Posted by Jeff from d14-69-37-23.try.wideopenwest.com (69.14.23.37) on Monday, September 22, 2003 at 11:57PM :
Don't know if I should laugh or cry...
Posted By: Qasrani <Qasrani2003@yahoo.com> (AC85CD6D.ipt.aol.com)
Date: Sunday, 21 September 2003, at 12:46 a.m.
Mostly, I laughed...at the sanctimonious drama that so many of you are going on and on about... I especially enjoyed reading the one-man who left the Catholic Church. Very illustrative of Assyrian-ness. I enjoyed reading the more refined insults against Chaldeans too.
Someone asked whether there really are Assyrians in the Chaldean Catholic Church....Well, that would be me, and a bunch of my friends...who are Chaldean Catholic through and through and Assyrian at the same time...hmm, how can that be? There is no such thing as a Chaldean....yet, I'm not Roman Catholic, I'm not Syrian Catholic either...indeed, I am Chaldean...reconciled with Assyrian...
This silly name game smells of the confusion and smoke that Assyrians created many hundreds of years ago, only to "clarify" the situation in the 20th century..."Oh, when you all said Mary "Mother of God," we took offense b/c God has no mother; yet we do mean the same when we say "Mother of Christ." That cost Assyrians much in those centuries of "misunderstanding." I hope this ChaldoAssyrian drama doesn't take that long to clear up.
Alas, bishops of the Eastern Church go to Rome for their theological training... And indeed, it was one such bishop that was behind the ecumenical understanding with the Holy See on the very point I just mentioned. Thanks Bishop Bawai Soro. We know where you got those ideas.
Honestly, I see where this whole movement within Chaldeans is coming from... There is no respect among Assyrians for the fact that Chaldeans feel different. You want to change that over night? That is impossible, only with prayer and vigilance and divine intervention (meaning, "miracle"). I believe in those...but it takes the faith of a mustard seed....don't know if Assyrians have got it in them...don't know if they care about miracles...They seem caught up in wedging out other Christians in Iraq for the top slot of representation.
Everyone needs to grow up. Foremost, the "Assyrians." "The older brother must be an example to his younger siblings."--Courtesy of my dad. Eastern church members, you are the older brothers in this dynamic, right? Show your Christian fraternity. If ever we saw how messy "nationalism" can get in the hands of kindergartners, we see it now. Let's just hope that Assyrians don't start killing Chaldeans over this...or vice versa. But then again, Chaldeans are just reacting. They feel marginalized and disrespected. If the Suryoye were a meaningful number of Christians in Iraq, they'd be doing the same. But we are all Assyrian like it or not... And this is what happens to those who push this sort of thing...first, you have to make concessions (ChaldoAssyrians) then you have to acknowledge that you have cracks in your "united front" (the most recent letter from the Chaldean bishops). Any self-respecting Chaldean would do the same....
It's politics and politics isn't for kiddies... "Either grow up or get steam-rolled" is the lesson for today.
Two cents by,
Qasrani
-- Jeff
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