A letter from Bishop Sarhad Yawsip Jammo
to the Graduate of 2007

Dear Graduates of 2007,

            Your accomplishment is one to be proud of. You have completed one chapter in your life and are beginning another. At this exciting moment in your lives, I would like to remind you that both in your past accomplishments and in your future responsibilities, you are not alone, but are members of a larger family, one which is made up of three distinct layers.

            Your first family is your physical family at home. Whether it is made up of only a handful of people or of dozens, it is firstly your family that is proud of your accomplishment, because in some way it is their accomplishment as well. They have supported and encouraged you throughout these years, and the diploma you hold is not only yours but theirs as well. Moreover, your future is not yours alone; it belongs also to your family. Not only is it right and just for you to repay the debt you owe to your household, your own fulfillment, your own happiness, is tied together with theirs. There is no isolated happiness, there is no individual fulfillment that does not include others, and the first group that shares in everything we do is our family at home.

            Your second family is your Chaldean community. Just as you are not a lonely island in life, but are an element in a larger group, so your family is also a part of a larger society. And in the same way that your family is proud of your accomplishment because it is theirs as well, so also is the whole Chaldean community proud of you – from the Church, which is the soul of the Chaldean community, to every social institution. When an individual Chaldean accomplishes what you have accomplished, the whole community is raised up and ennobled in you. But, similar to the responsibility you all have toward your family, you are also responsible for giving back to the Chaldean community at large. Not only because it is a part of who you are, but also because you are a part of it, and your community needs you.

            Your third family is society at large, of which the Chaldean community is a part. Through our family we are connected to our Chaldean community, and through our Chaldean community we are connected both to American society and to the Chaldean nation throughout the world. This is an enriching but challenging reality. It is a challenge to share in the American dream as well as to reach out to all of our brothers and sisters who are suffering in our homeland Iraq. But the fact is that we cannot choose one or the other. We cannot be good Americans unless we retain our Chaldean heritage and thus enrich American society with it, and we cannot be good Chaldeans unless we are responsible citizens of this land. It is when we embrace both that we fulfill both.

            Your graduation is a time to reflect upon who you are as an individual, but this really means to reflect upon how you can turn to others and share your gifts with them – first in your own home, then with your Chaldean community, and finally with the entire world. This is quite a responsibility, but one which will perfect your personality and make you the person that God created you to be, through the grace of his Son Jesus Christ.

            We offer our congratulations to all the graduates of 2007 and to their families, as well as our prayers and blessings as they begin a new phase in their life.

+Your Bishop, Sarhad Yawsip Jammo

Fr. Michael J. Bazzi                 Fr. Sabri A. Kejbo                   Fr. Felix Shabi

Fr. Andrew Younan                 Fr. Polis Khammi