BEIRUT: A fifth column is working to destabilize Tripoli, north Lebanon Mufti Sheikh Malek al-Shaar warned Saturday, blaming recent attacks on …

In Lebanon, divorce and remarriage is not as prominent as it is in Europe and North America, so there is less focus on care for those types of situations.

by HILLARY MAST AND ELISE HARRISVATICAN CITY — The synod bishops on the family has provided an opportunity for people to bring up issues concerning marriage and family life facing Catholics around the world, but as one auditor has noted, not all of those issues are the same.

Selim and Rita El Khoury, spouses who are coordinators of the Pastoral Office of Marriage and Family in the Maronite Patriarchate in Lebanon, had the opportunity to participate as auditors in the synod, and they said that, although many issues are being discussed, not all of them apply to Catholics worldwide.

For example, family issues plaguing Catholics in Africa, such as polygamy, are not necessarily the same issues facing Catholics in Asia. “What I see generally [is that] each continent has its own problems … but there are some general for all, and there are specific problems,” Selim El Khoury told CNA Oct. 9. “What is good is the Pope is here every day listening to all, and we have a really interesting debate; everybody is giving his ideas.”

In Lebanon, divorce and remarriage is not as prominent as it is in Europe and North America, so there is less focus on care for those types of situations. The nuclear family remains strong there, with parents and children living under the same roof even once the children become adults, El Khoury said.

However, the slow economic environment in Lebanon has created a disruption in family life by causing many men to leave their families in search of work, sometimes taking them far from home

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