Lebanon: Help for the Monastery of Notre Dame des Douleurs in Bzoummar

The convent Notre Dame in Bzomar, look at the seminary building @ACN
The convent Notre Dame in Bzomar, look at the seminary building @ACN

Over the past 30 years Islamic fundamentalism has steadily increased in Lebanon. This fact has led Christians to reflect increasingly on their own faith. The number of vocations among Catholic and Orthodox Christians is growing and, given the immense importance of Church life for the Christian population in the country, it seems increasingly necessary that we should support them.

In 2006 Monsignor Georges Yeghiayan, of the Patriarchal Clergy Institute of the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate in Bzoummar, wrote to ACN, describing how the war had brought a widespread sense of hopelessness and how the country had been brought to its knees economically. But the help from fellow Christians in the West had given them all the hope to fight on, he added. He asked ACN for financial support for 11 of his seminarians who could otherwise not afford their studies in philosophy and theology, and ACN responded with a contribution of €11,000 towards the cost of their training.

After ordination, the priests of the Notre Dame monastery often go out on mission to Armenia and Georgia, where the need for priests is even greater. At the same time, your donations are enabling these priests to advance the cause of peace in Lebanon and to be there for all the suffering Christians who are still clinging on in this crisis-torn land.

Monsignor Georges Yeghiayan has written to ACN, thanking all our benefactors in the name of all his seminarians. He writes, „You have a great heart for us and you understand our situation and our difficult plight, and so you are liberating the Church from her need. We thank you for your sympathy and your moral and material support. Our thanks to all involved and to each one of  you for the support of your prayers."

 

To know about this and many other similar projects in favour of the pastoral needs of the suffering Church, please contact our national offices.