Mgr. Elie Bechara
Haddad, the Bishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Diocese of Saida
& Deir El Kamar saw
the need for a specialized Listening Center within the Eparchy to support the
Church in its mission and to respond to the believers’ need regardless of their
age, gender and status.
Metanoia Center was established in
2015, Co-founder being Bishop Haddad, Mrs. Patricia Barcha Bassil and
Mr. Joseph el-Khoury, to
become the first Listening Center of its kind within the Patriarchate of
Melkite Greek Catholic.
The Center is an integral part of the
Eparchy. It is managed by the board of directors, and financially it benefits from
the subventions of the Eparchy and direct donations of private donors.
Metanoia Center is based in Maghdouche, a
town near Saida in
the South Governorate of Lebanon.
The town’s most famous landmark is
the Shrine of Our Lady of Awaiting, known as Our Lady of Mantara. It
is believed to be the place where Mary waited for her son Jesus Christ when he
was preaching in Sidon, Cana, Tyre and Sarafand.
In
May 2016, the Shrine was officially announced as an international pilgrimage
site. The inclusion of the shrine on the world pilgrimage map is an initiative
aiming to contribute in the building of communication bridges between different
cultures and religions, not only at the national level but world wide
The Melkite Greek Catholic
Eparchial seat is in Saida
city.
One of the main responsibilities of
the Bishop is to advocate strong Christian presence in South Lebanon, and to
promote the Islamic-Christian coexistence spirit by strengthening the ties and
overcoming the obstacles created by the cultural and religious diversity of our
society.
The Eparchy extends its
jurisdiction over the faithful of 63 Parishes (approximately 10.000 resident
Families).
The Eparchy has 40.000 greek catholic faithfull; 10.000 of whom are in Shouf Area, the remaining 30.000 are in South Governorate of Lebanon.
Long
time before “the Document on Human fraternity” signed by Pope Francis and
Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, the
Grand Imam of al-Azhar,
during a summit in Abu Dhabi in February 2019, Lebanon holds a special place
when it comes to interreligious dialogue and advocating coexistence and
tolerance.
Lebanon
has 18 religious communities and during its 15 year civil war experienced the
worst results that inter-communal hatred can produce. In response, Lebanon has
tried to move on by promoting tolerance and stressing the need to maintain
the coexistence formula, which reflects on social stability and peace between
the country components.
The local population of
South Lebanon is religiously diverse and includes Shia, Sunni Muslims, Druz,
Orthodox, Maronites,
Protestant and Greek Melkite Catholic Christians. Christians make up (22%)
In Saida and Iklim el kharroub the christian
minority lives in a sunnite
Muslim milieu
◻While in the districts of nabatieh and zahrani the christian
minority is surrounded by shiite muslims.
In the upper shouf the christian
minority is mixed with a drouz
population.
◻In the district of Jezzine a muslim
minority is living among a majority of Christians
Lebanon remains the country hosting
the largest number of refugees per capita. There are, an estimated 1.5 million
Syrian refugees, and some 16,000 refugees of Ethiopian, Iraqi, Sudanese and
other origins, in addition to over 200,000 Palestinian refugees under UNRWA’s
mandate.
Palestinians reside is the 12
refugee camps established across Lebanon.
◻With the “no Camp” Policy for the
temporarily displaced individual from Syria, a lot of our towns and cities
became “Host Communities”
