Source: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/sinodo/documents/bollettino_24_speciale-medio-oriente-2010/02_inglese/b10_02.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 22:43:42+00:00

Document:
At 9:00 today Tuesday 14 October 2010, memorial of St. Callistus I, pope and martyr, in the presence of the Holy Father, with the Hour of Terce, the Sixth General Congregation began, to continue the interventions by the Synodal Fathers in the Hall on the Synodal theme The Catholic Church in the Middle East:Communion and Witness. "Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul" (Acts 4:32).
At the opening of the General Congregation, the Secretary General announced the composition of the Commission for Information.
H. Em. Card. Roger Marie Elie ETCHEGARAY, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace took part in the works.
The Acting President Delegate H.B. Ignace Youssef III YOUNAN, Patriarch of Antioch of Syrians (Lebanon).
At this General Congregation,which ended at 12.30.with the prayer Angelus Domini, 167 Fathers were present.
The Church breathes with two lungs, John Paul II wrote: the Eastern and the Latin Catholic Churches. These two traditions met in a joyful way in the East.
The Latin Church of the East is not Western, even it includes many westerners. An Arabic Christian who belongs to this Church feels 100% Eastern and 100% of Latin Rite.
Most of the liturgical books on the Latin Liturgy have been translated into Arabic.
The liturgical songs went from the phase of imitation to the phase of creativity. In the first phase, our ancestors borrowed from Gregorian chant, from the repertoires of European chants and the Syrian Maronite liturgy. In the second phase we became creative. Our musicians, knowing the genius of the Latin liturgy with regards to precision, concision and clarity, composed valuable chants. They even mixed the Gregorian tradition with Eastern music, for example, in the chanting of the psalms.
Throughout Latin liturgy, our faithful feel bound to the great Church that uses this rite on a world scale. When they travel or emigrate, they find it easy to insert themselves in the country and in the welcoming parishes. And, the pilgrims that visit the Holy Land and participate in our Sunday liturgy recognize their own liturgy in it and find it easy and joyful to participate in.
This liturgy is for us a place, par excellence, for catechesis and sanctification. During the recent periods, we rejoiced over the beatification of two Palestinian religious women: a Carmelite and the founder of the Sisters of the Rosary.
Despite what has been achieved in liturgical matters, there is a need for a long and thoughtful inculturation especially as regards the sacrament of marriage and the rites of baptism and funerals. This inculturation must respect the Latin geni and the Eastern culture.
We truly hope for the unification of the Easter holiday with the Orthodox Churches. This implies also the unification of the period of Lent and, why not, also the way of living abstinence and fasting. Just as fasting is a respected aspect of Islam and Judaism, we hope that Catholics of the Eastern and Latin Rites unify their way of fasting. This would be a positive sign for Christians and also for non-Christians.
The mission of evangelization and sanctification requires liturgy. The Latin liturgy in the Middle East has a role to play in complete respect with the Eastern liturgies which are noteworthy also, with the catechization and sanctification of their faithful.
Muslims repeat to those who wish to listen: “ Islam is the religion of tolerance”. And they base this slogan on the famous phrase from the Koran: “There shall be no coercion in matters of faith” (2, 256). On one hand and in principle, the assertion of tolerance is clear in the Koran. On the other hand, and in fact, the laws of all the Arab countries, except for Lebanon where one is allowed to change religion, threaten death to all Muslims who convert to another religion. We ask here: where can tolerance be found? How to reconcile tolerance as the clear principle in the Koran with the threat of death to those who dare to think about changing religion?
This law which threatens death is based, it is said, on a supposed “hadith” of the Prophet Mohammed saying: “Whoever changes his religion, kill him”.
How can we get around this? The only way, it seems to me, is dialogue with enlightened Muslims to see the need to interpret Muslim laws in their historical context, and to show that this “hadith”, either does not come from the Prophet, but from a “Khalife” who, at the time of the Muslim conquests, invented this “hadith” to protect Muslim society, or, if it comes from the Prophet, it should be interpreted in its historical context. And the principle of tolerance clearly stated in the Koran must go through all established laws which ensued for historical reasons. Today’s Muslim society has nothing to fear from the passage of some Muslims to Christianity. The first principle of all societies is the equality of all citizens before the law. The respect for the conscience of each individual is the sign of the recognition of the dignity of the human being.
The XXIst century began unfortunately by being the century of the conflict of civilizations. It is our duty, Christians and Muslims, to work together to transform it into a century of cooperation of civilizations to promote human rights and universal peace in the whole world.
The word “Truth” in Arabic “haqq” means also “Law” (what is a duty). Is this not a significant coincidence that there is a very close amalgam between “Truth” and “Justice”?
For the past 2000 years, and especially during the last 14 centuries, the Christians having become a minority in their own lands were harshly tested in their witness of faith, to the point of martyrdom.
Our beloved Savior, before his last offering, defended the Truth, synonym of the unalienable right of a person to freedom, all while proclaiming His salvation for all, even to those who opposed His message of ineffable and universal love.
Our salvation lies in adhering courageously to His message, and, to proclaim, without fear the Truth in true charity.
Our faithful, who have the right to hope in this tormented Middle Eastend region, expect a great deal from this Synod. It is up to us to give them reasons for their faith, inseparable from Hope in our beloved Lord who assures us: “Do not fear, little flock”.
In living faith like this of one heart and one soul, we will learn how to bear witness together and with courage to He who said “I am the Truth and Life”. Only Truth can free us.
In modern as in ancient times, Christians in the Middle East face tribulation, for they are a vulnerable minority. Such a status does not give a natural reason for hope. The first Christians were sustained in their struggles, and ultimately flourished, because of a hope that was nourished by the vision of faith which we see in the Apocalypse, and by the loving communion found in St Paul, through which Christians of newer communities assisted the Christians of Jerusalem, homeland of the faith for them, as the whole Middle East is for us. Those two sources of life-giving hope need to be explored in today's situation.
As aptly underlined by the Instrumentum Laboris (no. 67) and by the Relation (p.12), means of communication, traditional and new ones, offer a great opportunity for evangelization and the spreading of the values of the Gospel; especially among young people who are perhaps not assiduous churchgoers, but who increasingly use these means and communicate among themselves through the networks.
I wish to underline, though, that we are talking not just about instruments but about a real culture created by a communicative complexity that has never before been seen in history.
I will take an example. The Churches in the East have a centuries-old iconic tradition, an admirable capacity for creating a language through images. This is not just the fruit of a spirituality but it is reinforced by and generates a culture as well, a school of life and thought that forms part of the common identity of so many local Churches and society.
Modern-day culture creates and feeds new languages and ways of thought. It pervades mentalities, ways of understanding, ways of learning, topics on which to dialogue. We cannot therefore answer the challenges of today and tomorrow with the solutions of yesterday. We cannot continue to speak in our categories to a population that is increasingly distant from them. For the love of our peoples, we have to make a pastoral conversion, learn again how to listen and communicate, which does not mean running after the latest technology but understanding the categories of the other and using them.
This “digital” culture is marked by its immediacy, by its fast sequence of images, music, by brief concise text. The spoken form too has changed, and words alone are no longer sufficient. Books and the press will not disappear, nor will the simple parish bulletin, but these are no longer enough.
Digital culture is also present in the various nations of the Middle East and the local Churches through TV, radio, cinema, websites and social networks. All this media space has an impact on daily life: it shapes values, choices, opinions and questions, what a person thinks, and it affects Christians too... sometimes with a force that is much more incisive than that of the catechists, the priest in his sermon, the bishop. It is no coincidence the Holy Father has invited us to be present, to exercise a diakonia of this culture, offering the message of Christ in today’s languages, digital and traditional, real and virtual, announcing the mercy of God, listening to the other, love for our enemies, welcome and respect for every human being, in particular, the weak. Diakonia, service to people in their culture.
This is also possible in dialogue with non-believers with so many who are in search of God, opening - as Pope Benedict invited us - “the courtyards of the Gentiles”, that is, of spaces for dialogue and listening for those who have questions and are searching. The media surprises the world with the quantity of books, films, websites, etc that have to do with religion, the search for the transcendent and for spirituality, the search for justice and peace. The Church has to listen, walk with this humility and offer the precious treasure of the Gospel. But it has to seek to do so in the categories that are used today.
So, as indicated in the Relatio, the formation of pastoral agents is necessary. Obviously of lay people and journalists but not only. The formation of seminarians is urgent, not so much as regards technology, which they are better at managing than we are, but as regards communication, communion in this rapidly developing culture. Without priests - and then without bishops - who understand modern culture, there will still be a communications divide which will not favor the transmission of the faith to the young in the Church. It is not sufficient to build websites: what is needed is a presence that is able to create authentic means of communication, that opens “places” where people can gather to testify to their faith in respect of the other. Obviously this does not mean overlooking personal meeting and physical community life; these are not alternative actions. They are both now indispensable for extending God’s kingdom.
- Many of the people have emigrated to the USA in the late 19th Century through the early 20th Century. We have lost many of those people due to the lack of pastors.
- Unfortunately, there is a group who severs all ties with the Middle East.
- There is also a group of people who don't have any blood connection to the Middle East but feel attracted to the Eastern liturgies and their beauty.
- The lobbying effort shall not be restricted to our faithful in the Eastern Churches, but would gather more support and definitely a better impact when the Roman Catholic Church joins forces.
- It would be beneficial to work together with the Orthodox and Protestant Churches abroad in finding ways to support our brothers and sisters in the Middle East.
- It would be a great initiative to have on a yearly basis a Worldwide Weekend Awareness about the Christians in the Middle East to be conducted in all the Churches.
- Many of our people support their relatives. It would be beneficial to create some type of funds to help create jobs and opportunities.
I hope this Synod will bear good fruits pleasing to our loving God. We commit ourselves to pray more and work harder for the sake of Christianity in the Middle East.
1. “The Catholic Church holds in high esteem the institutions... of the Eastern Churches, for in them, distinguished as they are for their venerable antiquity, there remains conspicuous the tradition that has been handed down from the Apostles through the Fathers and that forms part of the divinely revealed and undivided heritage of the universal Church. (Preamble of the Decree on the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite). “This tradition is to be attributed to Divine Providence”.
2. The Patriarchal Churches are at the first level. The Western Churches drew from their liturgical, spiritual, juridical and dogmatic treasures (DOE no. 14). The Patriarchal institution is the traditional form in Eastern Churches. (EO, no. 11). Patriarchs with their Synod are the superior instance for all patriarchal activities (EO, no. 9). To develop this global patrimony to conserve the fullness of Christian Tradition is to be recommended (DOE, no. 15).3. Who says emigration, says Diaspora. Some Patriarchal Churches have diaspora that count many more faithful than those on their own territories. Pope John Paul II asks to maintain and intensify the relationships between the Catholic communities of the diaspora and the different patriarchates. In fact, a local community cannot live cut off from its center of unity (New Hope..., No. 89). In the same Exhortation, the Pope speaks about the “historical roots of a religious nature that are part of the national identity” (1) and emphasizes their “prophetic character” (21).
4. The Orthodox Churches rejoice more in the powers in all affairs of their patriarchate. From an ecumenical perspective, to not give the Eastern Catholic Churches more legal powers constitutes a risk in seeing them disappear one day. To not plan for the future is to condemn oneself to failure. Life in its own way punishes the tardy ones. On the other hand, should these same Churches have greater jurisdiction, would this not be a stimulant to promoting the unity of Churches?
Finally, should the Catholic Church not give more jurisdictional powers to the Patriarchs of the “sui iuris” Churches for the good of all the Catholic and Orthodox Churches?
The Word of God, so dear to our Father Saint Francis, is the place for meeting face to face with Christ. It is there, in meditation and contemplation, that I join He who is “my Lord and my God”. He who reveals Himself to me and reveals myself to me and invites me to become “the new man”, which Saint Paul spoke to us about in his letters. This is coming into communion with God the Creator and Savior.
Unfortunately, our Christians do not know Christ and His Gospel well. They often use the wrong words to speak about God, and concepts filled with other beliefs. The examples of this are many and all converge on the same idea: we have false images of God. Therefore it is a fundamental issue to return to the Word of God. Because our whole life depends upon, whether we want this or not, our concept of God.
And if God is relationship and communion in Himself, our divisions become the source of doubts, suffering and the faithful cannot but distance themselves from a Church that refuses within itself, forgiveness, reconciliation and communion.
Is it not time to walk together for the good of the People of God that are entrusted to us? What would it cost us to co-ordinate our efforts? Would it not be possible to also create indicatives common with our Orthodox brothers? Like for example, ‘Middle Eastern’ common initiatives for the young on the model of the WYD? Only when they feel that the Church embraces and encourages them through the Pastors will they be able to be witnesses that God expects them to be.
Therefore, this is not a question of speaking about our Christians but about ourselves: up to what point are we willing to take the risk of the Gospel which invites us to love our enemies (who are our brothers)? The risk of Reconciliation and Communion anticipated with our Orthodox brothers and those from the Reformed Churches?
“Have no fear”, Christ repeats and this Synod does so as well, “for I am with you until the end of the world”.
The ancient and glorious Assyrian-Chaldean Church was, in the early centuries and until the establishment of the Islamic Ummah, a great evangelizer. Our heartfelt desire is that Christians should be strengthened to become witnesses to the Resurrection of the Lord. Their testimony and presence will also be a service for non-Christians.
For this reason we need today to re-evangelize our Christians and, above all, those who no longer take part in the life of the Church.
The statistics, whatever they might say about the quality of faith, give a maximum Sunday Mass attendance of 20%. Many young people no longer partake of the Sacraments or do so only perfunctorily. This already seems to be a sign that is calling us to take action before it is too late. We need to return to an explicit announcement in the ways that the Lord is showing to be valid for modern times, followed, necessarily, by a permanent formation.
To renew the faith of Christians and ensure their lives and joy are contagious, we need our communities to show the signs of faith already indicated by Jesus: “You must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognize you as my disciples”. This love can appear in a concrete way through a new evangelization that creates communities that are suited to men, united not only by their ethnicity, but above all by the Word that is heard and accepted.
One important aspect, not dealt with very much in the document, is the mission of the Church in the new ecclesial realities. After the Council we will witness a flowering of charisms, fruits of the Holy Spirit, as the Church has recognized.
When we talk about monks, the Western world looks to the East. The Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” wrote an article last year on November 26th, 2009, about a Colombian brother Dario Escobar who has been living the Maronite monastic life for the past nine years in the convent of Our Lady of Houqa in the Canoubine Valley in Lebanon, which is connected to the local Lebanese congregation.
The world is in need of witness.
The Maronite Church is commemorating this year 1600 years since the death of Saint Maroun who was a monk and the patron of the Maronite Church. I suggest reviving the monastic life, the monastic and religious life in our Eastern Catholic Churches like the Orthodox Churches. This life renews the Church and forms a witness. It gives a trust for the Eastern Christians where they are partners in this East and provides vocations not only from the Middle East but also from the Diaspora.
The existence of religious persons and monks preserves Christians in their homelands and renews the Eastern Christian expansion throughout the world, it brings back its roots which are Eastern spiritual roots.I suggest forming a committee to go deeper into this issue and to make the Canoubine Valley in Lebanon not only a phase of ascetic history but also part of the present. This can be done through either founding a new Patriarchal congregation or by giving space in this Valley for all Catholic congregations to live “communion and witness”. Thus we will be like Mary who chose the better part.
The Instrumentum laboris barely mentioned the role of laity in the church and their relationship with the clergy and the bishops.
In the Maronite Church, the lay persons have always participated in the life of the church through the means of Marian brotherhoods.
At the same time, the laity was always entrusted with the management of the material goods and properties of the church; others, ordained as deacon assistants helped with the relations with civil authorities.
New movements were born, inspired by these foundations in the West. Some were inculturated in the Eastern Churches, and others not yet.
The World Youth Days gave birth to groups and commissions for youth in the dioceses.
A Congress of lay persons was held in 1997 in Lebanon, convoked by the Prefect of the Apostolate for the Laity in Rome. Another is being prepared today by decision of the Eastern Catholic Patriarchs.
In the Muslim tradition, the Gulf is the land sacred to the Prophet of Islam, Mohammed, and no other religion should exist there. How can we live this affirmation with the reality of our Churches in the Gulf where there are approximately three million Catholics? They come from Asia and other regions. The reality of their presence, which cannot be overlooked, questions the Muslim assertion. We cannot diminish our assistance to these faithful to only the celebration of Sunday Mass, or even daily Mass, and our homilies.
We must recover the missionary aspect of the church. In fact, a Church that does not have a missionary spirit and which turns in on itself, on its own devotions and traditions, is destined to live a life that is not the life “in abundance” wanted by the Lord. In this, the Latin missionary congregations play a very important role.
To gather the charisms, the new ecclesial realities recognized by the Holy See, although often judged as suitable only for the Latin Church and little or not at all for the Eastern Churches, is urgent.
It is important to form Christians of our Churches in a truly Catholic and universal spirit, capable of breaking the shackles of provincialism (even religious), of nationalism (ethnocentric) and racism (latent).
I would like to assure the Beatitudes the Patriarchs and all our fellow bishops that in the Gulf region we are doing everything in our power and that, if they themselves were there, they could not do more.
We ask our Muslim brothers to give us the space to be able to pray properly.
The Franciscan Friars Minor came to Libya in 1628 in order assist the many Christian slaves who were captured in battle, and have remained there ever since. Today this Franciscan presence is expressed by two Apostolic Vicariates: Tripoli and Benghazi.
Our two cathedral churches are the center of an intense pastoral ministry and humanitarian outreach to the thousands of Christian who come to live and settle here for several years.
The first immigrants to reach Libya, arrived here from the Kurdistan in 1975. The church was instrumental in giving assistance to many Kurdish Christian families who eventually re-emigrated and settled in other countries.
During the 1990s, the country opened its doors to welcome immigrants from the Middle East. In fact, thousands of Christians from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and from Iraq arrived and settled in both the Tripoli and Benghazi regions, and, together with their families, led a normal, industrious life.
These Christian immigrants, were consoled to find the Catholic Church in Libya, which included also several nuns from their homeland. Here they were organized into personal parishes according to their language group. Even though belonging to other rites, they adapted themselves quite well to the Latin rite peculiar to our church.
Although these immigrants found in Libya a real haven of peace and security, (for which they will be eternally grateful), yet their dream lay in the hope of “a promised land” for which they longed and prayed.
In fact, little by little, during the last 10 years, most of the original immigrants from the Middle East have left Libya, after succeeding to find a second homeland wherein to settle permanently together with their families.
The church in Libya is grate ful for having been instrumental in the hands of Divine Providence in ministering to these brethren in their hour of need.
- Despite the clarity of Article 9 of the Constitution, freedom of religions and conscience still belongs to the 18 historically recognized communities, by decision 60 LR of 1936 (12 Christian, 4 Muslim, one Druze and one Jewish). All those not part of these find themselves excluded from all rights to practice their liberties.
- Any attempt marked by proselytism by one or the other communities can cause extreme and sometimes violent reactions.
- All conversion is perceived as a deep attempt on the community of origin of the person converting and constitutes a major social break of the converted person with his neighbors.
- Inter-community dialogue is still infrequent, and sometimes refutes simple formal and occasional contact.
In fact since Vatican II, the Church tries to find a regulating matrix between the Truth of the Word and the values of freedom. The means used in this sense remain the actions undertaken by the institutions of the Churches in Lebanon, especially those that educate and dispense social and humanitarian actions.
Education and assisting others being the cornerstone of all reinforcing of freedom of religion and conscience.
To promote and strengthen these two parameters will be the challenge that our Churches will have to face, because all dialogue and all freedom cannot exist unless the intellectual bases it on the basic and the reflex; freedom of religion and conscience cannot proliferate unless in an educated atmosphere and without great social and financial disparities.
Every person, in the primitive church, was willing to be a live member in the sacramental body of Christ interacting with all, to be a saint and to be ready to sacrifice everything to accomplish the full holiness.
Our Lord and God tells us: “Do not be afraid, little flock”,(Lk 12:32), I am with you all the days and forever, the doors of evil will not be able to stop you from achieving perfection and holiness.
Our Lord and God is with us always, and with Him we will be victorious over everything through love. Knowing that love hurts, love kills... But love revives and love alone can conquer all.
Yes indeed, love is the key for salvation. But there is no true love without true holiness. Let us be saints because our heavenly Father is Holy. Holiness is the solution. Yes, the sanctified love is the solution.
The Near East was in great part Christian. Christ had left a message. Christianity was persecuted. With the Council of Nicea, the long series of excommunications began: Arius, Nestorius, Eutyches, Photius. The rupture was achieved in 1054. The legate of the Pope excommunicates the Patriarch Michel Cérullaire. And he in turn excommunicates the Pope. Christianity is jostled about by invasions by the Persians, the Arabs, the Mongols, the Ottomans. The Islamic fighters begin their conquest of the world. All of Syria is theirs. Then they conquered Egypt. The yoke of the Byzantine Empire had been so heavy that the invaders were welcomed with relief. To finance “the Jihad”, Christians were taxed with “la jizya”, the high burden of this inciting thousands of them to opt for the conquering religion.
In fact, the real situation varies according to the eras and the personalities of the leaders. Evil had been done, even if the Christians and Muslims continued to work to save threatened tolerance and democracy.
John Paul II said: “At the threshold of the third millennium, Christianity is still well anchored in the Near East”.
For clerical reasons, I must speak to you about Eastern Canon Law and thus also about the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches. I do so willingly, also in the wake of the recent Conference (8-9 October), which commemorated 20 years since the publication of this Code. The Conference registered the presence of 400 participants and for that reason has given visibility, and above all honor, not only to Eastern Canon Law, but also, and especially, to the venerable Eastern Churches, all represented here.
I. I would like, now, to bring your attention to some elements that come from the Eastern Code and to which the Instrumentum laboris, even without ever citing the Canons of the Code, echoes perfectly. Referring to the title of this Synod: “communion and witness”, I find in the Eastern Code a set of rules that are intended to promote unity among the Churches sui iuris and even with the non-Catholic Churches. I will give some examples.
1) In the same country or region, in the opinion of the Apostolic See, assemblies may be set up of hierarchs from different Churches sui iuris, including Latin, also with the participation of the hierarchs from non-Catholic Churches. These assemblies are designed to facilitate the exchange of prudence and experience, as well as exchanging pastoral views. All this leads to the union of forces for the common good of the Churches (cf. can. 202; CCEO 322 - 447 - 459 CIC).
2) One may initiate a communal project for the formation of clergy, or erect a major seminary for different Churches sui iuris of the same region or country, or even admit to the major or minor seminaries students of other Churches sui iuris, provided in each case the traditions of their own rite are observed (can. 330 §2; 332 §2; 333; 343 CCEO - 242,237 CIC). 3) For an united pastoral action the Eparch may invite the faithful of other Churches sui iuris to participate in the eparchial assembly (including in the pastoral council - can. 273 §3 CCEO - 512 §2 CIC), or, as observers, the faithful belonging to Churches and non-Catholic communities (can. 238 §§ 2,3 CCEO - 463 §§2, 3 CIC).
(can. 192 §l; 193; 246; 280 §l; 916 §5 CCEO - 383,518 ClC).
5) In inter-confessional (ecumenical) relationships the whole Church is urged, that is all of the faithful, especially Pastors, to commit themselves to the unity of Christians (can. 902, 903 CCEO), thus it requires, in particular, that in Catholic catechesis the correct image of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities is presented (can. 625 CCEO). Each Church sui iuris must promote ecumenical initiatives in open, trusting dialogue and through joint initiatives with other Christians (can. 904, 905 CCEO). Indeed, if it is convenient and useful, one may publish Sacred Scripture in collaboration with other Christians (can. 655 § l CCEO - 825 § 2 CIC). One should, further, encourage with caution dialogue and cooperation with non-Christians and one must try to provide them with Sacred Scripture with the appropriate footnotes (can. 592 §2; 655 §2 CCEO - 787 § l CIC).
II. Other issues of current importance, which touch on several points from both the Instrumentum laboris and the Relatio ante disceptationem, are, for example, as follows.
1) The individual Churches, and all the faithful in them, must promote social justice (can. 25 §2 CCEO - 222 §2 CIC) and work for the resolution of social problems in the light of the Gospel (can. 601 CCEO); the preachers of the Word of God are required to teach about human dignity and fundamental rights, about a sense of justice and peace and about the need to implement them in our world (can. 616 §2 CCEO - 768 §2 CIC).
2) The faithful must commit themselves so that the right to religious freedom and that of freedom of education are recognized by civil society (can. 627§ 3; 586 CCEO -793, 748 §2 CIC) and to work so that education is extended to all people (can. 630 § 1 CCEO); Catholic schools and Catholic universities must concern themselves with the integral formation of the human being so that students esteem human and moral values, in the light of faith, and thus may cultivate justice, social responsibility and fraternal relations (can. 629; 634 §§1, 3; 641 CCEO-795 ClC).
3) Lay people are expected to know the heritage of their Church to promote unity of action among the laity of the various Churches sui iuris for the common good of society (can. 405 CCEO) and to give witness to Christ in dealing with temporal things, even in socio-political life by proposing just laws in society (can. 401 CCEO - 225 §2 CIC).
4) To preach the Gospel to the world the Church must assert its right to use the instruments of social communication; the faithful specialized in social communication are obliged to collaborate, support and promote this mission of the Church (can. 651; 652 § 1 CCEO - 761, 822 § §2, 3 CIC). The particular law of individual Churches sui iuris may establish the rules for the use of social communications (can. 653 CCEO - 831 §2 CIC).
The ecumenical question in the Middle East in general, and in the Holy Land in particular, has become one of the most important challenges for the Church from the grass roots up. We have 13 mainline Churches in Jerusalem and their traditions and memories are more hardened than anywhere else in the world, and their physical and psychological boundaries are very clearly drawn . The scandal of our divisions is often broadcast live worldwide, especially when conflicts flair up in the Holy Sepulcher on Good Friday or in the Church of the Nativity on Christmas morning, while the international media is watching.
1) Our identity as Christians will always be lacking unless we earnestly strive to bring forward the ecumenical agenda.
2) Communion within each of our Churches and among them is a prerequisite for meeting our sister Churches and other Christian communities and cultivating and authentic ecumenical spirit.
3) Witness cannot be authentically carried out without our Churches being together and working together. Meeting the ecumenical challenge is not for us an option but an absolute necessity.
1) I wish to urge our Churches to take the necessary steps to save the Middle East Council of Churches as it seems to be on the verge of collapse. It is the only umbrella under which all our Churches come together. This will be a great loss for the ecumenical cause.
2) Give the ecumenical agenda greater importance at the local level according to the circumstances of each and every diocese, parish or community.
3) Institutions and organizations are important but unless we cultivate the ecumenical spirit in and among our people, as described above, institutions and organizations will remain totally dead. Ecumenical formation is a must at all levels and particularly in the seminaries and houses of formation.
Finally I am fully convinced that attempting to meet the ecumenical challenge will be one of the yardsticks with which the success and failure of this synod will be measured . Being together and working together as Churches is a vital condition for an effective Christian presence in the Holy Land and in the Middle East at large.
With reference to numbers 43 to 48 of chapter 4 regarding the topic of “Emigration”, it is very important to consider: What will the future of this phenomenon of the exodus of thousands of families and persons to other countries be ? In emigration countries we are already in the third or fourth generation. It is a great human potential of the Middle East that is especially lost to the countries of origin, especially the Holy Land. From the religious point of view: What can a few Bishops or Apostolic Exarchs and a limited number of priests do when faced by a sea of Emigrants settled in new countries?
- Help by the Holy See and Heads of Government of the region of the Middle East to create an atmosphere of pacification and justice so that various families return to their countries of origin, especially those who have left their land starting from the second half of the past century.
- We, the Emigrants of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and allow me to say it, Egypt, will always love and be close to our land of origin: there are numerous men and women who could give a scientific , economic and religious impulse as they are doing in the countries that have welcomed us with open arms and with generosity.
- Local Churches of the Latin rite have greatly helped our children in several countries. I think that the time to get more organized has arrived, to coordinate our efforts as Eastern Catholics, in order to preserve our liturgies and traditions working in a climate of Ecumenicalism with our non-Catholic historical Orthodox brothers and different t historical Churches, by helping, this way, the Universal Church from which we all belong to face the strong challenge of the sects and some of the mass media financed by the international anticlerical power.
- The Oriental Church in the Emigration countries, especially in the New World, can enrich with its liturgy, the theological and patristic vision of the West. Some Episcopal Conferences, aware of the role of these Churches, have supported their claim in order to preserve its Apostolic property.
In the first place, I wish to underline that the Eastern Christians have difficulties in surviving in several of their countries, the Eastern immigrants of my eparchy do not have any less, but their problems are different. For example, even after 30 years, immigrants are often torn, and even “crucified” between two worlds: their countries of origin and host countries. Immigration is not always a relaxing trip.
The great difficulty that the Eastern Christians experience is that their life of faith, their traditions, their customs, their heritage and their history are threatened by an aggressive secularism and by a practical atheism that are the essence of the new society in which they live. Because of this danger, many experience a second immigration that could be “final”, that can make a complete break with the already mentioned values.
On the other hand, our Church lives with the same pressures as the Western Church that is faced with a premeditated attack and sometimes by laws that take away important religious symbols. We have heard a lot about the persecutions in the East, and I believe that a persecution of another kind has already begun and is experienced by the Christians in the West. But the Church remains firm and continues to keep the Gospel Hope.
Another problem for Eastern Christian immigrants is the easy solution, due to the vast distances between their residence and their place of worship. Because of this, they go to the closest place of Catholic worship. We are a small minority that can be assimilated by the great majority.
From another point of view, the Christians of the Middle East who decide to leave their homelands to avoid co-existence with other religions, do not know that in the West the need for co-existence is even stronger. The West becomes more and more diversified and is transforming, because of immigration, into an environment that welcomes all ethnic backgrounds, cultures and religions.
Moreover, it is true that immigration by Eastern Christians should not be encouraged and rather they should be helped in finding their roots in their own countries. Our presence in the East is not by coincidence but rather it is a presence according to the Will of God who chose it and sanctified it by His presence. The Christians of the East should be attached to their land with all their forces, and defend it “tooth and nail”.
But at the same time, we must not forget that immigration is an inalienable right justified according to the principles of respect for personal liberty and human dignity: principles that the Church defends persistently. I believe we should do all we can to strengthen the presence of Christians in the East before telling them not to emigrate. Without going into further detail, I can say that the Christians who have emigrated are sometimes an essential help to the Christians who stayed. In certain cases, immigration by a person is even necessary for the good of the family and relatives. Khalil Gibran said, with reason: “The entire earth is my homeland and the human family is my clan”. Of course this is an ideal that is not easily achieved.
First of all, I would like to present my thanks and my gratitude for all those who prepared this interesting text and gave us the Instrumentum laboris. This Synod plants hope in us and gives us strength and helps us to move forward, despite the difficulties, and not to despair and not to make compromises in the face of daily difficulties, and in this way we will give a living and Christian witness. As mentioned in the Instrumentum laboris, this (witness) is a martyr and in many countries in the Middle East the Christian lives this martyrdom and has to bear all sorts of calamities without denying his faith. And the Christians from their earliest days were persecuted and history is the greatest witness to this. Despite all the disasters and persecution, the Christians kept their deposit of faith with complete fidelity and sincerity. The Chaldean Church in particular was persecuted and offered thousands and thousands of her children on the altar of fidelity and love for Christ and therefore it was properly named the Church of Martyrs, and it continued emigrating from city to city, from country to country, up to today, and didn’t abandon anything of her true faith, irrigated with the blood of these martyrs and saints which conserves, strengthens and confirms her. And today I can repeat with the Prophet David: for you everyday we are slaughtered, the Christian bears his cross every day and continues as on the road to Golgotha and gives living and silent witness, and this silent witness is a loud shout which echoes and this echo is heard by all those of good will; the Christian hears every day from loudspeakers, television, newspapers and magazines that he is an infidel and he is treated as a second-class citizen, but he stands firm and solid and doesn’t change his faith but becomes more courageous and proud of his faith.
The emigration issue: this has been a problem for over 100 years, not only in the Middle East but also from all the Asian, African and South American countries and everyone has their own particular reasons, because every human being has the right to live wherever he wants and the reasons for emigration are political, economic or to do with well-being and a better future that is more prosperous and serene. A lot of people are asking: what is the benefit of this Synod and what will be done for the Middle Eastern Christians? It is true that we cannot perform miracles quickly, but at least the Synod gives hope. And the Christian will not feel alone but that all the Catholic Churches in the world care for him because he is an active and holy member in the body of the whole Church.
The Church in Iran: We see that the Church feels the responsibility more seriously when she faces difficulties and despite these trials and tribulations and occasional lack of respect we see the Church grow and prosper. Yes, there is a strong decrease in the number of Christians, especially Catholics, but on the other hand we see the religious and priestly vocations increasing among the citizens of this country.
The late Papal Nuncio in Iran, Bugnini, wrote a book in 1979, entitled “The Church in Iran” and described all the Catholic Church does through Christian, human, and cultural services, and there was only one house for the elderly and disabled. But now we have four, which provide services free to these persons from all the Christian denominations without discrimination based on their ecclesial or national identities.
In 1979, there were only 51 priests of whom only one was Iranian and two had been granted Iranian citizenship. There were 73 nuns of whom two were Iranians, and the majority of priests and nuns were working in the teaching field.
But now, after the Islamic revolution, the Church faced her biggest crisis for priests and nuns; we can see that the Holy Spirit didn’t leave the Church to face this difficulty alone, but He inspired in the Church’s children’s hearts a feeling of profound responsibility towards their faith and their Church. And despite the continuous emigration and the small number of Catholics we see today vocations increase and the Church, in Iran, like a tree, has new leaves and bears fruit. We have 14 priests, 6 of them are Iranians and another two serve the Church outside their country, we have 4 bishops who are not Iranians, we have 21 nuns of whom 15 are Iranians, two of them work outside Iran, three of them are finishing their university studies and there are 10 of them serving their Church and country according to their vocation, and we ask God to increase these vocations.
I thank His Holiness who expressed his paternal care for the whole Church through our call to this Assembly at this time in Rome, the Eternal City of Saints Peter and Paul.
We have to recognize with great respect that the Latin Church in Australia and New Zealand, especially the Catholic Episcopal Conferences, played a vital role in keeping our Eastern Catholic heritage and traditions.
Our most fraternal communications are with the Christian Orthodox who come from Egypt, Sudan and the Middle East. We also have good relations with the Coptic Orthodox from Egypt and Sudan and other non-Calcidian communities in the East, such as the Syrians and the Assyrians, as we also find many common factors such as language, culture and traditions.
Our Dioceses participate in a dialogue with many Muslim communities in Australia, and one of the most important activities was establishing a “Muslim and Christian Friendship Association of Australia”, which worked to strengthen the positive relations between the two religions and decreased the tensions between them through conferences, mutual visits and common activities, and contributed to solve disagreements between the Muslims and the Australian communities in the years after the tragic events of September 11 2001.
We as Eastern Catholics and as brothers with Orthodox Churches especially the Church of Antioch, hope the Roman Catholic Church will give us a larger role in the dialogue with our Orthodox brothers on the local and international levels. And this will guide us to greater closeness with our two Churches of Antioch and this in itself will be a great witness that we can give to our Arab, Muslim and Christian societies.
We also hope that the Eastern Catholic Churches will overcome the obstacles that face them in their Apostolic and Pastoral mission and allow Christ’s face to shine forth.
The main problems:1. We see intolerance increasing daily among the Eastern Catholic Churches especially in the clergy’s spirits and those who are working in the Church administrations.
This intolerance sows suspicion and affects clearly the lay people’s attitudes and lives. To be healed of this we need to make a clear plan which can be realized to educate the clergy and the lay persons with clear programs and so the Eastern Catholics will fulfill the reality of the one universal church. It is sad that not every Catholic listens to the words of Pope Benedict XV: “The Church of Jesus Christ is not Latin nor Greek nor Slav, but Catholic. And so she does not distinguish between her faithful, Greek, Latin or Slav or other nationalities; all are perceived as equal by the Holy See”.
2. Communication among the Eastern Catholic Churches is still superficial and there is very little collaboration especially on social and apostolic projects; for example, the sad situation in Lebanon where every Church seems to be interested achieving political benefits for themselves and more than the other Churches, while they should be seeking to benefit all Christians. This surely shows our weakness and divisions.
3. We, who have been asked to be pastors of souls, seem to waste a lot of time on political issues. This should be the role of lay people while we, the consecrated, have to show more interest in the proclamation of the Word of God and the Gospel of Salvation and have to devote all our energies to offering the spiritual and educational bread for our people. Our Eastern Catholic people, who are committed in faith in the Middle East and who are faithful to mutual respect and fraternal cohabitation offer, finally, a very large and valuable contribution to support the Arab and Muslim world.
Given its small reality, our Church is called upon each day and each moment to encounter others, the different... to the point that our church has almost made encounter its specific mission in this country and defines itself even as “the Church of encounter”... In this encounter with the other a spontaneous, free, sincere and constructive dialogue begins and develops.
In daily life this dialogue becomes a simple presence, a simple sharing. It translates concretely into free services inspired by nothing else but love for others and the search to answer the needs of those we are in dialogue with. To dialogue on a daily basis means to live, work, walk, search together, give and receive and sometimes to rejoice and suffer together.
Many prejudices, fears, misunderstandings, ignorance and false conceptions can fall and disappear as a result of this daily dialogue, and mutual knowledge and trust are created, which are often necessary to heal relations between believers and between the religions themselves.
Our Churches have the awareness of having and living a prophetic mission, that of preparing and creating for today and for tomorrow a climate for a more serene dialogue, and even more.
This dialogue is the best witness that our Churches can give of faith, and it is often more effective than the direct announcement of the Good News.
We are happy to see that this dialogue is accepted and highly appreciated by the people because it is free and sincere, and it even begins to bear good fruits.
This dialogue is fundamental for the life of our Christians and for civil peace in our countries. In fact, if official dialogue is missing, this could create, at the most, a crisis in reciprocal official relationships, but if daily dialogue is missing, this is more serious, because it is peace, life and the very existence of these groups that will be in question...The experience of our Churches in the Maghreb teaches us that true dialogue begins with small details of daily life, dialogue that does not wish to appear as such but wishes to be a simple presence, a simple service... True dialogue arises there where men are found, with their joys and concerns, their down-to-earth questions on daily matters as well as their questions on fundamental topics regarding life and man’s destiny.
Dialogue needs education. Now, the dialogue of life is the best education and the best school to learn to know and to respect others and to collaborate together.
One of the biggest problems facing Christians in Lebanon and in Middle Eastern countries is displacement. It can be summarized in its spiritual, theological, cultural, political and social dimensions. In brief, it is the most realistic expression of the situation of life and existence itself of Christians.
1. Security reasons: it refers to the denominational and sectoral strife and conflicts related to dogmatic and ideological differences. Plus the continuous results of the Arab-Israeli conflict and all the regional wars caused by it.
2. Socio-political reasons: based on the quality and honesty of those who are in power. Whenever the judge is weak politically and militarily speaking he goes to persecute the minorities to cover his own weakness.
3. Publicity reasons: this is represented specially by what the Western evangelizers do (such as the Protestant sects, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc...) of publicity and activities inside the countries of the region, especially inside the minority communities in order to serve religious and political goals at the same time.
4. Religious reasons: Through the growth of fanatical and extremist movements from the Sunni and Shiite in the majority of the region’s countries and the activities and influence of these movements and their desire to come to power themselves. All these reasons are a direct threat against Christians who are displaced inside their own country or in other distant countries.
1. Emigration and displacement are two main factors in demographic impoverishment for the Christian minorities. According to Dr. Said Adin Ibrahim, in the late ‘80s, the Catholic Christians in the Middle East numbered about 2.3 million but in 2000 they were only 1.614.000.
2. This decrease expresses not only the imbalance on the demographic level but also on the qualitative level, shown by the emigration of two main groups of the country’s growth: the brains and specialized personnel that directly affects the existence, the presence and the role of Christians in these countries.
1. Christians are asked to be more attentive or conscious of the meaning of their presence and the need for their commitment in public life (Instrumentum laboris, no. 46).
2. Improving links between the Christians of the Middle East and the Christians of the Diaspora. The Church has an essential role in reinforcing these links for equal service to both.
3. To enliven the Christian faith and the witness to Jesus in actions and daily life.
4. Sensitizing Christians to their rights to free and dignified living in the land of their ancestors and to remain there. Their homeland is the land of their ancestors, the homeland is not a hotel.
5. Collaboration among faithful, Church and state, to respect the decree on human rights that guarantees the minimum level of religious and cultural freedom and participation in political life in their countries.
6. Collaboration with the moderate Islamic communities and encouraging them to stand firmly against fanatical extremist religious movements.
The first concern is a somewhat widespread problem of Catholic faithful passing to a non-Catholic Eastern Church or the Islamic religion in order to free themselves from a matrimonial bond. Within the perspective of ecclesial communion which considers the indissolubility of marriage as its great treasure, the abandonment of the communion of the Church with the pretension of breaking the marriage bond inflicts a distinct wound upon the membership of the Church.
The second concern is the treatment of causes of marriage nullity with justice, both in service of communion and as a witness to Justice of which the Church should be the mirror in the world. Keeping in mind no. 29 of the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis, the following points must be observed: the need to prepare fitting ministers of justice for the ecclesiastical tribunals (cf. CCEO, cann. 1086, § 4; 1087, § 3; and 1099, § 2); the collaboration, also between sui iuris Churches, in the erection and operation of effective ecclesiastical tribunals (cf. CCEO, cann. 1067-1068); the assiduous observance of the procedural laws, in order to avoid even the appearance of partiality; the acknowledgment of the service of ecclesial communion, in this precise matter, offered, together with the Petrine ministry (cf. CCEO, can. 1059), by the Apostolic Signatura through the vigilance over the administration of justice (cf. Lex propria, art. 35; and can. CCEO, can. 1062, § 1); the fitting and swift administration of justice in causes of marriage nullity as an essential means of promoting the teaching on indissolubility; the better coordination of the administration of justice at local tribunals with the justice exercised by the Holy See, also by means of agreements or conventions between the Patriarchs and the Tribunal of the Roman Rota for the treatment of causes which legitimately arrive at the Roman Rota; and the timeliness of updating the relevant laws in the personal Statutes where they exist (cf. CCEO, cann. 99, § 1; and 1358).
Addressing the above concerns of canonical discipline will contribute to the communion of the Church in the Middle East, which all canonical discipline exists to safeguard and promote.
1. We were careful to maintain the most support possible to the Churches in their countries: by implantation and the activities of many congregations for teaching and healthcare; through associations supported by our Latin parishes, notably l’Oeuvre d’Orient; by twinnings between dioceses or parishes. The large number of pilgrimages allow many of our faithful to discover the Eastern Catholic communities and to tie lasting knots with them. This support also occurs with our politicians so that they too may support the Christians in the Middle East, avoiding, in particular, the risk of creating “confessional territories” where types of ghettos would arise and in always keeping the door to emigration open to those who can no longer continue to live in their countries.
2. The presence of living Catholic communities in all the Middle Eastern countries to ensure historical continuity in the same Holy Places. This also helps us in the experience that most Western nations know today: the encounter with Islam. In many Middle Eastern countries, Christians have lived in regions with a Muslim majority for the past centuries. Thus they have acquired a wisdom from the manner of facing these situations. On the other hand, cohabitation with a living Judaism, especially in Israel, can also contribute to the evolution of relations between Jews and Christians. Finally, the co-existence of separated Christian Churches in the places where our Church was born is a vigorous stimulation to progress in the ecumenical action.
3. Many faithful, of the different Eastern Churches, have migrated here. They could meet in the communities where they find once more their own liturgy. We make an effort to help them develop the life of their communities which favors at the same time their fidelity to the faith in their Church and the memory of their cultural roots.
They benefit from the active solidarity of those that preceded them and simplify their professional, social and cultural integration in French society. This integration is accompanied by fraternal relations with the Latin communities of our countries. This for the Latin Catholics is expanding their ecclesial and spiritual horizons. The discovery of Eastern liturgies and communities that live this can certainly help the Latin parishes to recognize a healthy pluralism in the expression of prayer.
To conclude, I cannot avoid raising the question of pastoral assistance in the Eastern communities. In our country, we can see the firm rule by the Apostolic See: a priest from an Eastern Catholic Church who is married cannot receive the pastoral mission in Latin territories. And, apart from rare exceptions, we stick to this rule. The mobility of today’s society changes the understanding of the notion of “territory” and I think I know that other European countries are not subject to the same rule. Whatever happens, certain Patriarchal Churches are faced with ever greater difficulties in finding celibate priests for the service to their communities in “Latin” countries.

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