California’s New Chaldean and Assyrian Parish
Tom Simon genuflects and kneels in prayer in early May in the tabernacle at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean and Assyrian Catholic Church in Orangevale, Calif. Chaldean and Assyrian Catholics had been attending liturgies at parishes in the Diocese of Sacramento for more than 30 years before they moved into their own church in March. (photo: CNS/Cathy Joyce, Catholic Herald)
13 Sep 2011 – by Patrick Joyce
ORANGEVALE, Calif. (CNS) — Tom Simon
genuflects and kneels in prayer before the tabernacle. “It
takes love, faith and sacrifice to build a house of the
Lord,” he says.
Now, after long years of planning, hard work and
some divine intervention, the Chaldean and the Assyrian
Catholics of the Sacramento area have their own house of
the Lord — Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean and
Assyrian Catholic Church in Orangevale.
“It’s for the Lord.” Neil Simon Nofaley says softly
as he looks around the bright and beautiful church.
Nofaley, Simon’s father, has been a subdeacon and leader
of the small Chaldean community for 27 years.
He speaks proudly about not only their new
church building but of the history of the Chaldeans, a
Christian church now centered in Iraq, a history that
began long before Christianity. “Abraham came from Ur
of the Chaldeans, 160 kilometers from Baghdad,” Nofaley
says. “And when he wanted a wife for his son Isaac he
found her among the Chaldeans.”
Centuries later Chaldeans were among the first
gentiles to embrace Christianity. St. Thomas the Apostle
and two disciples brought the Gospel to the small
kingdom of Chaldea in what is now northern Iraq.
For nearly 2,000 years, the Chaldeans and the
Assyrians have kept the faith even though they were a
politically powerless minority in a region ruled at first by
pagans and then by Islam. Over the centuries, it has
earned the title “the church of the martyrs.” The
persecution continues even now.
“Sixty-eight of our churches in Iraq were
attacked, bombed and some destroyed,” Simon says.
“Twenty-eight of our priests, including the archbishop,
were kidnapped, tortured and some beheaded. One nun
was beheaded. Children have been kidnapped and held for
ransom — often far more than families could afford. One
6-year-old was killed because his family could not pay.”
Chaldeans fled to neighboring countries and
eventually to America. In recent years, about 40 families
have come to the Sacramento area, doubling the size of
the local Chaldean community. They now worship
together each Sunday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Church. Father Kamal Bidawid serves as administrator of
the church.
Chaldean and Assyrian Catholics had been
attending liturgies at parishes in the Diocese of
Sacramento for more than 30 years before they moved
into their own church in March. They took the first step
toward that goal when Nofaley was ordained a subdeacon
in 1984. Nofaley had long wanted to build a church, but
the task seemed impossible for a congregation of a few
dozen families.
In 1995, Simon arrived in Sacramento from
Detroit after an illness that nearly took his life. “Building
the church was Tom’s idea,” Nofaley says. “He said, ’You
have to have a church.’”
Simon found a site in El Dorado Hills and along
with his father and brothers, bought the property for
$157,000. “My father always said, ’You start with one
brick, and God will bless and multiply it,’” Simon says.
Tags: United States Chaldean Church Assyrian Church California