Sfeir criticises "verbal attacks" driving a wedge between countries at "the highest levels"
The Christian formation of adults is at the focus of the assembly of patriarchs under way in Bkerke.
Bkerke (AsiaNews) The 39th Ordinary Assembly of Lebanon's patriarchs and Catholic bishops started today in the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate and will continue until Saturday 19 November. The principal theme of the meeting will be how to reinforce Christian formation of adults. In his opening address this morning, the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, said formation and catechesis were more necessary than ever because they nudged the Church towards a "greater religious reawakening in this acute and difficult period.
The patriarch recalled the value of the "Adults' Catechism", defining it as a "necessary and irreplaceable".
The head of the Maronite Church also expressed preoccupation for the anguish prevailing in Lebanon and the rest of the region. He appealed for a "renewal" of the Lebanese nation marked by "cheating, compromise, criticism, fanaticism, aggression, terrorism" and he called on civil and religious leaders to pay more attention and to show more responsibility with regard to the country's critical political situation and the poverty which afflicts many strata of the population and risks fuelling "fundamentalism and terrorism".
In his Sunday homily in Bkerke, the patriarch dropped a few hints about Bashar Assad's violent style vis a vis Lebanon. In his speech at the University of Damascus, the Syrian leader ranged himself against the Lebanese government, describing it as a "servant of Syria's enemies". In a clear reference to Assad, he said: "The wave of attacks in Lebanon has died down somewhat, but verbal, offensive attacks have intensified even at the highest levels These attacks are accompanied by threats and they risk driving a wedge between those who in the past were united in tragedy, brotherhood, proximity and common interests. May God fight fear and anger", seen by the patriarch as the two sentiments underlying Assad's reactions.
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