On Sunday, July 10, 2022, Father Bernard Poggi, rector of the Latin Patriarchal Seminary in Beit Jala  celebrated Holy Mass for the first time in Arabic at the Church of Virgin Mary, in Chicago, the USA, with the participation of a group of families who follow the Latin rite, especially from Jordan and Palestine.

In his homily which dealt with the biblical readings of the day, He said: "Lord Jesus Christ tells us in the text of today's Gospel about the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, the city that represents sin in the Bible. Although he was robbed and beaten by a group of thieves, neither the priest, who served in the temple, nor the Levite, who was supposed to keep the law, paid attention to him, although they were closely associated with this man. He pointed out that this issue is repeated with us in our daily life, whereby in moments of weakness and need, we do not find help, which is supposed to come from a relative."

He added: "This also happens to us when we are not united as a group. Sometimes we feel that our people, who are close to us, do not care about us, and do not wish us well. But today's Gospel text comes to remind us who is the relative, who is the brother and the sister. We leave our children in the land of sin, and we let them live a life far from the Lord. And when they face hardships resulting from their desires and wrong-doing, we turn away from them and leave them to die without hope."

He continued: "This is why communities are so important. These communities conveyed to us as well as the trust of faith and the culture of what is good. This is what we want for our children too. We want them to live a sincere life dedicated to faith. This is why we must be a united group. This is also the reason that the pastoral care of communities in the Diaspora is part of the mission that the Latin Patriarchate offers to you, namely Arab-American Christians in Chicago. We can present to you the faith of the fathers, the faith of the disciples, as well as the culture in which this faith grows and flourishes.

At lunch, Mr.Majdi Khalil Bader delivered an address on behalf of the present families in which he paid tribute to the Latin Patriarchate for providing  the opportunity to meet as one family under the care of the Merciful Lord in this church which bears the name of Divine Mother Mary.

 It is worthy to note that after his priestly ordination in 2014, Fr. Bernard Poggi served as chaplain to the Arab-American Catholic Community in Northern California in the United States of America for four years before returning to the Holy Land. Since then, he has assumed many duties at the Latin Patriarchal Seminary of Beit Jala, the last being his appointment as rector of the seminary.