THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE EAST:
COMMUNION AND WITNESS.
“Now the company of those who believed
were of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32)
INTRODUCTION
1. Do you read Scripture individually, in your family or in living communities?
The personal degree of interest in and knowledge about Scripture varies widely in the Middle East.
Traditionally, it is Protestant and Evangelical Christians who emphasize the importance of Scripture in the life of the Church; historically it has not been a major emphasis in Orthodox and Catholic churches, with the exception of Egypt. Probably because of the impact of Presbyterian missionaries in Egypt, the Coptic Orthodox Church places a great emphasis on the Scriptural formation of its clergy and people. Catholic churches need to improve the Scriptural formation of their clergy and integrate preaching and teaching the word of God into the life of local parishes and communities.
Scripture is part of the region’s history. Thus the people of the Middle East cannot read Scripture without a certain bias. The Old Testament in particular is often misunderstood as though it was Israeli propaganda. The image of Israel as God’s chosen people over against the crushing of other nations, particularly Egypt, provoked many to ask, “Why does God favor Israel and not us? Why are we excluded from God’s love?” Accordingly, it is important to teach the historical development of Scripture, with a special emphasis on the relations between the Old and New Testaments.
2. Does this reading inspire the choices you make in family, professional and civic life?
The impact of Scripture upon the lives of individual Middle East Christians varies widely. For many Scripturally better educated Christians and Christian lay leaders, it has a powerful effect upon the decisions of their daily live and their choice of careers and service in their communities.
Middle East Christians live in a culture that still espouses values directly opposed to the Gospel such as revenge, honor killings, even cheating for the sake of the tribe, clan, or family. Christians need to understand that they must live “counter cultural” lives: to understand that forgiveness is at the heart of the Gospel message and to practice it in a Judeo-Islamic world where discrimination, humiliation, injustice, violence, and war are endemic.
CHAPTER I
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE EAST
3. What are the Churches doing to support and encourage vocations to the religious and contemplative life?
During the last decade, different Catholic churches in Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, particularly the Maronite and Melkite Greek Catholic, have created “Vocation Committees” headed by the local bishop with specialized priest as members who encourage vocations through seminars, social gatherings, summer camps, and participation in social and pastoral work with parish priests. Some Catholic media provide special vocational promotion programs.
The Catholic churches in the Middle East have a strong seminary formation system. Minor seminaries are still important, and the quality of major seminary formation is generally very good. Political considerations impede the movement of students across frontiers and boundaries, especially in and out of Israel and Israeli-controlled Palestinian areas.
Isolated communities of contemplatives, often with foreign personnel, have been developed in several places with some success; however, generally there is not a great deal of interest nor encouragement of the contemplative life.
Although monasticism is a historic characteristic of the Eastern churches, the nurturing of monastic communities is no longer characteristic of the churches of the region, with the exception of the Coptic Orthodox. The Coptic Orthodox Church is distinguished by the importance of its monasteries which usually serve as active centers of clergy formation and lay training.
4. How can we contribute to the improvement of the social environment in the various countries in our region?
Education is the best and most effective tool to improve the social environment. Experience has shown that children and young adults from different religions and churches who attend the same educational institution grow to have better understanding and tolerance of each other’s religious beliefs and social life. In addition to educational institutions, the other social service institutions of the churches such as orphanage, homes for the elderly, clinics, and hospitals, usually assisting people on the basis of need, not creed, make a powerful contribution and witness to the majority societies of the region which are not Christian. Many churches also have programs of popular education, vocational training, literacy, family awareness, youth and women empowerment, and leadership formation.
Historically, the Christian churches of the Middle East have tended to adopt a defensive and withdrawn posture vis-à-vis Islam. Further, Christians have tended to isolate themselves, sometimes with an attitude of superiority, as wealthier and better educated with ties to and identification with the developed countries of the West; this, in turn, has nurtured an erroneous impression that Christians are foreigners to the region.
Local Christians need to emphasize that they are native citizens with ancient historic roots in the region, predating Islam, and not a product of Western colonialism. They need to assert their role in ensuring each country’s independence, development, and progress and participate in programs and projects of interreligious understanding and Christian-Muslim and Christian-Jewish dialogue.
5. What is your Church doing to assist, with the necessary critical eye, in dealing with contemporary ideas in your societies?
The churches play an important role in keeping a balance between modernization and religious life in the Middle East. Catholic schools and universities run by religious congregations keep up with modernization through the development of their curricula while maintaining a solid relationship with pastoral education. Many of the churches, also, have pioneered and been very active in developing programs and centers for treating contemporary problems, especially drug addiction.
A particular contemporary challenge for Middle East churches and Christians is to give priority to engagement in the struggle for justice and peace in the region as an integral component of Christian life and responsibility. Churches have an important role to play in peace-making. Christian faith and the teachings of Jesus call for Christians to be advocates of mutual understanding, communication and dialogue, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Middle East Christians need to acknowledge that they have contributed to the tensions in the region, ask forgiveness from those around them, and become more proactive in building better religious, social, and political relationships with their neighbors.
6. How can respect for freedom of religion and freedom of conscience be increased?
Respect for freedom of religion and conscience can be increased by providing venues for individuals and communities to clarify the meaning of these freedoms, by encouraging interreligious dialogues, by focusing on commonalities rather than differences, by enhancing peaceful collaboration between religions, and by developing stable and prosperous societies characterized by respect, tolerance, and mutual comprehension.
Freedom of religion and freedom of conscience are values increasingly strongly espoused by the Catholic Church since Vatican Council II, but still remain foreign to most Middle East societies. Religious freedom is usually controlled and limited by government authority; the degree and style of religious freedom varies from country to country. Turkey and Lebanon are the only countries of the region without an established state religion. Muslim countries having varying degrees of tolerance of Christianity and do not allow conversions to Christianity; many have controls upon both Christian and Muslim religious freedom and practice because of fear of Islamic radicalism. Increasingly Christians are being discriminated against and in some situations persecuted.
Respect for freedom of religions can be enhanced on the government level by clear and strict laws favoring respect for human rights and freedom of religious practice and prohibiting discrimination and oppression. National dialogues and education programs about other religions in public and private schools are also needed.
7. What can be done to stop or slow the emigration of Christians from the Middle East?
Political instability and oppression, economic hardship, discrimination, and increasing Muslim and Jewish extremism are factors prompting Christian emigration from Middle East countries in addition to the opportunities in other countries and social and family ties to them. Christian emigration cannot be stopped but in can be slowed by the provision of affordable housing and employment opportunities. Christian churches and church organizations should encourage Christians to be integrated into the society of their countries and assist them to remain through the creation of housing and income generating programs, including small business loan schemes.
Christians need to be encouraged to engage in more leadership roles in their societies, joining the armed forces, police, and civil service and to be forceful in opposing discriminatory legislation and practices.
Special attention needs to be paid to young people, especially those in the age groups at highest risk of emigration. Encouragement of participatory church membership and involvement in community affairs by churches and parish communities is a high priority. Church educational institutions and programs play an important role in providing quality modern education and vocational and professional training.
8. How can we follow and stay in touch with Christians who have emigrated?
The concern of the churches in the Middle East must place the well-being of their members over their own self-interest. This means, if necessary, the support of emigration and assisting their members to prepare for emigration and resettlement in other countries.
The presence of ecclesiastical jurisdictions and appropriately trained clergy of Eastern churches in the countries of immigration is necessary to support immigrants in their language and culture leading to their integration into their new societies. Where such jurisdictions do not exist, they need to be established; further, they need to be in full communion and collaboration with their respective mother churches in the Middle East.
Modern technologies facilitate communications throughout the world. News and support networks need to be increasingly developed, which requires up-to-date information acquisition, storage, and display—i.e., databases with data on Christian emigrants and their current situations.
Emigrants should be encouraged to keep in touch with their home-country communities, to provide assistance to them, and to promote better understanding and political relations with their home countries.
9. What should our Churches do to teach the faithful respect for immigrants and their right to be treated with justice and charity?
In varying degrees, all Middle Eastern countries are experiencing the movement of peoples so characteristic of the modern world, although only Israel is constituted as a country of immigration. War and violence have provoked massive flights of people from their homes, especially in Palestine, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Iraq. Discrimination and poverty have prompted further internal movements of peoples in the region. Many countries invite and welcome guest workers from within and outside the region. Churches should advocate public awareness programs, especially through Catholic and Christian media, to enhance knowledge of, respect and justice for, and acceptance of immigrants and their welcome into local communities and parishes.
10. What is your Church doing to provide pastoral care for Catholic immigrants and to protect them against abuse and exploitation by the State (police and prison officers), by agencies and employers?
Local churches in many countries provide special Masses and ministries for immigrants, pastoral care, legal counseling, and special care and vocational training for imprisoned immigrants. Pontifical Mission provides a variety of programs to support Catholic immigrants, including funding for youth centers, Sunday schools, and catechetical programs, and maintains two libraries providing study facilities and special programs for immigrants.
11. Do our Churches work to train Christian executives to contribute to the social and political life of our countries? What could they do?
Some of the region’s Catholic universities have degree programs and continuing adult education programs that develop lay leadership, especially in the social sectors through the training of health care professionals, teachers, catechists, and legal professionals. In several countries, there is a strong emphasis on the development of youth groups and youth leadership through Catholic secondary schools and parishes.
Generally, the Christian churches of the Middle East are very traditional in their structures and leadership, depending on priests and religious to exercise professional and leadership roles. A systematic development of lay leadership and lay formation programs by church institutions is lacking, apart from church sponsored colleges and universities preparing students for professional careers.
Although historically Christians have been proportionately well represented in movements and the struggle for independence in the Middle East, there are hardly any church-sponsored programs for the preparation of lay Christians for roles in public and civil service, government, and public administration nor any attempts to collaborate with institutions in other countries with well-developed programs in these sectors.
CHAPTER II
ECCLESIAL COMMUNION
12. What does communion in the Church mean?
Communion in the Church implies communication on the level of faith; sharing and emphasizing common beliefs, devotions, practices, and resources; and building and expressing community. The ideal of communion is unity amid diversity, rooted in the common identity of Christians as followers of Jesus Christ.
Generally the Eastern churches are relatively small, with a disproportionate amount of clergy and hierarchy. Their historical relationships have been dominated by rivalries—between Orthodox and Catholic, among individual Orthodox and Catholic churches, even among Latin jurisdictions and religious communities; however there have been some positive ecumenical movements, especially between the Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic churches and between the Chaldean church and the Assyrian Church of the East.
In many parts of the Middle East, Christian laity easily mix, intermarry, and attend and share sacraments in one another’s churches. Also, there is a good level of collaboration among most Christian churches regarding social issues and in the provision of social services.
Occasionally different Christian churches share the use of church buildings and centers for divine worship, in addition to the sharing of educational and health care facilities and programs.
13. How is communion manifested among the various Churches of the Middle East and between them and the Holy Father?
In most of the Middle East, there are national or regional councils of Catholic hierarchs as well as ecumenical councils of churches. In many cases, political, social, and economic pressures have stimulated increased collaboration and communication among the different churches. The Pope, as successor of Saint Peter with a special charism and ministry of unity, is universally respected in the region, welcomed everywhere as the preeminent Christian spokesperson, and accepted by all Christians as the first of patriarchs and bishops and as head of the Latin Church.
14. How can relations among the various Churches be improved in the areas of religious, charitable and cultural activity?
Relations can be improved through the sharing and coordination of resources, including schools, home for the elderly, church buildings, universities, housing projects, and the like; through interfaith dialogue and common prayer; and through collaboration in works of community development, justice, and peace.
Besides the local native church communities and parishes, there are many other language groups and communities of Christians in the region. Generally, there is little contact between the local churches and these foreign and expatriate Christians. Yet often these very foreign and expatriate Christians and their communities can play an important role for the revitalization of the local church; many are associated with international renewal movements.
15. Does the attitude of “Church people” concerning money pose a problem for you?
Yes. Many “Church people” in the Middle East forget about some church teachings and Christian values once they get to a position of power and control; there have been many reported cases of corruption in Christian institutions. Also many “Church people” are bad managers of funds and financial resource either knowingly or because of ignorance and lack of preparation and training. The same lack of professional training often leads them naively to depend on spurious, opportunistic, and unreliable business counselors and church members. Frequently clergy compete in raising funds from foreign agencies, institutions, and churches for projects that are personal to them but that are not necessary nor represent priorities for the local church.
Many of the Eastern churches have too elaborate a “superstructure.” Per capita, there are more bishops, priests, and even religious in many parts of the Middle East than in most other parts of the world. A reduction in the number of dioceses and bishops should be carefully studied as well as the possibility of inter-ritual collaboration within a single jurisdiction.
16. Does participation of the faithful of your Church in celebrations of other Catholic churches pose a problem for you?
There is no problem whatsoever for Catholic faithful to attend one another’s churches, and the custom is widespread for Christian faithful, especially Catholic and Orthodox to do the same. However, the increasing presence of some Christian evangelical and fundamentalist groups and sects and the financial support and benefits they sometimes offer can undermine the traditional faith and observance of Catholics and Orthodox.
17. How can relations of communion among the various people in the Church be improved: between bishops and priests, people in consecrated life, lay-people?
Leadership in the church, whether exercised by bishops, priests, religious or laity must be rooted in Gospel values as a ministry or service. Historically, the conferring of quasi-civil authority on heads of churches during the Ottoman period has confused their role and distracted them from positions of spiritual authority. Additionally, the historical dependency of the churches of the Middle East on financing from foreign church and national sources has often further tempted and distracted Christian clergy from their spiritual and pastoral responsibilities. The greatest challenge is to build mutual trust, respect, and encouragement. An increasingly well educated laity need to have a greater role in the planning and execution of the activities of the churches, especially in the social sector. Priority needs to be given to building and developing persons, communities, and programs rather than construction of buildings.
CHAPTER III
CHRISTIAN WITNESS
18. Does catechesis prepare the young to understand and live the faith?
Although effective catechesis is very important, often it is handed over to personnel with inadequate preparation, even teenagers, who themselves need a better understanding of religion and faith. The low pay of teachers and catechists is an obstacle to recruiting and retaining them. Also, in many places, the priest is relatively unknown to the young, socially distant from the faithful, and more absorbed in finances and administration than pastoral care.
19. Do homilies respond to the expectations of the faithful? Do they help understand and live the faith?
In most of the Middle East, especially in the Arabic language sectors, there is an esteem for classical rhetoric with its extravagant vocabulary and emotional content; however this should not be the style of exposition of the Gospel message. Preachers—i.e., priests—are not well prepared for preaching; often the religious content of their message is more focused on restating church doctrines, customs, and disciplines then explaining them and less the on the teachings of Jesus and the values of the Gospel. Sermons do not give enough attention to the relation of Christian teachings to contemporary problems and challenges. Clergy themselves need a better grounding in Scripture and a better spiritual formation, as well as a practical development of effective communication skills.
20. Are Christian radio and TV programmes adequate? Would you like to see something else in your country? What programmes seem to you to be missing?
Although existing resources in some regions—e.g. Telelumiere television—are very good, they are not adequate to the needs of the entire Middle East. There should be at least one Catholic or Christian radio and TV station in every country and more programs attractively explaining the teachings of Jesus, the doctrines of the Church, and relations with other churches and religions in order to increase faith, understanding, and tolerance.
Secular media often are more dynamic and contemporary than the religious; however, they are often rooted in a value system that is antithetical to Christian teachings. The Christian media need to offer a corrective and bring balance to the impact of the news and political analysis, cinema, TV programs, and modern music, especially from Western and partisan local sources.
21. Practically speaking, how can ecumenical relations be promoted?
First, ecumenical relations can be promoted by considering the Church to be one but with internal divisions and separations rather than as a group of independent churches; in this perspective, the ecumenical challenge is to overcome separations and reconcile historical alienations, not to negotiate terms of relations between disparate organizations. Second, the well-established ecumenical principle should be followed of never doing separately what can be done together.
The Balamand declaration concerning the historical legitimacy of the various existing Eastern churches but renouncing proselytism as well as uniatism as methods of ecumenism in contemporary society should be observed by all the Christian churches and ecclesial communities.
Christians in each country and preferably throughout the entire region should agree on the dates of celebration of common major Christian religious holidays and observances.
Every Christian church and community should integrate ecumenism and intra-Christian understanding and collaboration into the faith life and activity of each local parish and community.
22. Does the re-discovery of a shared heritage (Syriac, Arabic and others) have some importance?
Knowledge of one’s roots is an indispensable component of identity and self-assurance. Greater dissemination of information about the Christian past and heritage of the entire Middle East and knowledge of the high points of Middle East Christian scholarship, achievement, and culture is needed. The absurd contemporary prejudices that identify Christians and Christianity as foreign to the Middle East need to be identified as such and systematically and carefully corrected; likewise Middle East Christians themselves need to nourish their identity and religiosity from their own historical sources and traditions and not look towards foreign and Western Christian traditions for their models.
23. Do you think the liturgy needs to be reconsidered to some extent?
The liturgy needs to become more appealing to youth, who are attracted by the enticement of Western media and modern technology. The Latin Church liturgy is radically simplified compared to most of the Eastern churches and in some senses is more adaptable and flexible. Traditional Eastern liturgies are more formal, elaborate, and longer, although they admit introducing use of modern vernaculars and more contemporary music. All liturgy involves ritual; appreciation of tradition and rituals needs to be taught and explained to every new generation.
24. How can we bear witness to our Christian faith in our Middle East countries?
The most effective way of bearing witness to our Christian faith is by letting our actions speak, more than our words. By living our Christianity faithfully and providing loving services to all people through our institutions and programs without discrimination and by showing solidarity among all the Christian churches and ecclesial communities, we give a powerful witness to what we believe and profess. The greatest witness of the churches is charity.
Additionally, it would be useful to educate the general public and Christians themselves about the contributions of Christians to their Arab societies in various fields such as the arts, politics, economics, and education and through a variety of service institutions.
25. How can relations with other Christians be improved?
Relations with other Christians can be improved by sharing religious holidays, celebrations, and social services; by accepting the baptism of other Christian churches and communion in other Christian churches; and by demonstrating solidarity with Christians in other countries throughout the Middle East and the world. They can also be improved by:
– undertaking ongoing dialogue and exchange that is frank and speaks to the religious traditions that unite,
–opening centers for ecumenical encounters and joint academic and intellectual discourses and publications,
–subscribing to a policy of non-provocation that is in keeping with the religious tenets and traditions of mutual respect and acknowledgment, and
–developing mechanisms that monitor infractions of a religious nature and intervene to prevent the escalation that may result from these infractions.
26. How should we regard our relations with Judaism as a religion? How can peace and the end of political conflict be promoted?
It is important to distinguish Judaism as a religion from the Jewish national movement, Zionism, that led to the establishment of the State of Israel. In the Middle East, this is very difficult since so many political and ethnic factions and groups wrap themselves in a mantle of religion, whether Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. Religious relations between Jews and Catholics have been well defined. Historically, Christianity is a developed form of Messianic Judaism; the practical challenge is to educate people to the commonality of their roots and seek to reconciliation and integration.
Christianity does not demand to be an established religion, even though Eastern Christianity enjoyed that status for a thousand years after the collapse of the Western Roman empire. The Church can live and function in a Muslim society and in a Jewish society. However, as followers of Jesus, Christians have a right and an obligation to work for justice, reconciliation, and peace.
Many Christians are hesitant to engage in a courageous struggle for justice and peace either out of fear and an unwillingness to risk or out of the mistaken understanding that justice and peace are merely political issues. Christians, especially, ought to be and frequently are advocates of mutual understanding, forgiveness, and reconciliation. They have a unique role to play in Middle Eastern societies, building bridges between Muslims and Jews, East and West.
A solution to the core problem of the region, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, lies in finding a formula to share what was once Mandate Palestine rather than to divide and separate it. The political and social methodologies of the past 62 years have been rooted in division and separation without success.
27. In what areas can we collaborate with Muslims?
The “A Common Word” initiative, developed by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and subscribed to by more than 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals, offers a platform for further efforts in developing Muslim-Christian collaboration. It calls attention to the fundamental common ground between Christianity and Islam and signals that the basis of collaboration between the three great Abrahamic faiths is their fidelity and submission to the will of the one God.
A “dialogue of truth” between Christians and Muslims—i.e., conversation about beliefs, practices, and theological systems—is not easy both because of the decentralized nature of Islam and the level of critical scholarship within the Islamic community.
A “dialogue of charity” between Christians and Muslims—i.e., practical collaboration in good works in the social sphere—is not only possible but long since underway. Christians can and do serve Muslims through their educational, health care, and other social service institutions; further they often make common cause with Muslims in affirming moral values relating, for example, to marriage, the family, and human sexuality.
In many of the conflict situations in the Middle East, Christians and Muslims often find themselves on the same political side, rooted in their sharing of a common culture and concerns.
CONCLUSION
What Is the Future for Middle Eastern Christians?
“Do not be afraid, little flock!”
28. Why are we afraid of the future?
Christians, especially in the Arab, Persian, and Turkish worlds, fear their increasing alienation from the mainstream society due to the relentless pressures of a kind of militant Islamic extremism that tends to demand their allegiance and conformity or, failing that, brands them as foreign to their native lands and society. Further, the civil authorities governing most of the Middle East countries are weak and unstable, often yielding to the demands of Islamic extremists at the price of the human and political rights of Christians and other vulnerable groups in their societies.
29. How do we incarnate our faith in our work?
We incarnate our faith in our work by being responsible and conscientious and by making career choices that consider not only our personal advantages but also how best to serve the needs of our churches, communities, and countries.
30. How do we incarnate our faith in politics and society?
The teachings of Jesus place demands upon the behavior of His followers that run contrary to many of the most popular ideas, values and movements of modern societies both in the Middle East and around the world. The challenge for individual Christians and the churches of the Middle East is to be faithful to the Gospel and the promptings of the Spirit and not to compromise their convictions for secondary and short-term political and social advantages.
31. Do we believe we have a specific vocation in the Middle East?
The Lord’s mandate to his disciples, “. . . you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,” clearly includes and points to regions of the Middle East. Christians have special roles, first, of witness and, second, of mediation. Their faith and the Church can make a precise contribution to bringing together the disparate groups and interests that polarize and tear apart the region.
32. Any other comments?
In order to maintain a Christian presence and viability in the Middle East, the churches in the region, Europe, the Americas, and elsewhere are called upon to work closely together. Religious leaders must unite to develop a common agenda that aims at keeping their faithful in their homelands and ensuring that these centuries-old communities continue to function. The viability of Christian communities cannot be an egoistic and religiocentric concern; rather it is an enterprise that will ensure the kaleidoscopic nature of the social and religious makeup of the Middle East countries. It will also ensure that the indigenous Middle Eastern Christians will not end up only as expatriate communities in distant foreign lands.
Christians in many parts of the Middle East, especially in the core Holy Land, are too dependent on financial assistance from abroad. Each local church can only have a long-term future as a viable and reasonably self-sustaining community. In many parts of the region, the relatively easy availability of outside funding tempts church leaders to invest more resources and efforts in enterprises disproportionate to the needs and dimensions of their communities and that betray the Gospel principle that the followers of Jesus, “the little flock,” are called to serve.