The WCC Secretary General Reverend Professor Dr. Jerry Pillay in a Meeting with His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai
A Gathering that Stresses the Importance of Being Rooted in the Homeland
As part of his tour in Lebanon on the occasion of the Fiftieth Year of the Founding of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), the Secretary General of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Reverend Professor Dr. Jerry Pillay visited His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, on Friday 22 March 2024, in the Patriarchal Edifice – Bkerke. (All Photos)
The visiting delegation included the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Dr. Michel Abs, the MECC Associate Secretary General Father Nicolas Bustros, the Director of the MECC Theological and Ecumenical Department Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar, an MECC team, and the WCC Programme Executive for the Middle East Mrs. Carla Khijoyan. As well as, the Patriarchal Vicar General His Eminence Bishop Paul Sayah attended the gathering.
During the meeting, Reverend Professor Dr. Jerry Pillay presented to His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai an overview about the WCC work in various Ecumenical, Theological, social and humanitarian fields. He also mentioned that WCC is present in different societies, stressing the need to cooperate together to work for the unity of the Churches which WCC seeks to it in order to raise the voices of the most vulnerable and achieve truth and justice.
For his part, His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rai said that the Churches in the Middle East live together in joy and fraternity, as they share life in societies and strive for a unity that has been awaited for decades. Hence, His Beatitude expressed his conviction that God created Christians in the East so that they could bear witness to Jesus Christ in this region and accept their presence there, as it became important to be rooted and adhere to their homeland.
In addition, His Beatitude Patriarch Al-Rai and His Eminence Bishop Sayah spoke about the suffering of the Palestinians that is continuing since the year 1948, as they talked about the ongoing war in Gaza and considered it as a war of genocide.
It is worth mentioning that Reverend Professor Dr. Jerry Pillay had begun the third day of his visit to Lebanon with a tour at Saint Paul Convent in Harissa, Lebanon, and the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Paul, Melkite Greek Catholic Church, where he was received by Father Marwan Sayde, General President of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Paul, Harissa, Father Gaby Hachem, Professor of Doctrinal Theology, and Father Sami Nehme, Professor of Biblical Theology.