By Morgan Housel – In a way, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) couldn’t be more different. Microsoft has lost a third of its value over the past decade; IBM has gained 50%. IBM recently surpassed Microsoft in market capitalization for the first time since 1996.
In other ways, they’re a lot alike. Microsoft has grown earnings per share by 10.9% annually for the past decade. IBM’s growth over the same period? 10.2%. Analyst estimates for Microsoft’s five-year projected growth rate is 10.3% — IBM’s, 11.2%.
These are different companies with different products in different industries, yet both past and projected growth are about equal. Shareholder returns, however, couldn’t be more night and day.
Why?
I think you can break this conundrum down into two parts. Both are huge lessons every investor should be aware of.
1) The most important lesson in investing The most important lesson in investing is simple: Starting price determines future returns.
A parade of analysts and investors chide Microsoft for its abysmal shareholder returns over the past decade. In reality, Microsoft the company has done terrific. How many large companies grew earnings at 10% annually during one the worst economic decades on record? (11, if you’re wondering). Nearly all of the misery Microsoft investors experienced over the past 10 years can be explained by starting valuation. Shares traded at 60 times earnings at the start of the last decade. Shareholders’ fate was already sealed at that point. There was no realistic outcome that could have left them with anything other than tears today.
IBM was a different story. While it, too, was caught up in the dot-com bubble, it never got outrageously out of whack. Ten years ago, IBM shares traded at roughly 25 times earnings. That created a high hurdle but not an insurmountable one. The compression in IBM’s earnings multiple over the past 10 years hasn’t been drastic, letting shareholders enjoy at least some of the company’s earnings growth. Microsoft’s earnings multiple compression has been astronomical, causing shares to crumble even while the company grew briskly. The same story of flatlining returns amid strong earnings growth has happened to Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) , Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) . Each case can be explained simply: Starting valuation determines future returns.
Technology companies IBM Corp. and SAP AG are teaming up with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Lubar School of Business to establish a data center that focuses on bringing more technologically trained business graduates into the workforce.
The center is being unveiled on Monday.
IBM is providing computer hardware, software and training for the center, officially known as "The Technology Innovation Datacenter – Powered by IBM," university officials said.
The data center features the high-performance IBM Power 750, the server used for IBM’s Watson, the recent "Jeopardy" winner.
The data center will support the SAP University Competence Center, which is located in the Lubar School. The UCC is a hub for universities across a large portion of North America that offer a technology-focused business curriculum.
"The UCC provides hosting services and help-desk support for faculty and the 40,000-plus students in the more than 100 universities in North America where SAP software is used to reinforce and supplement classroom content," UWM said.
"Students from all over North America can access the center via the Internet to use in their course work," said Dave Haseman, director of the Lubar School’s Center for Technology Innovation and IBM Professor of Information Technology Management.
The Lubar School’s UCC is one of only five such competence centers in the world.
A business, tech marriage
Demand for workers who have a combination of technology and business skills is growing.
"It’s huge," said Aaron Ritchie, managing director at Experis, the specialty recruitment arm of ManpowerGroup that focuses on information technology, engineering and finance/accounting.
Khazen.org prays for all of the minorities being persecuted in the Middle-East. Mainstream media do not cover these injustice and massacres against Christians unfortunately. On a daily Basis the Christians are being totured, killed, persecuted, and attacked in very large numbers. We pray for these atrocities to end. And we request for the media, and world leaders to put an end on this injustice by first covering the news and second for the world leaders to take a firm stand against these atrocities and apply sanctions against the countries that cannot defend minorities or leaders that fail to offer their support to the communities being affected.
Unfortunately many of the newly "liberated" countries from dictatoship regime, are not taking swift actions to end violence against Christians! Is this the new democracy that they support?
After Egypt, Iraq what is next? Yemen? Bahrein? Syria? What about the minorities in these countries?
On Monday, May 16, 2011, a 29 year old Christian husband and father of three children was kidnapped by Islamic militants in Iraq. His mutilated body, showing signs of extreme torture, was found by a bridge. His head had been severed and his eyes gouged out.
IRKUK, Iraq (Catholic Online ) – Last Friday, a 29 year old Christian husband and father of three children was kidnapped by Islamic militants in Iraq. A ransom of the equivalent of $100,000 US was demanded.
On Monday, May 16, 2011, his mutilated body, showing signs of extreme torture was found by a bridge. His head had been severed and his eyes had been gouged out.
The heroic Archbishop of Kirkuk, Louis Sako, praised the heroism of this Christian man and the continuing strength and faith of the Christian community in Iraq.
He strongly condemned the evil noting the growing hostility toward Christians in Iraq, "In all these years, I have never heard of a single Christian converting to Islam, despite the many threats."
(HealthDay News) — Voter registration cards may offer more insight into who people promise to love and cherish than personality or appearance, new research suggests.
Most people marry those whose political views align with their own, according to a study from Rice University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The study, published recently in the Journal of Politics, examined the physical, personality and behavioral traits of more than 5,000 married couples in the United States. The various qualities — including body shape, height, weight, impulsivity, religion and ideology — were scored on a scale of zero to one, with one being a perfect match.
The researchers found that spouses appeared to instinctively select partners with similar social and political views. In fact, political attitudes were among the strongest shared traits — even taking precedence over personality or looks. The only attribute that scored slightly higher than political views was the frequency of church attendance.
Khazen.org offer its support to the Office of the Lebanese Presidency:
1- We support the Lebanese Presidency and its rights to defend and uphold the Lebanese Constitution. The key for the Lebanese presidency to be a real arbitrator, is for the office to be effectively represented in the Lebanese government. For president Suleiman to be able to follow the constitution and to be a real arbitrator as it is intended and clear, it is the right of this office to have ministers representing him or else he will not be able to be a real arbitrator as the constitution calls for it .
2- The Lebanese Constitution is very clear, the President Issue the decree appointing the prime minister independently. On agreement with the prime minister, issue the decree forming the cabinet. President Suleiman responsibility and role from the constitution is to sign the formation of the government, that will be able to govern independently and represent the interest of Lebanon. Only president Suleiman has the right to decide what kind of government he will support where as an arbitrator he feels it will serve best interest of the Lebanese nation.
3- We support the President as the commander in chef of all of the Armed Forces. Regardless of the unfortunate event of what has happened in the Telecommunication Ministry, and the intention of the Minister Charbel Nahas, we can ask many questions. Why now? Was it necessary? Why not when the government when he took in charge the ministry? All of these questions we may never find the answer, but one important factor, the President of the Republic because of his unique leadership as Preserving the constitution, has saved Lebanon an additional time by preventing any fights!. And we salute our President as the Commander in Chief of all of the Armed forces! Unfortunately Rifi has shown poor judgement, regardles of why he was there when the Interior Minister Baroud request him to leave, his duty is to leave! And because of disrespecting the Lebanese laws and constitution we request his case to be followed within the Lebanese Justice and for his direct resignation from Head of the internal security forces. He is not fit anymore to be able to control ISF when he takes political stands; This is not a political position!
Khazen.org offer its complete support to our Maronite Patriarch, our father, the Hope of Lebanon. His opinions are sacred. He is the voice of the Lebanese. What we need is a government that serve the interest of the people and not a government specialized in foreign relation as they have been building for the last 5 years and our youth are leaving Lebanon. We pray for the very quick formation of the Lebanese government, where our politicians will think less about their own interest and how to create larger parties but rather think more about the Lebanese people their pain, ecnomical suffering and uncertainty. As our Patriarch and President are seeking requesting, a government that will be able to govern freely, prevent conflicts, increase economical prosperity, jobs and create new programs to boost business, education, heath programs and investments.
khazen.org prays for the Christians of the Middle East, especially for the Christians of Egypt and Iraq being persecuted. And all of the minorities in the Middle-East going through an uncertain future. There are no words that we can use to describe these atrocities against the Christians. We hope for the leaders of these countries and of the Free world to act quickly. We also request for the leaders of these countries to create a long term plan and not only a superficial plan as they have been creating for the last 30 years. Every citizen have the right to live in peace and freely and these communities are here to stay. These leaders will need to educate their communities in accepting the others, non-violence and invest in schools and economy.
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai appealed Sunday for a swift formation of a new government, saying the inexplicable delay was ruining the country “I take this opportunity to make this appeal from the heart: Enough, Enough, enough,” Rai told reporters at Beirut’s airport before flying to Rome for a meeting at the Vatican. “Enough procrastination, and enough paralysis in our Lebanese life. We are sitting on the top of a volcano because of what is going on in the Arab world.” Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati’s four-month-old efforts to form a Cabinet have yet to succeed despite some progress over the past week. The main hurdle remains Christian representation in the government.“All the people demands that we have a government,” Rai said. “We can’t understand this delay. We have said before that the delay in forming the Cabinet is ruinous, it is destroying the state and suppressing the citizens.
Vatican City – Focusing on youth formation and returning to "proclaim and live the" Good News, with the same spirit of the early Christians: these are Benedict XVI’s recommendations to Lebanese Catholics, in his address to the new Maronite Patriarch Béchara Boutros Raï, received together with the delegation that accompanied him to Rome for the concession of ecclesial communion, following his election by the Maronite Synod.
The Pope, who underscored the presence Card. Nasrallah Sfeir, predecessor of the current patriarch, praising his 25 years of service to the Church "in the midst of the turmoil of history”.Speaking to the 77th leader of the Maronite Church he said that "since you are in the heart of the Middle East, you have an immense mission", to "propose the Gospel to people who know little about it or who have moved away from the Church. " "With all the vital forces present in Lebanon and the Middle East this means" witnessing and living in communion with the Word of life to rediscover the zeal of the early believers. "
"This region of the world, blessed by the presence and preaching of patriarchs, prophets, apostles and of Christ himself, aspires to the lasting peace that the Word of life, accepted and lived, has the ability to establish".
"You must pursue this goal through the human and spiritual, moral and intellectual education of young people, thanks to your schools and catechism classes, of which I know the quality. I very much hope that your role in their formation is increasingly recognized by society, so that the core values are transmitted, without discrimination, so that today’s young people "become responsible men and women within their families and society, to build greater solidarity and fraternity among all components of the nation. "
May Lebanon remain a free and pluralistic country! That’s the hope the new Lebanese Patriarch of the Maronite Church who is watching the current unrest in the region with concern.
Patriarch Bechara Rai expressed his concerns to Pope Benedict in his first audience since he was elected leader of the Maronite Church of Antioch in March. In his words to the new patriarch, Pope Benedict reiterated the urgency of proposing "the Gospel to those who do not know it well or have moved away from the Church” and to help the local faithful “to rediscover the enthusiasm of the first Christians.”
Formerly a director of the Arabic program for 12 years at Vatican Radio, Patriarch Rai spoke to me ahead of his audience with the Holy Father. Tracey McClure asked him if he fears the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa might in some way spill over into Lebanon…
Speaking in Italian, Patriarch Rai said “Of course we are worried. There could be consequences for Lebanon because we do not know where these protests are going. Lebanon is the place of freedom of expression and the place where all religions are represented; one does not assimilate another.” (And Lebanon is a place) “where there are differences of opinion and the political pluralism of parties. If these regimes of the Arab world were to become tougher,” he said, “it would be the Christians of these countries who would pay! Christians would be the first victims…”
Pope John Paul II often spoke of Lebanon as a model of coexistence among Christians, Muslims and Druze. The nation’s constitution guarantees the political and civil rights of all of its 18 different confessions. The President is always a Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni and the Speaker of the House a Shiite. Despite the turmoil in countries surrounding Lebanon, Patriarch Rai expressed his belief that its model of pluralism would not be at risk. “I don’t think so because the Lebanese – all the Lebanese: Muslims and Christians – attach great importance to this coexistence: all of them,” he says. “However, if Christians continue to emigrate in ever greater numbers, Lebanon’s political system will be conditioned by this, also demographically. In fact, if the demographics of Christians were to drop significantly, then even their representation will change. It will no longer be balanced, that is, 50-50. Perhaps it will be 75-25, or perhaps it will tend to disappear. But we hope to be able to preserve our presence and maintain our numbers, demographically as well.”
نشر هذا المقال في مجلة المسيرة في 25 آذار 2011 بمناسبة تنصيب البطريرك الراعي
سجعان القزي
نائب رئيس حزب الكتائب اللبنانية
في الخامس والعشرين من آذار 2011 بدأ عهد البطريرك مار بشارة بطرس الراعي، لا عهد البطريركية المارونية الموجودة منذ نحو 1325 سنة. إنه أولُ بطريرك على كنيسة لبنان وإنطاكية وسائر المشرق في القرن الواحد والعشرين (الشعبُ الجالسُ في ظلمة أبصر نوراً عظيماً).
التحدي عظيمٌ والمسؤولية أعظم. ما هَمّ: إنْ كان البطريرك الراعي يتمتّع بصفاتٍ ذاتية مـيّـزته لبلوغ سُـدَّة البطريركية، فما أن يستويَ بطريركٌ على عرش "مجد لبنان أُعطي له"، حتى تهبطَ عليه أيضاً نِعمُ الوقارِ والمهابة، الرصانةِ والثبات، التقوى والعفة، الشموخِ والعزة، الكِـبَرِ والتواضع، والحنانِ والرأفة. تـنـدُر كلماتُـه وتكـثُر أفعالُه. يَـثـقُب بنظراته، فلا يبخُل بابتساماته ولا يبذَخ بضِحكاته. برَكةُ يده لا تُـغني عن تحذير إصبعه، فعصاه متعددةُ الاستعمال. في شخصيته يَسكن أملُ الميلاد وألـمُ الجلجلة وعذابُ الصليب ورجاءُ القيامة. على جَبهته يَرتسمُ وادي العاصي وجبلُ لبنان ولبنانُ وإنطاكية وسائرُ المشرق. وعلى محـيّـاه يَلوح طيفُ مار مارون والقديسِين شربل ورفقا والحرديني والطوباويَين نعمه والكبوشي (فكونوا أنتم كاملين كما أن أباكم الذي في السموات هو كامل).
لست واعظاً لأرشُدَ البطريرك الجديد إلى ما عليه أن يفعل، فله عينان تَريان. لكني ابنُ الكنيسة وواجبي أن أنقلَ إليه تمنياتي، وللبطريرك أذنان تُصغيان. أنا من يحتاج إلى توجيهِه ونُصحِه وصلاته وبركته.
غِبطة البطريرك مار بشارة بطرس الراعي أمضى ربعَ قرنٍ أُسقفاً يشارك البطريركَ صفير في إدارةِ شؤون الكنيسة المارونية ورسمِ سياستِها وتحضيرِ قراراتِها وإعلان مواقِفها. ويعرِف نقاطَ قوّةِ الكنيسة المارونية وضعفِها، ويستطيع تحديدَ الأولويات ووضعَ خريطةِ طريق نحو التاريخ المستقبلي.
من هذه الفرضية أرى البطريركَ الراعي يَطرد اللصوص والباعةَ من الهيكل، ويَنهي المرائين و"الكتبةَ" عن تَسلّقِ درَج بكركي (بيتي بيت الصلاة يُدعى). أراه يحرِّم على مُـدَّعِـيِ الأدوار ومختلِقي المهمّـات ومُنتَحِلي الصفات التحدّثَ باسم البطريركية، ويَفصُل بين أمنِ بكركي والتنصّتِ عليها (اذهبوا عني يا فاعلي الإثم). أراه يُشذِّب أغصانَ بكركي من الأحمالِ الثقيلة فـتُورِف، ومن النوافلِ فـتُـثمر (كل غرسٍ لم يزرعْه أبي السموي يُقلع). أرى البطريركَ الراعي يبحث عن النعاجِ الضائعةِ ليعيدَها إلى خطِّ بكركي المستقيم (إذا وجدَها يضعَها على مِنكَـبَـيْـه فرِحاً).
لا يحبُّ البطريرك الراعي بَخّورَ المدّاحين ولا ثرثرة المتزلّفين. لا يتحـمّـل حاشيةً تستظل جُـبَّـته وتستغلُّ موقعه (يُكـرَّمني هذا الشعبُ، وقلـبُـه مني بعيد). لا يحبّ البطريرك الراعي المؤسساتِ التي أُنشئت لتكونَ امتداداً عَلمانياً لبكركي ودرعَها في المجتمع المدني، فتختفي وتربُط ألسنتها حين تتعرّض بكركي لهجومٍ ظالم وتطاول معيب، فـيَـهُبّ هو، وكان بعدُ أسقفاً، يردّ التحدي. أما، وقد أصبح بطريركاً، فيفضّل، على كل هؤلاء، فريقَ عملٍ ديني ـ عَلماني، من الرجال والنساء، يساعده على إكمال مسيرة ِنقلِ البطريركية إلى القرن الواحد والعشرين من دون أن تَتخلّى عن ثوابتِ القرن الرابع. فريق العمل الذي يَرغب به البطريرك الراعي شأنه أن يضم نخبةً زاهدةً، متجرِّدةً، نزيهةً، كفؤةً، مخلِصةً، نقـيَّـةً، شجاعةً، عميقةَ التفكير، عمليةَ الأداء، تقف إلى جانبِ غِبطته وتعمَل تحت إشرافه من أجلِ خيرِ الكنيسةِ والمؤمنين والإنسان (من أراد السيرَ ورائي فليَرغَب عن ذاته ويحمِل صليبَه ويَتبعْني).
وفي الأساس توجد في مكاتبِ بكركي وغرفِها تُخمة دراساتٍ ومشاريعَ راكدةٍ، منذ عقود، على رجاء القيامة. وما أن يَقيمها البطريرك الراعي، حتى تُقرع أجراسُ نجاحه بعد أجراسِ انتخابه.
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb) By Emma Gatten
BEIRUT: In most countries, people who do Mireille Raad’s job have no trouble working from home. As a freelance software developer, the technology exists for her to send clients her work via email, or access their computers remotely in order to resolve any issues.
In Lebanon, Raad spends two hours most days traveling to clients from her home in Batroun. The problem is that while Raad has access to the latest technology, Lebanon’s Internet connections are stuck in the early ‘90s. Earlier this month, the country’s Internet speeds were declared the slowest in the world by the website speedtest.net.
“Are you going to send [big files] by Liban Post?” Raad asks. “And wait until the next day for the client to get it and then call him to tell him how to use it?”
Raad estimates that her productivity is cut by at least 30 percent a month, factoring in poor speeds and extra travel. She also faces high prices, paying $70 a month for her connection.
In a 2008 survey by the Telecoms Regulatory Authority (TRA), the independent body funded by the state to regulate the industry, Lebanon came out with the most expensive Internet in the region for 1mbps of ADSL, while 46 percent of people surveyed said they thought their monthly rate was too high.
There are manifold reasons for the high prices and slow speeds. The country has, as Mahmoud Haidar, an adviser to caretaker Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas puts it, “much more than we need” in terms of bandwidth coming in to the country, thanks to cables from Cyprus, and another from India to Europe, across the Middle East (IMEWE).
And in a news conference in September last year, Nahhas said new projects to be implemented that year would increase capacity by 168 times. Yet nothing has changed for users.
The uprisings sweeping the Middle East have started to blow down some very dark doors – the doors that lead to the dungeons and prisons where Arab security services do their work.
In Alexandria and Cairo, Egyptian protesters broke into the offices of state security, where they discovered some of the tools and torture devices used to make prisoners more pliant. Perhaps more important, they unearthed files detailing the nature of the work, and on whose behalf it was done. When the dust has settled, Washington may find its Arab allies much less willing to chase down and detain terrorist suspects, lest they be accused of collaborating with the Americans.
But what about the dark work Arab regimes do with the aid of other Arab states? Libyan rebels last week reportedly brought down two Syrian fighter pilots flying on behalf of Qaddafi’s besieged regime. Arab sources have told me there may be more than two dozen Syrian pilots flying planes in Libya — Qaddafi pays well and Damascus can use the money. Besides, the Syrian-Libyan relationship goes back several decades and the ties between their intelligence services are strong.
Those same sources explain that a delegation from Syrian intelligence services was recently dispatched to Tripoli to scrub the Libyan intelligence archives clean of all the records detailing past projects that the two countries had collaborated on, including terrorism. One Arabic-language website claimed that former Syrian vice president Abdel-Halim Khaddam was involved in these joint operations, including the “disappearance” of Moussa al-Sadr, the Iranian-born Lebanese cleric who went missing in Libya in 1978 and is presumed to be dead. A discovery that Syria really was complicit in Sadr’s death could cause Bashar al-Assad’s regime some trouble with Lebanon’s Shia community, which revered the cleric. With Syrian officials likely on the verge of being indicted in the assassination of a major Lebanese Sunni figure, the former prime minister Rafik Hariri, Syria can hardly afford to alienate the Shia, the one Lebanese sect still unequivocally supportive of Damascus.
khazen.org, "Our joy has no limit!." Glory to our New Patriarch!!! The Glory of Lebanon is given to you – All of the khazen will serve as your servants Patriarch Mar Bechara Al Raai. The khazen family pray for the new Patriarch to continue, in strengthening and lead he Maronite Catholic Nation all around the World. It is a day of extreme hope, unity and happiness for Khazen.org! Rai, 71, who was the Archbishop of Jbeil, is the 77th patriarch of the Maronite Church, a position. Rai was elected after almost a week of deliberations by 38 bishops at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkirki. His election was celebrated by a televised mass while Maronite churches across the country rang bells at midday in celebration. “The elections took place with love and peace,” Rai said in a televised speech.
Monsignor Youssef Tawk, head of the Council of Maronite bishops, announced the news from the church’s headquarters in Bkerke, northeast of Beirut, after days of meetings behind closed doors during which the Bishops voted on who would succeed the long-serving Sfeir.
Well-wishers, including politicians and clergymen, immediately began to pour in to Bkerke upon hearing the news, some shedding tears of joy.
Cardinal Patriarch Boutros Nasrallah is very happy of the election of the Patriarch and has said of Raii "He is one of the pillars of the church (in Lebanon) and is open to all the communities, he added. "He is a very qualified person from a spiritual standpoint, he listens to everyone and greets everyone the same, whatever their background."
Worshippers attend a ceremony for the newly elected Christian Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai at the the patriarchate church in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 25, 2011. Lebanon’s Maronite Church Christian community held an official ceremony to assume the new Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai in his new post on Friday held at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerki . REUTERS/ Dalati Nohra/Handout
Lebanon’s Christian Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir (L) blesses the newly elected Christian Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai during a ceremony at the patriarchate church in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 25, 2011. Lebanon’s Maronite Church Christian community held an official ceremony to assume the new Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rai in his new post on Friday. REUTERS/ Dalati Nohra/Handout
"The El Khazen family represented by two members (Ghosta Branch and Ajaltoun Branch) will have the honor to guard Bkerke during the next election of the Maronite Patriarch. This is a special power and preeminence that Bkerke has over the El Khazen family, as a consequence of its sovereignty and safety of election. The main duty is to ensure that there will be no interference or influence from any outsiders. Cheikh Farid Haikal El Khazen will represent the Ghosta branch and Cheikh Amine Keserouan El Khazen will represent the Ajaltoun Branch.
His beatitude Patriach Sfeir has accomplished tremendously for Lebanese, ensured freedom, Maronite safety and growth throughout the last three decades. The El khazen as a whole are very thankful about the great and unique accomplishments of His Beatitude Patriarch Sfeir and they will remain always servants of the Patrarch at his service."
Daily Star:
BEIRUT: Newly elected Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai was born in the Metn town of Hemlaya on Feb. 25, 1940. Before his election Tuesday, Rai was head of the Maronite Diocese of the coastal town of Jbeil, northern Beirut, from 1990. Rai received his intermediate and high school education at the College Notre-Dame de Jamhour. In 1962, he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology and in 1975 he received a PhD in canon and civil law. Rai also studied three years of law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
In 1995, Rai was appointed by Pope John Paul II as a member in the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants and he has served on the council since then.
In 2005, he was appointed by the Council of the Catholic Patriarchs of the Orient as a coordinator for the Episcopal Commission for the Family in the Middle East in 2005.
More recently in 2010, Rai was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
The new patriarch has also worked in academia. He has been a lecturer in pontifical theology and the sacrament of matrimony at Universite Saint-Esprit De Kaslik since 2001. He has also been a lecturer in legal rights at Sagesse University in Beirut since 2001.
In 1994, Rai received the Order of Merit, Commander Rank, by the Italian president of the Italian Republic and in 2007 he received the National Order of the Cedar. – The Daily Star
The first electoral rounds will begin Friday morning or afternoon after a secretary general – to preside over electoral rounds – and a committee to sort out votes is elected Thursday by the Synod of Bishops following hours of prayers. Former Kesrouan MP Farid Haykal El Khazen and former ambassador Amin El Khazen locked the patriarchate’s doors to visitors. By tradition, members of the Khazen family stand guard in Bkirki until a patriarch is elected. The tradition began in 1703 when a member of the Khazen family used to guard the monastery, which was then under construction, before it became the seat of the patriarchate in 1823. Thirty-seven Maronite bishops, among them several presiding over dioceses across the world, arrived in Bkirki by Wednesday afternoon after flying to Lebanon.
khazen.org The El Khazen family also would like to send its eloge, gratitude to His Excellency Mgr. Roland ABOU JAOUDE General Patriarchal Vicar Auxiliary Maronite Patriarcal Protosyncelle. Who has played a unifying role for all of the Maronites Nation, in bringing all leaders together and has offered tremendeously to the Maronite Church and to the Lebanese overall. It is through his leadership, unique actions and faith that we are stronger today.
Catholic news agency: "Pope Benedict XVI has formally accepted the resignation of Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, who is retiring at the age of 91.Cardinal Sfeir has led the Maronite Church since 1986. A new Patriarch of Antioch will be elected at a meeting of the Maronite Synod of Bishops, expected to be held at Bkirke, the headquarters of the patriarchate, in March.
At his request, Patriarch Rai will officially be installed on the feast of the Annunciation, March 25. Catholic patriarchs do not have their elections confirmed by the pope, but the new patriarch will request and receive spiritual communion from Pope Benedict XVI.
The 77th patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church said "Communion and Charity" would be his motto.
The Maronite Church exerts enormous public influence in Lebanon, where it is by far the largest Christian body. In his letter accepting the Patriarch’s resignation, Pope Benedict alluded to Cardinal Sfeir’s leadership during years of turmoil in Lebanon:
You began your noble ministry of patriarch of the Maronites amidst the torment of the war which bloodied the face of Lebanon for so many years. With the ardent desire for peace in your country, you led the Church and travelled the world to console those obliged to emigrate. Finally, peace returned, ever fragile but still extant.
The outgoing Patriarch will convene the Maronite Synod to elect his successor—according to reports in Lebanon, in the middle of March. He denied that he had his own favored candidates, stressing that the younger Maronite bishops would make the decision.
Lebanon’s President Suleiman chats with Lebanon’s outgoing Christian Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir and newly elected
Reuters via Yahoo! News – Mar
Lebanon’s newly elected Christian Maronite Patriarch Rai greets his audience at the patriarchate in Bkerki
Patriarch Election History
by Richard Van Leewen – Notables and Clergy in Mount Lebanon "The political prestige of the El Khazen Sheiks, and even their position as Consuls of France, was partly founded on the endorsement of the Maronite prelates and the European missionaries. In the course of the 17th century, when the Khazens asserted their control over Kiserwan, the symbiosis between secular and clerical authority took the form of an all-embracing secular patronage over the church and the dominance of lay interests. It should be noted that this lay interference was not inconsistent with tradition, as no clear definition of the role of laymen in the church existed. The privileges acquired by the Khazens were not seen as an infringement of traditional practice or of clerical independence as it was justified by their secular authority and, moreover, provided the clergy with obvious advantages.
The influence of the El Khazen Sheiks in clerical matters concentrated on two aspects, which were, as far as the clergy were concerned, closely interrelated: the nomination of prelates and the founding and administration of clerical and monastic possessions. Traditionally, the main Maronite notables were consulted on the occasion of the election of the patriarch. In practice, from the 17th century onwards, this custom implied that the Khazen Sheiks had to approve the chosen candidate, before he could receive the pallium from Rome. It has been recorded, for instance, that the delegates who had travelled to Rome in 1633 to obtain the confirmation of the election of Jirjis IJmayra had to return to Mount Lebanon empty-handed, as they were unable to produce the endorsement letters from the Khazens which were required by the Vatican. In 1670 discord broke out between the Khazen Sheiks and the elected patriarchal candidate al-Duwayhi, since, according to some sources, Sheik Abu Nawfal had not previously been consulted. In 1710, finally, the Khazen Sheiks used their influence to have the mutrans depose Patriarch Ya^ub Awwad and appoint a Khazen protege, Yusuf Mubarak. These examples, which supposedly were recorded because they represented irregularities in the prevailing pattern, show that in the course of the 17th century the patriarchate came under the control of the Khazen Sheiks to a large extent.13
The authority of the Khazen Sheiks over the patriarchate was enhanced by their interference in the ordination of the mutrans, who were officially responsible for the election of the patriarch and provided the candidates. Moreover, the mutrans were, again officially, directly responsible for the administration of the dioceses covering the Khazen domains and for the collection of the "ushur. Mutrans who were ordained as a result of the intercession of the Khazen Sheiks in the 17th century were, as far as we know, Ishaq al-Shadraw! (Tripoli; 1629), Sarkis al-Jamri (Damascus; 1658) Yusuf Mubarak (Baalbek; 1683) and Butrus Makhliif (Cyprus; 1674). Eventually, the three main branches of the Khazin family acquired the privilege of selecting the mutrans of the dioceses of Aleppo (awldd Abi Nasif), Baalbek (awldd Abi Qansawh) and Damascus (awldd AbT Nawfal). This privilege was acknowledged by Patriarch Ya’qub ‘Awwad. It is, therefore, evident that the Khazen Sheiks also interfered in dioceses which officially had no connection with their administrative territory, an indication that they saw their role in church matters as an extension of their political power within the community as a whole.14
يكاد لا يمرّ يومٌ ، بل لا تنقضي ساعة، من دون أن نقرأ أو نسمع، أوحتى نرى في وسائل الإعلام، ما "يحور ويدور" حول " المحكمة الخاصّة للبنان" أو " الخاصّة بلبنان"، وبصورة أخصّ حول " القرار الظنّي أو قرار الاتهام" . ولم يقتصر الحديث أو التصريح أو المناظرة على السياسيين "وأصحاب الخبرة " بل تعدّاه إلى بعض رجال القانون .
وكنت آليت على نفسي ألاّ أدخل هذا " العراك " لعدّة أسباب، أهمّها، أن ليس لكلّ هذا " الجدال " أيُّ جدوى فعليّة، لأنّ الموضوع سياسيّ بامتياز، حتّى أنّه لو لم تكن "المحكمة " قد أُنشئت أصلاً، فَلَرُبّما طُرحت قضية أخرى تتصّف بالعنف نفسه، وكذلك بالتصلّب، فضلاً عن أنّ كلّ هذه الضوضاء الحافلة بالانفعالات، لا تأثير لها البتّة في مسار المحكمة، ولا طبعاً في وجودها .
ولكن، نظراً للجهل وللمغالطات، والأخطاء والالتباسات التي تُبَثُ يوميّاً، سواء عن قصد أو عن غير قصد، وتوقِع المواطنَ في حالة اضطراب، غالباً ما يؤدّي إلى شلّ فكره، وبالتالي إلى طمس رأيه الخاصّ، ممّا يُخضعه لتبعيّة الاصطفافات المعروفة، سواء أكانت مذهبيّة أم حزبيّة. ونَظراً خصوصاً لتقنيّة الموضوع،عدلت عن موقفي. وها أنا أتقدّم من القارىء، الّذي يريد أن يطّلع ولو عَرَضاً على مجريات المحكمة الخاصّة بلبنان، بإيضاحات حول نظام هذه المحكمة، والأصول المتّبعة لديها، والتي تختلف كليّاً عمّا ألِفناه في نظامنا الجزائي اللّبناني، المُقتَبَس عن النظام الفرنسيّ،علّ القارىء يتوصّل إلى تكوين قناعة شخصيّة عن هذه المحكمة، بمعزل عن المواقف والآراء المتداولة، فيدرك أنْ ليس ثمّة " قرار اتّهام" يصدر، لا عن المدّعي العامّ ، ولا عن قاضي الإجراءات التمهيديّة، علماً أنّه بمستطاع أيّ كان، أنْ يأخذ عن المحكمة نفسها، ما يجعله مُتيقناً ممّا ذكرناه،وذلك بمجرّد مراجعة موقعها الألكتروني .
إلاّ أنّه يقتضي التمييز بين الإجراءات القضائيّة التّي تمّت في لبنان، بدءاً بالنيابة العامة التمييزيّة والمحقّق العدليّ، والإجراءات التّي تقوم بها المحكمة الخاصّة في مراحلها كافة بدءاً بالادعاء الممثل بالسيّد ميليس،مروراً بالسّادة "بلمار" وقاضي الإجراءات التمهيديّة "فرنسين"،والمحاكمة الابتدائية، وانتهاءً بالهيئة الاستئنافيّة، وستقتصر مداخلتي هذه على عرض مبسّط للاجراءات المتّبعة لدى المحكمة الخاصّة بلبنان، مقابل تلك المتّبعة في لبنان.
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