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I just stumbled upon this site of the Eritrean Catholic's of the Ge'ez Rite in North America [ecgrna.org].

While perusing the page, it would appear that the Eritrean and Ethiopian Catholics of the Ge'ez Rite have been steadily increasing their presence here in North America, and in fact, this seems to be a trend in many of the Eastern Churches today.

Does anyone know how long it usually takes for a Vicariate or Eparchy to be established for such communities?

LibCath,

Thanks for the link - I'm delighted to see that ECGRNA is back and functioning. It had sort of disappeared from view for a year or so. You are correct in your observation as regards the growth of the Eritrean Ge'ez; the number of Ethiopian Ge'ez in the US is actually significantly less.

If you peruse our on-line directory here, you'll find that there are a relatively large number of Eritrean worshipping communities listed. However, the vast majority of those are either pastorally unserved or significantly underserved in that regard. A search of the forums using 'Eritrean' as the search term should also produce several prior discussions on the very question that you ask.

There are no hard and fast rules as to the number of faithful or the number of temples that should cause an exarchate to be erected. Probably the biggest stumbling block in this regard for the Eritreans is the small number of presbyters that they have available in the US.

The local Latin ordinaries, having no other options available, have tended to group them with other African emigrants - the vast majority of whom are Latin - and, thus, afford them pastoral care. It's a stopgap measure; it fails to meet the need for liturgical services in their own Rite and Church, but that's not the fault of the Latin ordinaries in this instance.

There have been relatively regular pastoral visits made to the US by at least one of the Eparchs from Eritrea, but I can only surmise that there are a dearth of clergy willing to relocate.

Many years,

Neil

Your humble servant has made repeated efforts over the last ten years or so to convince the Archdiocese of Dublin to bring in the Ge'ez priest from London with a handful of his singers so as to have the Divine Liturgy here in Dublin. To no effect; the Archdiocese of Dublin appears profoundly uninterested. Meanwhile the Catholic Church in Dublin is suffering massive losses among Black African Catholics, who are attending various store-front churches, Protestant churches, and so on.

I don't pretend to know how to convince the local Latins to at least make the effort.

Father Serge

We have a number of Eritreans attend the Ukrainian Liturgy in Gloucester. I wonder, Fr Serge, if they wouldn't more feel comfortable within the community you lead than in the Latin Church - at least in the absence of an Eritrean priest.

Dear Father Serge,

your blessing, please.

I don't pretend to know what to do either, but have you tried throwing the book at the archdiocese? You might try citing CIC can. 383 § 2 [vatican.va]: "If he [the diocesan bishop] has faithful of a different rite in his diocese, he is to provide for their spiritual needs either through priests or parishes of the same rite or through an episcopal vicar."

No nonsense here. No "can" or "should" or "might" or "ought to"; the diocesan bishop "is to provide for their spiritual needs." This, then, is an obligation on every diocesan bishop, no matter what other problems or concerns he might be preoccupied with.

If that does not work, perhaps you could complain to the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Eastern Churches? Frankly, your name is not entirely unknown, so a complaint from you might work. I trust I am not completely naïf to think that Rome does want the rights of Eastern Catholics to be respected.

I mean, surely, if we can have the Geʿez liturgy in Bergen, Norway, from time to time, surely it can be managed in Dublin too?