Ethiocross Blog

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH:-The Rev. Moses Haregewoyn likes to think of his congregation as the mythological phoenix that burned and then emerged anew from the ashes.

After all, the group of more than 300 Ethiopian immigrants had left their homeland, torn by civil war and a now-defunct communist rule, and started over in the United States.

The parishioners at Columbus Holy Trinity Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church leaned on one another and on the church, the one place that felt like home in a strange country.

Then, five years ago, they lost their spiritual home to a fire.

They had to rise again.

And today, the people of the church say they've not only survived, but their situation is better than before the blaze.

Dispatch religion reporter Meredith Heagney talks with the Rev. Moses Haregewoyn, pastor of Columbus Holy Trinity Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, about how his parishioners have fared since their original church burned down five years ago.

The improvements have been both practical and spiritual. The congregation has grown and now has a real church building, rather than the tiny converted warehouse that burned on May 30, 2005.

The children, born in the United States, sing in a choir and learn songs in Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia. The Sunday-school program has blossomed, now that the congregation has classrooms.

Parishioners became closer.

"People have been more nice to each other," said Aster Gola, who directs the children's choir. "They have learned that even something as devastating as fire can only change our lives for a short moment, and that you can get up from it and dust off your shoulder and try again."

Haregewoyn said the immigrants need one another. Many of them work two or three jobs to keep up with their bills, and some parents struggle with raising American-born children in a still-unfamiliar country.

Haregewoyn recently wrote a book about the population, titled Ethiopians in the Diaspora and Their Spirituality.

Between 17,000 and 20,000 Ethiopians live in central Ohio, said Seleshi Kebede, program director for Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services, a local nonprofit.

The vast majority of the Ethiopian immigrants are Orthodox Christians, though some are Protestants and Muslims and a small number are Catholics, Kebede said.

He described the population as low- to middle-income and said the seven or eight houses of worship in the area are key.

"The church plays a big role in keeping intact the roots of the people, in terms of language, tradition and history," Kebede said.

Holy Trinity parishioner Tirhas Zerihun said the church is like the "main square of a town."

"If there's a wedding, if there's some news that's breaking, like when somebody dies, they go to the church," Zerihun said.

That's why, she said, the people were so devastated when the church burned.

The building, at 1097 Camden Ave. on the North Side, is now a business again.

Firefighters never figured out what caused the fire, Haregewoyn said. The congregation didn't have insurance, but religious organizations across the region banded together to help them clean up and raise funds.

The congregation met in a tent until November 2005, then purchased the current building, at 684 Oakwood Ave. on the South Side.

The listed price was $1million, but the United Methodist Church let the congregation buy it for $300,000, Haregewoyn said. At least 70 percent of that has been paid, he said.

The church is more than 100 years old. The design is traditional, with dark wooden pews arranged in a slight arc around the altar. It can seat 550, compared with 100 in the Ethiopian congregation's first church.

The church was started in 1995 with about 25 members. At the time of the fire, the congregation numbered fewer than 200, Haregewoyn said.

Today, about half of the 320 or so members show up on Sundays, when services last from 8 to 11 a.m. Worshippers wear traditional Ethiopian clothing and play drums and dance during services.

The congregation has decorated the church with posters of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, as well as Ethiopian and American flags. Large drums sit near the altar.

On July 17, the church will host an Ethiopian festival of music and food that's expected to draw more than 2,000 people.

Haregewoyn most sees the metaphor of the phoenix rising in the young people who attend his church. They can fully integrate into American culture while still maintaining their Ethiopian heritage, he said.

"Hopefully," he added, "they will do much better than their parents."

mheagney@dispatch.com

Source:- THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH