The Apostolic Origin: Antiochene, Syriac, Chalcedonian, Monastic

Synod Updates 1

June 6, 2003

 On Sunday June 1 the Maronite Assembly gathered outdoors in Bkerke, on a cool, comfortable evening at 6:00 p.m. around Patriarch Nasrallah Peter of Antioch and all the East, to open the Synod of our Catholic Church.  It was a continuity of the 20 previous Synod of history in the Maronite Church, bit it is a Synod like no any other, for it called Maronites from all five continents to meet for the well-being of the people of God in a program of prayer, study, discussion, aimed at renewal, change and development based on re-founding our Antiochene-Edessan-Monastic roots.  Nearly 4,000 people, carrying flags, banners, pictures, and festive symbols, came from all directions of Lebanon.  Among the invited dignitaries were included 275 delegates, experts, advisors, observers and guests of the Synod convened from all over the world.

 43 Maronite Bishops concelebrated in full vestments, with 10 other Eastern and Western Bishops.  Catholic and Orthodox and other ecclesial church leaders in attendance.  The Procession entered from the Patriarchal Residence out to the newly constructed pavilion for the Qurbono.  Among the concelebrants were 150 priests, with hundreds of religious, laity, both adults and youths assembled in the court yard.  Many local parishes from the North to the South of Lebanon had arranged buses for their local communities to attend the Holy Mysteries.  The Kaslik Choir sang beautiful hymns reflective of our ancient Syriac hymnody.

On Monday June 2 the Synod began with an address from his Beatitude Sfeir, followed by a greeting of prayerful good wishes from Pope John Paul II, delivered by the Apostolic Nuncio.  Then the General Secretary, Bishop Joseph Bechara, explained the method for the 4 sessions daily of meetings and interventions.  Each Subject of Text was introduced to the Synod Assembly with an overview delivered by a Maronite Bishop Secretary.  From Monday through Saturday morning the work of intervening, or making suggestions, editions, and or deletions on the texts of the Files, was heard by the entire assembly, delivered in the Intervenor’s native language, and simultaneously translated in French, Arabic, Spanish or English.  To date, three files have been covered, over 270 Interventions made, each not exceeding eight minutes of the microphone cuts off, and 2 Focus Groups have been held.  The Assembly is divided into 10 groups of 25-30 people who during a one-hour evening session interact on the File topics.

Our Eparchial Delegation has made 5 Interventions to date: Bishop Stephen Doueihi, Chorbishop Seely Beggiani and Msgr. Ronald Beshara on File One – Maronite Identity, and on File Two Msgr. Michael Thomas on Deaconate, and Msgr. Beshara on the Liturgy.  The full interventions will be printed in the Maronite Voice at a later date.

The setting for Our Lady of the Mountain Convent in Fatqa rests on the side of a mountain overlooking a breath-taking view of the Bay of Jounieh, Our Lady of Harrisa, and down the road to Beirut.  The Sisters have built a magnificent facility that houses 300 people, and everyone is graciously and comfortably accommodated in a private room with bath, shower, and fresh towels daily.  Community spaces are large, appealing and nicely decorated, including the prayerful Chapel of Our Lady, which has a massive, skyward roof-line.  Food is good and reflects typical Lebanese cuisine and gracious hospitality.

The Secretariat Office has made available every modern convenience including computers, emails, faxes, copiers, and volumes of material to read daily, including interventions, Synodal and Lebanese updates, and other pertinent information.  Cell phones are in the hands of our delegates to stay in touch.  Pictures are taken in abundance and posted to view and order as momentos.

This weekend, as you are reading Synod Updates, the Bishops go into Closed Session with the Patriarch to focus on confidential church matters for one week.  On this free-week delegates will be able to take excursions in Lebanon pre-arranged by the Secretariat.  The purpose of this Synod is a Church of Hope, and Act of Faith, its fruit are already being harvested by the wonderful dialogue, interaction, communication and bonds established among Maronites.

Synod Updates 2

June 12, 2003

A week ago, Thursday and Friday, the Synodal assembly was engaged in full discussion on File Three, The Maronite Church in Today’s World.  By Thursday, nearly 300 interventions had been submitted on all three files.  File Three focused on the voice of the Church in politics as an advocate for justice, human rights and the dignity of every person, our apostolic mission through use of the media, sociological and economic issues, and the land.  Most of the 30 interventions on the Land were made by Lebanese Maronites.  The Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon made several interventions about using the media for evangelization.  Our Patriarch, Nasrallah Peter, was present at and attentively reading interventions, which stressed the importance of treasuring Mount Lebanon’s monastic spirit as part of our natural heritage, its ecology and natural resources.  All the suggested revisions of texts for File 1-2 and 3 were part of the editorial work of experts, divided into different groups, during the second week.

While the original schedule included all Five Files in the first week, changes were made, given the number of interventions and the sensitivity of the issues.  The General Secretariat postponed File Four, The Maronite Laws and Rules, and File Five: The Maronite Church Expansion to the third week.  Thursday Focus Groups were cancelled to make additional time for the many interventions in File 3; but on Friday Focus Groups delved into particulars on local church experiences.  Of particular interest was the Focus Group on Liturgy.  It invited members to share their personal experiences, and express their particular needs.  Interestingly enough, all 25 members echoes a united call for the Patriarch and his offices to communicate simultaneously in 4 major languages since our Church is universal, meaning on all 5 continents.  Moreover, the Archbishop of Beirut, Paul Matar, Chairperson of the Group, asked for the churches of the Expansion to make available their liturgical, catechetical, and other publications through distribution and translation for use in the Patriarchal church.  The issue of removing latinizations, which crept in over 1,000 years, received unanimous support.  Finally, recommendations were made to provide architectural guidelines for conformity and unity within the Maronite Church world-wide.

 The welcomed closing of the first Synod session occurred on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.; all the delegates and experts were exhausted from required attendance at the 4 daily sessions.  The weekend afforded participants opportunities to visit with family and friends.  This participant had the privilege of being in a Procession to honor St. Rafka’s canonization on Saturday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.  It began in Bekfiya, where Rafka lived in a convent, and ended 4 miles away in Himlaya, where she was born.  We gathered as the Qurbono was concluding at the local church, and walked, carrying lighted candles, behind a truck that had a large icon of St. Rafka decorated with flowers, and a bier carried by youths with an similar Icon.  As the faithful walked along the main road connecting the two tonws, some 500 youths formed a human chain, arm in arm leading the procession.  Intermittently, youths read an overview of her life, followed by a decade of the rosary and a hymn.  As the procession reached its destination the assembly had swelled to nearly 10,000.  Houses along the path shone brightly from lighted candles on balconies and windowsills.  Various fragrances of flowers in full blossom permeated the air.  The reverent and orderly assembly reflected the solemnity and significance of the event.

Participants were free during this second week for touring, with ease and without concern, the country of our holy saints.  Bishops Doueihi and Shaheen, being good shephers as they are, made sure their representatives were well cared for.  As a tourist in Lebanon, one soon learns why the land is holy ground for the Maronites, and the significance of name, Mount Lebanon.  This beautiful nation, 175 miles north to south, and 40 miles east to west is predominantly mountains, which became a haven for religious freedom and safety to our people.  Its majestic, teal-azure Mediterranean coastline reflects remnant ruins of ancient Roman, Phoenician and Byzantine history from Tripoli (north) to Tyre and Sidon (south).  Yes, the very Gospel Tyre and Sidon where Jesus once walked and ministered.  What is most obvious to us, the Church of the “Intishar” or Expansion, is that Maronite faith and land are one.  Preservation is as important as that of the re-forestation of the precious Cedars of Lebanon.  On a final note, it is assuring to enter any Maronite Church, and experience a consistency of tradition in liturgy, rubrics, vestments, and hymnody.  We are one Church on the move, and we are striving to adapt and serve in light of the challenges of 21^st century.  This Synod will provide a bridge for its happening.  More in week three as we continue to learn, grow and share together; for now pray for us as we echo your voice in this historic Maronite Patriarchal Synod.

Synod Updates 3

June 12, 2003

The Marontie Church will never be the same after this historic, monumental and memorable Synod of 2003.  Over the last three weeks of lively interaction, passionate interventions, numbering over 500, and insightful lessons in universality our Church, the Maronite Synod has been experiencing and discovering its diversity in unity.  From presentations to discussions, bishops, clergy, religious and laity, have been deeply engaged in ongoing exchanges of ideas, that are opening eyes, minds, and hearts to the reality of the Maronite Church as a Church of faith, spirituality, liturgy and traditions transcending all nations, languages and cultures.  Maronites from the 5 continents have been creatively and pleasantly interfacing in every forum of the Synodal dynamics, from liturgy to interventions, from focus group to evening coffee clutches.  What is significantly clear is our Church’s understanding of itself will never be the same.

 The Church of the “Intishar” came to this Synod with particular needs for rediscovery and restoration of its authentic identity; the Mother Church came with pastoral issues, as far reaching as implementation of Vatican II, to parish councils, catechesis, and the land.  Through and beneath it all, there has been a complimentary flowing together of multiple streams of culture experiences among us that awakened our Church to a clearer, deeper and broader sense of its universality and apostolic mission within the Catholic mission.  This Synod has opened the doors of history to the future by heightening our awareness and deepening our understanding of our Church as more than a nation, a culture, and a language.

This Church of Saint Maron, which two millennia ago innovatively and brilliantly blended three different, unique tradition from Antioch, Edessa, and monasticism, is coming into a new appreciation, revelation, and definition of itself as Maronite.  Synodal participants no longer see the Church as Lebanese, but rather as Antiochene, Syriac and monastic.  Moreover, each eparchial church in every land, nation and culture of the world, Patriarchal and “Intishar,” is appreciated as a legitimate witness to this rich Marontie heritage.  Our sense of universal mission and Catholic commitment to evangelize has been reborn with new vitality and determination.  To put succinctly, being Maronite is more than Lebanese, and Lebanese is more than Maronite, and to equate the two is to understand both its apostolic mission and fullest identity as a living branch of the Catholic Church.

Synod Updates 4

June 17, 2003

Today the secretariat received more interventions on the expansion - now numbering 60 - half of which are from delegates NOT of the Intishar - will be very interesting Tuesday .... Bishop Stephen Doueihi and Msgr. George Sebaali did interventions today on the identity being broader and deeper than Lebanon - Anthony Budway and Rosanne Solomon spoke on our 3 Lay Organizations and how our church progressed and developed with a challenge to engage the entire church in the sharing our resources - tomorrow Chorbishop Seely Beggiani and I will make interventions - mine a suggestion for an Office of Translations and Publications so things are done from the outset in 4 languages when coming from the Patriarch or his offices with reps from expansion on the committee....

The experts met today to deal with File 5 - all agree it needs a REWRITE but for now we will glean from the interventions critical points under key topics - identity, mission, future, resources for how to fulfill...  then these will be presented for the VOTE by delegates.

Sunday visited the holy ground of Sharbel, Rafka and Hardini, rather profound.

Be well
will keep you informed

Msgr. Ronald Beshara

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