Coexistence with Islam and national sovereignty are key issues at Maronite Synod
It is the first synod since 1736. Over 100,000 suggestions received from all over the world.
Beirut (AsiaNews) In its final statement, the Maronite Synod said that it will brook no compromise on the way to "building Islamic-Christian coexistence" and recovering "Lebanon's freedom, sovereignty and independence". Lebanon, it said, must be preserved as an example that counters "the so-called clashes of religions" and promotes the development of the Arab world "on the basis of human rights and individual liberty".
The document was issued on Wednesday October 27 after ten days of discussion. It came at the end of the second session of the Maronite Synod which took place at Lady of the Mount Monastery in Fatqa (20 km from Beirut).
Participants voted on resolutions informed by more than 100,000 suggestions Maronite synodal commissions in Lebanon and the world sent by regular or electronic mail.
In his opening speech, the Maronite Patriarch Card Nasrallah Sfeir stressed the fact that the Synod is important because "social and ecclesial reforms are first realised in people's souls and convictions than on paper or in institutions". He urged Maronites to find inspiration in the "faith that preserved as in these mountains since time immemorial" and can help us face the dangers that threaten us, threats such as bad public governance, widespread corruption and human rights violations. "If we are like the leaven hidden in the flour, the salt of the earth and the light onto the world," the Patriarch said questioningly, "how can we not distinguish ourselves in terms of moral rectitude?"
Seen as a prophetic and courageous path whose purpose was to allow the Church "to purify its memory through forgiveness", the Maronite Synod was enthusiastically received when it opened in June 2003. This ancient Eastern Catholic Church had not held such an event since 1736.
During its two sessions, participants tried to define the identity and mission of the Maronite Church focusing on its ecumenical role and its relationship to Islam and the Arab world. They addressed questions relating to pastoral renewal, the relationship between the Church and politics, modernity, mass media and social issues.
The Church has entered a new historical phase, one that sees most Maronites permanently living outside the Lebanese "homeland", an issue of particular relevance to the many bishops and delegates coming from the Americas and Australia. According to some, this new situation challenges the Church to reconcile its own unity and universality.
Not only is it defined by the unity of its heritage, rites, saints, eastern identity, attachment to its spiritual homeland of the Lebanon and its Patriarch, but is also marked by its inherent universality which stems from its presence throughout the world, its mission to meet others, and its expertise in coexisting with different peoples.
With this mission in mind and inspired by the Special Synod for Lebanon Pope John Paul II summoned in late 1995, organisers invited representatives of Lebanon's other Christian Churches as well its three Muslim communities (Sunni, Shiite and Druze) to take part in the event.
The Synod should wrap up in September 2005 when Maronite bishops will approve the final document.
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24/10/2019 17:56
01/03/2005
