As Angola drought continues, Catholic Church calls for emergency declaration

Cairo, Egypt, Apr 19, 2017 / 04:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint near an historic Orthodox Christian monastery in Egypt, killing one and wounding four.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility, the Associated Press reports.

St. Catherine’s Monastery, located in a remote desert and mountainous area of the South Sinai governorate, was built in the sixth century at the foot of Mount Sinai. It is a UNESCO world heritage site and a popular destination for tourists and visitors to the Red Sea.

Militants ascended onto an elevated hilltop overlooking the police checkpoint several hundred meters outside the monastery. Then they opened fire.

Some of the gunmen were wounded when police returned fire, Egypt’s Interior Ministry said.

The northern Sinai region is under a state of emergency, with near-daily Islamic State militant attacks on police and security forces. The militants are attacking other parts of Egypt and their tactics are believed likely to inflame sectarian tensions and embarrass President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

The Islamic State group has vowed more attacks against Christians in Egypt, the Associated Press says.

Pope Francis will visit the country next week. The attacks have increased fears about security ahead of the visit.

Suicide bombers attacked two Egyptian churches on Palm Sunday, killing 45. The Sinai-based Islamic State affiliate claimed credits for the attacks.

In response, President el-Sissi declared a three-month state of emergency and deployed armed forces to help guard important installations and churches across Egypt.

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Cairo, Egypt, Aug 2, 2018 / 06:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Coptic Orthodox bishop was was found dead as a result of a suspected murder in St. Macarius Monastery in Egypt on Sunday.

Bishop Epiphanius, who died July 29, was abbot of the monastery, which is located in Egypt’s Beheira governorate, about 60 miles northwest of Cairo.

His body had injuries to his head and back that suggest that he had been hit by a sharp object, according to the preliminary security investigation.

The bishop was remembered for his wisdom, simplicity and humility by Tawadros II, Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria, who celebrated Bishop Epiphanius’ funeral Mass on Tuesday.

“Just as the meaning of his name is light, he also enlightened our world. We are extremely saddened by his departure but we live on in hope of the resurrection when we bid farewell to all our loved ones,” Tawadros II said at the July 31 funeral, according to Ahram Online.

According to The Coptic Orthodox Church Centre, Bishop Epiphanius was born June 27, 1954 in Egypt’s Tanta governorate. He joined St Macarius Monastery in February 1984, and became a monk in April of that year. He was ordained a priest Oct. 17, 2002, and consecrated a bishop March 10, 2013.

In Defence of Christians (IDC) condemned the “horrific attack” on Bishop Epiphanius, calling it “the latest in a string of violence against Coptic Christians that has increased sharply in 2017 and 2018.”

Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority has suffered continued attacks since the 2015 Islamic State beheading of 21 men. In December 2017, ten people were reported dead after terrorists attacked a Coptic church near Cairo. Forty-nine Christians died in church bombings on Palm Sunday in 2017. A Coptic priest was murdered in a knife attack in Cairo in October 2017.

IDC called on the U.S. Administration and the State Department to hold Egypt accountable for the treatment of Coptic Christians.

Tawadros II announced Aug. 2 that Coptic Orthodox monasteries will stop accepting seminarians for one year, Egypt Today reported.

The Coptic Orthdox Church is an Oriental Orthodox Church, meaning it rejected the 451 Council of Chalcedon, and its followers had historically been considered monophysites – those who believe Christ has only one nature – by Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, though they are not considered so any longer.

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Byblos, Lebanon, Oct 24, 2017 / 03:35 pm (Aid to the Church in Need).- The Church in Lebanon is working to aid the 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, the great majority of whom are Muslim, and the Bishop of the Maronite Eparchy of Jbeil recently told Aid to the Church in Need about these efforts.

Bishop Michel Aoun teaches sacramental theology at the Holy Spirit University in Beirut and serves as the liaison for the country’s Catholic patriarchs and bishops with Caritas Lebanon.

He spoke with papal charity Aid to the Church in Need on a recent visit to New York. He spoke in particular on the local Churches’ role in coming to the aid of the 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, an influx that has posed enormous challenges for a country whose own population is just 4.5 million.

Please read below the text of Aid to the Church in Need’s interview with Bishop Aoun:

What is the situation at present—are the refugees being integrated somehow?

The refugees are everywhere, along the border with Syria, and in every town and village across the entire country. They are not in refugee camps. These people get some support from international organizations, but they also are seeking work. That is a problem: a Syrian will work for a lot less money than would a Lebanese. As a result, the country is getting poorer. For Caritas it is a special challenge; we are called to help the Syrians, which upsets the Lebanese, who are saying they themselves increasingly need support. Syrian Christians, on the other hand, have local connections, are helped by Churches, etc. The Muslim refugees pose the biggest challenge.

What has been the approach of Caritas in Lebanon?

In conjunction with our partners in Europe and elsewhere, we are allotting at least 30 percent or sometimes even 40 percent of our budget to fund projects in support of vulnerable Lebanese – for example, in supporting schools. That is a good thing. We are also focusing on projects that benefit the Lebanese, as well as the Syrian refugees. In addition, we support Lebanese communities that have a particularly hard time coping, such as those living along the Syrian border; we help them with modest economic development, education, or supply of water, so that local residents are not forced to migrate to the big cities like Beirut. It is important to keep these villages vibrant, so that they simply do not lose all their residents.

With violence abating, to some extent, in Syria, is the refugee crisis in Lebanon easing? Are Syrians – Muslims and Christians – beginning to return home?

That process has not yet begun, much as we want that to happen. Those Muslims who are in Lebanon are opposed to the Assad regime; the majority is Sunni. They await action on the part of the international community so that they can be sure that they will be given protection from being persecuted by the Syrian regime.

There is another issue. These refugees have now spent some four years in Lebanon and have gotten used to a better way of life than the one they left behind. Some are reluctant to leave also because Lebanon offers certain liberties that the dictatorship in Syria, a totalitarian system, would never allow.

Is the additional Sunni presence in Lebanon a threat to Lebanon’s stability?

Lebanon must preserve a certain balance, an equilibrium. Absorbing such a large number of Sunnis could thus pose a threat to that equilibrium. Neither the Shiites nor the Christians of Lebanon could accept that; a solution to the refugee crisis must be found.

Are there tensions in Lebanon between Christians and Muslims?

No, there is a long history of harmony between the two communities, which dates back many decades, up to a century. That culture of living side-by-side is inscribed in the hearts of our people. They work side-by-side and, in Catholic schools, often there are 15 percent or 20 percent, or more, of the students who are Muslim. Muslim parents are eager to have their children taught certain basic values at our schools.

Could Lebanon be a model for the Middle East in this regard?

Yes, St. John Paul II declared that Lebanon, with its conviviality among Christians and Muslims, has a message for the region. Citizens here have the same rights and obligations. It is therefore crucial for the world to help Lebanon preserve this unique state of affairs that shows the world that Christians and Muslims can live together.

Given the upheaval and wars in the region, is Lebanon at risk of losing its privileged position in this regard?

The greatest risk is that Christians will leave Lebanon, also that they do not have many children. That is crucial for maintaining this equilibrium. Christians should not become a small minority. Right now, approximately 38 percent of Lebanese are Christians, with Muslims comprising 62 percent, more or less half Sunnis and half Shiites, not counting the refugees.

What does the Maronite Church in Lebanon want Churches in the West to do?

It would be great if Christians in the West would petition their government so that, for example, the US government take account of the importance of Christians in the Middle East. It seems that sometimes that economic considerations have precedence, as has been the case in Iraq, for example. Western policy should ensure that Christians remain in the Middle East – their presence is vital.

The Lebanese example shows why: Lebanese Muslims are very much influenced by Christians – they are different than Muslims in Syria or Iraq, because they have lived side by side with many Christians and have been exposed to Christian values, including their support for democracy, and tolerance. That is a vital, indispensable gift Christians have to offer the region.

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