CS Report

The Reverend Fr. Tesfamariam Baraki is among the five priests of Archdiocese of Washington marking their 40th anniversaries in 2015

Cardinal Wuerl at center poses with four priests of the Archdiocese of Washington marking their 40th anniversaries this year. At left are Msgr. Michael Wilson, the pastor of Our Lady, Star of the Sea Parish in Solomons; and Father Tesfamariam Baraki, the Catholic chaplain of Howard University Hospital. From the right are Father Raymond O’Brien, a professor at the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America; and Father Michael Kelley, the pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish in Washington. (CS PHOTO BY JACLYN LIPPELMANN )

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CATHOLIC STANDARD (Archdiocese of Washington's news paper): "Also marking his 40^th anniversary as a priest this year, Father Tesfamariam Baraki, a native of Tigray, Ethiopia, has served as a Catholic chaplain at Howard University Hospital since 2001. He was ordained as a Cistercian priest in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1975. While studying at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, he assisted at parishes in the Archdiocese of Newark.

Later, the president of the Ethiopian bishops’ conference, Archbishop Paulos Tzadua of Addis Ababa, invited Father Baraki to serve as a missionary priest to Ethiopian Catholic immigrants and refugees living in the United States. The Ethiopian archbishop presented the priest to the Archdiocese of Washington, where then-Archbishop James Hickey appointed Father Baraki to serve as pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Kidane-Mehret) Ge’ez Rite Parish. Father Baraki served in that role from 1984 to 2000 at the parish, which brought together Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants living in the Washington area – two nationalities that had traditionally been divided. In 1985, he was appointed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ migration committee to serve as a liaison and help dioceses across the country coordinate pastoral care and ministries for Ethiopian and Eritrean Catholics.

Father Baraki, who was incardinated as a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington in 2005, earlier received the 1999 Washingtonian of the Year Award from Washingtonian magazine for his leadership and service in helping to unite the area’s Ethiopian and Eritrean communities into a parish where they worshipped together. In 2001, he received the Archbishop Silvano Tomasi Award from the Migration and Refugee Services Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees, for his service in the field of ethnic ministry. At Howard University Hospital, he has also received several awards for his service to the hospital’s Catholic patients and staff."( Mark Zimmermann, Catholic Standard, Tuesday, June 02, 2015)