Father Araia Ghiday Ghebray celebrated the 40th anniversary of his ordination earlier this year with his fellow Washington-area Ethiopian expatriates and immigrants, among whom he has served since 2007.
The native of the tiny town of Alitena in the Tigray region of Ethiopia was one of 10 children, the eldest of eight his mother bore as his father’s second wife.
Father Ghebray, 69, told the Catholic Standard that in his village and his family of farmers it was considered very prestigious to have a son become a priest, but it also suited him well. “I’m very happy to have become a priest,” he said.
Tigray is 96 percent Orthodox, with Catholics making up less than half a percent of the population. About 4 percent are Muslim.
Father Ghebray’s path to the priesthood started early in life, when he went to Adigrat Seminary School beginning with what would be middle school in the United States, and then, after high school, on to the major seminary for the Adigrat Catholic Eparchy (equivalent to a diocese in Eastern rite Catholic churches). After his ordination in March 1981, Father Gehbray served as a parish priest, including as pastor of the cathedral in Addis Ababa, before he went on to study further in Rome at the Pontifical Gregorian and Lateran Institutes. There he earned a licentiate in canon law and another in pastoral care.
In 2007, Father Ghebray came to the United States, where he served for eight years as pastor of Kidane-Mehret Ge’ez Rite Catholic Church, which serves the Ethiopian Catholic community in Washington. More recently, while living at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Parish, he has been serving as a chaplain at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and United Medical Center (formerly known as Greater Southeast Community Hospital).
“For ten months (because of COVID-19) I did not go to the hospitals,” he said. As restrictions have eased, he has resumed meeting with patients for prayer, to hear confessions and to celebrate Mass. He also sometimes celebrates Mass at Washington Hospital Center, in a rotation with other priests.
His longstanding ties with the local Ethiopian Catholic community led them to host a celebration of the 40 years of his priesthood early this summer, he said.
Though the world continues to struggle with the pandemic, even before it limited travel Father Ghebray had no plans to return any time soon to his home in Ethiopia. He explained that he has health complications that make it unwise for him to travel. However, Father Ghebray’s genes bode well for a long life. His father lived to 104, he said, and his mother to 85.
The Ghebray family still farms in Tigray, in the far north of Ethiopia. Given recent unrest there, Father Ghebray said he hopes others will join him in praying for peace to come to the region.
Father Ghebray has one sister in Seattle and a nephew is a priest in Bamako, Mali.
