By Doreen Abi Raad
Catholic News Service
BEIRUT — Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai warned that the Christian presence in the Middle East is shrinking and church leaders “are called to face the winds that blow in our homelands.”
The assessment by the patriarch of Maronite Catholics during a meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches executive committee Sept. 18 underscored the dire reality facing Christians in the tumultuous region.
“The ship threatened by strong winds and waves” that is sinking symbolizes “the witnessing church in the sea of our Middle Eastern countries troubled by the winds of conflicts and wars, political, economic, financial and livelihood crises, and the corona epidemic,” Cardinal Rai said.
The cardinal also explained at the meeting he hosted at Bkerke, the Maronite patriarchate north of Beirut, that the threat “reached its climax” in Lebanon with the catastrophic double explosion in the port of Beirut Aug. 4. The disaster left nearly 200 people dead, injured another 6,000, and displaced more than 300,000 people.
He stressed that the MECC is called in such turbulent time to work with churches and their leaders, institutions and the faithful “to face the waves and winds that ravage their homelands … with stances of faith and hope.”
“We ask you, Lord, through the intercession of our Mother Virgin Mary, the star of the sea in the storm, to lead our homelands, our churches and our people to the port of safety,” Cardinal Rai pleaded.
The MECC in its final statement reiterated its appeal for an end to “the destructive wars and conflicts in the Middle East, to protect human dignity, and build peace on the basis of justice and rights.”
Meeting participants expressed their “deep solidarity” with the Lebanese in the “catastrophic tragedy” they are suffering from the Beirut explosions. They called for continued “ecumenical ecclesiastical efforts with all local, regional and international partners to lift the material and psychological repercussions of this tragedy.”
