About Us

 

Mission

 

Welcome to Kidane-Mehret Ge’ez Rite Ethiopian Catholic Parish.  We are based in the Archdiocese of Washington, where we were established in 1984 as a parish for Ge’ez Rite Catholics.

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Our mission is to build a Catholic Church that welcomes everyone, a church that carries the "Trinitarian Mission", which is the mission of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and a church that preserves our faith and pass it to the next generation.

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The parish has survived migrating from place to place for 35 years and has seen the number of parishioners increase significantly during this time. With the help of God and the intercessions of our Mother Kidane-Mehret and the care of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, the Ethiopian Catholic community is now working to be self-sufficient and to have its own place within the Archdiocese of Washington, DC in the near future.

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Under new Parish Pastor Rev. Abayneh Gebremichael, the parishioners have the following Pastoral services:

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• The Divine Liturgy (Mass) in Ge’ez and Amharic on Sundays and major feast days.

• Sacrament Administration (baptism for infants, confession and first communion to the parish children and penance to adults, wedding, validation of civil marriage in the church, anointing of the sick, and funeral masses).

• Religious Education (religious formation and sacramental preparation of parish children, youth ministry, marriage preparation and instruction for engaged couples, group retreats, and Bible studies)

• Cultural Education for Parish Children (introduction and teaching to their culture, their alphabets, the history and the richness of the Ethiopian Rite)

• Religious Prayer Groups such as Libe Yesus,(Sacred Heart of Jesus), Libe Mariam (The Immaculate Heart of Mary), Kidus Antonious  (St. Anthony Bread for the Poor), Kidane Mehret (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) and the Rosary Prayer Group.

 

History 

  

The first initiative to establish a Pastoral Care for the Ethiopian Catholic Community was taken by the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches. In 1982 this Congregation requested the Ethiopian Episcopal Conference (EEC) to appoint a chaplain for the community who reside in the USA.

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On May 10, His Excellency Archbishop Paulos Tsadua, President of EEC sent a formal letter to the Sacred Congregation for the Eastern Churches in the Vatican who endorsed the letter and sent it to theUnited State Catholic Conference (USCC). The USCC presented this letter to the local ordinary His Excellency Archbishop James A. Hickey, who at that time was in charge of the Office of Pastoral Care of Migrant and Refugees.

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After several consultation with the parties involved, on December 30, 1983 Archbishop Hickey appointed Rev. Tesfamariam Baraki for the pastoral care of the community under the title of Kidan-Mehret Ge’ez Rite Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Washington.

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The Eastern Ge’ez Rite Mission Parish was established in 1984 and it celebrated its first Divine Liturgy in the Ge’ez language on Sunday January 1, 1984 at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Washington, DC with about 50 people.