As we pack away the Christmas decorations and ring in the New Year, our minds shift focus from “good tidings” to “new beginnings.” With this shift, we often lose the spirit of the season. The extra warmth and grace that fills us up around the holidays seems to get packed away with the Christmas ornaments, waiting until next year to re-emerge.
Read MoreInside the world of carpet making, we witness the splendor of art, the beauty of inscriptions, and the magic of combining colors. This is where human creativity shines, reflecting skill and aesthetics to produce floor furnishings that are, quite literally, works of art.
Read MoreThe CCF’s Little Scholars early childhood development program received a donation from Lisa Libraries of 83 books valued at $1,404. The donated books covered a range of different genres including fiction, mystery, fairy tales, fantasies, and more.
Read MoreThe CCF’s Breaking Barriers Program and their families enjoyed a wonderful Christmas celebration on December 17. This annual event brought together 250 individuals who enjoyed an afternoon of food, entertainment, dancing, crafts, and pictures with Santa. Thanks to CCF staff, volunteers, and Fr. Matthew’s Men’s Group, who graciously contributed to this event. CCF Breaking Barriers clients each received a set of bed sheets thanks to the generous donations made to the Mother of God and St. Thomas Giving Tree.
Read MoreThe Oakland County MDHHS Office hosted a bed sheet drive, “Tucked in Tight”, to support individuals and families that participate in the Chaldean Community Foundation’s Breaking Barriers Program. Breaking Barriers provides services and advocacy to those with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Heather Hembree, Program Manager with the Oakland County MDHHS Southfield office, dropped off the donations to the Chaldean Community Foundation on December 13. The CCF thanks the Oakland County MDHHS Office for their generosity!
Read MoreMichael Sulaka and Western Michigan University appear to be made for each other. Sulaka, a 6-foot-9-inch, 215-pound senior forward on the defending Division 1 state champion Warren De La Salle High School boys basketball team (who is considered the top “big man” in the state and a serious candidate for the state’s Mr. Basketball Award), has signed to play for Western Michigan.
Read MoreHappy New Year! We at the Chaldean News are excited about the coming year and the plans we have to better serve our readers. We have already added more varied voices on our Editorial Board and grown our contributor base, introducing you to new writers and bringing back some alumni writers.
Read MoreIn late November, an historic delegation of community leaders from Detroit’s Chaldean community and several U.S. legislators toured northern Iraq and took notice of the living situation of the Chaldean families remaining there. Working with many different people and organizations, the delegation has planned many programs to support the community in Iraq.
Read MoreThere was a sadness in their eyes, but they were happy to pose. When I pulled out my phone to take a picture, they stood up straight and simultaneously pulled their arms behind their backs. They stared straight at me.
Read MoreI was part of a Chaldean Community Foundation (CCF) delegation that recently visited Erbil and the Christian villages in the Nineveh Plain in the land of our ancestors, Iraq. The trip was wonderful and memorable with many occasions of joy, mixed with a lot of sadness and despair about the condition of our people’s villages.
Read MoreGenevieve Kashat, 11, is a contestant on Food Network’s Kids Baking Championship. The contestants are all child entrepreneurs with “burgeoning baking businesses.” Throughout the ten-week competition, they must compete for the best in the latest dessert trends and most popular sweets. Premiering on Dec. 26 at 8 p.m., the season features a new twist, testing the children’s business savvy as well as their baking skills.
Read MoreTaken in 1901 in Aleppo by the French photographer Clément Thévenet, this photo features the family of Habib Moussalli (Jad’s great-grandfather), his wife Josephine Abdini and their children, from right César (Jad’s grandfather), Cécilia, and Nathalie.
Read MoreOn Saturday, December 3, 2022, St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church celebrated a ribbon cutting and open house with blessings from His Excellency Bishop Francis Kalabat for the new St. Thomas Montessori School. Catholic faith-based education has been desired by the faithful and clergy for many years.
Read MoreA patient recently told me that she quit smoking cigarettes because her Gen Z coworker said it showed her age. Her coworker was insinuating that the younger generation has shifted to the electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) in place of the traditional combustible cigarette. As her doctor, I took this as a win. But it does bring up an interesting topic—the vape epidemic.
Read MoreBuilt in 1814, Marth Mariam Cathedral is a Chaldean Syrian Church—the oldest church in Thrissur, a town in Kerala in southern India. This is where people from the Middle East settled long before St. Thomas arrived at its coast in 52 A.D. to spread the Gospel. They came because it was an international trade center. It was known for its natural resources, such as black pepper, which was highly in demand in the West because it was used as an antibiotic.
Read MoreIn the year that Apple launched iTunes, the Human Genome Project was completed, and basketball legend Michal Jordan retired, the United States invaded Iraq without provocation. Iraq was estimated to have nearly 1.5 million Christians before the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. Dating back to the first centuries of the religion, they include the Chaldean, Syriac, Assyrian, and Armenian Churches.
Read MoreSince 2003, the Christian population in Iraq has fallen by over 80 percent. More than 100,000 individuals fled their ancestral home in the Nineveh Plain after the 2014 ISIS attacks and many never returned, even after ISIS was defeated in 2017. Some extraordinary individuals, however, have risked their lives to help rebuild their towns in the hopes of making the region safe for people to return. But they face major challenges.
Read MoreThe Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and affiliate Chaldean Community Foundation plan to take economic development and supportive services back to Iraq to help minority groups victimized by ISIS rebuild.
Read MoreThe Hungarian president Katalin Novák visited Iraq last month and made a point to visit St. George Chaldean Catholic Church in Telskuf. Novák, a Reformed Christian, supports the efforts to rebuild with Hungarian support.
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