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NEW BISHOP TAKES CHARGE OF CATHOLIC ARMENIAN FLOCK IN US
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2012/11/08/new-bishop-takes-charge-of-catholic-armenian-flock-in-us/
November 8, 2012 1:07 pm
Mirror-Spectator Staff
BOSTON - Bishop Mikael Mouradian, the new head of the Armenian Catholic
Eparchy of the US, is a well-traveled man.
Born and raised in Beirut, he has served the Armenian Catholic Church
in Lebanon, Syria, Armenia and now the US.
One of the first changes he has made to the Armenian Catholic Church of
the US and Canada, the name of which is officially Our Lady of Nareg,
was to move it from New York City to Los Angeles, to the Sourp Grigor
Lousavorich (St. Gregory the Illuminator) Armenian Catholic Church in
Glendale. The move was not entirely voluntary, as the New York church,
which had been the home of the Armenian Catholic Church, St. Ann's,
was being sold. While Mouradian said the Catholic Church offered the
Armenians the chance to have access to another church in the city,
he and the other church leaders decided that due to the decline in the
numbers of the faithful in New York and its growth on the West Coast,
the church should relocate.
He said that the eparchy in New York in the 1980s, had 800 families,
the majority of whom were immigrants from the Middle East. Now,
there are only about 60 to 80 families there, whereas Los Angeles
has 2,500-3,000 Catholic Armenian families.
Mouradian was born to Armenian Catholic parents and attended the
Armenian Sisters' School in Zahle. In 1973, the age of 12, he first
realized that he wanted to be a priest. Upon graduating from Our
Lady of Bzommar Monastery and High School, he studied philosophy and
theology at the Pontifical Armenian College in Rome. He also did a
year of specialized train- ing as a youth pastor.
Mouradian was ordained a Catholic priest in October 1987.
It is a decision he has not regretted. "At 12, I had the feelings
and faith of a 12-year-old.
But my feelings increased as the years went by, and I made my final
decision at age 25," he said.
Mouradian was ordained in Paris and has served the church around
the world since then. He has had the following missionary roles:
assistant rector of the seminary of Bzommar (1987-1988), assistant
rector of the seminary of Aleppo (1988-1989), pastor of the Armenian
Catholic church of Our Lady of the Universe in Damascus, assistant
pastor of the Holy Cross parish in Zalka, Lebanon (1991), pastor
of various Catholic communi- ties in the northern provinces of
Armenia (1992-2001) and secretary general and executive director of
Caritas-Armenia (1995- 2001.) In 2000, the Ministry of Culture and
Science of Armenia granted him the title of honorary professor in
the pedagogical faculty of Armenia.
In Armenia, Mouradian was based in Gumri. "When I arrived, we [at
Caritas] had two people in the office, now we have 42," he said. Now
Caritas has chapters in Yerevan and near Lake Sevan, with a total of
84 people working in the country.
A good portion of his time was spent fundraising in Europe for the
charity.
Religion is a part of Mouradian's family; his sister, Haginta
Mouradian, is a nun with the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception. She is currently working with orphans in Dashir, Armenia.
Mouradian said that there are about 150,000 Armenian Catholics in
Armenia, all the result of the migration of the residents of 37
Armenian villages in Western Armenia fleeing persecution in the
wake of the Russo- Turkish war in the 1700s. These Western Armenia
residents fled to Eastern Armenia, where many of their descendants
still reside. In fact, he said, one of Armenia's largest villages,
Medzavan, with 1,700 families, is exclu- sively Catholic.
The Armenian Catholic Church is one of the five rites that form the
Universal Catholic Church. The other four are Latin (Rome), Byzantine,
Copt and Syriac.
The Mkhitarian Order, which has branches in Vienna and Venice, is
under the aegis of the Roman pontiff.
The current leader of the Armenian Catholic Church is Nerses Bedros
XIX, who is based in Beirut, in the Monastery of Bzommar, founded
in 1749.
"My mission is to keep steady or establish the Armenian Catholic
community," he said. "We have nine parishes, three missions and five
schools in the US and Canada."
In addition to the US churches in Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn,
Detroit, Los Angeles, Glendale and Little Falls, NJ, there is a church
in Toronto, Saint Gregory the Illuminator, and a successful Saturday
school, which has 140 students, and a church and a school in Montreal,
with 400 students.
The events taking place now in Syria are particularly painful for
Mouradian and the Armenian Catholic Church , as that country has five
large Catholic Churches.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2012/11/08/new-bishop-takes-charge-of-catholic-armenian-flock-in-us/
November 8, 2012 1:07 pm
Mirror-Spectator Staff
BOSTON - Bishop Mikael Mouradian, the new head of the Armenian Catholic
Eparchy of the US, is a well-traveled man.
Born and raised in Beirut, he has served the Armenian Catholic Church
in Lebanon, Syria, Armenia and now the US.
One of the first changes he has made to the Armenian Catholic Church of
the US and Canada, the name of which is officially Our Lady of Nareg,
was to move it from New York City to Los Angeles, to the Sourp Grigor
Lousavorich (St. Gregory the Illuminator) Armenian Catholic Church in
Glendale. The move was not entirely voluntary, as the New York church,
which had been the home of the Armenian Catholic Church, St. Ann's,
was being sold. While Mouradian said the Catholic Church offered the
Armenians the chance to have access to another church in the city,
he and the other church leaders decided that due to the decline in the
numbers of the faithful in New York and its growth on the West Coast,
the church should relocate.
He said that the eparchy in New York in the 1980s, had 800 families,
the majority of whom were immigrants from the Middle East. Now,
there are only about 60 to 80 families there, whereas Los Angeles
has 2,500-3,000 Catholic Armenian families.
Mouradian was born to Armenian Catholic parents and attended the
Armenian Sisters' School in Zahle. In 1973, the age of 12, he first
realized that he wanted to be a priest. Upon graduating from Our
Lady of Bzommar Monastery and High School, he studied philosophy and
theology at the Pontifical Armenian College in Rome. He also did a
year of specialized train- ing as a youth pastor.
Mouradian was ordained a Catholic priest in October 1987.
It is a decision he has not regretted. "At 12, I had the feelings
and faith of a 12-year-old.
But my feelings increased as the years went by, and I made my final
decision at age 25," he said.
Mouradian was ordained in Paris and has served the church around
the world since then. He has had the following missionary roles:
assistant rector of the seminary of Bzommar (1987-1988), assistant
rector of the seminary of Aleppo (1988-1989), pastor of the Armenian
Catholic church of Our Lady of the Universe in Damascus, assistant
pastor of the Holy Cross parish in Zalka, Lebanon (1991), pastor
of various Catholic communi- ties in the northern provinces of
Armenia (1992-2001) and secretary general and executive director of
Caritas-Armenia (1995- 2001.) In 2000, the Ministry of Culture and
Science of Armenia granted him the title of honorary professor in
the pedagogical faculty of Armenia.
In Armenia, Mouradian was based in Gumri. "When I arrived, we [at
Caritas] had two people in the office, now we have 42," he said. Now
Caritas has chapters in Yerevan and near Lake Sevan, with a total of
84 people working in the country.
A good portion of his time was spent fundraising in Europe for the
charity.
Religion is a part of Mouradian's family; his sister, Haginta
Mouradian, is a nun with the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception. She is currently working with orphans in Dashir, Armenia.
Mouradian said that there are about 150,000 Armenian Catholics in
Armenia, all the result of the migration of the residents of 37
Armenian villages in Western Armenia fleeing persecution in the
wake of the Russo- Turkish war in the 1700s. These Western Armenia
residents fled to Eastern Armenia, where many of their descendants
still reside. In fact, he said, one of Armenia's largest villages,
Medzavan, with 1,700 families, is exclu- sively Catholic.
The Armenian Catholic Church is one of the five rites that form the
Universal Catholic Church. The other four are Latin (Rome), Byzantine,
Copt and Syriac.
The Mkhitarian Order, which has branches in Vienna and Venice, is
under the aegis of the Roman pontiff.
The current leader of the Armenian Catholic Church is Nerses Bedros
XIX, who is based in Beirut, in the Monastery of Bzommar, founded
in 1749.
"My mission is to keep steady or establish the Armenian Catholic
community," he said. "We have nine parishes, three missions and five
schools in the US and Canada."
In addition to the US churches in Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn,
Detroit, Los Angeles, Glendale and Little Falls, NJ, there is a church
in Toronto, Saint Gregory the Illuminator, and a successful Saturday
school, which has 140 students, and a church and a school in Montreal,
with 400 students.
The events taking place now in Syria are particularly painful for
Mouradian and the Armenian Catholic Church , as that country has five
large Catholic Churches.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress