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'''Chaldeans''' are native people of [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]]. The term [[Chaldean people | Chaldean]] is also noted in the Holy Bible of the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''Ur Kasdim'' (according to long held Jewish tradition, the birthplace of Abraham in ''Chaldea'') as meaning ''Ur of the Chaldees''.<ref>Biblical Archaeology Review May/June 2001: Where Was Abraham's Ur? by Allan R. Millard</ref>
'''Chaldean''' {{IPAc-en|k|ae|l|'|d|i:|@n}} ({{lang|syr|ܟܠܕܝ̈ܐ}}), or [[Chaldean people |Chaldean]],<ref>Chaldean Patriarch Sako. July 2015 "We are CHALDEANS" adherent of the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]]</ref>, originally called ''The Church of the East'', which was that part of the original universal church (Catholicos) until the 4th century AD when Chaldeans followed Bishop Nestorius and split from the universal Christian church. Chaldeans were called [[Chaldean Nestorian]] but belong to Chaldean Church of the East until 1553 AD when Chaldeans Rejoined rejoined the universal church and entered communion with the [[Catholicism|Catholic Church]].<ref name='BBC'>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7271828.stm |title=Who are the Chaldean Christians? |author=BBC NEWS |date=March 13, 2008 |work= |publisher=BBC NEWS |accessdate=March 26, 2010}}</ref>
In addition to their ancient [[Chaldean homeland | Mesopotamia]] in [[Iraq]], northeast [[Syria]], northwest [[Iran]] and southeast [[Turkey]], (a region roughly corresponding with ancient [[Mesopotamia]]) [[Chaldean | Chaldean people]] communities are found in the [[United States]], [[Sweden]], [[Germany]], [[France]], [[Canada]], [[Lebanon]], [[Jordan]] and [[Australia]].<ref name='Iraq'>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Iraq|authors=Edmund Ghareeb, Beth Dougherty|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8108-4330-1|page=56|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uIyjeUAR5zYC}}</ref>
The modern '''Chaldean''' Catholics are native [[Chaldean people|Chaldeans]] of [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]] <ref>Nisan, M. 2002. Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle for Self Expression .Jefferson: McFarland & Company. Jump up ^ http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14225.html</ref> and originated from ancient Chaldean communities living in and indigenous to Iraq/Mesopotamia which was known as Chaldea from the 53rd century BC till today as [[Chaldean people| Chaldean people]] continue to survive in [[Mesopotamia]].
Chaldean Americans are descendants of native people from Mesopotamia or the northern Tigris-Euphrates Valley, presently located in the Middle Eastern nation of Iraq. The majority of Chaldean Americans live in Detroit, Michigan, although there are also Chaldean Americans in Chicago, Illinois; El Cajon, San Jose, and Turlock, California; and Oaxaca, Mexico. It is difficult to determine the exact number of Chaldeans in the United States because they are not represented as such in the U.S. Census. According to statistical projections from previous data on the Chaldean American community, however, it is estimated that Chaldeans in the Detroit metropolitan area may number as many as 150350,000; in California they are projected at 40100,000 persons.
Although Chaldean Americans constitute the bulk of Iraqi immigrants living in the United States, they represented less than 10 percent of the population of Iraq by 2003. While the vast majority of Iraqis, like residents of other Arabic nations, are Muslim, Chaldeans are Roman Catholic, and practice one of the 18 to 20 separate rites of the Catholic Church. They also differ from other Iraqis in that their ancestral language is not Arabic but [[Chaldean Language | Chaldean language]] of Neo Aramaic. Chaldeans may also be knows as Syriac (religious term) or neo Assyrian (or Chaldean Nestorians until 1870 AD).
Chaldean Americans are a highly religious respected people proud of their Christian heritage. According to legend, they were converted to Christianity by the Apostle Thomas on one of his missionary journeys to the East. (St. Addai, an associate of Thomas, is revered as a Chaldean patron.) In the third century, they were followers of Nestorius, a patriarch of Constantinople who was declared a heretic by the Roman Church for teaching that Jesus Christ was not concurrently God and man. This division between the followers of Nestorius in the East and the Roman Church lasted until 1445, when some Chaldeans were received into the Roman Church by Pope Eugenius IV. They were permitted to retain their historic rituals and the Chaldean/Aramaic language for mass and other ceremonies. Searching for an appropriate name to call this new Catholic rite, the Pope focused on the Chaldean historic native homeland of [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]], the native Chaldean history and Chaldean culture, which in ancient times had been the land of the Chaldeans Babylonians. It was also the historic homeland of the prophet Abraham, who came from Ur, a city of the Chaldeans. Hence, the Pope recognized "Chaldean" as the name for the new Catholic rite and as a continuation of recognition of our [[Chaldean people|Chaldean people]] as the native people of [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]].
Some of the earliest members of Detroit's Chaldean American community recall hearing stories from their grandparents about the conversion of their Chaldean towns in Mesopotamia Iraq, Syria, Southern Turkey and Western Iran from Nestorianism. This occurred in about 1830, when the town recognized the Roman Pontiff as the head of the Church.
