Monday, May 15, 2006

Mother's Day Luncheon on May 14th


The great joy and spirit of motherhood was celebrated at Mar Narsai Parish in San Francisco on May 14th, 2006. Following lunch, Mar Odisho who was the guest of Honor receieved a warm welcome from a large crowd of people, who were all gathered at Mar Narsai Parish Hall. Beautiful poems, songs, and speeches were performed.

His Grace, Mar Odisho discussed the following in his speech:

1) He briefly mentioned the very successful meeting that took place in Chicago, with all the bishops and about 30 priests present. The main agenda of discussion was "How the Assyrian Church of the East can maintain its leadership in the light of varied geographic distances and diverse jurisdictions of law".

2) He also discussed that he would officially assign Qasha David as the parish priest of the Mar Yousip Parish later that afternoon in San Jose. His Grace said that he will also speak of the current affairs of the Church and the last Patriarchal Synod which took place in Chicago from May 9th to May 10th of 2006.

3) He then mentioned that a new land has been purchased in Sweden for our beloved Assyrian community there. Mar Odisho went further to mention that around 4000 people turned up to the Christmas mass in Sweden, which was an amazing turnout.

4) He also stated that it is unfortunate that our church had to endure these tough times that it is facing at the moment. Although, he said, at the hand of three individuals: two ex-priests and one ex-bishop, the flip side is that 500,000 of the beloved ACOE members all of the sudden were awaken and their love for ACOE has substantially grown. We see this at the large turn-outs for our church masses everywhere. Hence, we should look on the positive side and continue to thank Lord for blessing our ACOE for the last 2000 years.

5) Last, but not least, Mar Odisho commented on the importance of mother and how she is a special person in our life. Further stating how ACOE is our mother, it has protected us, cared for us, sacrificed for us, and loved us unconditionally. We in return need to look after it and protect it.

God bless you Mar Odisho. Thank you for your words of comfort and inspiration.

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