Preserving a culture of faith
CHARLOTTE — Joyful sounds of chimes, drums and chanted prayers welcomed a new priest for the Charlotte Eritrean Catholic Community during a special Mass offered Saturday at St. Vincent de Paul Church.
Father Michael Solomon Debesay’s arrival is the latest milestone for the growing African Catholic community, which now numbers about 300 families in the Diocese of Charlotte.
Father Debesay hit the ground running to serve his flourishing flock. He had flown into Charlotte only the day before offering the March 9 Mass to celebrate his arrival. The Mass drew hundreds of people, some traveling from Raleigh and surrounding states to experience worship in the ancient Ge’ez Rite – the traditional Catholic liturgy of the East African countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Before coming here, he spent several years of serving Eritrean refugees in the war-torn nation of South Sudan. He looks on this new ministry as an important chance to help his fellow Eritreans find a spiritual home far from their native one.
“When my bishop told me I was coming here, I was very happy because I knew this was a chance to give my service to my people who have been moving out of our country for so long,” he said. “Our people are devoted to their faith, and I know I have a huge responsibility in helping them live out their faith here.”
Finding a new home
Eritreans have fled their nation for decades because of famine, natural disasters and widespread persecution, taking up residence across the U.S. with large communities in Washington, D.C., California and Atlanta. Eritreans have settled in the Charlotte area for more than 20 years, and the community’s growth led to the 2018 formation of the Ge’ez Rite community within the diocese.
Eritrean Catholics first found a spiritual home at St. Gabriel Parish, worshiping monthly at Masses offered by visiting priests, and later moved to St. Vincent de Paul Parish. The community also has a cultural center on donated property in Mint Hill that it uses for youth activities, faith formation classes and community gatherings.
Thanks to Father Debesay, the community now has a priest who can regularly offer Mass, the sacraments and other aspects of the faith, according to Semret Hailemariam, who moved to Charlotte from California three years ago.
“The joy of this day is not only a result of six years of hard work but also a testament to the faith of this Catholic community,” Hailemariam said.
Visiting Ge’ez Rite priests from Washington, D.C., and other cities concelebrated Saturday’s Mass.
Also present were Father Joshua Voitus, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul, who welcomed the Ge’ez Rite community to worship at his church, along with special guest, Father Frank O’Rourke, St. Gabriel’s retired pastor who had first provided them a place to worship in Charlotte.
Father Debesay said he was very thankful to Bishop Peter Jugis for helping bring him to Charlotte.
Bishop Jugis will meet with Father Debesay’s ordinary, Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfarmariam of Asmara, on April 5. The meeting is part of the diocese’s increased efforts to support the needs of Eritrean Catholics here. Because of the community’s growth, it has been designated an apostolate of the diocese that will fall under Bishop Jugis’s authority because Ge’ez Rite Catholics do not have their own bishop here in the U.S.
A Long-Awaited Arrival
Community members said Father Debesay’s arrival is a long-awaited moment for them and fulfills many dreams of being able to worship in their ancestral rite. The new priest will also be able to minister and offer the sacraments to those who don’t speak English, because he speaks both Tigrinya and Tigre, languages used in Eritrea.
Asmeret Tewelde, who moved to Charlotte six years ago, remembers living in Florida where no Ge’ez Rite Masses were available.
“Now that I can attend the Ge’ez Rite I can be spiritually fulfilled, and it’s important for our children because they can attend a Mass where the people look and sound like their older family members – it’s an important way to preserve the culture,” Tewelde said. “Without the Ge’ez Rite, many people of my community would face going to Mass where they couldn’t understand the Word of God. Now having our own priest, we can have more access to the sacraments. Members of the community can go to confession and receive sacraments like anointing of the sick from someone they understand.”
Teweldebrhan Haile came to Charlotte in 1991 and has worked to help build the community for his fellow Eritreans.
“I’m probably one of the happiest people here today,” he said. “It has been my goal since the beginning to see this community grow the way it is. We had many obstacles and hardships along the way, especially not knowing the culture and language, and it is a joyous day to see how far we have come.”
— Christina Lee Knauss. Photos by Troy Hull
What is the Ge’ez Rite?
Roman Catholics would find many differences in the Ge’ez Rite liturgy, which is rooted in the ancient Alexandrian Rite of Egypt – also called the Liturgy of St. Mark. (St. Mark is traditionally considered the first bishop of Alexandria.) The liturgy is celebrated in Ge’ez, an ancient court language from the period when Ethiopia first adopted Christianity. It is no longer spoken, but used exclusively for sacred liturgies.
Divine Liturgy, or Mass, typically lasts two to three hours, and congregants stand for much of the time. Because of this, traditional wooden prayer staffs are provided to support those who have trouble standing. Women and men sit on separate sides of the church, and many women cover their heads with white prayer shawls.
Prayers are chanted and sung, with the voices of men and women rising and falling in a powerful yet simultaneously calming chorus of worship. Colorful umbrellas are deployed during Holy Communion as a symbolic covering or tent over the Eucharist – a sign of respect, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and reminder of the portable shrine for the Ark of the Covenant when the Israelites were in the wilderness.
About Father Debesay
Father Michael Soloman Debesay is from Engela in Eritrea, a country in East Africa. The oldest of four siblings, he studied philosophy and four years of theology at Abune Selama Kessatie Berhan Catholic Theological Institute in Asmara, where he graduated in 2015. In 2016, he was ordained as a Ge’ez Rite priest for the Eparchy of Barentu, Eritrea. He worked as an assistant priest at Holy Cross Cathedral in the Eparchy of Barentu, where he developed spiritual programs, cared for the dying, worked with prisoners and organized a youth ministry.
Between 2016 and 2021, he served many roles in Barentu, Eritrea, including as a chaplain’s assistant in rural Christian communities and as a pastor in charge of overseeing three parishes. He spent a year working with refugees alongside Capuchin Missionaries at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Khartoum, Sudan, and then served the Ge’ez Rite community living in the Archdiocese of Juba, South Sudan. He is fluent in five languages: Kunama, Tigre, English, Arabic and Tigrinya.
