His Holiness the Pope Receives the Coptic Priests in the Diaspora
His Holiness the Pope Receives the Coptic Priests in the Diaspora
Our priests in America celebrated the Feast of Theophany Divine Liturgy with their congregations, then traveled to Egypt to meet their bishop, His Holiness the Pope. They had made the same visit in January of the previous year at the same time.
They arrived in Egypt on January 20 and spent the remainder of the week there, visiting their families. During that period, they held pastoral sessions with His Holiness the Pope, during which all matters related to the pastoral care of our children in the diaspora were discussed.
The primary concern of the Pope and his priestly sons was the spiritual condition of our children who are born in the diaspora, or who traveled to those countries as children before becoming firmly rooted in our Coptic traditions, our Eastern spirit, and the manner of our spirituality and way of life.
How can they be connected to the Mother Church when they have never lived in it and do not know its language? They know neither Coptic nor Arabic. Their entire culture comes from Western sources. Will they become merely Egyptians and Copts by origin, only to be completely absorbed into American society, as many other nationalities and peoples have been absorbed before?
At this point, discussions began regarding a broad project to translate the entire Coptic heritage into the English language.
Our churches in the diaspora have already undertaken an active translation movement, but only with regard to liturgical books used for reading and prayer inside the church.
However, our children undoubtedly need books in many other fields: spirituality, Church history, the lives of the saints, doctrine and theology, and even liturgical studies themselves, including their spirituality, symbolism, and biblical foundations.
The subject of a unified magazine for all our children in the diaspora was also discussed.
It would be published in English, with contributions from our children in America, Europe, and Australia. They would also write about their own news, enabling everyone to become acquainted with one another’s activities. The Church would likewise contribute articles and news in both English and Arabic for the benefit of youth, children, and adults alike.
The establishment of a seminary in the diaspora was also discussed.
Its curriculum and academic programs would be prepared by the Mother Seminary in Egypt. Teaching would be conducted by qualified seminary graduates from Egypt. This would be facilitated by the fact that some of the priests currently serving in America had previously been members of the faculty of the Cairo Seminary. Others graduated in Egypt and completed their studies abroad. They could teach the religious sciences. There would also be no objection to employing professors from abroad for languages, philosophy, and education.
Examinations would be prepared in Egypt and sent abroad, while a joint seminary committee from Egypt and abroad would supervise the final examinations.
The Pope also discussed personal status matters with his priests.
He explained the regulations followed in Egypt and the procedures used by the Supreme Clerical Council in dealing with family problems, especially matters concerning divorce, annulment of marriage, and requests for remarriage.
The issue of locations needing churches was also discussed, as well as areas requiring additional priests. Examples included Minnesota, Colorado, Seattle, the Valley, Orange County, North Carolina, Dallas, Florida, and our monastery in California, along with increasing priestly service in Houston and Chicago.
The priests expressed their desire for the Pope to visit America once again.
The Pope replied that he could not visit America a second time without first visiting Australia, which he had not yet visited. He also stated that he would postpone his visit to America until he had first filled the vacancies requiring priests and churches, so that his children in America would receive his visit only after he had fulfilled his pastoral responsibilities toward them. He was currently preparing for that task.
This visit also provided an opportunity to study the current state of the ministry.
For this reason, some of the priests required private meetings to present the challenges of their ministries and the pastoral matters that needed discussion or study.
The Pope also discussed with his sons the subject of unifying liturgical translations.
The goal was to arrive at a unified translation of the Divine Liturgy, the Agpeya, the hymns, and the remaining ecclesiastical readings that would be accepted by all. It was decided to form a special committee for this purpose.
Regarding responsibilities:
It was agreed that Fr. Michael Edward would oversee the seminary and magazine projects, while Fr. Antonios Ragheb would supervise the Clerical Council. Some of the priests would oversee translation projects.
The priests left at the Patriarchate samples of the translations they had completed in their churches, along with samples of the magazines published by the churches in the diaspora.
As for the Committee for the Unification of Liturgical Translations, it would be supervised by the following fathers: Fr. Gabriel Abdel Sayed, Fr. Marcos Marcos, Fr. Raphael Sobhy, Fr. Antonios Henein, and Fr. Athanasius.
The Pope also discussed other topics with his priestly sons, including:
- Church education curricula and the possibility of unifying them.
- Church membership and the feasibility of recording it on computer systems.
- Small Coptic communities served by large churches.
- Collecting liturgical questions and problems and sending them for official responses.
- Icons and the extent of their conformity with the Coptic rite.
- Opposition groups within the diaspora churches, their nature, and their activities.
The Pope also spoke with the priests of the diaspora about Egypt’s debts,
and the extent to which Copts living abroad could contribute in this area. He sent with them an official letter regarding participation in paying off these debts.
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