www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News 2010 Statistics from Annuario Pontificio

Regarding Baptisms in the Malankara jurisdiction: I've personally witnessed over 10 in one parish alone in one year.

Regarding the Malabar jurisdiction: I suspect the numbers are skewed because of bad recording, Latin baptisms, and unreported Knanaya numbers (which fall under Malabar, but are normally administered with their own vicar general or archpriest)

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Thank you.

Kyrie eleison,

Manuel

There is just one Ge'ez Catholic mission in the Washington area (in the District), but there seem to be several Ethiopian Orthodox parishes (one is taking over Holy Cross Romanian Orthodox Church in Baileys Crossroads (Holy Cross is moving to Potomac, I think). The entire Northern Virginia area is crawling with Ethiopian, Eritrean and Somali immigrants, but their Christian communities do not seem well served with houses of worship at this time.

In my parish, we have had 11 funerals in the past three years. We have only had 6 baptisms for 5 families. Out of the 5 families, only 2 families are active members; the other families live well outside a reasonable driving distance. Just this year alone, we have had 2 funerals and lost 2 members to the Orthodox Church. We have another family moving away in a few months. When they move, we will lose half of our children aged 6 and under. It's very sad.

There is an Ethiopian Catholic mission in London - and there are plenty of people in Dublin. I keep trying to convince the RC archdiocese here to bring in the Ethiopian priest from London now and then, but the archdiocese seems quite uninterested.

Fr. Serge

Shlomo Abun Sergius,

Have you thought about having the Ethiopian College in Rome send a priest. From what I understand the College does not need the Archbishop's permission. That is kind of what I did in 1998.

Fush BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Shlomo Michael_Thoma,

Here is a fuller explaination:

There are three major variants of the Syriac alphabet. The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is Esṭrangelā (ܐܣܛܪܢܓܠܐ; the name is thought to derive from the Greek adjective στρογγύλη (strongylē, 'rounded'),[1] though it has also been suggested to derive from ܣܪܛܐ ܐܘܢܓܠܝܐ (serṭā ’ewangēlāyā, 'gospel character')[2]). Although Estrangelā is no longer used as the main script for writing Syriac, it has received some revival since the tenth century. It is often used in scholarly publications (for instance, the Leiden University version of the Peshitta), in titles and inscriptions. In some older manuscripts and inscriptions it is possible for any letter to join to the left, and older Aramaic letter forms (especially of Ḥeth and the lunate Mem) are found.

The West Syriac dialect is usually written in the Serṭā (ܣܪܛܐ, 'line') form of the alphabet, also known as the Pšīṭā (ܦܫܝܛܐ, 'simple'), 'Maronite', or the 'Jacobite' script (although the term Jacobite is considered derogatory). Most of the letters are clearly derived from Estrangelā, but are simplified, flowing lines. A cursive, chancery hand is evidenced in the earliest Syriac manuscripts, but important works were written in Estrangelā. From the eighth century, the simpler Sertā style came into fashion, perhaps because of its more economical use of parchment. The Nabataean alphabet (which gave rise to the Arabic alphabet) was based on this form of Syriac handwriting. The Western script is usually vowel-pointed with miniature Greek vowel letters above or below the letter which they follow:

Capital alpha (Α) represents [a], transliterated as a or ă (ܦܬܚܐ, Pṯāḥā),
Lowercase alpha (α) represents [ɑ], transliterated as ā or â (ܙܩܦܐ, Zqāp̄ā; pronounced as [o] and transliterated as o in the West Syriac dialect),
Lowercase epsilon (ε) represents both [ɛ], transliterated as e or ĕ, and [e], transliterated as ē (ܪܒܨܐ, Rḇāṣā),
Capital eta (H) represents [i], transliterated as ī (ܚܒܨܐ, Ḥḇāṣā),
A combined symbol of capital upsilon (Υ) and lowercase omicron (ο) represents [u], transliterated as ū or u (ܥܨܨܐ, ‘Ṣāṣā).

The opening words of the Gospel of John written in Serṭā, Madnḥāyā and Esṭrangelā (top to bottom) — brēšiṯ iṯaw[hy]-[h]wā melṯā, 'in the beginning was the word'.The East Syriac dialect is usually written in the Madnḥāyā (ܡܕܢܚܝܐ, 'Eastern') form of the alphabet. Other names for the script include Swādāyā (ܣܘܕܝܐ, 'conversational', often translated as 'contemporary'), 'Assyrian' (not to be confused with the traditional name for the Hebrew alphabet), 'Chaldean', and, inaccurately, 'Nestorian' (a term that was originally used to refer to the Church of the East in the Persian Empire). The Eastern script resembles Estrangelā more closely than the Western script, being somewhat a midway point between the two. The Eastern script uses a system of dots above or below letters, based on an older system, to indicate vowels:

A dot above and a dot below a letter represent [a], transliterated as a or ă (ܦܬܚܐ, Pṯāḥā),
Two diagonally-placed dots above a letter represent [ɑ], transliterated as ā or â (ܙܩܦܐ, Zqāp̄ā),
Two horizontally-placed dots below a letter represent [ɛ], transliterated as e or ĕ (ܪܒܨܐ ܐܪܝܟܐ, Rḇāṣā arrīḵā or ܙܠܡܐ ܦܫܝܩܐ, Zlāmā pšīqā; often pronounced [ɪ] and transliterated as i in the East Syriac dialect),
Two diagonally-placed dots below a letter represent [e], transliterated as ē (ܪܒܨܐ ܟܪܝܐ, Rḇāṣā karyā or ܙܠܡܐ ܩܫܝܐ, Zlāmā qašyā),
A letter Yōḏ with a dot beneath it represents [i], transliterated as ī or i (ܚܒܨܐ, Ḥḇāṣā),
A letter Waw with a dot below it represents [u], transliterated as ū or u (ܥܨܨܐ ܐܠܝܨܐ, ‘Ṣāṣā allīṣā or ܪܒܨܐ, Rḇāṣā),
A letter Waw with a dot above it represents [o], transliterated as ō or o (ܥܨܨܐ ܪܘܝܚܐ, ‘Ṣāṣā rwīḥā or ܪܘܚܐ, Rwāḥā).
It is thought that the Eastern method for representing vowels influenced the development of the Niqqud markings used for writing Hebrew.

When Arabic began to be the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent, texts were often written in Arabic with the Syriac script. These writings are usually called Karshuni or Garshuni (ܓܪܫܘܢܝ). Garshuni is often used today by Neo-Aramaic speakers in written communication such as letters and fliers.

Just for purposes of comparison between 'then' and 'now'

The 1928 Official Catholic Yearbook for the US (the first issued by PJ Kenedy - precursor to today's Official Catholic Directory for the US) reported the following (2010 AP figures are added in parentheses):

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Diocese (Galician)
(est. 5/28/1913)

Bishop: 1 (now: 7)
Active Secular Clergy: 93 (now 215, presumably includes retired, sick, on leave)
Active Religious Clergy: 5 (now 32, presumably also includes retired, sick, on leave)
Clergy Retired, Sick, On Leave: 4
Total Clergy: 102 (now 247)

Churches w/ Resident Priests: 96 (now 204 parishes)
Missions w/ Churches: 46

Parochial Schools: 141 w/ 15,775 pupils

Infant Baptisms: 8,678 - 36.6 per thousand (now 551 total, 9.2 per thousand)
Adult Baptisms: 167
Converts: 245
Marriages: 1,563
Deaths: 2,750

Convents: 6

Total Ukrainian Catholics: 237,495 (now 59,935)

-------------------------------------------

Diocese of Pittsburgh (Greek Ruthenian Rite)
(est. 2/25/1924) ('Embracing all Greek Catholics of Rusin, Hungarian-Magyar, and Croatian nationalities in the entire USA')

Bishop: 1 (now 5)
Secular Clergy: 138 (now 199)
Religious Clergy: 1 (now 25)
Total Clergy: 139

Churches w/ Resident Priests: 134 (now 218 parishes)
Missions w/ Churches: 39

Parochial Schools: not reported

Infant Baptisms: 7,240 - 23.4 per thousand (now 504 total, 5.7 per thousand)
Adult Baptisms: 156
Converts: not reported
Marriages: 2,250
Deaths: 4,786

Convents: not reported

Total Greek (Ruthenian) Catholics: 309,046 (now 88,093)

Just by way of comparison - there were 15 Latin Archdioceses in the US that year, the Ruthenian population in 1928 exceeded that of 7 of those and that of all but 8 of the 88 Latin dioceses.

Many years,

Neil