A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 37 - Tuesday, September 14th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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'Why shouldn't you be patriotic?'
By Allison
Hantschel CHICAGO (Daily Southtown, September 10, 2004) - The Rev. Malek Rihani originally balked at giving the "Patriot's Day" address at St. Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church on the third anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "When the pastor asked me, I said, 'Are you sure you want an Arab to speak?' " Rihani recalled. Born in Jordan into an Arabic-speaking Christian denomination known as Antiochian Orthodox, Rihani came to the United States in 1969, when he was 14 years old. He went to college here, married and raised his children, and in January he founded a church in the southwest suburbs. The Rev. Andrew Harrison urged Rihani to speak Saturday about his American life and success story of faith. "He said, 'You're an American, too. Why shouldn't you be patriotic?' " Rihani said, chuckling. "So I told him I would speak about how I balance my involvement with the Arab-American community with my faith life, with my feelings about America." Rihani's speech will be the centerpiece of St. Luke's third Sept. 11 memorial gathering. He will give his lecture during a memorial service at 5:30 p.m. at the church, 10700 Kean Ave., Palos Hills. Rihani grew up in Chicago attending St. George Church in Cicero, until recently the only Antiochian Orthodox church in the area. At 18, he began working for UPS and thought he'd spend his career as a market analyst, husband and father. But his bishop told him the church needed more priests if the Arab-Christian community of about 3,000 people was to grow. Rihani agreed to enter the priesthood, though he kept his full-time job to support his family. He has two children, both adults. Eastern Rite churches like the Antiochian Orthodox permit their priests to marry, though bishops must be celibate. At the first meeting of the Church of the Virgin Mary in a rented hall at St. Luke, Rihani recalled, he expected perhaps 10 or 12 families to show. Instead more than 200 came, and they've been coming ever since. They hope someday to raise money and purchase a building of their own. Arab Christians are "a minority within a minority" in America, and Rihani said many were subjected to racist attacks following the attacks. "In my church you do a lot of visiting, a lot of going out in the community," Rihani said. "And so I knew people who heard things, who had trouble with their co-workers. Nothing really tragic, but it was sad to see that happen." He said he hoped his speech, like the new church community he represented, would be a sign of hope for an immigrant people and a display of patriotism for his adopted country. "I feel that this is what makes this country great — its diversity," Rihani said. "The Arab-American community here has a lot of patriotism, a lot of feeling toward America, and there's a spiritual dimension to that. That's what I want to try to get across." In addition to Rihani's speech, the church will host a viewing of relics of terrorist attacks, including a beam from the World Trade Center towers and glass from a church in Oklahoma City. On Saturday the church will hold a 9:30 a.m. prayer service celebrated by Archbishop Job of Chicago and the Midwest. The local Cub Scout troop will attend the 5:30 p.m. service, and a display of the flag is planned, along with patriotic songs. Memorial organizer Caye Caswick said she hoped it would inspire "the kind of feeling you get as a kid at a Fourth of July parade."
"It gives you a
great feeling, a kind of pounding in your chest
that you get about patriotic things," Caswick
said. "It makes you proud to be an American, proud
that soldiers have died and veterans have fought
for our right to be free." |
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