|
Consolidating the bond |
 |
|
|
|
WHO WE ARE /
WHY: |
|
|
|
 |
|
Strengthening the ties
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Consolidating the bond |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Maintaining a Vital Balance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Regaining the Lebanese Citizenship |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Joining Forces to overcome demography |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The dioceses worldwide remain
as much Maronite in as much as they are able to preserve the Maronite identity
in its spiritual legacy, religious and secular values, liturgical rites, and
Lebanese national customs. This is basically manifested through consolidating
affiliation with the Patriarchal See in Lebanon, which in turn represents
the unifying factor of the Maronite church, and is itself an epitome of the
Syriac Antioch Levantine Maronite heritage. |
|
|
However, the natural course of
social integration in the countries of emigration indicates, on a parallel yet
negative course, a regression in the national Lebanese, and equally Maronite
affiliation, in the face of temptations and the consequent fact that a large
number of emigrants and their descendants join local Latin churches. This is
due, in a large extent, to the obstacles that the mother church faced, or
rather to the unavailability of means which would have made it possible for the
church to accompany its children spread worldwide within the required
dimensions and scope, offering them the spiritual, the pastoral, national, and
cultural services given the readiness and proclaimed intent in the wide milieus
of our Maronite communities abroad to found a parish or a diocese : “The
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Mathew 9:37). |
|
However, accomplishing such
responsibilities definitely demands the availability of material resources
needed by the church to fulfill its apostolic, spiritual, and national roles to
achieve intercommunication with the Lebanese generations, the Maronites in
particular, and to enlighten them to their Lebanese and Maronite roots and
values, as well as to the deep-rooted and civilized spiritual and secular
heritage of their forefathers. |
|
These major challenges that
Lebanon in general and the Maronite church in particular now face have made the
Maronite Synod that met in June 2003 and concluded its functions on June 10,
2006 allot the issue of the Lebanese and Maronite widespread in the world
exceptional central concern. The seminars, deliberations, as well as the
concluding recommendations versus this issue aim at consolidating the
intercommunicative bonds between the mother church and its children in the
world on one hand, and between the homeland and the Lebanese worldwide on the
other. |
|
|
|
|
|