US church leaders keep the focus on war-torn Lebanon
-01/11/06
A nine member United Sta
US church leaders keep the focus on war-torn Lebanon
-01/11/06
A nine member United States church delegation, led by the Rev Michael Livingston, president of the National Council of Churche USA, has reported on its visit last month (October 2006) to Lebanon. The trip was a prcatical expression of solidarity with the country and its people, following the recent war.
The aim of the church leaders was also to spread information about what is really going on at grassroots level, to contribute to peace and reconciliation, and to encourage aid and development.
Accompanied by the Middle East Council of Churches’ (MECC) General Secretary, Mr Guirgis Saleh, and other senior staff, the delegation paid visits to high level government officials, including President General Emile Lahhoud, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Minister of Culture Dr Tarek Mitri, Minister of Social Affairs, Mrs Nayla Moawad, and the Deputy Chief at the US Embassy, as well as heads of Christian churches and other Muslim religious leaders.
The delegation additionally met with members of the MECC Executive Committee, who shared their views on the situation in Lebanon as well as their concerns regarding the people of the badly-scarred region.
Visits were made to the southern suburbs of Beirut and different villages in the South of Lebanon. In Qana (Cana), the delegation visited the cemeteries where the victims (mostly women, children and elderly) of the two massacres perpetrated by the Israeli army (1996 and 2006), are buried. The group offered their prayers to the victims, and after this they visited the site of Jesus Christís dramatic production of overflowing wine at the Cana wedding.
During their visits to the damaged areas, the church leaders met with different government and community officials, clergy and lay, as well as families affected by the recent war in Lebanon. The delegation was able to see some of the MECC/ACT water and sanitation projects in a number of villages.
The visit to the south of Lebanon was concluded by an Iftar hosted by the Middle East Council of Churches, as an expression of the existential dialogue between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon, and to honour the delegation. An important number of Christian and Muslim reprsentatives and church and community leaders attended this event, illustrating the Lebanese model of positive coexistence.
At the press conference held at the Bristol Hotel on the second day of their visit, after a presentation of the members constituting the delegation, NCCCUSA President Rev Michael Livingston said that the visit was also a fact finding mission and an opportunity to raise awareness of the plight of the Lebanese people and faith communities in the West and across the globe.
Members of the delegation said they will take back with them to the United States a different image of the situation in Lebanon from the one they had before leaving. They will also take back the courage they witnessed and the hope the Lebanese carry in their hearts for a better future.
They declared: “We are carrying back a message of sadness and grief but hope for justice and peace in the future. Security and peace are inter-connected and cannot be achieved by force.”
Members of the delegation expressed their hope to be modest contributors to the peace process in the Middle East, and that all actors would meet around the dialogue table to find out ways and means of achieving peace. They conveyed their wish to see a world where all children of God live in dignity, hope, security and peace.
Mr Livingston underlined that he would also convey to the people of the USA the need to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to allow the Lebanese population to live in peace. He said it was important that the US government increase its relief assistance to the Lebanese people.
US church leaders keep the focus on war-torn Lebanon
-01/11/06
A nine member United States church delegation, led by the Rev Michael Livingston, president of the National Council of Churche USA, has reported on its visit last month (October 2006) to Lebanon. The trip was a prcatical expression of solidarity with the country and its people, following the recent war.
The aim of the church leaders was also to spread information about what is really going on at grassroots level, to contribute to peace and reconciliation, and to encourage aid and development.
Accompanied by the Middle East Council of Churches’ (MECC) General Secretary, Mr Guirgis Saleh, and other senior staff, the delegation paid visits to high level government officials, including President General Emile Lahhoud, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Minister of Culture Dr Tarek Mitri, Minister of Social Affairs, Mrs Nayla Moawad, and the Deputy Chief at the US Embassy, as well as heads of Christian churches and other Muslim religious leaders.
The delegation additionally met with members of the MECC Executive Committee, who shared their views on the situation in Lebanon as well as their concerns regarding the people of the badly-scarred region.
Visits were made to the southern suburbs of Beirut and different villages in the South of Lebanon. In Qana (Cana), the delegation visited the cemeteries where the victims (mostly women, children and elderly) of the two massacres perpetrated by the Israeli army (1996 and 2006), are buried. The group offered their prayers to the victims, and after this they visited the site of Jesus Christís dramatic production of overflowing wine at the Cana wedding.
During their visits to the damaged areas, the church leaders met with different government and community officials, clergy and lay, as well as families affected by the recent war in Lebanon. The delegation was able to see some of the MECC/ACT water and sanitation projects in a number of villages.
The visit to the south of Lebanon was concluded by an Iftar hosted by the Middle East Council of Churches, as an expression of the existential dialogue between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon, and to honour the delegation. An important number of Christian and Muslim reprsentatives and church and community leaders attended this event, illustrating the Lebanese model of positive coexistence.
At the press conference held at the Bristol Hotel on the second day of their visit, after a presentation of the members constituting the delegation, NCCCUSA President Rev Michael Livingston said that the visit was also a fact finding mission and an opportunity to raise awareness of the plight of the Lebanese people and faith communities in the West and across the globe.
Members of the delegation said they will take back with them to the United States a different image of the situation in Lebanon from the one they had before leaving. They will also take back the courage they witnessed and the hope the Lebanese carry in their hearts for a better future.
They declared: “We are carrying back a message of sadness and grief but hope for justice and peace in the future. Security and peace are inter-connected and cannot be achieved by force.”
Members of the delegation expressed their hope to be modest contributors to the peace process in the Middle East, and that all actors would meet around the dialogue table to find out ways and means of achieving peace. They conveyed their wish to see a world where all children of God live in dignity, hope, security and peace.
Mr Livingston underlined that he would also convey to the people of the USA the need to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to allow the Lebanese population to live in peace. He said it was important that the US government increase its relief assistance to the Lebanese people.