“If we can’t hold our place in the Middle East, which Christians can?” Good question. “Lebanon is last hope for Christianity in the Middle East, Priest says,” from the Catholic News Agency, with thanks to Fjordman:
Konigstein, Jul. 06, 2006 (CNA) – Lebanon is the last hope for Christianity in the Middle East – that was the message from a Lebanese priest speaking recently at an event in support of the suffering Church.
In an emotional talk about his country of origin, Father Samer Nassif told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) benefactors and supporters at St Joseph’s Church in Cardiff that all across the Middle East, Christians see Lebanon as a bastion of hope. “Everyone in the Middle East is looking to the Lebanon,” Fr. Nassif explained. “Ours is the only free and flourishing Christian community in their midst. If we can’t hold our place in the Middle East, which Christians can?”…
According to Fr Nassif, approximately 300 Christian villages were destroyed between 1983 and 1985, during the war in Lebanon. In his diocese of Saida, Fr. Nassif said, 50 parishes were demolished.
“In spite of all the horrors that we saw and lived,” he said, “like Christ on the cross, we forgave.”