CHARLOTTE — Eritrean Catholics from around the country spent a joyful weekend focused on family, community and worship as the annual Eritrean Catholic National Conference came to Charlotte.
The event was held July 31-Aug. 2 at the Charlotte Eritrean community’s property in Mint Hill and at St. Vincent de Paul Church, drawing more than 400 people from North Carolina, Atlanta, Ohio, Indiana and Washington, D.C.
Attendees spent three days worshipping and praying together, enjoying traditional foods, seeing old friends and making new ones, and attending workshops on faith and topics such as mental health.
On Saturday and Sunday, the pews inside St. Vincent de Paul were packed as hundreds attended Mass celebrated in the Ge’ez Rite, the traditional form of Catholic worship in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Rooted in the Alexandrian rite of Egypt, the liturgy often lasts close to three hours and is celebrated in Ge’ez, an ancient court language from the period when Ethiopia first adopted Christianity. It is no longer commonly spoken but is still used in sacred worship and texts. Young musicians from Atlanta and Washington, D.C. punctuated the beautiful chants in Ge’ez with upbeat hymns accompanied on keyboards.
The Divine Liturgy on Saturday was celebrated by Father Kidanemariam Gebrehiwot, known to his flock as Father Kidane, who is based in Atlanta. Being in Charlotte was a homecoming of sorts for him, because he used to travel to the diocese regularly to celebrate Mass and the sacraments for the Eritrean community when it was based at St. Gabriel Church.
“This is an important chance for all of us to come together, to get to know each other and to learn from one another,” Father Kidane said.
A point of connection
The conference started more than a decade ago as a way for Eritrean Catholics to make connections and to pass on the Ge’ez rite, said Tesfatsian Sareke of Columbus, Ohio. The idea for a national gathering became important as Eritrea Catholics realized that their traditions weren’t being handed down to the younger generations.
“The members of our community who were born here can feel disconnected from those who came over from Eritrea, because most of the younger people have grown up practicing in the Roman rite,” he said. “This is a way both to maintain our traditions and help build a bridge between the generations. It gives the young people a chance to build connections with each other and with their heritage.”
Eritreans have fled their home nation for decades because of famine, natural disaster and persecution, and have formed large communities across the United States, primarily in California, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. They have been coming to Charlotte for more than 20 years, and that growth prompted the 2018 formation of the Ge’ez Rite community in the Diocese of Charlotte.
The conference rotates regularly between Atlanta, Ohio, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted it in 2020, but organizers quickly got it back up and running within a year, Sareke said.
Coming together
In between events at St. Vincent de Paul, there was a palpable sense of joy in the air as people of all ages shared meals. Friends who had not seen each other in more than a year embraced and laughed, children played and people gathered around a table selling commemorative T-shirts and other items.
During the weekend, community members also came together for Mezmur – lively prayerful music and song sessions conducted in Tigrinya, one of the primary languages spoken in Eritrea.
The weekend featured seminars in Tigrinya and English. The Tigrinya workshops drew mostly adults who heard talks on maintaining a lively Catholic faith and the importance of mental health.
The sessions in English were geared toward students in elementary through high school as well as young adults, and focused on topics relevant to their lives as young Catholics navigating a secular world – including internet safety.
Sister Ghennet Ogbamichael of the Daughters of St. Anne spoke to the young people about the role of Mary the Blessed Mother in the Church and how she can be a role model for the faithful. Sister Ghennet was born in Eritrea but has been living in the Washington, D.C. area for 13 years, where she teaches religion classes at the parish level.
“This event is so close to my heart because I get to share the important role of Mary in our lives with these young people,” she said. “This is an important chance for them to come together and renew their faith, to remember the importance of walking in faith every day. I want to help the Eritrean Catholic youth learn to take responsibility for their faith and to see God in everything they do.”
— Christina Lee Knauss, photos by Troy C. Hull
