MARCH 2020

Video of Southfield
priest singing for
Josh Groban in
Windsor goes viral
Metro Detroit is home to the first and
only museum in the world dedicated
to preserving the culture and heritage
of Chaldeans for future generations.
The Chaldean Cultural Center
and its world-class boutique museum
located inside the Shenandoah
Country Club in West Bloomfield
tells the story of a people dating back
more than 5,000 years ago to ancient
Mesopotamia before the time of
Christ to present-day Detroit.
For more than a century, Chaldeans
have had a profound impact
on the region, both socially and economically.
The idea for a Chaldean museum
was born in February 2003. At the
time, there was a committee comprised
of Chaldeans in Metro Detroit
who wanted to preserve their
heritage and make it known to future
generations of Chaldeans, as well as
A Southfield priest gets a chance to
sing for Josh Groban at a concert in
Windsor Sunday. The priest is a huge
fan and when his family surprised
him with concert tickets, he prayed
to get a chance to meet the singer.
Father Patrick Setto of the Mother
of God Chaldean Cathedral in
Southfield is seen singing at a Josh
Groban concert.
He’s a huge fan and was excited
to learn the singer was touring with
a stop in Windsor this past Sunday.
“I started freaking out. Oh my
God, Josh Groban is coming,” said
Father Patrick Setto.
Setto’s cousins Green and Lowrd
surprised him with the tickets.
“We are going to the Josh Groban
concert, you need to go get your passport,”
they told him.
“There is this prayer to the
blessed Virgin Mary called the
‘Memorare,’” Setto said. “And so I
said it. I said, ‘you know what, I really
want to meet him today, so Mary
make this happen for me. So I said
the prayer nine times and little did
I know we we’re going to be in the
ninth row and not only was I going
to meet him but I was going to sing
for him. Kind of a testimony of how
prayer works.”
At one point the singer started
taking requests, that’s when Father
Metro Detroit home to world’s first and only
Chaldean museum—check it out
to the public at large.
It was around this same time that
the Shenandoah Country Club was
being established as a community
center for local Chaldeans. Members
of the committee were approached
by the Chaldean Iraqi American Association
of Michigan (CIAAM),
which owns the Shenandoah Country
Club, about establishing a cultural
center inside Shenandoah.
The committee and CIAAM
agreed to designate about 2,500
square feet inside the club for the establishment
of a cultural center and
museum.
Victor Saroki, a Chaldean American,
was the architect for the Shenandoah
Country Club. In 2005, the committee
found an architectural team in
New York that designed boutique museums.
Saroki consulted with the team.
The Shenandoah Country Club
Setto and his cousins started screaming,
saying that the Father could sing.
“I don’t know what came over
me to do that,” Setto said. “I didn’t
want to sound bad in front of Josh
Groban.”
But he blew the star and the
crowd away, bringing tears to his
cousin’s eyes.
—WXYZ
opened in February 2005, but the
museum didn’t open until May of
2017. Mary Romaya was a member
of the committee and remained at
the heart of the project from the very
beginning to end. Romaya, a Chaldean
American, worked as a history
teacher and counselor in the Warren
Woods School District for 45 years.
“We want our children and
grandchildren to know that they are
Chaldean, but not just know it, but
embrace and love their heritage. Not
that we are not American, but we
have an identity that spans over 5,000
years,” Romaya said.
The museum consists of five galleries,
including Ancient Mesopotamia,
Faith and Church, Chaldean Village
Life, Journey to America, and Chaldeans
Today. Leading experts were
hired to be the curators of each exhibit.
— ClickonDetroit.com
Baghdad, Chaldean
patriarch: a secular
state to overcome
violence, protests
and divisions
Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako
calls for preserving the “unity”
of the country in the “diversity
of its components.” An attack
on parties and politicians
that fueled “sectarianism and
fragmentation.” A new front of
confrontation between loyal al-
Sadr and demonstrators in Tahrir
square. Baghdad Auxiliary: a
mass for peace and a shared solution
every day.
Baghdad (AsiaNews) — Iraq
must preserve its “unity” in the
“diversity of its components”
and their “multiplicity”, although
in recent years “most political
parties” have fueled and
sharpened “sectarianism and
fragmentation” writes the Chaldean
Patriarch Cardinal Sako.
In a message published on the
patriarchate website and sent to
AsiaNews, the Cardinal states
that the “solution” to the “Iraqi
crisis” is a “secular state” founded
on citizenship. The “goal”,
continues the cardinal, “is the
integration” of the various components
and “service to citizens”
without distinction of identity.
—AsiaNews
MARCH 2020 CHALDEAN NEWS 15