Chaldean Communities in the American Southwest: California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas
BY ADHID MIRI, PHD
There are more than 500,000 Chaldeans in America today, with large communities in Detroit, Michigan and San Diego, California. They may have been in the United States as early as 1889, but as far as the record books from the nineteenth century go, there were virtually none - the Oussani family from Baghdad were the first and only documented Chaldeans to settle in the U.S. before 1900. By the mid-20th century there were Chaldeans around the country, with a significant population in Detroit from 1910 onward, attracted by the dynamic and lucrative auto industry.
Michigan has remained the American heartland of the Chaldean community. For decades, Chaldeans have been building communities in the southwestern region of the United States. As ISIS was driving Christians from their homes in Iraq, these communities have grown into a base of support and hope across the globe.
The Chaldean Catholic Church based in Iraq is one of the 22 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. The Chaldean people, who now live mostly in northern Iraq, trace their ancestry back 8,000 years. They are mentioned in the Book of Genesis; Hammurabi was Chaldean, as was Nebuchadnezzar. Chaldeans began converting to Christianity before the middle of the first century. They’re now aligned with the Roman Catholic Church.
Chaldeans in California
California gets its nickname, “The Golden State,” for a reason. Besides copious amounts of sunshine, the state’s diverse cultural and geographical offerings, vibrant cities and critically acclaimed culinary scenes are truly the gold standard for travelers. California is the second-most ethnically diverse state in the U.S.
Southern California was an especially attractive destination for many displaced Chaldeans craving a new locale, featuring plenty of sunshine, mild warm weather, a relaxed, easy-going lifestyle and diverse population such as they were accustomed to in Iraq.
In fact, El Cajon, California is home to the largest population of Iraqi war refugees in the world. It hosts the second-highest population of Chaldeans in the United States, behind only Metro Detroit. Roughly 50,000 Chaldeans live there.
Over the years, El Cajon, which lies east of San Diego, has taken on the shape of its growing community of Iraqi Christians. Signs in many of the city’s shops and restaurants are in Chaldean or Arabic, leading some to dub East Main Street, “Little Baghdad.”
A great majority of San Diego Chaldeans trace their roots to the province of Nineveh in northern Iraq. These Chaldeans left their ancestral land troubled, in search of a better life and hoping for more peace and freedom in their new country.
According to Fr. Michael J. Bazzi, Pastor Emeritus, the first-known Chaldean immigrant to San Diego was Dr. Joseph Gibran in 1951. Then Ramzi Alex Thomas arrived from Baghdad to study at San Diego State University in 1954 and went on to open a used auto parts store. In 1955, Aziz Habib from Detroit visited San Diego and in 1957, moved to stay and opened the first Chaldean grocery store in the area.
Mr.& Mrs. Wadie Deddeh moved from Detroit to San Diego in 1959. Mr. Deddeh, a University of Baghdad graduate, had come to Detroit in 1947. He taught political science, moving up to become a State Senator in 1986. In 1960, Slewa Semaan arrived from Baghdad to visit San Diego and found only 10 Chaldean families living there.
Since the enactment of the Refugee Crisis Act in 2008, the town of El Cajon has received more than 11,000 Iraqi refugees, most of whom are Chaldean. While earlier waves of Chaldean immigrants to El Cajon were largely urban elites, the post-2008 wave was comprised of refugees from Christian villages in the Nineveh Plains.
The newer refugees live mostly in downtown El Cajon and on the northern periphery of the city. This group has expanded the number of Chaldean-owned businesses, and Chaldean youth now make up most of the student population at the schools in the city’s downtown area.
Early waves of Chaldean immigrants had worked hard to build cultural capital in El Cajon. Aiming for cultural acceptance as well as financial success in their new city, the first generation of Chaldean immigrants established businesses that were palatable to their new American neighbors, without conspicuous Chaldean or Arab markers.
Likewise, their social clubs and churches blended in with the surroundings. Above all, Chaldeans stressed their Christian faith, hardworking nature and patriotism while maintaining homeland traditions. Along a central stretch through downtown El Cajon, signs are scrawled with Arabic script, adorning businesses that sell everything from baklava to legal services to jewelry.
The Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle
The increasing numbers of Chaldeans in California led to a call for Chaldean churches to be built in different parts of the state. The community has grown large enough to have 11 parishes, with accommodations for a community center and other services.
On May 21, 2002, St. Peter’s Chaldean Catholic Church in El Cajon, California became the seat of the second Chaldean diocese in the United States. The Diocese began with seven parishes. The first bishop of the newly established Diocese was Bishop Sarhad Yousip Jammo. The diocese is responsible for Chaldean Catholics in nineteen states in the western portion of the United States, the largest concentration of these being found in San Diego County, California.
From this city, Bishop Sarhad Jammo, a native of Baghdad, led the Chaldean Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle. Second only to Michigan — the cradle of the nation’s other Chaldean eparchy — California has grown into a major Chaldean hub. El Cajon also boasts two convents, a monastery and a seminary alongside a catechetical program serving 1,000 children. The students learn to pray and celebrate the Qurbana, the Eucharistic liturgy of the Chaldean Church, in a modern form of the Aramaic language.
El Cajon’s Mar Abba the Great Seminary — the only Chaldean seminary outside of Iraq — reflects the vibrancy of the Chaldean community in the western United States. For Chaldeans, the church is the center of their lives. This heritage is evident from the moment the blue dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral appears along the highway that passes through this sleepy town in southern California.
The Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle comprises four vicariates consisting of its member parishes. On August 29, 2017, His Excellency Monsignor Emanuel Hana Shaleta was transferred from the eparchy of Mar Addai of Toronto in Canada. Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta is a prelate of the Chaldean Catholic Church and serves as eparch for the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle of San Diego.
Chaldeans in Arizona
It is difficult to determine the exact number of Chaldeans in states like Arizona, Nevada and Texas because they are not accurately represented as such in the U.S. Census. According to a fairly recent study, however, it is estimated that there are 15,000 Chaldeans in Arizona.
As more and more refugees from Iraq are relocating to Arizona, the community of Chaldean Catholics there continues to grow steadily. There are about 600 families belonging to Mar Abraham Parish in Scottsdale and Holy Family Mission in Phoenix. Many others live in the East Valley and Tucson.
For years, many in the Phoenix Diocese were unaware of the presence of Eastern-rite Catholics. After a series of articles in The Catholic Sun spotlighted the hardships endured by Chaldean Catholics, readers and residents became more aware of the plight of the Chaldean people in Iraq.
While the Kurdish region of Iraq became a refuge for some, many others sought homes in the United States and around the world as an answer to the persecution in places like Baghdad and Mosul. Most of the refugees that fled from war and persecution have found consolation by celebrating their faith and traditions in the United States.
Chaldeans in Nevada
The Chaldean Catholic Mission in Las Vegas was established in 2003. Chaldeans started living in the valley in the beginning of the 1990s. In 2003, the community began to be served by Msgr. Felix Shabi who used to travel from San Diego to celebrate Mass once a month at St. Ann Roman Catholic Church. Then in 2007, the Diocese purchased a building for the community to house their own church, St. Barbara. Fr. Ray Sarkees arrived in Las Vegas to serve the community in August 2012 and continues to serve there today.
Chaldeans in Texas
In Texas, according to the 2017 Census, the majority of Arab Americans in the state have Lebanese or Iraqi roots. Since 2005, significant increases appear in the number of Texans who are of Iraqi descent. There are few Iraqi Christians in the Dallas area; many are Assyrians. Of the few Chaldean families living in Texas, most came when cell phone stores were booming, some from Detroit.
Additional editing by Ashley Attisha. This is the fourth installment of a multi-part series on Chaldeans
Around the World.
Chaldean Places of Worship in the Southwest
California
Southern Vicariate:
The parishes of the Southern Vicariate comprise the southwest of the United States. The Vicar General of the Diocese is Archdeacon Sabri Kejboe.
St. Peter’s Chaldean Catholic Cathedral, El Cajon, California
St. Michael Chaldean Catholic Church, El Cajon, California
Mar Awraha Chaldean Catholic Church, Scottsdale, Arizona
St. Barbara Chaldean Catholic Church, Las Vegas, Nevada
St. George Chaldean Catholic Church, Santa Ana, California
Northern Vicariate:
The parishes of the Northern Vicariate comprise the northwest of the United States. The Diocesan Vicar is Fr. Kamal Bidawid.
St. Tomas Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church, Turlock, California
St. Mary Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Church, Campbell, California
St. Matthew’s Chaldean Catholic Church, Ceres, California
St. Paul Chaldean and Assyrian Catholic Church, North Hollywood, California
Saint Tomas Chaldean Catholic Church, Modesto, California
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Orangevale, California
Missions:
The parishes listed here are Missions of the Eparchy located throughout the Diocese who are currently not large enough, have not raised enough money, or found the proper land to construct their own church and formally create a parish.
St. Joseph’s Chaldean Catholic Mission, California
Holy Family Chaldean Catholic Mission, Arizona
Rabban Hermiz Mission of Riverside, Riverside, California
Monasteries, Convents and Seminaries:
The fourth Vicariate comprises the vocational housing of the non-diocesan religious life within the Eparchy.
St. George Monastery, Riverside
The Seminary of Mar Abba the Great, El Cajon
Convent of Our Lady of the Fields (Workers of the Vineyard), El Cajon
Chaldean Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, El Cajon
Arizona
Mar Abraham Chaldean Catholic Parish, Scottsdale
Holy Family Chaldean Catholic Church, Phoenix
Holy Cross Chaldean Catholic Church
Tucson Mission, Tucson
Nevada
St. Barbara Chaldean Catholic Church, Las Vegas
Texas
St. Joseph Assyrian Chaldean Catholic Mission of Dallas/Ft. Worth