Chrysostom - Newsletter 7, Pascha 2008

Father John Salter, Chairman of the Society, writes:

The last half year has been eventful for the Society. The collapse of the ceiling of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family- in-Exile in Duke Street, Mayfair, our regular meeting place, has meant that the building has had to be scaffolded. Fortunately the disaster happened in the early hours of a Monday, had it been on a Sunday morning it could have been very serious, but fortunately no one was injured. However, it has been a headache for Father Benjamin, not in the best of health himself, and for Father Irineu, Father Pedro and Father Athanasius, our committee member. The Society will be sending a donation towards the repairs to the roof. Happily, the cathedral is now functioning normally, but your prayers are asked for the clergy and congregation, and should members wish to make a donation to the cathedral it should be sent to Father Benjamin at the clergy house 21/22, Binney Street, Mayfair, London, W1.

Our treasurer and membership secretary, John Jaques, is now on the road to recovery after major surgery and thanks members for their prayers on his behalf. Father David White, Melkite Greek Catholic priest in Devon, known to many of our members, has been undergoing medical treatment and I would ask for your prayers for him. Father Gary Gill, our General Secretary, has been appointed by the Archbishop of Southwark to the Catholic chaplaincy at St.Thomas`s hospital. We wish him well in his new work.

In October I visited for two weeks the Latin Catholic Church and the Serbian Orthodox Churches in Dubrovnik, Croatia. This was my fifth visit to this beautiful city, the so-called “Pearl of the Adriatic”, but since my first visit in 1963 I was shocked at the small congregation in the Serbian cathedral. Forty years ago it was packed for the Divine Liturgy, but on the two Sundays I visited it there were less than thirty worshippers and they were mostly old ladies. It is a sad reflection that under the Communist regime of Tito the churches were packed, but due to so-called ethnic cleansing, the Serbs and the Croats are not friends and the Serbs bear the resentment of the bombing of Dubrovnik, although it is now totally repaired. In Serbia there is still much ruined church property; and there is the prospect of further trouble should Kossovo declare independence, which will mean the preponderance of Albanians over Serbs. The Balkans remains the tinder-box of Europe!

On the feast of St. John Chrysostom we celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Ukrainian cathedral and this was followed by the Christopher Morris lecture, given by Father Mark Woodruff on “The Catholic and Protestant Martyrs of the Reformation Period in England “. After the lecture a party was held to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the foundation of our society, nearly a year late owing to illness.

I was very pleased to meet again after so many years His Grace Bishop Abouna of the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate of Babylon based in Baghdad, who was in London for medical treatment. His followers are having a very difficult time and many are fleeing abroad or seeking safer refuge in the areas of the Hakkari Mountains north of the largely Christian city of Mosul. We were entertained to luncheon by Mr and Mrs Anton Dabous, Mrs Dabous being a Chaldean and Mr Dabous a Melkite Greeek Catholic. The Chaldean chaplain was also present.

May I on behalf of the committee wish all members and friends a very happy and peaceful 2008.