Originally published at National Catholic Register
When Msgr. Malak Saadalla processed through the doors of Jesus the King in Perth Amboy on Sept. 21, it marked a happy occasion that had been eight years in the making: the solemn opening of New Jersey’s first Coptic Catholic church.
Flanked by rows of priests, deacons and altar servers, the monsignor walked behind His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, patriarch of Alexandria of Coptic Catholics; Coptic Bishop Pola Ayoub Matta Usama Shafik Akhnoukh, of Ismayliah, the apostolic visitor of Coptic Catholics in the United States and Canada; and Bishop James Checchio of the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.
This day also marked the beginning of a new life for an old urban church, the former St. Mary’s of Perth Amboy. Built in 1903 by Irish immigrants, it had been shuttered for nearly 10 years. This day, the organ played again. The smoke from incense rose through the sunbeams streaming through the century-old stained-glass windows. The white-marble altar was adorned with flowers and ribbons.
The former St. Mary’s of Perth Amboy, built in 1903 by Irish immigrants(Photo: Courtesy photo)
Filling the pews to capacity were nearly 500 Coptic Catholics from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and beyond. No longer would they
