 28 Febbraio 2021NEWSFLASH ANTIOCH- February 2021
The month of February brought some extremely cold days and rain but towards the end of the month the days were beautiful. From Antioch outwards winter slowly turns to spring. The strength of Covid-19 has also been limited
and now our region is one of the healthiest in Turkey. Drastic measures have been put in place and not yet been relaxed. Vaccination has begun in a big way and experts predict a safe summer. Our church is still closed to visitors, but we continue to celebrate every day and only on weekends, as a curfew is in place, we do it via Facebook. In addition, on Wednesdays the Neocatechumenal communities meet to study the Word of God via the internet.
This year the Orthodox Church will celebrate Easter on May 2nd and the Catholic Church of Antioch will follow this calendar. Lent will begin on March 17th. We hope that this delay will give us the opportunity to really celebrate it in the garden. There is little news because of having to live in forced "seclusion", but we are confident of having better and more active days soon!
February 4th. Today it is the Feast of St. Joseph da Leonessa (Spoleto). He was a Capuchin missionary in Turkey, (Constantinople) in the 16th century, sent to help the Christians held captive there. He tried to reach the Sultan to ask for their release. He was cruelly tortured in front of the palace: nailed to a cross by one hand and one foot to force him to renounce his faith. After 3 days, the sultan, seeing his faith, freed him and expelled him. We Capuchins of Turkey meet virtually for an hour and a half today. We have examples of courage and faith that encourage us in the face of today's difficulties.
February 7th. Four young Italians, part of a humanitarian project working with Syrian refugees in Gaziantep (200 km from Antioch) visit our church. Among them is a girl of Lebanese origin who speaks Arabic (first on the left). Another Italian, Manuel (in the foreground), after having done the spiritual exercises with the bishop, comes to visit Antioch and our church, being fascinated by it.
February 10th. The Antioch football team (Hatayspor) has been promoted to the Premier League (Super Lig) due to the good games and their being champions of Division One (First Lig) The Turkish sports channel BEIN is making a documentary about our city and they come to do an interview with Fr Domenico… both as a priest and as a fan!
February 14th. Today, Valentine's Day, is my name day. Kristofer, the son of our housekeeper, and I celebrate with flowers and the last panettone that arrived in December from San Martino in Rio.
February 15th. A Provincial Meeting of the Capuchins of Emilia-Romagna via Google. Fr. Domenico participates from Turkey.
February 21st. Sunday Mass broadcast on Facebook.
February 23rd. I received this moving letter from the United States from Can Sakirgil, a boy who grew up spiritually in our church and now lives on that continent. It is a testimony of the role of the Catholic Church of Antioch. We offer it to you.
Hello from America!
My dear father Domenico, I hope and pray that you are well and healthy. I have recently been browsing on your website http://www.anadolukatolikkilisesi.org/.
I especially read the monthly news that you have presented there since 2003. Every night after my children sleep and I look at the old news. Thanks to google translate, I can read everything from Italian into English, very easily.
My dear Padre, I tear up many times reading those news. I am coming to the strong realization that the Catholic Church in Antioch, the church you have been leading since 1987 has been the cornerstone of my faith. I was born in 1984 and sure I was baptized Orthodox. But in reality I got to learn Our Lord Jesus Christ in your church, in our church. I cannot tell you how much I miss my childhood and early adult years Padre. Every Sunday as a little kid my mother would hold my hand and bring me to church. I remember l loved coming to church. Then I grew old and I was a teenager and I frequented our church and felt close to our Lord.
Now I am far away Padre, very far from home, very far from my home church. But Lord Jesus is still in my heart and I am very thankful that you have led it in the best way in my faith journey. Thank you so much Padre Domenico! I truly love you father. You have been a wonderful teacher and father! I am very much amazed that you came to my county in 1966! You have been there a lifetime and still preaching Jesus. Thank you so much for your amazing loving heart Padre.
You have changed Antakya for the better and cultivated faith in so many souls. Church is very important in a child's life. My children now go to a good Evangelical church. It is Assemblies of God - Protestant. But it is great. They love it. My wife is a woman of faith and she teaches the teenagers there. There is a Lutheran church across my house but I have only been there once. America is full of churches. But Padre, nothing will replace the love I have to my home church -- Antakya Katolik Kilisesi. Because it is the church of my childhood.
I have an Italian neighbour from Rome. Lovely person, his wife is Romanian, their kids are friends with my kids. Whenever I see Giordano, I talk about my Catholic church in Antioch, I tell him about you, and it brings joy to him that I grew up within a church that has Italians in it. He is a lot warmer than Minnesotans, unfortunately Minnesota people can be cold. They are very nice though.
Padre, I would really like to read your life story - Ricordi. Do you happen to have an English copy? I would assume no. May I ask you to send me the Italian pdf, then I can use google translate to read it. Thank you Padre for everything you have done in our lives. Thank you so much for the website too. It has been so nice to see all the pictures. I left Antioch in 2002 for university, almost 20 years. I missed many occasions in my church, but this is life. And I still have my church in my heart. Sizi çok seviyorum, Sevgi ve saygılarımla
Can Şakırgil
February 28th. According to the Media, many restrictions should be abolished on 1st March due to Covid-19 being our region at medium risk. We hope it is the beginning of normality
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