The Maronite Patriarch, Estephan El Douaihy, is scheduled to be beatified on August 2, 2024. We speak with the postulator of his beatification cause about the miracle and the Blessed's legacy
A beautiful testimony has been given to the Maronites. Written in 1980 by Charles Malik, I ask you to give it a good read. It’s kind of embarrassing and humbling to see someone from the outside view the Maronite Church and the great responsibilities and gifts that have been placed in our hands as Maronites through our Father in faith, St. Maron.
A vocation is a calling, a unique path that God has designed just for you. It can manifest in various forms - as a priest, a religious sister, or even as a layperson. Every vocation is a gift and an opportunity to make a positive impact in the world. It's important to take a moment to listen to the whisper of your heart.
Bishop Gregory here. Asking you to continue, perhaps even redouble your efforts to assist Lebanon during these difficult days. The schools will be starting pretty soon so any Catholic school, any Catholic institution, any way that you can support the service of the Lebanese people to their homes, to the poor -- would be of great help.
The IRF Summit 2022 held in Washington D.C., from June 28 to 30, featured 106 plenary speakers from 26 countries representing every major faith, and 40 unique traditions.
Here you can see Bishop Gregory's speech.
Our seminarian Vincent Michael has written an inspiring essay about the spirituality, letters and homilies of Jacob of Serugh. The beliefs we hold today and the melodies we sing at Divine Liturgy each Sunday were in a large part informed by Jacob. By studying the spirituality of Jacob, we can deepen and grow our own spirituality.
Jacob of Serugh (451-521) is one of the most important Patristic authors for the West Syriac tradition, contributing to their liturgies through his poetry. In addition to these works, well known to those in the pews even if they do not know their author, he also wrote about the liturgy in his many homilies which he gave in his career. Given his importance to these traditions, it is worthwhile to examine his thought on what can be called liturgical spirituality. This liturgical spirituality is based on inspiring single-minded wonder, drawing from Jacob’s commitment to keeping theology the handmaiden of awe, particularly in regards to his views on Christology and the return to Paradise.
Read more of his article at the Hidden Pearl
Vincent Michael is subdeacon and seminarian at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminarian in Washington DC for the Maronite Eparchy of St Maron of Brooklyn. Hailing from Center Township Pennsylvania, Vincent studied History at Grove City College and is currently studying Theology at the Catholic University of America.
Brothers and Sisters, I’d like to call your attention to Fr. Richard Landry’s recent message on American Freedom.
In the United States of America, we justly treasure our hard-won freedom. But we have to know what it is and how to use it. Culturally, we are seeing freedoms abused with greater frequency. In this video from EDIFY, Father Roger Landry breaks down the meaning and connection between truth and freedom, and how we can use our freedom for the cause of good.
Seminarian Subdeacon Christian Hbaiter discusses his personal relationship and experiences with the Holy Spirit on the “A Message of Hope” youtube channel. Click below to watch.
A Message of Hope was founded to encourage and inspire high school and college young adults to live out their Catholic faith in a secular world. We are dedicated to providing useful tools and sharing wisdom and insight from real experiences to aid young adults in taking ownership of their faith, upholding their morals, and grounding their identity in the Truth.
p.s. Here is a clip from Christian’s ordination to the Subdeaconate, August 14, 2021 at the Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon.
Ave Maria University is building a Maronite Chapel that truly will be a home away from home for Eastern Catholic students. At the same time, this small jewel of a chapel will help to educate western Latin Catholic students about the Church’s rich heritage from the east.
The Maronite Chapel will be constructed of stones in many shades of cream and tan, reminiscent of the colors found at the Cave of the Monks where Saint Maron took refuge and at the Monastery in Annaya where Saint Sharbel lived as a hermit.
Please see the donor brochure, below, for more information. Or go to the Chapel Project web page to help them in this endeavor.
Two Lebanese priests will be beatified today in Beirut.
Capuchin Fathers Leonardo Melki (1881-1915, pictured right) and Thomas Saleh (1879-1917, pictured left), both born in Baabdath, Lebanon, outside of Beirut, were martyred in Turkey during World War I, defending their faith and fellow Christians. Please see news articles and web pages such as these to learn more about their lives:
Photo from Fides.org
Father Leonard Melki ofm. cap. during his last visit to his native village Baabdath (Lebanon) where he came to rest for a few months in 1911.
Beloved Catechists,
This is Bishop Gregory.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of your role in the parish.
Even if you connect with two, one, twenty of the children — you are building a future of the church and you are passing on the faith. Thank you!
Prepare yourself as well as possible. Give a little bit of your human touch, and let them know that God loves them and so do you. And I appreciate you and I love you.
Thank you.
Brothers and Sisters,
I wish you, all of you, who are able to, to go to the polls — here, wherever you are, and vote.
Vote for a Lebanon;
May God Bless the Beloved Lebanon and May God Bless You.
+ Gregory
To check online for the location of your polling station, on May 8, go to: https://www.dgcs.gov.lb/arabic/where-to-vote
The parliamentary elections for Lebanese Expats living in New York and the northeastern United States will take place in the 5 polling stations listed below. Voting hours are from 7 am to 10 pm :
Saint Maron Hall,
1013 Ellsworth St
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Saint Sharbel Maronite Catholic Church,
7 Reeve St, Somerset, NJ 08873
Pashalian Hall, 221 East 27th St,
New York, NY 10016
Lebanon-American Club,
22 West St, Danbury, CT 06810
The Cedars Center,
65 Rockwood St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(source: https://nylebcons.org/)
(source: http://www.lebanonembassyus.org/2022/04/14/parliamentary-elections-2022/)
For more information, see:
Join us as we pray the rosary every 2nd Monday of the month at 8pm ET. To build a culture of life & to overcome evil in the world.
Led by Bishop Elias Zaidan, Bishop Gregory Mansour or their representative.
Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/ofslmonthlyrosary
Today’s world is beset by tragedy, from the difficult problems in Lebanon to chronic poverty in developing countries. Yet, one place that has been hit the hardest is the country of Ukraine, since the invasion by Russian troops on February 24th. Although most receiving this appeal (like me) do not have roots in Ukraine, they are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Thus, I ask for your help today.
Dear Priests, Deacons and Subdeacons, Consecrated Men and Women, Lay Faithful:
Pope Francis asks us to join in a solemn Act of Consecration of humanity, and Russia and Ukraine in particular, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Holy Father himself will pray his solemn Act of Consecration in Rome at approximately 6:30pm (Rome), 12:30pm (Eastern time), March 25, 2022.
He asks us to join him in prayer in our churches, homes and places of prayer that day, Friday, March 25.
Click here for the text of the act. Other translations, including Arabic, can be found at the Vatican News Site.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Bishop Gregory, last week I was with the Armenian Orthodox Clergy, what a beautiful retreat we had. I had a change to know first hand the beauty and glory and the suffering of their church. This week I will ordain a priest, tomorrow, in fact, tomorrow is the Feast of Saint Joseph and so we dedicate all our prayers to our priests and to all of our fathers. And lastly, I ask everyone, to follow the news in Ukraine -- especially the consecration of our Holy Father of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Virgin Mary and let's pray. Let's pray for a better world, for the beauty of priests and fatherhood and for the church throughout the world.
Brother Priests,
Christ Jesus asks us to "come away to a quiet place and rest a while", and this we do, grateful to be with him and to rest our souls. In another place our Lord said, "Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will give you rest".
Yes, it is the Lord himself who has invited us - disguised under the form of Bread and Wine, he bids us to come. This is the King of Kings, who was crucified, yet raised up, who calls us to live according to the logic of his Kingdom, where "being" and "loving" are just as important as "doing" and "working", where "who we are" is just as important as "what we do".
Although true pastoral care includes doing and serving, there is also a place for just being, for taking stock in our priestly life, for standing before the only true judge in Eucharistic adoration, and making time for fellowship with Christ's brothers, our fellow priests.
Today, with joy I welcome a few new brothers: Father Samir Chebli, Father Peter Frangie, Father Elias Adwan and Father Fadi El Khawand, and their wife and family, and I ask your prayers for them. Likewise, Father Adib Salemeh, Father George Arrouk, Father Gary George, Father Andrawos El Tabchi and Father Boutros El Hachem. Soon we will also welcome Deacon Michael Charchaflian, who will be ordained a priest March 19, 2022, in Lawrence.
I also ask your prayers for our retired priests: Joseph Amar, Dominic Ashkar, Assad Awad, William Bartoul, Kevin Beaton, Leonard Basinow, Seely Beggiani, Paul Boackle, David George, Larry Jensen, Joseph Kaddo, Joseph Lahoud, Francis Marini, Lawrence Michael, Jack Morrison, Paul Mouawad, Samuel Najjar and Edward Nedder. May God bless them with good health and continued priestly service.
I thank Father Sam Najjar, Chorbishop Michael Thomas and Father Fadi Rouhana who helped to organize this priestly gathering. I am grateful to Father Gerry Blaszczak who graciously accepted to preach this retreat.
Lastly, I ask your prayers for the priests and bishops who have served before us: Archbishop Zayek, Bishops Doueihi, Chedid and Shaheen, and all the priests who have died. May they rest in peace and may they inherit the reward of the good and faithful servant. I ask your prayers for our Deacons, Subdeacons, Monks and Nuns, Catechists, Choir members, and all our lay faithful in the service of our parishes, and all who lovingly volunteer and serve. I also ask your prayers for our seminarians, Christian, Vincent Michael, Vincent Paul, Pierre, Nadim and Jakob, along with the Rector and Vice Rector who serve them. I ask you to pray for vocations to priestly, diaconate and religious life.
Lastly, I ask you brothers to overlook one another's faults, at least for this week, to forgive one another from the heart, to welcome and build new and better friendships with one another. If there is something bothering you, don't keep it to yourself. In charity, tell this to a confessor, to a brother priest or to me.
Let your burden be light and your yoke be easy, as Christ invites us. Use this time wisely, dear brothers, to pray before Christ, and to do God's will as best as you can.
May the prayer of the Mother of God, Saint Maron and all the Saints be with us.
+ Gregory
Dear Friends in Christ,
Today is the third anniversary of the signing of the document on human fraternity by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam Al Tayyeb. See the Vatican News web pages for Human Fraternity to learn more.
I have written a few articles that may contribute to Muslim Christian dialogue.
Reflections on the Islamic tradition
and
+ Gregory
Cir. 22.09Dear Brother Priests, Deacons/ Subdeacons, Consecrated Men and Women, Lay Faithful,
In order to provide a foundational knowledge of Natural Family Planning (NFP) for our couples, we want to promote this healthy and faithful practice any way possible. In fact, our Eparchial Statutes (no. 71) lists NFP as one of four requirements for marriage preparation. This requirement can be fulfilled in one of the three following ways:
Dear Engaged Couple:
Our marriage preparation program in the Eparchy requires you to learn the basics about Natural Family Planning. To do that you need to sign up for one online session with Father Peter and his wife Marise Frangie. They will walk you through an overview and the science behind different morally acceptable methods to help you plan you family. Marise is copied on this email to get in touch with you.
Another way to fulfil this important requirement is to ask engaged couples to attend a Marriage Preparation program in the Latin Diocese, which offers Natural Family Planning, and to request the certificate for their file.
A third way is to ask the couple to view some good videos related to Natural Family Planning. For a selection, please click here. These videos, viewed with some input from a person of their choice trained in NFP, can also be a good way to fulfil this requirement.
Thank you for promoting this important practice for the couples entrusted to your care.
+ Gregory
More than a few times in my nearly 45 years of priesthood, I have met with women and couples who were contemplating an abortion. Almost without exception, these women and couples were deeply conflicted. Most experienced a very deep and real anguish. With the help of God’s grace, I tried to walk with them, to connect them with helpful pro-life medical services and ministries, and never to assume that I fully understood what they were going through. Some couples with whom I met received troubling pre-natal diagnoses. Others, especially unmarried women, were often victims of poverty and abuse. In almost every case, family members, friends, and medical professionals urged them to get an abortion as the “solution” to a “problem” child … a child who was likely to be born with an abnormality, or conversely, a perfectly healthy child who would be born into poverty and lack of equity. To many of them, it seemed that their only option was to have an abortion, but deep within, they knew it was a tragic choice with lasting consequences. What is needed so badly in all such situations is a witness to love and to life! ...
Catholic intellectual Alice von Hildebrand, whose husband was the late Catholic philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand, died Jan. 14 at the age of 98. Revered as a "tigress" in defense of objective Truth and the Catholic Church, von Hildebrand appeared more than 80 times on EWTN and contributed many outstanding essays over the years to Catholic News Agency.
