edited by Rita Salerno

 

The Church is Catholic because it is universal, because it gathers diversity in the polyphony of the one and only faith: synthetically this is what Benedict XVI said in the traditional lunch at the  Vatican at the end of the Synodal works. The Sires' patriarch, Ignace Youssif III Younan, delegated president of the Synod, has affirmed that once the representatives of the Oriental Churches will return in their territories they will proclaim fearlessly the Gospel in charity and in truth. The Pope said that the most beautiful gift of the Synod is communion within the diversity of the Oriental Churches, a communion which becomes testimony: "We have seen the wealth, the diversity of this communion. You are Churches of ancient and different rites, which nevertheless form, together with all the other rites, the only Catholic Church. It is wonderful to see this true catholicity, so rich of diversity, so rich of possibility, of different cultures; and nevertheless growing in the polyphony of the one and only faith, of the true communion of hearts that only the Lord can give". "The Catholic communion - he added -  is an open communion, in dialogue",  constantly tense towards dialogue with the orthodox brothers and with the other Christian confessions, in the awareness that "in Christ we are united, even if there are external divisions".  

This is so because truth does not set borders but is always open: "Therefore we were also in frank and open dialogue with the Moslem brothers, with the Jewish brothers, responsible all together for the gift of peace, for peace just in this part of the earth blessed by the Lord, cradle of Christianity and also of the two other religions. We want to proceed in this journey with strength, tenderness and humility, and with the courage of truth which is love and that opens itself in love".

Monsignor Edmond Farhat, titular archbishop of Biblo, was born in Lebanon, has worked in the secretarial office of the Synod and in different Nunciatures, among which Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Slovenia and Macedonia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Vienna in Austria. He ended his diplomatic service and he now resides in Rome, but often visits Lebanon. We asked him some questions at the end of the synodal works.

Your personal summary of the synodal meeting that has just concluded? 

"I think that the best summary are the words of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI during the Eucharistic Celebration for the conclusion of the Special Assembly of the Synod of the Bishops for the Middle East. To express the satisfaction and the gratitude of the Orientals for the convocation, the celebration and the conclusion of the sessions of this really special meeting I dare to use the words pronounced by the Holy Father last 24th October: "We could be tempted, as the Pharisee (present in the temple to pray), to remind God of our merits, even thinking about our commitment in these days.  But, to reach the Sky, prayer must spring from a humble, poor heart. And therefore, at the end of this ecclesial event, we also want indeed to thank our Lord, not for our merits, but for the gift which He granted to us. We recognize ourselves as small and needy of salvation, of mercy, we recognize that everything comes from Him and that only with his Grace we will realize all that the Holy Spirit  has suggested to us. Only in this way we can return home really enriched, more justified and more able to walk at the ways of the Lord." 

In these words there we find the whole Synod, effected and still to be effected. In fact, the Special Meeting of the Synod of the Bishops for the Middle East has been a reunion of hierarchy, that is of bishops and other ecclesiastical persons covering certain responsibilities and also the participation of some experts. As such it has been a success and an event. Not only the Bishops of the Middle East met together, and for various days, to speak of their concerns, furthermore there has been an informal and daily exchange between them and their collaborators, priests, religious, and laymen, and such thing never happens in their places of employment.  In less than two weeks a quantitatively and qualitatively appreciable  job has been accomplished. For the first time in history all the bishops of all rites and all traditions of the Catholic Church gathered together and discussed their hopes and their anguishes and anxieties. For the first time the Arabic language, considered as the language of Islam,  has officially been used in speaking about the Gospel and about Jesus Christ true God and true man, under the dome of St. Peter and the authority of His successor. For the first time the Roman Church has prayed according to all rites, every day according to a different rite. For the first time, the Hebrew language has been used as a living language imploring that the Lord "may grant that all men of good will might welcome the light of Christ, Sun of Justice, Oriental Lumen". 

At the end of the works the General Secretary of the Synod has communicated that in the synod works  173 Synod Fathers have participate from the 185 entitled to do so. 14 general congregations and 6 meetings of linguistic circles were held. Ten meditations have been offered. Hundred twenty five Fathers have spoken in the Synod hall and 5 have delivered written texts. 12 Fraternal Delegates intervened and 12 reports were carried out. Besides free three minutes long discussions have been issued and more than one hundred orators have spoken, among Synod Fathers and guests. During the prayer of Lauds at the beginning of every general congregation, a brief homily was daily delivered, in a different rite. The meditation of the Holy Father Benedict XVI is alive in the hearts, deep in the contents and touching in expressions.

 Among other things, the Pope said: "The Lord has to be born even in these days through the fall of gods, through the sufferings and the martyrdom of witnesses, against today's divinity: anonymous capitals that enslave mankind, violence perpetuated in the name of God, ideologies, drugs, new models of life". "It is faith, that of the simple ones above all, the Pope concluded, the real foundation and the true wisdom, besides being also the true strength of the Church" (11th October 2010). These words of the Successor of Peter set the tone and addressed the works all along the two weeks which produced a "Message" to the People of God and a text of 45 propositions, formulated and elaborated to be submitted to the evaluation and decision of the Supreme Pontiff.  With a gesture of great foresight the Pope has then authorized the publication of the text of the propositions, generally reserved to the Pontiff's discretion.  It is also expected that in due time the Pope addresses an "Apostolic Exhortation" to the whole Church in order to strengthen communion and to make more lively the Christian witness in order that "the oriental world learns how to open up to Western values and that together they might collaborate for the construction of mutual knowledge and tolerance (Opening Mass, Prayer of the Faithful in Hebrew). 

Even though it was summoned for the Middle East, the Special Meeting about Communion and Testimony will have a wide resonance on modern thought and Catholic action. Matters such as faith, testimony, dialogue, emigration, the right to a proper identity, the freedom of persons and their right to speak, to choose, to emigrate and to believe, are arguments that challenge every human person, whether believer or non-believer".

“Never accept the want of peace. Peace is possible. Peace is urgent” This is the resonant appeal launched by Benedict XVI, during the conclusive mass of the special synod for the Middle East, celebrated in the Vatican Basilica, in front of  the synodal fathers. Peace, according to you, is a possible objective? 

"For this I mean that it is a good thing that he has authorized the publication of the propositions. There is a great difference, not only of style, between the strength of the speech of the Pope and the softness, not to say the bashfullness, of the language of the synodal fathers. To speak with force and with clarity does not mean to be violent or polemical. John Paul II was saying that nobody can assert not to have the peace at heart. Peace is as the unsewn tunic of Jesus. It concerns everybody and  covers everyone. The part that gets hurt aches through the whole body. It is not only the Arabs and the Israelis that suffer of the wound of Jerusalem,  it is the heart of the whole world that bleeds. It is a problem of the humanity, the responsibility of everyone. What have we done fot the peace over Jerusalem  We have worshiped God, uttering "peace, peace", but we have not committed all of our energies so that "be peace on you, Jerusalem." 

In your speech to the synod you have extensively spoken of the dramatic conditions in which the middle easters christians find themselves. In an afternoon session, you have defined the situation of the Middle East as “a living organ that has suffered a graft that it is unable to absorb, and that it has lacked the specialists to treat it" and that "the muslim Middle East in its overwhelming majority is in crisis. Can you explain us the meaning of these statements? 

"The Moslem world is in crisis because also his believers feel summoned by science and by reason, by politics and by democracy, by tradition and by fidelity to the values.  They have much to offer and much to clarify. To separate the wheat from the darnel, you need peace and serenity. All know, but few consider the weight, the impact of the war and the state of hate and frustration that  has provoked, in the Middle East, before and in the Moslem world today, the state of violence in Palestine. Seventy years of war between Arabs and Israelis have not produced anything positive. Instead of making  to reflect over and to think to the only alternative that is the peace, have increased the hate and forbidden the hopes. The courageous and "nationalist" act of Rabin and of Arafat in Oslo in 1989, seemed to bring a ray of sun, to encourage an aurora of peace and serenity.  It did not have a sequel. And there has been a lack of boldness to jump with both feet on the bank of the peace.  Sadat of Egypt and Rabin of Israel seemed to be two prophets that were taking their people towards the true promised land, the land of  peace.  They have not been successful. Thus I believe that there has been missing the specialist capable of making the new olive tree grow on the old trunk. The agreement of Oslo aroused as many hopes, as the death of Rabin left disappointments. And there was a lack of courage of go ahead. The specialist has arrived too late at the end of his term. If Clinton had attempted six months before the end of his term the efforts  that he has shown in the last days of his presidency of the United States, the situation would have changed. It would have "imposed" the peace. We would not have seen violences, occupations, terrorism, threats, lives offered to the heaven or to fire. The hearts move away from each other, they fear, hate each other. 

The great powers have the power, they are the specialists, they have the power of "to impose" a rightful peace. They don't do it.  This is why I say that  the specialists are missing.  The Church is believable, but it doesn't have political power. There has to be an authority that says enough. The war is dead. It doesn't produce anything.  Find the peace. Pope John Paul II said that nobody can state that he cannot do anything for the peace. When a part of the body is sick, better cut it out to save the whole the body. The fear reigns in the Middle East. The Israelis and the Arabs are Semites. But of different culture. The two cultures complete each other; they can meet and produce a new civilization, a civilization of faith and modernity, of democracy and of discretion, of technical progress and of human development. Our society today, even in West, has a great need to reconcile technology and science with sentiment and reason. The Orientals could begin this process. The world needs the Jewish genius and the sentimental boost of the Arabs.  

The peace between Palestinians and Israelis, between Arabs and Europeans, is a great chance "of civilization" that knocks at the door of modern intelligence and  doesn't succeed to get in as yet. So the frustration, that is the matrix of all evil.  The specialist for helping the parts to get together, to communicate for stopping being afraid  one of the other." 

You also mentioned the many, too many men and women consecrated that have lost their life to testify Christ in this hot area of the planet as did monsignor Luigi Padovese. How do you remember him?  Has his sacrifice not been vain?  

 "Remembering monsignor Padovese, that I have known, respected and appreciated as teacher of spirituality and professor of holy history, I cannot but think of the religious man and women of other countries, of the monks of Algiers and above all of Monsignor Clavarie, bishop of Oran, all killed without grounds, killed because consecrated to the service of their neighbours, without conditions.  Clavarie was a great expert of Islam. He greatly respected the Muslims and so he freely spoke of religion.  Padovese was an expert of Christian spirituality. He loved the primitive Church and he venerated the places of the ancient churches. The humility of the scientist and the openess of mind drew these two personalities spiritually and mystically together.  At the same time perhaps  this made them suspect. It was unbelievable that they could be so helpful without "an arrières pensée". Gratuitosness not always is perceived as such.  Their sacrifice has not been pursued, but caused the superiority of their gift. Talking of Padovese someone quoted the parable of the wheat that dies. I believe that this thought is applied to every operator of peace and justice, even if the Special Meeting has paid little attention to these witnesses burnt out so that the good wheat may grow and give many fruits." 

 How to continue the mission after this violence? What can men and women religious to support the cause of peace and harmony?

  "Humanly speaking, and taking into account the modern mind, the mission would not make sense today. The message text exudes a kind of exaggerated sense of introspection and communion" between ourselves ", entirely Catholic. This seems a step back against the mission of the Church and its official teaching, including Vatican II.

St. Paul recommends to proclaim the Word "in season and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2). The word of God is the way the truth and the life. The announcement is a mandate which the Church has received from its founder. Where will the days in which men, as in our time, will not endure sound doctrine, we must be cautious, but do not stop doing "the work of an evangelist, and fulfill its mission." It is always St. Paul who speaks (cf. 2 Tim 6-7). Violence and persecution have always accompanied the proclamation of the Gospel as a night light and darkness accompany the day. The mission is not to force to change beliefs, but to give hope and resist resignation. Continue to work in environments unfavorable or hostile or even violence, is an act of faith that peace is possible and that the war dead, as it is written by a French general. Europe, which has grown and consolidated experience of peace and democratic civilization must do more, because "peace is in Israel." The Church has received the peace of Christ, not what the world gives, faces first person to be a "sign of contradiction" in places of conflict and incomprehension, to affirm that another way is possible.

  What are the challenges that the Catholic Church in the Middle East attend?

  "The great challenge is the peace”. Everything else has a positive or negative. Lebanon is a country that was happy and carefree that woke up one day in April 1975, the land of wars and violence. For more than twenty years no one knew who was fighting whom and why. It is now experiencing an uneasy peace, but nobody wants to jeopardize civil peace. This is also the fruit of the mission of the Church and the work of his men, including the laity. The recent decision that the feast of St. Mary was declared a national holiday for Christians and Muslims, is the result of a collaboration and debate among Christians and Muslims. It's a milestone that has great resonance in the course of the investigation and common relations between the two religions.

  I write these lines on the feast of Saints Simon and Jude. The collection makes us ask the Lord to grant the Church "to continually grow with the adhesion of new people to the Gospel."

 How can the Church grow if it condemns all forms of proselytizing? How do you explain "go and preach and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?" This dimension seems to be absent from the mind of the Fathers of the Special Assembly. In a kind of high sensitivity to others have been condemned all forms of proselytism, without distinction. You have the right at this point to ask what makes the mission of the Church to proclaim the Gospel to all nations. How to interpret the Council's teaching? What has become of the Paper of the Missions, signed by Pope Paul VI with his companions on the island Pago Pago (Samoa), during his apostolic visit to the Pacific in 1970?

  Another observation! The Special Session for the Middle East was an assembly of the hierarchy, bishops and leaders, who were happy to meet and discuss their common problems. This is a fact, an event certainly positive. But in speeches showed little concern for the people of God and the multitude who thirst for the Word of God. Much has been said of "Churches" churches "sui iuris". It said some rights. But everything legally. Little has been said about the cultural and spiritual cultures of the two lungs and one universal Church. Instead of "Churches" had talked about the "rites" working as artisans throughout the body that carry air new blood around the body. It seems that the East would rather be "muscles" strong and distinct. There are two ways to see the diversity of gifts and charisms in the same body that is the mystical body of Christ.

  I expected more attention to the spiritual and the real presence of Jesus Christ as a reference point and destination, alpha and omega, and the debates in the mind of the Fathers, and the texts of the work. We spoke about Abraham and the prophets, but has not said that Jesus is the cause of our hope and anxiety, which is also "an obstacle to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23).

 The Protestant theologian Oscar Culmann presents the story as two inverted pyramids. A part of a broad base and ends at the point of which is Jesus Christ. The other part of the central point, which is Christ, and developed through history to embrace all peoples. During the special assembly has been much talk about the liturgy, catechesis and collaboration, as well as prayer, but little of Christ Jesus and what people are saying that the Middle East.

 The Middle East issue is "Communion and witness." Communion is an intimate union with the vine which is Jesus Christ. The testimony is the voltage to the other. Maybe you have heard a lot about the Church, but little of its founder and his order to "preach what he heard and believed." The witness may have different shapes. The dialogue is more appropriate today. The dialogue must seek the truth, at least according to the teaching of "Ecclesiam suam" of Paul VI.

 The biggest problems, such as peace, immigration, friendship and freedom have been treated, but not many concrete plans were presented to "impose" peace, control of immigration and strengthen the testimony of those who are exposed mainly to sacrifice of martyrdom. Many vital issues as security, the right to work and freedom still need some prophetic vision.

 Full of compassion, invaded by the spirit of peace, perhaps the Special Session for the Middle East has perhaps missed of some prophetic push, some "crazy" for the kingdom. It would have been better to cut a finger or waive the privilege of coordinating the apostolic work in a world in need of Christian mission and ensure its future. There has been talk of jurisdiction and law. We have talked too much about "churches" often confusing rite with church. In the Church of Christ, there are Arabs, Greeks, Jews, Romans and Transjordanies. They speak different languages, follow different rituals but recognize a single God and a Savior has entrusted the leadership of his Church on Peter and his successors. He is the source of communion and the witness in every time and culture.

  Finally, in the hope that the research priorities of the "unum necessarium" in the "polyphony of the unit" will be found in the East, in Lebanon in the Kadisha Valley, for example, a "unigiurisdizionale" monastery " polyphonic ritual "day and night to sing and celebrate the Eucharist every morning in one of seven languages used during the special meeting. The multiplicity of languages held with one heart and one mind. The Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East is also the universal Church, which is entitled to receive this gift that the East can do.