ON US TOUR, ARMENIAN CHURCH LEADER VISITS SOUTHERN STATE OF LOUISIANA
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Oct 18 2007
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: The leader of the 7-million member Armenian
Orthodox Church visited a church in the southern state of Louisiana,
greeting new parishioners but making no reference to the political
dispute in the U.S. Congress over his country’s bloody past.
Karekin II spoke to Baton Rouge parishioners on Wednesday without
raising the question of whether Congress should declare that Turks
committed genocide in the killing of 1.5 million Armenians in World
War I. Armenians have urged the U.S. House of Representatives to
approve such a resolution; Turkey, an important American ally,
vehemently denies the killings amount to a genocide.
The church patriarch avoided the topic of the House vote, saying "We
are happy that the Armenian people have shaken off the difficulties
and heavy burden of genocide."
Karekin II has said he supports passage of the measure, and in
previous appearances in his monthlong tour has thanked the House
Foreign Relations Committee for approving it. His remarks Wednesday
were in Armenian, translated into English later by an aide.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday the prospects of a vote on
Armenian genocide were uncertain, after several members pulled their
support over fears of souring U.S.-Turkish relations.
Baton Rouge was Karekin II’s latest stop in a U.S. tour that included a
stop at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 10 – the day the House panel approved
the resolution declaring the killings a genocide. The church’s top
official in the U.S., Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, said the timing
was a coincidence.
"This is a pastoral journey that was planned about a year ago,"
Barsamian said.
On Tuesday, Karekin II was in New Orleans, where he helped paint a
Habitat for Humanity house being built for a musician whose home was
destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.
Much of his speech to Baton Rouge’s St. Garabed Armenian Church was
focused on faith, and on thanking the American people for welcoming
Armenians after they were driven out of their homeland.
"I’m sure my people will always be thankful to this nation," he said.
The Armenian Orthodox Church has roughly 1.5 members in the U.S.,
but only about 200 in Louisiana, most of them in New Orleans and Baton
Rouge. St. Garabed, which opened several years ago, is its only church
in the state.
Karekin II, head of the Armenian church since 1999, had an appearance
scheduled in Dallas on Thursday. His tour, to end on Nov. 1, includes
stops in Houston, Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
