Only 20 years junior to the out-going patriarch, His Beatitude Nasrallah Peter Sfeir, the Maronite bishops elected today Bishop Béshara Raï, 71, as the new patriarch. He’s 77th patriarch of the Maronites; Raï takes up the See of St Peter (Peter’s first diocese before moving to Rome), adopting the name Peter. He will be known as “His Beatitude, Patriarch Béshara Peter Raï.“
Category: Eastern Church
Kurt Koch to meet Kyril I
Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch will be going to Moscow this weekend to meet Patriarch Kyril and Russian Orthodox Church leaders.
Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Sfeir, retires as Maronite leader
Today, Pope Benedict XVI accepted the petition of His Beatitude, Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Sfeir, cardinal, to retire from his pastoral leadership as the Father of Maronite Church.
Metropolitan Jonah takes time off to re-orient self
The Orthodox Church in America (OCA), according to reports, has placed Metropolitan Jonah on a leave of absence. The Synod of the OCA acted swiftly to seeming abuse of power. The Metropolitan Jonah, it seems, is facing mounting questions not only over issues of style of management but anger issues.
Maronites remember founder, Saint Maron
1600 years is a long time. But the Church never forgets. She especially never forgets a sainted monk who called together others to live the Gospel and to pray. Maronite Church who traces her foundation to a monk is remembering his good work and his death of so long ago. Several celebrations around the US mark the anniversary.
Transitioning from Husar to new era in the Ukrainian Church …?
In the past weeks we’ve seen the Pontiff accepting the resignation of His Beatitude Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, 78, as the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. Bishop Ihor Voznyak is the temporary administrator of the Church until a new leader is elected.
Continue reading Transitioning from Husar to new era in the Ukrainian Church …?
Lubomyr Cardinal Husar, MSU, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, retires
Saint Maron
Our Church was not built after a name of a See or Apostle, but rather took its identity from the radiance of a man and a monastery: the Maronite Church, a Church of asceticism and adoration attached from the beginning to a solitary man, not a man of rank or a Church leader.The faith lived out by the hermit Maron became the inner strength of a people’s history. As for the successive migrations from Syria (in the 5-10th centuries), the Maronites gave them one meaning, that is, giving up land, wealth and comfort in Syria moving toward a poor land where anxiety and austerity prevail, so they could preserve their faith and remain attached to their freedom … This event is not a simple historical fact among others … it is the very beginning of a new history, the history of the Maronites.
Lord, Jesus, You called Your chosen one, Saint Maron, to the monastic life, perfected him in divine virtues, and guided him along the difficult road to the heavenly kingdom.
Pope encourages confidence that full communion with the Oriental Orthodox is possible
Last week members of the International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Pope Benedict gave a very brief letter encouraging courage and determination to work with the Holy Spirit in the work of full, visible communion between the churches. He said, “We can only be grateful that after almost fifteen
hundred years of separation we still find agreement about the sacramental
nature of the Church, about apostolic succession in priestly service and about
the impelling need to bear witness to the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ in the world.” Watch a video clip of the presentation of the icon to His Holiness.
Opportunities for continuing dialogue with the Orthodox Church, Farrell says
In the middle of
the annual exercise of prayer and
study for Christian Unity, the Vatican’s daily news paper, L’Osservatore Romano,
interviewed Bishop Brian Farrell, LC, secretary of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity. The interviewer asked Bishop Farrell about problems
in the ecumenical quest with the Orthodox Church, and his answer is below.
We
are examining the crucial point of our differences on the Church’s structure
and way of being and operating: the question of the role of the Bishop of Rome
in the Church communion of the first millennium, when the Church in the West
and East was still united. After profound studies and discussions, the members
of the Theological Commission have come to realize the enormous difference
between the lived, assimilated, and narrated historical experience in Western
culture and the historical experience perceived in the Eastern vision of
things. Every historical event is open to different interpretations. The
discussion has not led to a real convergence.
Continue reading Opportunities for continuing dialogue with the Orthodox Church, Farrell says