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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Rabweh, Lebanon - 10 May 2011
In the name of Christ the Saviour, risen from the dead, we are inaugurating the Liqaa Meeting Centre for the dialogue of civilisations beside the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate in Rabweh.
We are inaugurating this Liqaa Meeting Centre in your presence and under your patronage, Your Excellency, General Michel Sleiman, President of the Lebanese Republic. Your presence is the sign of your love for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and of the very special concern you have for the spiritual and social values of dialogue in Lebanon, and your appreciation of the goals that the Liqaa Centre seeks to realise, as a place for the expression and development of those values.
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In a time of contradictions and conflicts, when discords and differences are at their peak, Meeting is a must. “That is why we chose the word Meeting,” affirmed His Beatitude, the Patriarch in an interview. “We wanted it to be open to all the dimensions of human beings’ encounter with God, with their brothers and sisters, with society, nation, politics, economics and everything.”
Meeting has been an idea of His Beatitude, Patriarch Gregorios III from the beginning of his clerical mission. It is an idea that he has transformed into effective work in several centres across Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt, reflecting the ancient traditions of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church as a Church without borders.
Atop one of the Metn Hills at the heart of green Mount Lebanon, lies the new Meeting Centre. It is located within the patriarchal compound that also comprises the patriarchal school and a church still under construction.
After a series of meetings and reunions held by Father Michel Sabee, a visit to the Sultanate of Oman was arranged for His Beatitude, Patriarch Gregorios III, heading a delegation from the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, to meet personally with His Majesty, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, and a number of religious representatives and officials. The main aim of this meeting was to discuss the ideas behind the international Meeting Centre for dialogue of civilisations in Lebanon. “Our visit to Oman was very fruitful and we had a very interesting meeting there with the Sultan. He responded with great keenness and very generously said to us, ‘I am with you, to plant and bring this idea to fruition,’” continued the Patriarch.
This idea is incarnate in a centre founded on Melkite Greek Catholic Church principles, starting with regard to its deep historical roots in Christian unity, then openness to others and finally, its membership of Arab civilisation and society.
Architect Elie Abou Hala designed the new centre and supervised its construction and interior furnishings. Officials from the Sultanate of Oman and its embassy in Lebanon, headed by His Highness Sayyid HaithambinTariq al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture in the Sultanate of Oman, followed the work’s progress from its earliest stages.
The three-dimensional architectural model of the building was designed along traditional lines, with details inspired by traditional features. Its interior design also takes into consideration ongoing and future technical challenges likely to be encountered. It is an architectural dialogue reflecting tradition and modernity in perfect harmony with its mission: the dialogue of civilisations.
The Meeting Centre comprises a Melkite library, church museum for the Melkite tradition, centre for Christian-Muslim research, theatre, conference room, reception hall, and furnished rooms to accommodate fifty persons. It is a centre whose objectives go beyond egoism and conflict to reach creative human solidarity. Its motto is, “Building bridges in a divided world.”
In conclusion, His Beatitude says, “This is my gift from and to our Church, society, country and all Arab countries, to our Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters and to all those among them who are seeking to meet each other. As an Arabic saying goes, ‘two mountains cannot meet, only two humans can meet.’”
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risu.org.ua - 09 May 2011 - On 7 May, 2011, during the stay of the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Sviatoslav in Drohobych, he met with journalists, seminary students and clergymen. One of the many questions of the journalists was about the future of UGCC.
In answer to the question what is the patriarch’s vision of the future of that Church in 10 years’ time in its internal, external and territorial development, Patriarch Sviatoslav answered:
“The Synod of our Bishops established Team #2. It was aimed to elaborate the vision of what our Church should be in 10 years, by 2020. We have drawn ten priorities of what we would like to do during the ten years. Now, Team #3, which is to develop certain mechanisms of implementation, begins its activity. The main questions were the questions of young people, evangelization, inculturation, development of structures of our Church, language in the liturgy. The question of language may not be so urgent for Ukraine but when other countries are concerned, it is a very painful question. In 2020, I would like to see our Church as a unified organism existing all over the world, speaking different languages, proclaiming the Gospel in different countries but being the unified Church of the eastern tradition. Therefore, taking the advantage of the fact that seminary students are present here, I would like to call the brethren to think very seriously about the missionary ministry.”
The head of UGCC also stressed that it is important to provide spiritual care to all Greek Catholics scattered around the world: “Our task is to follow them where they are. Our people need pastors. In that case, by 2020, we will probably have eparchies, metropolitanates in Africa, in the Near East and in the countries where there are our people about whom we do not know but who need our spiritual care, who need to have the father and want to know that this father from Ukraine really cares about them.”
The head of UGCC visited Drohobych on occasion of the celebration of the 75th birthday anniversary and 25th anniversary of bishop’s ministry of the ruling Bishop Yulian (Voronovskyi) of Sambir and Drohobych Eparchy. a href="http://risu.org.ua">Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua</a>
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risu.org.ua - 9 May 2011, 10:03 - Today we can see very clear indications that they try to impose on us strange views, blur the Ukrainian conscience in order to subdue us again, Cardinal Lubomyr (Husar) said in an interview to istpravda.com.ua.
“It is important for us to remember the experience of many centuries of the struggle of our nation for freedom, which they now want to deny us. The Ukrainian Cossacks, Mazepa, the figures of the national revival of the 19th century, they all and many others in different ways defended our dignity, our right to be an independent people. In this sense, we can call them all 'nationalists' in the good, authentic meaning of the word," stressed Cardinal Lubomyr.
"Nationalism is not chauvinism. Chauvinism is when you love only what is yours and hate anything that belongs to other people. To be a patriot means to love your own nation and also respect others, other nationalities. Therefore, true patriots who consider themselves nationalists are those who are able to love what is theirs without hating what is other people’s, to defend their own rights without encroaching on the rights of others,” added the cardinal.
As for WWII, Cardinal Lubomyr stressed that Germany was the first to attack the Soviet Union in 1941. But before that, there was an agreement made between Hitler and Stalin, the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Therefore, to say today that only the Nazis were to blame for the instigation of the bloody slaughter is nonsense.
"One cannot forget also that in 1945, the victory over Nazi Germany was won jointly by the participants of the Anti-Hitler Coalition and not just USSR…But it did not mean the end of bloody, troubled times for the Ukrainian nation.
"The reign of one inhuman regime was replaced by another one, which was probably even worse! We continued to defend ourselves, our right to existence and even today we are still defending the conscience of our identity," said Cardinal Lubomyr in the interview.
<a href="http://risu.org.ua">Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua</a>
<a href="http://risu.org.ua">Джерело публікації: risu.org.ua</a> -
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CWNews.com - Iraq's ambassador to Italy has promised that his country's Christians will have added government protection in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden.
Ambassador Saywan Barzani said that "the most important thing is to ensure the security and defense of Christians." That statement will be welcomed by Church leaders in Iraq, who have frequently complained about the absence of government support for their security in the face of Islamic intimidation.
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CWNews.com - Coptic Christians in Egypt are hoping to draw 1 million people to a demonstration on May 6, protesting attacks on San Marco cathedral in Abbasseya.
The cathedral has been the target of sit-ins and other protests by Islamic activists, who charge that the wife of a Coptic priest, who converted from Islam to Christianity, is being held against her will.
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