In an attempt to boost the voting for Jeita Grotto as one of the new seven wonders, Sheikh Farid Haykal El Khazen asked the local authorities to collaborate further with our embassies outside Lebanon and with prominent business men to promote Jeita Grotto to a larger crowd and get more votes.    Sheikh […]

    Patriarch Rai arrived in Rome on an official visit after his long trip to the United States of America.  The Maronite Patriarch was welcomed by Lebanese Ambassador to the Vatican Georges Khoury. His visit to Italy is presumed to last one week.    To read the homily of Patriarch Bechara Boutros el Rai […]

By Tom Gallagher, NEW YORK CITY — Patriarch Bechara Peter Rai, head of the Lebanon-based Maronite Catholic Church, held up Lebanon’s government as a model for emerging Arab democracies because Lebanon separates church and state, Rai said at an Oct. 20 news conference.

"In Lebanon, Christians and Muslims made a conviviality, a ‘National Pact,’" Rai said. "They incorporated it into the Introduction of the Constitution, where it is stated there is no legitimacy for any authority that contradicts the conviviality."

That "National Pact" was turned into a formula for securing equal participation in government and civil service for Muslims and Christians, he said.

"Thanks to this National Pact, Lebanon became a secular country that separates religion from the state and is governed on the basis of a consensual parliamentary democracy guaranteeing civil liberties and basic human rights, in particular freedom of opinion, speech, religion and conscience, where dialogue and consensus prevail," he said.

"Lebanon is more than a country. It is a message of cooperation to both East and West, and an example of dialogue between Christians and Muslims."

"Moreover, the church in Lebanon is considered a guarantee for the Christian presence for that part of the world," he added.

A PDF copy of his prepared remarks are here.

Rai was elected to lead the Maronite church, the largest Catholic patriarchal church with 13 million members, in March. He is on a tour of Maronite church communities in the United States and met with reporters Oct. 20 in the offices of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association in New York City.

On the topic of the Arab Spring, Rai was hopeful but cautious and denounced violence, especially against Christians. Rai said that Christians were in that part of the world 600 years before the arrival of Islam.

"The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ sweeping the Middle East holds much promise, yet we must be vigilant," Rai said. "The church abhors the use of violence to meet any goal. Violence can never by justified.

    With barely 3 weeks left until the voting ends, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman paid a visit to Jeita Grotto today in an attempt to encourage Lebanese to vote more and make out of this beautiful grotto one of the new 7 wonders of the world.   Suleiman said: “God gave us this gift […]

    The Lebanese government agreed on Tuesday to raise the minimum wage in Lebanon by 200,000 to become 700,000. Added to that, all employees earning between 1,000,000 and 1,800,000 were granted a 300,000 LL automatic increase. This unbalance wage hike has stirred many reactions, mainly from the head of the economic authorities and former […]

 khazen.org applauds the historic visits of Patriarch Rai in the United States and Europe, which is a continuation of  the message of his Holiness PopeJean-Paul II visit in 1997 of lebanon and Historical visit of the Patriarch Sfeir to the United states in 2005. During his Homily Pope Jean-Paul II has described  Lebanon as:  "LEBANON […]

    In an attempt to silence the attacks against Patriarch Rai’s stances, Cardinal and ex-Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir told a local radio station on Saturday that "he does not object to what the patriarch has said and he says what needs to be said." He continued by reassuring all the Lebanese that Bkirki will […]

     After his successful visit to France, Maronite Patriarch Rai headed to the United States on his first official visit. Lebanese residing in the US held several ceremonies in honor of the Patriarch. During one of the ceremonies held in the US city of Saint Louis, Missouri, Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai said on […]

    After winning the people’s choice award at the Toronto international festival, Nadine Labaki’s new movie "Where do we go now?" has now gathered in its first 3 weeks more viewers than any other movie in the Lebanese theathers and continues to attract more and more people. It has also scored a remarkable 7.5 […]

By Dan Morgan and Kevin Flower, CNN

Jerusalem (CNN) — Less than a week after the arson of a mosque in northern Israel, dozens of Christian and Muslim graves were vandalized in an Arab section of the Israeli city of Jaffa.

More thahan 100 graves were vandalized in the Muslim cemetery of al-Kazakhana and at a nearby Christian cemetery in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, according to residents and a CNN producer who visited the locations.

Some of the graves were spray painted with graffiti while others were smashed.

Residents say the vandalism took place Friday evening as the Yom Kippur holiday was beginning in Israel, but police suggested it might have taken place a day or two prior.

Among the words spray-painted in Hebrew on the gravestones were "price tag" and "death to all Arabs."

"Price tag" is a term frequently used by radical Israeli settlers to denote reprisal attacks against Palestinians in response to moves by the Israeli government to evacuate illegal West Bank outposts, or as retribution for attacks by Palestinians.

Local residents told CNN that police who arrived at the scene on Saturday morning tried to cover up the graffiti using white paint. The police also asked locals to clean up the graffiti.

"This is bad, this very, very bad. This is all because of the settlers that moved into the neighborhood. When they did this, the writing was on the wall," Jaffa resident Kamel Satal told CNN.