Ground Breaking Ceremony for Armenian Heritage Park to Be Held on Sept. 9
The Armenian Heritage Park
1/9/2010
Karekin II, Governor Deval L. Patrick, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and Other Civic and Community Leaders to Participate
BOSTON, Mass.—The Board of the Armenian Heritage Foundation and its benefactors are pleased to invite the entire Armenian American community of Massachusetts to the ground breaking ceremony and blessing service for the Armenian Heritage Park, which will take place on Thurs., Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. on parcel 13 of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston. The ceremonial ground breaking will usher in the long awaited construction of the park, scheduled to begin this fall.
His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, will preside over the ground blessing and memorial service in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide. In addition to all Massachusetts clergy, Archbishops Khajag Barsamian, the primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern), Oshagan Choloyan, the prelate of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, and Vicken Aykazian, legate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) and past president of the National Council of Churches, will also participate.
“We are very blessed that His Holiness and so many high-ranking clergy of the Armenian Church will grace us on this historic occasion. It will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for our entire community to come together in celebration of the beginning of construction of Armenian Heritage Park,” said James M. Kalustian, the president of the Armenian Heritage Foundation.
Representative Peter Koutoujian, the honorary co-chair of the Armenian Heritage Foundation, will serve as master of ceremonies. Remarks will be offered by Deval L. Patrick, the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Thomas M. Menino, the mayor of the City of Boston. “It is appropriate that both Governor Patrick and Mayor Menino will be with for the ground breaking as they were both instrumental in helping our community secure its place on the Greenway,” offered Koutoujian.
The ceremony and services will begin promptly at 2 p.m. and will conclude by 3 p.m. Limited seating will be available, with priority given to our senior citizens. A brief reception will take place immediately following the program at Joe’s All American Restaurant along the waterfront and adjacent to Christopher Columbus Park. The public is cordially invited to attend.
The Armenian Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization with representatives from 37 Armenian American parishes and organizations within Massachusetts, was founded in 2004 to design, secure designation, and raise funds to construct and maintain the Armenian Heritage Park on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. A gift to the City of Boston and Commonwealth, the Armenian Heritage Park celebrates the immigrant experience and commemorates the lives lost during the 1915 Armenian Genocide and all genocides that have followed. Endowed funds support the park’s annual care, the reconfiguration of the sculpture, and endowed public programs, including the K. George and Carolann S. Najarian, M.D. annual lecture on human rights in partnership with the Bostonian Society.
For more information, visit www.ArmenianHeritagePark.net.
