NOVEMBER 2014

cracking down
Mar Sako suspends priests for ‘illegal exits’
Patriarch Louis Sako has suspended
12 Chaldean religious
men and priests living in the
United States, Canada, Australia
and Sweden for not receiving permission
from their superiors before
leaving Iraq.
Nine of those suspended had
been serving the Chaldean diaspora
in the Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle
of San Diego since leaving Iraq.
The diocese says it is appealing Mar
Sako’s ruling.
The sanctions went into effect
on October 22 following repeated,
but “unfortunately unfruitful ultimatums”
from the men’s religious orders
or bishops, said a written decree
signed by Mar Sako. The decree was
translated into English from Arabic
and is published on the patriarchate’s
official website, saint-adday.com.
The decree thanked Fr. Paulus
Khuzeran, a religious who had been
living in the United States, and Fr.
Yousif Lazghin, a priest who had
been living in Australia, for deciding
to obey their superiors and return to
their assigned place of ministry.
After informing the Vatican
Congregation for Eastern Churches,
and consulting with the permanent
Synod of the Chaldean Church and
the men’s superiors, Mar Sako had
announced in September that there
would be canonical penalties for
those who did not speak with their
bishop or the superior of their religious
community about either returning
to their community or working
out a potential transfer.
Those who failed to take those
steps before October 22 were to be
suspended from the priesthood.
Before a priest is ordained, the
decree said, he “announces the offering
of his whole life to God and the
church.”
Among their vows and duties is
the promise to obey their superior,
“serving where the church sends the
priest, not where he wishes to serve.”
The values of unity and communion
should be held high above personal
self-interest, the decree said.
Fr. Noel Gorgis, who now lives in California, said returning to Iraq would be suicide.
The escalating turmoil and violence
in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion
in 2003 have triggered hundreds
of thousands of Iraq’s Christian minorities
to flee their nation.
Religious men and women and
priests have often stood out as prime
targets of kidnappers and killings,
while churches and other religious
places of worship have been singled
out for bombings and attacks for years.
The decree, in fact, highlighted
the “eloquent faith lessons” recent
religious have given when they “shed
their blood for the sake of the flock”;
stayed on in their country after being
abducted and then released; and
“journeyed with their flock” as entire
villages and communities were expelled
by extremists or violence.
“I remind you, brothers, of Jesus’
saying, ‘Whoever loves his life loses
it, and whoever hates his life in this
world will preserve it for eternal
life,’” the Patriarch wrote, citing the
Gospel of John (12:25).
Now that the sanctions have
been imposed, if any of the diocesan
priests “return, their status will be
reviewed. For the monks, there is no
other option but to return to their
monastery and canonically correct
their status,” the statement said.
Mar Sako urged all bishops to
“adhere to canon law and enforce order”
by helping the men comply.
The decree is meant “to end the
illegal exit of the priests from their
eparchies,” he said, not try to hurt
or oppose the eparchies where the
priests were currently residing: in the
United States, Canada, Australia and
Sweden.
The church, as mother and
teacher, the Patriarch said in the
decree, “loves her children, but does
not spoil them,” guiding and correcting
“the path of her children with
responsibility.”
Mar Sako said it was his hope the
decree, which included the names of
the 12 priests, would be published
where the priests reside, “revealing
the truth to all.”
He said some documents being published
online, presumably authorizing
the priest’s ministry outside his eparchy,
were not the same official documents
they have from the men’s bishops.
“I personally forgive all the insulting
words that have been directed to
myself from some of them. May the
merciful God forgive them. Right at
the end will prevail,” he wrote.
The decree listed the following
six monks and six priests as being
“suspended from practicing priestly
ministry”: Fr. Noel Gorgis, Fr. Andraws
Gorgis Toma, Fr. Awraha Mansoor,
Fr. Patros Solaqa, Fr. Fadi Isho
Hanna, Fr. Ayob Shawkat Adwar,
Fr. Fareed Kena, Fr. Faris Yaqo Maroghi,
Fr. Peter Lawrence, Fr. Remon
Hameed, Fr. Hurmiz Petros Haddad,
and Fr. Yousif Lazgeen Abdulahad.
Officials at St. Peter Diocese in El
Cajon, California, pledged to stand
by their suspended priests by appealing
directly to Pope Francis. In a
statement, Mar Bawai Soro said, “…
According to Eastern Canon 1319,
which states ‘An appeal suspends the
execution of a sentence,’ these nine
priests are not suspended and will
The values of unity and communion should be held high above
personal self-interest, the decree says.
continue exercising their priestly
ministry fully, legitimately, and honorably,
with the rest of the Diocesan
clergy. We ask all the faithful to pray
for the whole Chaldean Catholic
Church, as we await the pastoral directive
of the Holy Father, in total
obedience and unity.”
“I left Iraq 20 years ago. I left Iraq
during the Gulf War. I know what’s
going on there and now it’s worse …
way worse … so to go back it’s mean
to be suicide,” said Fr. Noel Gorgis
told Fox 5 News in San Diego.
– Catholic News Service
18 CHALDEAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2014