Maronite synod endorses text on youth issues

By Elie Hourani
Daily Star staff
Friday, October 22, 2004

BEIRUT: The Maronite Synod, which opened Sunday at Our Lady of the Mount Monastery in the Kesrouan
 town of Fatqa, was marked Thursday by the endorsement of a challenging text regarding Maronite youth.

The text, according to the synod's media committee, "affects a significant cross-section of the younger
Maronite generation and addresses some of their troubling concerns, including faith in today's world, belonging
 to a church and dealing with some challenges and problems that young Maronites face," including
sexual permissiveness and other "aberrations."

The text also deals with the "Lebanese civil war's negative impact on the younger generation, and specifically
 the Maronite Church, which stood up to the challenges, thanks to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir."

The text also discusses the "relations between the younger generation and politics."

It cites the "acute disappointment of young Maronites, who have to live under a nondemocratic regime that "does
 not consult them in matters affecting them and their future."

The text expressed the "pain felt by young Maronites, who live in a country whose sovereignty and national pride
 are still violated while its decision-making process is still confiscated (by Syria)."

The text slammed the "irregularities marking the implementation of the military service law," and called for
"amending the law so some young people do not have to spend five years of their lives outside the country to
escape the service."

The text said that spending so much time abroad often led to permanent emigration.

Participants in the synod endorsed another text dealing with the family. It was carried with a 77.35 percent
majority of votes.

Another text, entitled "Relations Between Laymen and the Maronite Church," was carried with a 91.25
percent majority.

A text dealing with possible confrontation between young people and the Maronite Church was put forward for discussion.

Participants said there was "no such confrontation." They stressed that "the country's economic and political
problems left their mark on Lebanese young people." This text was carried with an 84.9 percent majority.

The Maronite bishop of Cyprus, Butros Gemayel, who was taking part in the synod, dealt with the topic
of the Maronite Liturgy. He spoke about the change in the liturgy since the 16th century.

In a related development, Sfeir took some time off from the synod to inaugurate an exhibition of Maronite icons
dating back to the Byzantine era.