... Born and raised in a small Christian village in Syria, Reverend Alaa Issa grew up in the Catholic minority and felt called to the priesthood. He entered seminary in Lebanon, but war broke out and disrupted his studies. Assisted by his local bishop, Fr. Alaa completed his education in Washington, D.C. and served in the Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn, an Eastern Rite church. In December 2012, he returned to Syria for his ordination, giving light and hope to locals. Shortly thereafter, he traveled back to the U.S. to better his English, continue his training and serve parishes. He is currently a pastoral administrator in Tequesta, Fla., where he has increased his parish community from 30 to nearly 80 families and recently dedicated a new church.
May our Lord bless him on his journey. Welcome, Fr. Issa!
Catholic ping.
Ping to the good news!
The first mistake is believing these people are refugees. The second is that they are from Syria. Its an invasion. Europe is committing suicide.
Amen!
God will bless him and your community!
I wonder after reading this: how can one be involved in hosting a refugee family? Is it a bad question to ask?
There seem to be many on FR (and elsewhere to be fair I guess) who say these “refugees” are Muslims not Christians, and are really part of a planned invasion.
I honestly don’t know how to process that claim. Aren’t most of the refugees from Syria? If so, why would they leave their homes if not for fear of ISIS persecution? If they are fleeing persecution how are they an invasion?
I don’t know if any of these questions make sense to anybody. The whole thing doesn’t make sense to me really. I’m left wondering how so many thousands of people could be convinced to leave their homes to be part of an “invasion”. It just doesn’t make sense; it dehumanizes people making them into robots with no lives of consequence (in Syria) before ISIS invaded. Robots willing to just uproot and leave, for what? Money? 72 virgins? It’s all too simplistic IMO, and usually my experience has been simplistic ideas tend to be disasters.
Darrell Issa is STILL a GOP U.S. Rep for California's 49th Congressional district. He's been doing so for 14+ years.
Father Alaa Issa is Father Alaa (Allah?) Jesus. I bet he is a WEALTH of information about life in the middle east with SOME stories to tell.
May our Lord bless him on his journey.
DITTO!