BEIRUT (CNS): The Maronite Catholic Church’s patriarchal synod is a “new Pentecost” for Maronites around the world, said an Australian Maronite bishop and synod participant.
“We felt the need to come together to have a new spring and to have a Church of new horizons for new times,” said Bishop Ad Abikaram of St Maron of Sydney.
The three-phase Maronite synod, which began in June 2003 and ended on June 11, was a reflection and examination of issues and suggested reforms related to the Maronite Catholic Church, an Eastern rite in communion with Rome, with about 5 million Maronites around the world.
The first Maronite synod to be held in Lebanon since 1818, it included a three-week first session in June 2003 that had 433 participants, 255 of whom were lay people.
Representatives from other religious communities – including Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Druze – attended as observers.
The fruit of the synod – an 850-page book – was presented on June 11 during the concluding Mass at Bkerke, the headquarters of the Maronite Catholic Church.
Recognising that the majority of Maronites live outside Lebanon, one outcome of the synod is that the term “Maronites of the expansion” now replaces the term “diaspora”.
