The Chaldean Connection
Mary Kay McPartlin
Since 1989, the Chaldean Catholic Church has entrusted its seminarians
to Sacred Heart’s care—to the benefit of the entire seminary community.
T
hrough preparing Chaldean Catholic, as well as Roman Catholic, seminarians for the priesthood, Sacred Heart Major Seminary keeps connected two vital branches of the universal Catholic Church. The respect and
affection between the seminary and the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the
Apostle are mutual, and all who study at Sacred Heart are strengthened.
“Not Ours but Beautiful”
“One of the things the Chaldean community brings to us as a Latin Rite is a whole
new perspective on the ancient traditions,
the way in which the Church evangelized earlier on,” Sacred Heart’s rector, Msgr. Todd
Lajiness, says. “We can see some liturgical
and theological devotional aspects that may
not be part of the Latin Rite, but are certainly
a part of the richness of our whole Christian
and Catholic tradition.
“It’s not ours; it’s not Latin, but it’s
beautiful.”
The eastern-oriented Chaldean Rite
Church and the western-oriented Latin
Rite (or Roman Catholic) Church both are
part of the corporate body of twenty-four
Catholic churches worldwide that are in
union with the pope, the bishop of Rome.
“Latin Rite Catholics see the richness
of the Church through us, from a broader
sense,” says Bishop Francis Kalabat, head
of the Chaldean Eparchy [Diocese] of St.
Thomas the Apostle, located in Southfield,
Michigan. Bishop Kalabat is also a Sacred
Heart alumnus, Class of 1995.
“The pope is our father,