At the same time, the Middle East's native Christians continue to disappear from church pews. For those who stay, life is harder. Today it is home to two nuns. Once an elegant Christian town of hand-hewn stone homes and citrus groves overlooking the Mediterranean, Damour is now a hollow ruin. Weeds sprout from bombed-out foundations.
Apartment buildings stagger from mortar fire.
One has imploded at an angle like a broken accordian. Damour suffered more than most Christian towns in Lebanon's bloody 15-year civil war that ended in 1990. It was just one of many datelines of horror that transformed the country into a television-age Armageddon. The conflict claimed 150,000 lives. Both Muslims and Christians fled Lebanon, but far more Christians left.