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Last Updated: 20 June 2013

Gregorios III Laham with Syrian Delegation in Germany

Berlin, 17.06.2013 (KAP) Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III Laham is calling for more unity among Syrian Churches. Right now that the situation is aggravated, the local Syrian Churches should speak with a common voice, the patriarch said in an interview to the German Catholic News Agency (KNA) in Berlin at the start of the Syrian delegation's trip to Germany.

The German policy of military restraint plays an important role. Along with other Western countries, it could influence the conflict in Syria, emphasised the Patriarch of the Greek Catholic Church in communion with Rome: "We need a big gesture of solidarity, not only for the Church but for the people." The conflict has brought much destruction, and the Churches should help rebuild.

The patriarch considered it important for the people of Germany to hear the voice of the local Churches in Syria "and not just always the same media coverage." He continued: "Our experiences don't come from television programmes. We have contact with our people, and we see what is happening. Kidnappings, murders and people who have to flee and leave everything: that is what we are experiencing." V.C.

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Last Updated: 19 June 2013

CWN - The patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church has consecrated Lebanon and the entire Middle East to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, a Catholic, and Prime Minister Tammam Salam, a Muslim, were present at the consecration.

During the consecration, Cardinal Béchara Boutros Raï prayed:

Our Lady of Lebanon, we ask you to bestow your tenderness upon our beloved country Lebanon and all the Middle East, this region which soil witnessed the fulfillment of the events of His plan of redemption and from where the Church, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, took off to bring the Good News to the entire populations, bearing witness to the Lord Jesus until martyrdom and acting as the guarantor of the treasure of faith, in order to transmit it from generation to generation, until it reached us.

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Last Updated: 20 June 2013

CWN - Reflecting on love for enemies, the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches prayed that God might “render Eastern Christians [in the Middle East] strong and meek, filling them with the consolation of the faith, along with all those who partake in their tragic fate.”

“When one thinks of the vortex of violence - as unceasing as it is irrational - which has struck our brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq, as well as of the tension threatening in the Holy Land, in Egypt, and in other places in the Middle East, one cannot avoid the fully paradoxical nature, from a human point of view, of the Gospel’s command,” Cardinal Leonardo Sandri preached in a homily at the beginning of the annual meeting of the Reunion of the Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO).

“I think of the understandable temptation for Christians to combat adversity with methods other than those of humble trust in Divine Providence, which, obviously, works through dialogue and every other possible initiative directed at safeguarding the right to religious liberty and safety for all, including the smallest ecclesial communities, which need to be guaranteed the right to participate fully in the civil life of their respective countries,” he continued.

“We are to be the interpreters of their suffering before every organ of ecclesial and civil government, with the humble resolve that ought to characterize ecclesial speech and action,” Cardinal Sandri added. “The public denouncement of the unbearable conditions of their life must be accompanied by our very concrete solicitude to alleviate them.”

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Last Updated: 18 June 2013

CWN - Catholic and Orthodox leaders in Lebanon have called for unity among Christians, and pleaded with the West not to encourage the warfare in Syria.

The continuing violence in Syria dominated attention as the Melkite Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches opened their respective synods in Beirut. Both groups offered prayers for the two Orthodox prelates who were kidnapped in Beirut in April, and both pledged support for Syrian refugees.

Melkite Patriarch Gregory III Laham denounced the decision by Western leaders to furnish more arms for Syrian rebels. That move, he said, would only “fuel the violence and hatred, and lead to more killing, destruction, displacement and more suffering.”

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Last Updated: 17 June 2013

CWN - The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America have launched Faithandsafety.org, a website designed to help parents in guiding their children in the use of social media.

“Our children look to their parents for wisdom and guidance,” said Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Church in America. “However, many parents feel somewhat ill-equipped to help their children traverse the unfamiliar terrain of the digital social world.”

“Faithandsafety.org is intended to be not only a set of practical tools and guides for adults, but also a place where they can find a faith framework for conversations with their children about the need to be ethically and morally equipped when they go online,” added Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Communication.

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Last Updated: 14 June 2013

CWN - In a 436-0 vote, with one abstention, Russia’s Duma, or lower house of parliament, passed legislation banning the distribution of pro-homosexuality information to minors. President Vladimir Putin has announced his support of the measure, which awaits approval in the upper house of parliament.

The bill, which received criticism from German Chancellor Angel Merkel, prohibits “the dissemination of information that aims to induce minors to develop non-traditional sexual attitudes, to see non-traditional sexual relationships as attractive, to develop the distorted notion that traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships possess the same value, or the dissemination of information on non-traditional sexual relationships that arouses interest in such relationships.”