Posted on 10/31/2014 2:42:15 PM PDT by NYer
Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour of Brooklyn has told students at Belmont University about the need for all Christians to respond to persecution with “profound defiance”.
Pointing out that this was markedly different from vengeful retaliation or submissive inaction, Bishop Mansour said: “Jesus was not a passive victim. Christians are not just asked to be nice people and doormats.”
He told the Belmont students that they are called to stand in solidarity with the persecuted Christians in the Middle East, and to join forces with other Christians, Jews and Muslims of goodwill to raise a voice against “the worst injustice you can imagine,” that is currently happening at the hands of Islamic State militants.
Bishop Mansour spoke at Belmont as part of the Nashville university’s “Chapel Speakers” series co-sponsored by the College of Theology and Christian Ministry.
“We try to bring in speakers from across the denomination spectrum,” said Todd Lake, vice president for spiritual development at Belmont. “We are a multidenominational Christian university,” said Lake, noting that about 15 percent of the student body is Catholic.
When Lake approached Nashville Bishop David Choby about his recommendation for someone who could speak on the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, he suggested Bishop Mansour.
In addition to leading the Eparchy of St Maron of Brooklyn, Bishop Mansour is also a leader of Christian Arab and Middle Eastern Churches Together, based in Lebanon, where he was ordained a bishop in 2004. He did his graduate work at The Catholic University of America in Washington, Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and at the University of California-Los Angeles in the Near Eastern languages and cultures program with an emphasis on Islamic studies.
The Maronite Catholic Church is one of the largest Eastern Catholic churches in the world, with more than 3.3 million members. Bishop Mansour’s eparchy includes Maronite churches in 13 states in the eastern United States and the District of Columbia. There are currently no Maronite churches in Tennessee.
Bishop Mansour visited Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon, his ancestral homeland, over the summer, and saw firsthand the suffering of Christians and other minorities who have been violently forced from their homes.
Witnessing the refugees’ plight was difficult, but visiting the region “made me proud to be a Christian,” Bishop Mansour said, noting the hospitals, schools, and centers for the poor and disabled that Catholic groups continue to operate in the midst of the chaos.
Even though “Christians in the Middle East are under persecution from every side,” he said, they “are the salt and light.”
During his talk, Bishop Mansour noted the historical divisions among Christians, even within the Catholic Church, but said that “amazing unity is happening today.”
Eastern Catholic patriarchs from around the world recently visited Iraq to show their solidarity with the persecuted Iraqis. Additionally, Bishop Mansour was part of a major In Defense of Christians summit in Washington in September that brought together nearly a thousand Christian leaders, politicians and laypeople to launch a massive effort on behalf of the minority communities of the Middle East.
In remarks at the summit and at Belmont, Bishop Mansour championed the art of non violent resistance, which he said worked for the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and St John Paul II. This requires “much prayer, much fasting, much building of solidarity,” he said.
“Peace is possible, but it takes a lot of hard work.”
Ping~
“.....the need for all Christians to respond to persecution with “profound defiance”.”
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Good — no turning the other cheek when slapped by Satan and his followers.
“Profoundly devout and humble bishop. Very approachable and with a heart filled with love for Jesus Christ and His Church.”
You are very right. Our Traditional Latin Mass community is based in a church that has just been acquired by the Maronites from the Archdiocese of New York. We had a small dinner a few weeks ago that included representatives of the 3 rites (Novus Ordo, Maronite, Tridentine)that call this parish “home.”
We had the chance to meet and sppeak with Bishop Mansour: he is an impressive man, and as you have said, a man of great faith and humility.
Do you mind my inquiring as to the location of this parish?
We had the chance to meet and sppeak with Bishop Mansour: he is an impressive man, and as you have said, a man of great faith and humility.
My childhood was pre VCII, and the Latin Mass was the only one we knew. Post VCII, I was a teen and adjusted without questioning. 20 years ago I relocated from LI to the Capital District. Prior to the move,, a neighbor who had resided up here for some time, prepared me for the progressive approach of Bishop Hubbard. He did not exaggerate - if anything, it was worse than the image he projected. After battling liturgical abuse in my parish, I asked our Lord to guide me to a "holy priest, a reverent liturgy and a community where my God-given abilities could be of service". Long story, short, I stepped into a Maronite parish one Sunday and knew I was home.
A few weeks later, the pastor invited us to attend the installation of the new bishop. We were 8 and drove down to Brooklyn. It was my first encounter with Bishop Mansour. His humility impressed me the most. He has driven up to our parish several times to celebrate the Christmas Novena, our centennial, and last year to dedicate the 160 y/o (former Methodist / Episcopal) Church into which we moved.
On one of his visits, we talked about prayer and I asked him for some guidance above and beyond the rosary. He pointed me towards the Prayer of the Faithful (daily office) and even offered to help me procure a copy of the 3 volume set. I have been praying it ever since and love the time spent each day immersed in the Psalms, prayers and scripture readings.
I perfectly understand your feelings. They derive from our western view. Our parish has several families that have immigrated from Lebanon and Jordan. Their description of peaceful co-existence with muslims in the Middle East is something we have never experienced. Our understanding, derived from 9/11 and video tapes of beheadings, is what has been projected via the msm. While christians and muslims, in general, do not share the same faith, in the Middle East, for the most part, they co-exist peacefully. It is wrong to condemn all muslims for the actions of a small minority. That, essentially, was the bishop's message.
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