and I'm working. Plus, this morning I went to Mass and it was in Arabic. Me: You mean Aramaic? Her: No, in Arabic. I said a prayer and left. I couldn't deal with it.
WTF?
OK, this is San Francisco (St Thomas More Church for those who know about it...), but if there is ONE day of the year where the Mass should be in English or Latin, it's today.
Sorry, but if the Catholic church is not ready to defend itself from Islam, I don't know why the rest of us should be.
It is San Fran Freako, why are you suprised? ;)
Catholic Church ping?
Well, there are ethnic Arab Christians who speak Arabic.
Many Arabs were Christians before they were Muslim. Some still are.
Arabic doesn't equal Islam. Aramaic is an extinct language, so wouldn't Arabic be the next closest thing?
But probably not many around here. This stinks of liberation theology....
Who lives in their neighborhood? Here's the schedule from their website:
Sunday
* Saturday, 5:00 p.m. (Sunday Vigil)
* Sunday, 8:00 a.m. Portuguese/Brazilian
* Sunday, 10:00 a.m. English
* Sunday, 11:45 a.m. Arabic & English
* Sunday, 8:00 p.m. English
On certain occasions, the Sunday morning Masses may be combined. Usually a potluck celebration will follow.
The simpering pandering here is unexcusable on a Conservative thread.
Wake up people.
It is just off campus from San Francisco State University.
The number of Arabs in the area might (stretching it) attain .001%.
True. In fact, the early Christian leaders(Hebrew/Aramaic speakers) would have absolutely freaked out if they would hear there is a mass in Latin. :D
Possible, that's why I asked. She was adament. Plus, being San Francisco, I'm attuned to various PC manifestations.
She knows enough to know that in her home town they have English and Latin masses. I'm sure that she knows the difference between Aramaic and Arabic...
And what exactly is the problem with Christians praying Arabic? My Patriarch is an Arab and speaks Arabic as his first language. My Metropolitan and Bishop are Arab Americans. I've been learning Byzantine chant from an old Arab, who consults the service books in Arabic when there is something unclear (or he suspects incorrect) in the English typicon notes supplied by our Archdiocese.
Mohammed fought against Christian Arabs. My bishop's ancestors hailed from a valley in Syria, the Arabic name of which means "Valley of the Christians" because his forebearers have been holding out against the Jihad since it began in the 7th century.
Arabic was the language of Jews, Christians and pagans before Mohammed, and God willing, will be a spoken by Christians when Islam is consigned to the ash-heap of history along with Communism.
(And, by the way, my Metropolitan--a native speaker of Arabic--says the purportedly poetic sections of the Koran are terrible as Arabic poetry. Hardly what one would expect from a 'divinely inspired' text.)
Actually Aramaic is not extinct, it's just usually called "Syriac" now. A minority of Eastern Christians (mostly monophysites and Nestorians) use Aramaic as their liturgical language, and some still speak it as their native tongue.
A Mass in Arabic, this is wonderful! Share the Word with the world.
Melkite - Catholics from among those separated from Rome in Syria and Egypt who resumed Communion with Rome at the time of the Crusades. However, definitive union only came in the 18th century. Melkite Greek Patriarch of Damascus. Liturgical languages are Greek, Arabic, English, Portuguese and Spanish. The over 1 million Melkite Catholics can be found in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Canada, US, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Australia.
_________________________
So yes, there are Eastern Rite Catholics who do use Arabic.
More about the rite:
The Melkite Church is affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church, through the regime of Eastern Rite Churches, allowing it a great deal of autonomy and the right to preserve its original character.
The Patriarch of the church is in Damascus, and there is only one above him in the hierarchy: the pope in the Vatican State. Below are 7 archdioceses: Syria: Aleppo, Homs and Latakia; Lebanon: Beirut and Tyre; Iraq: Basra; and Jordan: Amman; and 6 dioceses: Israel: Akko; Lebanon: Baalbek, Banyias, Sayda, Tripoli and Zahle.
In the name "melkite", quite a bit of the church's history is found. The word comes from the Semitic word for king, pointing at that the Melkites took the position of the emperor (which is a powerful king) of Byzantine in the 5th century on the greatest division issue in early Christianity: the nature of Jesus. The term "melkite" was at first used by the non-Melkites, but was soon adapted, as it was and is a fairly positive term.
The Melkite of the Middle East grew from Greek immigrants. They brought with them the Byzantine rite. The liturgy of the church is performed in vernacular Arabic. The priests of the Melkite Church are allowed to marry.
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