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The 100-year-old Barakat Building, used as a snipers' hideout during the Lebanese Civil War, is being turned into a museum by preservation activists to document the modern history of Beirut.

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The 100-year-old Barakat Building, used as a snipers' hideout during the Lebanese Civil War, is being turned into a museum by preservation activists to document the modern history of Beirut.

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by Changiz M. Varzi

As its landmarks disappear one-by-one, Beirut is suffering from a severe case of architectural amnesia. With the guns of civil war long silent, the Lebanese capital is still losing magnificent pieces of its past through the razing of its longstanding memorable buildings.

The city once known as “the Paris of the Middle East” is today a hodgepodge of unsightly high-rises made of concrete and glass that have replaced the grand old structures.

The one thing that has unified the Lebanese political and economic power-holders amidst decades of political strife, armed conflict and sectarian confrontation is the pouring of money into Lebanon’s property market, which has accelerated the process of demolishing legendary houses.

“This is not a new phenomenon in Lebanon; politicians have always been unresponsive to these issues,” Elie Karma, a preservation activist from Beirut, tells Equal Times.

Your Majesty, President Obama, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In absolute terms, Lebanon is by far the biggest world donor to the cause of refugees. According to the World Bank, over 15 billion dollars have been contributed by the Lebanese economy to ensure public services, education and health to the Syrians and Palestinians who compose one third of our population today. In the past two years, no less than five major high-level conferences on the subject have taken place. No less than three meetings are held this week here, at the UN. What do we have to show for all this mobilization of political power? Very little indeed, especially when we consider the overflow of those crossing now to Europe.

 This faltering of the international community should be urgently remedied: First, by devoting the substantial funding required in order to manage the consequences of the crisis.  Second, by massively investing in development aid in order to trigger durable growth, create jobs and fight poverty for the benefit of host populations and refugees alike.   Third, by establishing a transparent mechanism to track the multiplicity of funding flows, generate synergies and avoid waste.   Fourth, by significantly activating burden-sharing efforts by all countries which have the possibility to relocate refugees, including by the countries of the region.

By Deacon Keith Fournier

I am a Catholic Christian seeking to apply the principles of the Social teaching of my Church to my political, economic and social participation.I offer a few examples of how I have approached evaluating the two candidates for the Presidency of the United States based upon principles derived from my  faith. I gratefully accepted the invitation to become a member of the Catholic Advisory Group to the campaign of Donald J. Trump for the Presidency of the United States of America. I did so because I love my country, my God, my Church and my family. I am honored to serve and will offer the kind of advice which I have expressed in this essay to the Trump/Pence campaign.

CHESAPEAKE, VA (Catholic Online) - I write as a private American citizen concerned about the future of the Nation I love. In this essay I am expressing my personal political views - and I have a right to do so.

I am a husband to my wife of forty years, father to our five grown children and grandfather to seven. I am a "family man", deeply concerned about the American family and its future. I am also a constitutional lawyer. I spent much of my career defending religious freedom as the first freedom and the right to life as the first right. I have stood at the intersection of faith and culture for  decades in both ministry and activism.

By catholicherald.co.uk

Pope Francis has said that a global war on marriage is underway and Catholics must respond by helping couples stay strong and by providing pastoral care to those experiencing difficulty. “Today there is a global war to destroy marriage,” the Pope said during a meeting in Tbilisi with priests, religious, seminarians and lay people active in parish life.

“Today you do not destroy with weapons, you destroy with ideas,” the Pope said. “It is ideological colonisation that destroys.” The only way to defend marriage against the onslaught, he said, is to help couples “make peace as soon as possible, before the day ends, and don’t forget the three words: ‘May I?’ ‘Thank you’ and ‘Forgive me.'”

“Marriage is the most beautiful thing that God has created,” Pope Francis said. In marriage, man and woman become one flesh, “the image of God.” “When you divorce one flesh you sully the God’s image,” he said.