Archbishop Miller meets with Iraqi Christian families in Lebanon. Some have been refugees since 2014 when ISIS took over their village. (CNEWA photo)
Archbishop Miller’s recent visit to Lebanon might be summed
up with one quote.
“We hear so much about animosity between different faiths, but at these centres, we’ve heard people come together,” the Vancouver archbishop said. “The aspect of generosity and ability to receive others maybe makes us ashamed of how little we do” in North America.
The archbishop was referring to the refugee and care centres he visited during his visit with the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, of which he is a board member. The CNEWA delegation including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre visited seminaries, churches, schools, and health care facilities. All were struck by the welcome they received.
It’s the same welcome the country is showing people from around the world as they flee their homes from persecution and violence and are received with hospitality in Lebanon.
The welcome is even more remarkable considering Lebanon’s neighbourhood, says Cardinal Dolan: “Sandwiched between Syria and Israel, with Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia close, one does tend to worry how constant turmoil will affect beloved Lebanon.”
The Catholic Near East Welfare Association, created by Pope Pius XI in 1926, has been supporting the Church with everything from forming priests to providing education and humanitarian relief.
Today, the needs are as great as ever. Lebanon has absorbed one to two million refugees from Syria and thousands from Iraq. They are both Muslims and Christians, poor and afraid they’ll never be able to return home. Their impact is straining Lebanon’s political situation and its economy.
More broadly, CNEWA says 2.5 million to three million Christians have been forced from their homes in the Middle East over the past 15 years, while a million Christians have fled Syria in the last seven years, finding new homes in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
Carl Hetu is Canada’s national director for CNEWA and said one of the most poignant moments during the visit was meeting with 100 refugee families from Iraq, grateful to be safe in Lebanon, but hearts broken that they will never return to their homelands.
This transplanting of people from their homes was central to the visit by members. In a recent essay, Hetu wrote, “Among all of this uncertainty, one thing is clear – it will take all people of goodwill to put an end to war. We must seek relationships with the ‘other’ and welcome refugees and all vulnerable peoples regardless of religion, beliefs or nationality. We must, as Pope Francis encourages, build bridges not walls between all peoples.”
Cardinal Dolan has called Lebanon “a particularly radiant example of a country, in the otherwise dark landscape of the Mideast, where there is a religious diversity, amity, peace, and a large Christian population.”
He notes the challenges the country faces: “Lebanon’s political situation, while hailed for its balance, sensitivity to the freedom and role of the Christian and Muslim populations, and relative peace and stability, is delicate.”
The work of the local church in Lebanon and organizations like CNEWA is essential and should make us take stock of our own openness to immigration and refugees. In light of our own political stability, Archbishop Miller’s comment is all the more apropos: “The aspect of generosity and ability to receive others maybe makes us ashamed of how little we do” in North America.
For more information or to support CNEWA, visit cnewa.ca.