Articles by CNA Daily News

Denver Newsroom, Aug 14, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Last Tuesday, Julie Tegho and her husband Hicham Bou Nassif were enjoying an ordinary day at their local mall in Beirut, Lebanon. Without warning, they felt what seemed like an earthquake, followed by a mighty blast that shattered the glass all around them.

“For a second I thought the mall was falling on our heads,” Tegho told CNA. “The sound was so strong and deafening that it took us a couple of seconds to realize we had to leave the mall, because it was such a tremendous shock.”

The massive explosion in the port area of Lebanon’s capital on Aug. 4 overturned cars, shattered windows, set fires, and damaged buildings across Beirut, a city of more than 350,000, with a metro area of more than 2 million people.

The ABC Mall where the couple was during the blast is located less than a mile from the port, the epicenter of the explosion.

Tegho and Bou Nassif were on different levels of the mall when the explosion hit, and struggled for several minutes to find each other in the ensuing chaos and deafening alarms. The blast had knocked out cellular coverage, making communication that much more difficult.

When Tegho did find her husband, he was bleeding from his forehead. She says they walked from the mall to her parents’ nearby home, to deal with his wound, and later they took him to the hospital.

“It’s only when we started walking that I started to grasp the magnitude of the blast, and we realized it was not just a car bombing, it was something much bigger,” she said. “It was just a post-apocalyptic scene.”

Bou Nassif, an assistant professor of government who teaches at a college in California,  is now recovering with several stitches.

The windows of the couple’s house, located further from the blast, were blown out, but their house did not suffer serious damage. Tegho said her sister, who was babysitting, was able to shield their months-old baby from the flying glass.

Tegho, a high school social studies teacher, said she believes there is not a single person in Beirut that was not affected in some way by the disaster— whether they had their home or business damaged or destroyed, had a family member injured or killed, or were themselves a casualty.

Her cousin, who was much nearer to the port, managed to escape serious injury, she said. The school where Tegho teaches has been completely destroyed, she said.

As of Aug. 12, more than 200 people are confirmed dead, more than 5,000 injured and hundreds of thousands have been rendered homeless. The UN Refugee Agency has also reported that at least 34 refugees were among those killed in the blast.

Volunteers have been clearing rubble from houses since the day after the blast, Tegho said.

Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud has estimated that the explosion has caused as much as $10-15 billion in damages and as many as 300,000 people to be temporarily displaced from their homes, according to the BBC.

Many buildings and warehouses along the docks were completely destroyed, and the explosion’s shockwave caused damage within a six-mile radius.

Bou Nassif said because of where the blast occurred, the worst of the damage happened to majority-Christian neighborhoods. The adjacent areas included Beirut’s mostly Christian neighborhoods of Mar Maroun and Achrafieh.

As a result, he said, most of the aid is coming from Christian aid agencies, as well as the Maronite Catholic Church.

The Philos Project, a group that advocates for Christians in the Near East, as part of a broader goal of religious pluralism in the region and of educating Western Christians on their situation, is one such Christian organization helping those affected by the disaster in Lebanon.

Tegho said she and her husband are spearheading an initiative called Human Chain, which she said was formed in October 2019 to help the poor in the midst of protests against the government.

“In the aftermath of the disaster, we realized we could use our Human Chain network to help in relief efforts,” she said.

Tegho said the main goal of the Human Chain at the moment is helping to ensure people’s homes are safe to occupy, and they have a functional living space and bathroom.

“This is where volunteers have been doing most of the work, because there has been no government involved in that [effort,” she said.
“Helping to remove the debris, making sure people who have lost everything have places to go to whether it’s the church, whether it’s friends, family, et cetera. But it’s still too soon for those houses to be rebuilt.”

In addition to delivering food aid, Tegho and Bou Nassif have been helping to clear the rubble and ensure their neighbors do not end up on the streets.

They are also hoping to raise $30,000 for relief efforts through a GoFundMe campaign.

Tegho said the Philos Project has set up a fund of $10,000 to help the Human Chain in its humanitarian efforts. Philos is encouraging donations to its Action Fund on its website.

Bou Nassif said the best way to help the people of Lebanon is to donate to Christian agencies, rather than to the Lebanese government.

“You give money to the Lebanese state, you’re not giving money to any poor person in Lebanon, Christian, or not. You’re giving money to Lebanon politicians,” he opined.

On Aug. 10, Lebanon’s Maronite Catholic patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, called for the resignation of the entire Lebanese government, adding that it is “necessary to hold everyone responsible accountable for this massacre and catastrophe.” The Prime Minister and the rest of the government subsequently resigned later that day.

Though millions of dollars of aid has poured in from Western governments, Bou Nassif said he trusts the Christian agencies much more than the government to distribute aid to the poor.

“Some money will come from governments, but the money that will come immediately, before this is resolved, will be coming from churches, concerned citizens, people with sympathy…to the Christian minority in Lebanon,” Bou Nassif said.

“The biggest actors are the Maronite Church, the Lebanese Red Cross, the local Catholic relief or rescue organizations; they should be helped to help people,” he said.

Officials have not yet determined the cause of the explosions, but investigators believe they may have started with a fire in a warehouse that stored 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be made into an explosive. Lebanon’s security service warned against speculations of terrorism before investigators could assess the situation.

Bou Nassif told CNA that the widespread sentiment throughout the city is that Hezbollah, a hardline Islamic party in Lebanon, is to blame for the accident.

Sixty percent of Lebanon’s people are Muslim, evenly split among Sunni and Shia, and nearly 35% of the country’s population is Christian, most of whom are Maronite Catholic Christians. Lebanon also has a small Jewish population, as well as Druze and other religious communities.

Other Christian aid agencies, as well as the Red Cross, have been active in the city following the disaster.

Despite damages to their own facilities, Catholic Relief Services has provided relief to the victims of the explosion. Caritas Lebanon has offered water and hot meals at several locations throughout Beirut. Caritas health care centers have also opened, and a mobile medical unit and mental health team have been available to the public.

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CNA Staff, Aug 14, 2020 / 12:38 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of Seoul, Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung, has announced that he will consecrate the Diocese of Pyongyang to Our Lady of Fatima on the Solemnity of the Assumption.

“In this meaningful year, marking the 75th anniversary of [Korean] Liberation and the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, I decided to dedicate the Pyongyang Diocese to Our Lady of Fatima through careful prayer and discernment,” Cardinal Yeom wrote in a message for the Assumption feast published on the archdiocesan website.

“I hope that the North Korean Church will be able to praise the Lord again in joy and peace as soon as possible through the protection and help of Our Lady,” Yeom said.

It will be the first consecration of the Pyongyang Diocese to Our Lady of Fatima since the diocese was established in 1927, according to the cardinal. The dedication will take place in a Mass in Seoul’s Myeongdong Cathedral on August 15.

The Marian feast on August 15 has a special place in the historical memory of the entire Korean peninsula as it coincides with “Liberation Day,” the date that Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule. It is the only Korean public holiday celebrated in both North and South Korea.

“I hope that the day will come soon when we will be able to share the joy and happiness of the Assumption with our North Korean brothers and sisters,” Yeom said.

The South Korean cardinal said that he asked Pope Francis for a special blessing for the Diocese of Pyongyang and that the pope will ask for the Virgin Mary’s protection on the date of consecration.

Cardinal Yeom serves as both the Archbishop of Seoul and the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.

“In the midst of the division of North and South Korea following liberation and the vortex of the Korean War in 1950, all of our nation suffered beyond words,” Yeom said.

“Religious people had to face greater suffering. Throughout the Korean War, all cathedrals in North Korea were closed and the monasteries were disbanded. In addition, priests, religious, and Christians were mercilessly arrested and suffered torment or killed,” he said.

The suffering of Christians in North Korean continues today. A report published by the United Nations human rights commission on July 28 details sexual violence, forced abortion, and torture of women in North Korea’s prisons.

The report is based on interviews with North Korean women who were detained in North Korea between 2009 and 2019 after attempting to escape by crossing the Sino-Korean border. An informal network of Christian groups and NGOs run an “Underground Railroad” to bring these North Korean escapees out of China, where they face repatriation, to safety.

“If one is found to have gone to a South Korean church while staying in China, they are dead. I therefore tried hard not to reveal my life in China. I was beaten up as a result. I was beaten to a level that my rib was broken. I still feel the pain,” one North Korean defector testified to the UN Human Rights staff.

Cardinal Yeom said that there is not a single active priest in North Korea. “As the head of the Seoul Archdiocese and the Pyongyang Diocese, I believe that God’s special grace is necessary to resolve this unfortunate reality,” he said.

The cardinal asked Korean Christians to support and practice evangelization with determination so that North Korean Catholics can someday enjoy the freedom of faith as a fruit of this Marian dedication.

“We must also ask Our Lady, the Queen of Peace, for true peace in our society,” he said.

In a message for the 2020 Day of Prayer for the Reconciliation and Unity of the Korean People, Bishop Peter Lee Ki-heon of Uijeongbu stated that “To nurture peace on the Korean Peninsula, not an easy task, it is essential that the two Koreas join hands.”

He added that peace on the peninsula must be achieved by the Korean people, rather than by the powers surrounding the peninsula.

The bishop urged the South Korean government to arrange for the reunification of separated families, reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex,  resume tourism to Mount Geumgang in North Korea; and develop an inter-Korean railway connection project.

He called it “most important” that a peace agreement be reached, with an official declaration of the end of the Korean War. “Such developments will have to be followed by an authentic peace treaty and new international relations,” he stated.

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Denver Newsroom, Aug 13, 2020 / 07:00 pm (CNA).- A Lebanese academic and aid worker told CNA on Thursday that if Western nations fail to help Lebanon recover from the explosion that rocked Beirut last week, the effect on regional and global security could be disastrous.

“There are very tangible, concrete, strategic reasons why looking the other way as Lebanon sinks is very bad for the West itself,” Habib Malik, Associate Professor of History at Lebanese American University, told CNA in an interview.

“Lebanon is reeling and in very bad shape. And keeping in mind what’s at stake, both on the humanitarian level, but beyond that on the strategic level, I don’t think ignoring Lebanon anymore should be an option.”

A massive explosion in the port area of Lebanon’s capital on Aug. 4 overturned cars, shattered windows, set fires, and damaged buildings across Beirut, a city of more than 350,000, with a metro area of more than 2 million people.

As of Aug. 12, more than 200 people are confirmed dead, more than 5,000 injured and hundreds of thousands have been rendered homeless.

Lebanon was already reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as economic woes brought on by corruption, Malik said. Lebanon was already suffering high levels of public debt and low employment.

The Syrian civil war and ensuing refugee crisis also has hit Lebanon hard, with UN figures estimating the number of displaced Syrians in Lebanon at 1.6 million.

Bishop Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles had in May of this year warned that if Lebanon, one of the few democratic nations in the Middle East, became a failed state, that would have dire consequences for its Christian community and for wider regional stability.

Though some foreign countries, such as France, have pledged millions of dollars in aid for Lebanon, Malik cautioned that other countries wishing to help, such as the United States, should be wary of pledging money directly to the Lebanese government.

“The last thing Lebanon now needs is money or aid coming through government channels or through the political parties,” Malik said. “Any real aid from well-meaning sources should go through very carefully vetted NGOs.”

Malik said he recommends a local NGO called NAWRAJ that normally works with isolated outlying Christian villages near the Syrian and Israeli borders.

“And now of course, they have prioritized helping in Beirut, but I know that they are honorable, they are credible, they are independent, they are fine people,” Malik said.

He also recommended an NGO called Ashrafieh 2020 that is helping to rebuild one of the predominantly Christian neighborhoods in Beirut. Beit el Baraka is another NGO that Malik has personally vetted, he said.

Malik is also a consultant for the Philos Project, a group that advocates for Christians in the Near East as part of a broader goal of religious pluralism in the region and of educating Western Christians on their situation. Philos has set up a fund of $10,000 to help a local initiative called the Human Chain with its humanitarian efforts. Philos is encouraging donations to its Action Fund on its website.

Though Lebanon endured a 15-year civil war starting in 1975, in recent years it has emerged as a relatively peaceful and pluralistic society of the Middle East. Sixty percent of Lebanon’s people are Muslim, evenly split among Sunni and Shia, and nearly 35% of the country’s population is Christian, most of whom are Maronite Catholic Christians. Lebanon also has a small Jewish population, as well as Druze and other religious communities.

Sources have told CNA that Hezbollah, a hardline Shiite Islamic party with significant political sway in Lebanon for the past 30 years, is widely suspected to be poised to profit from the explosion disaster.

“Further neglect of Lebanon actually directly undermines Western interests in the Arab Levant and in the Arab middle East, because the Iran axis represented here locally by Hezbollah, it is in their interest that Lebanon collapse, that the people become destitute and become completely desperate,” Malik continued.

“So that then, China could step in and throw us a lifeline of a few billion dollars, which the Lebanese, the exhausted Lebanese at that point, would have no choice but to accept. And that would mean China would then acquire a deepwater seaport, the first one ever in the Mediterranean. They would be then the gatekeepers of that port,” he said.

Investigators believe the explosion may have started with a fire in a warehouse that stored 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that can be made into an explosive. According to reports, the chemicals had sat in the port, neglected, for over six years.

On Aug. 10, Lebanon’s Maronite Catholic patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, called for the resignation of the entire Lebanese government, adding that it is “necessary to hold everyone responsible accountable for this massacre and catastrophe.” The Prime Minister and the rest of the government subsequently resigned later that day.

Anti-government sentiment in Lebanon had most recently bubbled over in October 2019, when thousands of peaceful protestors took to the streets to challenge government corruption and mismanagement of finances. At the time, Pope Francis sent his encouragement to the mostly young protestors.  

Malik recently wrote an op-ed for the journal of the Institute of Religion and Democracy expounding on his political analysis of the post-explosion situation.

“The stench of corruption at the highest levels mingled pungently with the odors from the burnt-out hangars as well as the dust from destroyed buildings, businesses, and apartments in the stricken city,” he wrote.

“It is safe to assume that all the governments, presidents, and political leaders in power over the past six years knew about the deadly ammonium nitrate stored in Beirut port. No one lifted a finger to remove this lethal time bomb or even warn the public about it. Whether it was colossal negligence, or complicity with those storing this explosive material for whatever military or terrorist purposes, the result is the same: criminality of the highest degree at the highest levels of government.”

In terms of cleanup and relief, Malik said large piles of rubble have been moved to the side of city streets, but no one has yet been able to clear the rubble out of the city. 

Multiple Lebanese survivors of the blast have told CNA that majority-Christian neighborhoods have borne the brunt of the damage from the explosion.

Some international Christian aid agencies, as well as the Red Cross, have been active in the city following the disaster.

Despite damages to their own facilities, Catholic Relief Services has provided relief to the victims of the explosion. Caritas Lebanon has offered water and hot meals at several locations throughout Beirut. Caritas health care centers have also opened, and a mobile medical unit and mental health team have been available to the public.

Malik said although the Maronite Catholic Church is doing a lot to help survivors, the Churches— both Catholic and Orthodox— themselves are in great need since their buildings have been so badly damaged. The Maronite eparchs of the United States have similarly  been pleading for prayers and aid for the people of Lebanon.

“We have a number of churches and hospitals that happen to overlook the Beirut port area. That’s kind of a scenic view in normal times, but they were just in the direct line of the blast, as you can imagine. And so huge damage has been sustained by these establishments, to the homes, the churches, and so on,” Malik said.

Malik recommended Christians and people of good will reach out directly to Beirut churches to ask them what they need.

“There are Protestant churches, Orthodox churches, Catholic churches, there’s everything in Beirut. And ask them directly for their needs. And they will actually tell you,” he said.

Malik said despite the monumental rebuilding task ahead, it has been refreshing to see many young people taking to the streets to volunteer and help their neighbors.

“These volunteers are mostly of the new generation of youth. These people have come from all over the country and across the sectarian divides to help,” he said.

“And they’re very genuine about it. And the refreshing thing about these people is that they have no political ties, they are not beholden to any of the clan leaders or party leaders.”

Pope Francis appealed for prayers for the Lebanese people in his Wednesday audience on August 5.

“Let us pray for the victims, for their families; and let us pray for Lebanon, so that, through the dedication of all its social, political, and religious elements, it might face this extremely tragic and painful moment and, with the help of the international community, overcome the grave crisis they are experiencing,” he said via livestream from the Vatican.

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