Expansion of Assyrian church approved by local Chicago council
The Village of Skokie has approved a plan that will allow the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East to expand and build a dedicated worship space after years of waiting.
The planning board and village trustees granted both a special use permit for religious assembly and site plan approval for the project, which will relocate the congregation’s worship services from a gymnasium into a proper 6,658-square-foot church area, with seating for around 300 parishioners. The new site was a former Jewish center, the Chicago Tribune reports.
The approved plans include a 1,536-square-foot addition to the existing building, a new entrance and façade, interior remodeling, and improved landscaping. The design also includes a mezzanine, sacristy, offices, and accessibility features such as an elevator.
To support parking needs for larger services, the church will implement a shuttle service to additional spaces at the Assyrian National Council of Illinois.
The approvals mark a significant development for the Assyrian community in the Chicago area, giving Mar Sargis Parish a permanent home after years of worshipping in a gymnasium space.
Chicago and its northern suburb Skokie hold a special place in the modern Assyrian story. For decades, they have been a center of Assyrian migration, community building, and political and cultural life in the United States.
A court in Brussels has sentenced Assyrian Paulus Sati, a Chaldean Archdeacon legally known as Atheel Sati, in connection with a major organized crime case in Belgium.
Assyrian patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, has resigned from his position amid church scandals and rising criticism of his attempts at dividing the Assyrian nation.
The patriarchate of the Chaldean Catholic Church revealed in a letter made public on 22 February that church property in the diocese of Urmia in western Iran had been sold illegally by a deacon serving as the diocesan procurator.
A Vatican-ordered investigation has been launched into Assyrian bishop Emanuel Shaleta of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle of San Diego, following allegations of financial misconduct and inappropriate behavior, according to reporting by Catholic news sites.
Significant steps were taken earlier this year regarding the future for Assyrians in Turkey's Tur Abdin region as two Turkish ministers agreed to form special commissions to look into Assyrian land and property issues.
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