Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Thursday stressed that change requires “serious dialogue,” lauding President Michel Suleiman’s call for dialogue and saying it can provide an opportunity for “transition to a better political and economic period.” During a meeting with Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, the patriarch said the president’s “call for dialogue remains the only […]

  BEIRUT — In the cramped, working-class neighborhood of Tariq al-Jdeideh, Beirut’s last pocket of Sunni control, the walls tell the story of a community in the throes of a potentially profound transformation. Faded portraits of the mainstream Sunni leader Saad Hariri, left over from the last crisis that engulfed Lebanon, are gradually being eclipsed by […]

  BEIRUT: Patriarch Bechara Rai joined a lead group of catholic prelates and will be officially appointed on Nov. 24 as a new cardinal in the Catholic Church, the Vatican’s Wednesday bulletin said. “With great pleasure, I announce joining six new cardinals in the Catholic Church,” the pope said following his weekly general audience. The new cardinals […]

  The Lebanese journalist abducted in Syria said that Turkish authorities were stalling in receiving him from his abductors for flimsy reasons. “One of the [Turkish authorities] pretexts is that they want to provide a private jet for me,” Fidaa Itani told LBC on Wednesday during a phone call. Itani also said that the leader of the […]

  Eager as they ever are to believe that no enemy of Israel can go far wrong, two prominent figures on the American “left” have penned a righteous critique of what they call a “disastrous” and “embarrassing” New York Times op-ed that portrays Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as anti-Semitic.   Not the easiest blemish to […]

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Tuesday called on the opposition March 14 camp to accept President Michel Suleiman’s call for national dialogue, stressing that "we cannot cripple the state and dialogue upon every crisis." "I repeat my condolences over the assassination of (Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head) Maj. Gen. (Wissam) al-Hasan and all the […]

  Five days after a devastating bomb attack killed a top Lebanese security chief sparking minor clashes and road blockages by his supporters, a semblance of calm has returned to a country that has little interest in starting a new civil war.  The death of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, head of the police’s intelligence bureau, […]

  Efforts are underway in order to bridge the differences between former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat in light of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday. It revealed that President Michel Suleiman contacted the two […]

  Who killed Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan? Following the assassination last Friday, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt blamed Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. However, Jumblatt refrained from addressing “whether Hezbollah or any others [were] behind the assassination, because we would be doing what Assad wants us to do.” Jumblatt’s concern is understandable. His priority is to avoid internal […]

In the face of all that happens in the Middle East, I try to pay special attention to the plight of the Christians in that ancient land which has such a rich place in our Christian history.  I also try, as Editor in Chief of Catholic Online, to call regular attention to the plight of our Christian brethren who suffer such intense persecution precisely because they remain faithful to the ancient faith. Our Catholic Christian faith precedes in time and history the presence of Islam in Syria. I am helped in my efforts by some of our excellent writers like Michael Terheyden, whose coverage of the challenges faced by Christians in the Middle East is one of the many great resources we offer our readers.
I am always happy to find good news to report on in the midst of the seemingly unending stream of bad news. When I do, I want to bring it to you, our dear readers, whose prayer propels its multiplication. On Thursday I read a great report in Asia news entitled "Trappist nuns in Azeir, a sign of hope for Syria at war". 

This reliable news service is one of my "go to" sources for news on the Middle East. Here is an excerpt: "Amid the chaos of the Syrian civil war, when the main noise has been the sound of bombs going off and the screams of those they wounded, there are still some places where the prevailing hatred is held at bay. One of them is a Trappist monastery in the small Maronite village of Azeir, located in western Syria between the cities of Tartous and Homs." 

"Five Italian nuns from the Monastery of Valserena (Pisa) call it home. Despite the fighting raging around them, they chose to stay in the country. "Despite our Italian nationality," said Sister Monica, superior of the Mother House, "and the resources we might have because of it, we are part of this community and cannot leave at a time of trial. Its fate is our fate." "In letters written over the past few months and posted on the monastery’s website, the nuns describe the tragedies of the war and the suffering endured by the residents of the villages that surround them. For the sisters, the monastery is a tangible sign of hope.

"A place where God is worshiped in his real presence, both Eucharistic and Ecclesial, through prayers and brotherly communion, is a blessing for all." However, "Our neighbours are discouraged," said one of the letters posted. "Even in our small village, civilians and young conscripts have been killed."

"The country," wrote another, "has become a battleground for adversaries that are bigger than Syria, people who came to fight in this land and this people to settle their own conflicts." In each post, the Trappist nuns call on all Christians to pray for the Syrian population that welcomed them. According to them, "people want justice, freedom, democracy but also jobs and a chance to go out with the family." "During the months of war, Muslims came to the monastery, not only to ask for basic items, but also for some comfort."Some young people began turning to us because they needed someone to help them think, grow and reflect," one nun said.

"The nuns responded to such requests with their life, full of prayers and small actions, like growing vegetables in the garden and tending the orchard, which produces all sorts of fruit," another nun said. Bearing witness in this simple fashion helps people have hope and stand up to hatred,  mindful of the traditions of this land where Christians and Muslims have lived in peace for centuries. "Our trust in man comes from Christian hope and it is stronger than all the horrors," Sister Monica wrote. "Christians are called to bear witness to it in the world. Since we have been called to Syria, why leave?

They also reveal the beauty of the prophetic and timeless mission of the whole Catholic Church. In 2005 they left their beautiful Monastery of Valserena in Italy to found a monastery in Syria.They left a place of peace for a place plagued by the intrinsic evil of war. Why would they do this? 

First, because they really know Jesus Christ. They also did so because they were inspired by the heroic witness of seven Cistercian monks of Tibhirine who were martyred in 1996 in Algeria. The witness of these heroic monks is chronicled in an extraordinary film entitled "Of Gods and Men"