\nBéshara Raï, 71, is making a pastoral visit to the Maronite Catholic
\ncommunities in both US eparchies from 4 to 23 October 2011. His Beatitude will visit Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon<\/a> and the Eparchy of St Maron of Brooklyn<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n
President Barack Obama has roundly refused to meet the Patriarch. Bishop Gregory openly makes the case that it is a mistake of the current administration to ignore His Beatitude’s visit to the USA.<\/span><\/p>\n Béshara Raï, was elected on March 15, 2011 as the 77th Patriarch of the Maronite Church.<\/span><\/p>\n Bishop Gregory’s letter:<\/span><\/p>\n September 30, 2011<\/span><\/p>\n Dear Mr. President:<\/span><\/p>\n I am terribly Muslim and Christian groups have all found Patriarch Rai’s warning about the future of Christians in Syria is not A new day is dawning in the Bishop of the Eparchy of <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Patriarch Béshara Raï, 71, is making a pastoral visit to the Maronite Catholic communities in both US eparchies from 4 to 23 October 2011. His Beatitude will visit Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon and the Eparchy of St Maron of Brooklyn. President Barack Obama has roundly refused to meet the Patriarch. Bishop Gregory openly makes the … Continue reading Maronite Bishop admonishes Obama for rebuff of Patriarch Béshara Raï<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,62],"tags":[1712,1999,2877,1974,2142,2708],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n
\ndisappointed with the rebuff of Patriarch Bechara Peter Rai who is the Catholic
\nleader of the Maronites worldwide and one of the most respected Christian
\nleaders in Lebanon and the Middle East . The motto of his coat of arms
\nreflects his personality and is call for “communion and love.” He has been
\ntrying to achieve what no other Middle Eastern political or a religious leader
\nhas been able to do: meet others with respect and love, not take sides,
\nand build bridges to a future that will hopefully lead to peace and happiness
\nfor all people in the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nin him a real father, a Patriarch. Because he has spoken out expressing
\nhis concern for the future of Christians in the Middle East , he has been
\nrebuffed by you and your Administration. It is pure hypocrisy for the
\nleader of the free world to refuse to meet with Patriarch Rai especially since
\nthe Prime Minister of Israel can come and completely disregard essential parts
\nof a peace plan and still be given a warm welcome, and the King of Saudi
\nArabia, where Christians have no freedom whatsoever, can be received with highest
\nhonors. Mr. President, you are ignoring the plight of Christians in the Middle
\nEast!<\/span><\/p>\n
\ntaboo. Christians are in a state of peril in the same way that Christians of
\nIraq were a few years ago when two thirds of them migrated out of the country
\nand are still not protected to this day. To say the Patriarch supports
\ndictators and sides with terrorists is pure nonsense. With his own unique
\ncharisma, Patriarch Rai has reached out to all Lebanese with whom he has to
\nlive side-by-side. It is a beautiful outreach, one that is uniquely his,
\nwithout having to be beholden to anyone. He speaks with love and tempers
\nthe divisive, hateful talk of many. He gives hope<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMiddle East. The Arab Spring is happening with little vision for the
\nsummer that will ensue. Mr. President, you do not have to agree on
\neverything with Patriarch Rai, but there is no need to avoid or rebuff
\nhim. By doing so, you are showing your disrespect for him and for all
\nChristians of the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>+ Gregory J Mansour<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSaint Maron of Brooklyn<\/span><\/p>\n