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It was Easter in 2006 and I was attending a Maronite Catholic Mass in the Middle East. I was (somewhat cockily) celebrating the Risen Lord with my new found ability to read Arabic. The Liturgy was beautiful, the music angelic (with everyone singing), and the Mass really, really long.I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was taken a bit aback when I uttered “Allah” when “God” or “Father” was called for in the English translation.  In my simple mind I thought, “Of course, ‘God’ is an English word, we’re of Abrahamic roots, and it only makes sense to...

SYNAXARION Joseph, the spouse of Mary, lived a life of obscurity and devotion to Jesus. The Maronite Church celebrates his feast on the fifth Sunday of the Season of Announcement and also on March 19. This Sunday is the Revelation to Joseph Sunday. The truth is revealed to Joseph after doubts concerning his beloved Mary. Joseph was in front of a great Mystery (the Virgin is with child) and a great vocation (to become a father of the Son of the Father in Heaven).We learn 7 things from Joseph:1- The Righteous man: Joseph was a righteous man, committed to...

Anti-Maronite Lebanon's Maronites make up the largest Christian community in the country - a community where religion and politics are inextricably mixed. The Maronites, linked culturally and politically to the West, favored teir own continue rule, Lebanese nationalism, and a Western-oriented foreign policy. Sunni Muslims favored Pan-Arabism and were often friendly to Nasir and Syria [source], so was its armed wing the Phalangist's early stance, pro-Western and opposed to Pan-Arabism [source] in the 1970s, the Maronite bloc showed some degree of unity in opposing pan-Arabism, (although recently some have split and allied themselves with Hezbollah and became anti-American) [source]. Any...

JEZZINE, Lebanon (CNS) -- Sitting at an outdoor cafe on a mild spring afternoon, overlooking the town square of Jezzine, Samaan Dahir felt optimistic about Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary elections. "The resistance needs to win," said Dahir, referring to the so-called March 8 coalition led by Hezbollah, the Shiite political party credited for liberating South Lebanon from 18 years of Israeli occupation and subsequently helping to rebuild the war-torn region. "Let's give the opposition a chance and see the how they implement their reform programs. I'm definitely for March 8. I'm for change." Dahir, a Maronite Catholic from Jezzine, is...

I have always seen Israel as the result of the national liberation movement of the region's aboriginal Jews. Liberation of the aboriginal Jews (and anyone else lucky enough to find refuge within Israel's borders) from the twin fascisms of pan-Arabism and Islamism which have oppressed and even eliminated so many of the region’s aboriginal ethnic groups. Israel's aboriginal Jews were not unique in accepting outside help (and even immigration) in their liberation struggle. Lebanon's Maronites; Egypt's Copts, Iraq and Turkey's Kurds, and Iran's Zoroastrians have all sought and received outside help in their liberation struggles, each group according to its...

Controversial Hollywood star Mel Gibson made a private and unexpected visit to St. Louis this week. He came to pray and talk to bishops from the Eastern Catholic Church Bishop Conference. "I was more than surprised; I was flabbergasted," said Bishop Robert Shaheen of the Maronite Church. Shaheen had little warning about Gibson's visit. The mega star decided to pay a visit after learning the Maronite tradition within the Catholic Church uses a dialect of the historic language of Jesus , Aramaic, during the Mass. Gibson's compelling movie, "The Passion of the Christ," used the Aramaic language and English subtitles...

LukeChapter 15 11 Then he said, "A man had two sons, 12 and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.' So the father divided the property between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. 14 When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. 15 So he hired himself out to one of...

Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan is veiled as he walks in procession at his installation Mass at Our Lady of the Annunciation Syrian Catholic Church in Beirut, Lebanon, Feb. 15. He is immediately followed by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington. (CNS) BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Amid cheers and ululation, the former head of the Syrian Catholic diocese in the U.S. and Canada was installed as patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church. Saying that he will "serve, not for personal interests, but to win Christ," Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan was installed Feb. 15 at a...

PODCAST: The Pax Islamica: Totalitarianism, Islamism and ‘Islamo-fascism’ Ana Belén SoageIn this frank and relevant interview, Matthew Feldman, one of the editors of the Political Religions section of Religion Compass talks with Ana Belén Soage, of the University of Granada. They candidly discuss the nature of contemporary and modern politicised Islam.Soage argues that the so-called ‘moderate’ forms of politicised Islam differ from the more radical forms (epitomised by groups like Al Qaeda) in degree only, not in kind. Any form of Islamist movement, she argues, necessarily requires the formation of a ‘Pax Islamica’; an essentially totalitarian aim. Islamist movements are...

The Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn takes the historic step this June of establishing the first congregation of active religious sisters of the Maronite Church within the United States. Called the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light, these sisters will assist parish priests throughout the eparchy in a variety of pastoral work, ranging from directing religious education programs, to working with families, youth, and the elderly. Statement from Bishop Gregory J. Mansour The contribution made by consecrated women in the Church is beyond measure. The Maronite Church is no exception. The time has come for the Eparchy of Saint...

At the tail-end of his Stateside swing-through -- just one leg of his monthlong overseas tour -- the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir held talks yesterday with President Bush on the uncertain political situation in Lebanon: The U.S. President, according to An Nahar, told Sfeir that only Lebanon's armed forces should be responsible for keeping security in the country. Bush stressed that the U.S., along with other European countries, will help the army in this regard. Sfeir delivered to Bush the same memorandum that he had given to U.N. Chief Ban Ki-moon and the permanent members of the...

Cardinal Nasrallah Peter Sfeir BEIRUT (AFP) — Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, from whose Maronite community Lebanese presidents are drawn, left on Sunday for the United States, for talks due to focus on Lebanon's protracted presidential vacuum.Sfeir will hold talks with President George W. Bush on May 22 after a stop in New York to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the Maronite church said.Sfeir said ahead of the visit he hoped Washington could contribute to efforts to ease the political crisis in Lebanon, which has been without a president since November amid wrangling between feuding leaders."The American officials know about...

Following years of persecution and not being able to attend Mass because of the threat of terrorism, Huzni Hermez and his family left their war-torn homeland of Iraq and found a place where they could freely practice their Catholic faith. With the cooperation of St. Anthony Maronite Catholic Church in Springfield, Springfield-based Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts and the Diocese of Springfield, Hermez and his family -- including wife Muntha Sooloka; children Yusif Yusuf, 6, Raymon Yusuf, 4, and Eleana Yusuf, 3; and Hermez's mother, Sarra Khoshaba -- arrived in Springfield Nov. 15. They are Chaldean Catholics, members of...

Lebanon's parliament on Tuesday put off a session to elect a new president until next month after the legislature failed to muster enough lawmakers because of a Hezbollah-led opposition boycott.The announcement was made by a parliamentary official in the chamber after the bell rang three times to call the lawmakers into session. Lawmakers from the pro-government majority were in the chamber for 30 minutes, but many opposition members, who gathered in the building, stayed in the hallways.The gathering in parliament was held under tight security after last week's assassination of a legislator from the majority.The postponement had been expected after...

Beirut: Boutros Harb, long-serving Maronite Lebanese Member of Parliament, is standing for president and reaching out to the Shiite Hezbollah, across the political divide in the country. He is part of the ruling anti-Syrian coalition, called 14 March, but he has hopes of support from parts of the pro-Syrian opposition coalition, called 8 March. Harb spoke on the Shiite TV station NBN earlier this week, and to Gulf News the day before. "I have proposed that the Lebanese army and government must be in control of declaring war, and that we should find a way to incorporate Hezbollah's forces into...

New Emphasis on Life and Family from Head of Maronite Catholic Church By John-Henry Westen BEIRUT, LEBANON, August 7, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Cardinal Sfeir, spiritual head of the more than 15 million Maronite Catholics spread throughout the world, has in the past few months launched a new emphasis on life and family issues.  Charbel El-Chaar, the Founder of St Charbel for Life, the first Arab Catholic Pro-Life website on the Internet (http://lilhayat.com/ ), spoke with LifeSiteNews.com about the significant development. El-Chaar quoted from homilies delivered by the Patriarch in June which addressed rejecting homosexual 'marriage',...

BEIRUT: The Cabinet's decision to no longer acknowledge Good Friday as an official national holiday triggered an outcry from a number of prominent Lebanese Christians over the weekend. Good Friday is "a central day in Christian culture," Jbeil Maronite Archbishop Bishara Raii said during an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) Saturday. "Canceling it as a holiday is a violation of Christian norms."The government should have consulted with various Christian religious figures before issuing any decisions. Christians would never allow such a key day to be simply left off calendars," Raii said.Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis had defended the move,...

The season of Resurrection opens with the week that has been known by different names in the liturgy: Week of Resurrection, Easter Week, Week of Renewal, and last but not least, "Week of Weeks". However, the name most commonly applied to it is "Week of Hawareyeen". The word suggests the idea of "white" and "justification". It refers either to the angels at the empty tomb (who announced his resurrection, clothed in white), or to the Lord's disciples (who believed in his resurrection and thus, were clothed in "justification"), or also to the newly baptized members of the Church (clothed both...

Nearly three years ago I sat on a rectory porch with a young pastor who spoke freely of his worries but kept his biggest dream to himself. What the Rev. Armando Elkhoury saw as important was holding together his tiny Colorado flock of Maronite Catholics. Many hailed from Lebanon - where he's from - and other war-ravaged lands throughout the Middle East. Back then, Elkhoury's flock of 40 families was dependent, you could say, on the kindness of relatives. Aligned with Rome and the pope, they found refuge at All Souls Catholic Church in Englewood, which gave them a rectory...

Hosanna Sunday On the next day, when the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him, and cried out: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, (even) the king of Israel."Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as is written: "Fear no more, O daughter Zion; see, your king comes, seated upon an ass's colt."His disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus had been glorified they remembered that these things were written about...