“My life has been
“My life has been threatened … A Chaldean guy once told me that he waited outside a coffee shop where I was reading the Bible with a gun to shoot me.” – DANNY MIKHAIL,THEOLOGY STUDENT chaldean on the STREET WHAT MAKES YOU A CHALDEAN? “What makes me Chaldean? I was born Chaldean.” — Latifa Ousachi “The Chaldean language. It makes us unique.” — Louay Shammami “My pride in my family and culture.” — Natalie Sako along with her younger siblings Angela and Anthony “That I look forward to the holidays so that I can eat pacha.” — Anas Henna “My history and being part of a close-knit family.” — Donovan Asmar “Our people and our church. We are hardworking people, and our faith is with God.” — Rana Atto “Culturally, we are unique. We are very devoted believers, dedicated and religious. And we are very strong-minded people.” — Eva Ayoub “Our language, our liturgy and being descendents of Christ.” — Anthony Kathawa CHANGING FACES continued from 35 church where they will receive their first communion. “I hope one day my kids will speak the Chaldean language to their kids,” she said. Many Chaldean families speak Arabic as their first language because in Iraq it was a must to learn the language in order to attend school. Those who speak Aramaic learned the language at home. Like so many Chaldeans, Khaddor — the mother of Brandon, Joseph and Kristen — is concerned that if the community does not work to sustain an identity, Chaldeans will one day be swallowed by mainstream culture. Preserving the culture, traditions and language is a priority for Valerie Zacaria, the mother of Isabella and Christian. “We don’t preserve the traditions in our holidays and in how we raise our kids,” said Zacaria. “We speak Arabic at home but my in-laws speak Chaldean to my kids.” Zacaria is looking into enrolling her children into private Sourath lessons. “Just looking back at how I was raised and how I am raising my kids, it is a challenge to hold onto our traditions,” she said. “Everything eventually gets diluted.” Nora Bahrou Downs, mother of David and Luke, is married to a non-Chaldean and she struggles with maintaining the culture. “I don’t speak Arabic or Chaldean at home,” said Downs. “I only know Arabic because that is what I grew up speaking. My son does want to learn the language. We are Christians and our faith is important in our lives.” Downs also said she and her husband talk to their children about Iraq and the Middle East as a way to carry on her traditions. “Maintaining culture is part of maintaining identity,” said Rosemary Antone, chairperson of the Chaldean Community Cultural Center and vice president of the Chaldean American Ladies of Charity (CALC). “You have to know your culture first — where we came from, where we are today and where we are going. If you don’t know your roots, you don’t have a base for your culture.” Next year, the Chaldean Community Cultural Center will open inside Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield. It will teach not only members of the community but non-Chaldeans. “We will teach that we are not Arab,” said Antone. “Chaldeans have their own distinct identity. It is not just religion. We follow Christianity. However, in the early days, we were pagan. The church is our core. It is how we maintain identity and survived in an Arab land because we are Christians. We stayed who we are. We did not fight and make a scene. We did not get swallowed up in the land. Even though we are only 3 to 5 percent in an Arab Muslim land, we stayed true to our faith.” DOES FAITH DEFINE ETHNICITY? Chaldeans are primarily Catholic. However, many Assyrians are orthodox Christians. Church membership has been an integral part of the Chaldean community. Recently, there have been debates among some Chaldeans regarding the Catholic faith versus Christianity. Danny Mikhail, 24, is studying theology and the Bible at Moody Bible College in Chicago, a well-known school among the conservative Christian Right that has been around for 130 years. Once he graduates, Mikhail plans to pursue a career in teaching. “Whatever I do in life, I want to glorify God,” he said. “St. Paul said ‘whether I eat or sleep, I want to glorify God.’” Reciting scripture to explain his reasoning for leaving the Chaldean Catholic Church, Mikhail talked about how his conservative Christian life has caused some controversy in his life as a Chaldean American. “I am real interested in reaching out to our community,” said Mikhail. “There seems to be a black cloud over our community when it comes to religion. A buddy who is also Chaldean and I were reading the Bible at a coffee shop and a Chaldean girl walks in and my buddy says hi to her. The first thing she asked him was, ‘Are you a Jehovah Witness?’ There is this presupposition with Chaldeans that if you read the Bible, you are doing something wrong. Jehovah Witness is a cult. I am merely reading the Bible and studying theology. I am not in a cult.” But Mikhail, who started questioning his Catholicism at age 19, has faced some serious repercussions for leaving the Chaldean Church. “My life has been threatened,” he said. “A Chaldean guy once told me that he waited outside a coffee shop where I was reading the Bible with a gun to shoot me.” He is also struggling to understand why there is such a negative presupposition when it comes to reading the Bible. “I never understood why we never saw Bibles in the Chaldean Church,” he said. “Ethnically for sure they are Chaldean,” said Bishop Sarhad of Chaldeans who practice outside the Catholic faith. “However, they don’t belong to the Chaldean Church. Regardless, they are Chaldean ethnically. Polish people are mostly Catholics, but you might find some who become protestant. However, they are still Polish. Yes, we are concerned about Chaldeans leaving the church but everyone has the freedom to do so.” “You are still Chaldean even if you don’t follow the Chaldean Church,” said Antone. “There is one universal God and He is the creator of all people. He created the Jews and the gentiles. St. Paul began the conversion of the gentiles. Following the teachings of Jesus Christ is what is important, if you ask me. Labels don’t really mean much and we tend to put too much emphasis on them.” If religious persuasion and ethnicity do not go hand in hand, will the face of the community change over the years as Chaldeans enter other religions? “They remain Chaldean but they do not belong to the Chaldean Church, unless they form a protestant Chaldean Church,” Bishop Sarhad said. 36 CHALDEAN NEWS FEBRUARY 2006
