"Media and Stereotyping the Other"

Thursday 29 June 2023 - 7:00 pm

The Middle East Council of Churches has the honor to invite you to participate in its new monthly webinar, entitled "Media and Stereotyping the Other", on Thursday 29 June 2023, at 7:00 pm.

You can participate in the webinar via the following Zoom link https://tinyurl.com/8cm7xzef, and live on the MECC Facebook page.

A Seminar Organized by the Lebanese Council of Women and the Research Center - Institute of Social Sciences at the Lebanese University, with the participation of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers

The MECC Secretary General Professor Michel Abs:

The family is a red line, because the safety of society is a red line, and we consider whoever tries to harm this basic cell, guilty of social crime

Under the auspices of His Excellency the Lebanese Minister of Labor Dr. Moustafa Bayram, the Lebanese Council of Women launched the Family Protection Campaign, and organized, in cooperation with the Research Center - Institute of Social Sciences at the Lebanese University, and with the participation of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers (CGTL), a seminar entitled "Challenges Facing Family Values". It was held on Tuesday 20 June 2023, at the headquarters of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, in Beirut.

A Blessing for the Country and a Source of Spiritual and Human Values

Quotes and Reflections from His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and His Holiness Pope Francis

To Egypt, the Holy Family came, walked on its land and found a safe shelter after a journey full of hardships and difficulties, escaping from King Herod. A Church event that reminds us of a humanitarian issue that the world has been suffering from since decades as a result of wars, conflicts and crises... It is the issue of refugees that many families have been forced into in order to search for safety and stability. The journey of the Holy Family to Egypt has become an integral part of the history of the Nile’s country, as the Coptic Church has been celebrating it since the first century AD.

Spiritual Blessings, Human Values and Cultural Influences

The Middle East Council of Churches, Communication and Public Relations Department, continues the series of explanations that it had started about the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family into the Land of Egypt, as it carries many spiritual, social and cultural meanings and connotations...

In this context, the Middle East Council of Churches, in cooperation with the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Institute of Coptic Studies, presents a new video in which Dr. Isaac Ibrahim Ajban, Dean of the Institute of Coptic Studies, explains the journey of the Holy Family in the Land of Egypt in terms of spiritual blessings, human values, and cultural influences it presents.

"Challenges Facing Family Values"

At the invitation of the Lebanese Council of Women and the Research Center - Institute of Social Sciences at the Lebanese University

With the participation of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers

Under the auspices of His Excellency the Lebanese Minister of Labor Dr. Moustafa Bayram, the Lebanese Council of Women launches the Family Protection Campaign. The Council and the Research Center - Institute of Social Sciences at the Lebanese University, with the participation of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers (CGTL), have the honor to invite you to attend a seminar entitled "Challenges Facing Family Values", in which the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Professor Michel Abs will participate as a speaker. It will be held on Tuesday 20 June 2023, at 5 pm Beirut Time, in the headquarters of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers - Corniche Al Nahr - Beirut.

In the new issue of the weekly newsletter Momentum issued by the Middle East Council of Churches, Communication and Public Relations Department, MECC presents in cooperation with the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Institute of Coptic Studies, a video in which Dr. Isaac Ibrahim Ajban, Dean of the Institute of Coptic Studies sheds light on the Holy Family's flight into the land of Egypt, stressing that it is a biblical fact, a historical fact, and an archaeological fact. As for the weekly message of the MECC Secretary General Dr. Michel Abs, it is entitled “Hate Speech and Social Development”, in which he talked about the forms and spread of hate speech in our Levantine and Middle Eastern societies, in relation to the work of operating humanitarian agencies through programs and projects that they implement in various countries of the region.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5: 4)

“To forget is to bury the truth, but to commemorate is to learn and avoid the repetition of the genocide” (His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II)

Much of what is published on social networking pages, and in the media in general, shows how widespread and increasingly dominant hate speech is in people's minds.

We read, hear, and see in the media words, pictures, and graphic scenes that offend racial, ethnic, religious, national, political, or other form of belonging and identity, as an attempt is made to focus on the characteristics of a given target group with hate speech, trying to demonize it, and present it to the viewer or reader in the most horrible way.

From the Coptic Orthodox Holy Sophia University at the USA

Under the auspices of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark and the President of Coptic Orthodox Holy Sophia University at the United States of America, and His Grace Bishop David, Bishop of the Diocese of New York and New England and the Vice President of the University, Mr. Gergis Ibrahim Saleh, Honorary Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, was granted the degree of Honorary Doctorate in Biblical Studies, on Tuesday 13 June 2023, in a ceremony held at the Papal Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

As part of capacities’ improvement and life skill’s development, the Middle East Council of Churches, Service and Relief – Diakonia Department, Jordan Office, with the support of the international organization ACT Alliance, ACT JOR231, and in cooperation with the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in Amman, implemented two courses to enhance livelihoods. A first course was organized in Amman on elderly companion care, and a second course in Madaba about sewing art. These two courses ended with a graduation ceremony for all participants.

Father Dr.  Antoine Al Ahmar Sheds Lights on the “Season of Creation” On Mariam TV

In preparation for the “Season of Creation” celebrations for this year, Father Dr. Antoine Al Ahmar, Director of the Theological and Ecumenical Department at the Middle East Council of Churches, and member of the International Steering Committee for the "Season of Creation", was the guest of the journalist and Lawyer Roy Jreish, within the program "On Time", broadcasted on Mariam TV, on Tuesday 12 June 2023.

On a visit to MECC in Beirut

The ACT Alliance Regional Representative – MENA, Mrs. Rachel Luce, visited the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches Dr. Michel Abs, on Monday 12 June 2023, at the offices of the MECC General Secretariat in Beirut.

During the meeting, Dr. Abs and Mrs. Luce discussed ways to strengthen coordination and cooperation between the Middle East Council of Churches and ACT Alliance. They also discussed the implementation of various projects and programs in Lebanon and the region, especially in fields related to the environment, climate change, and gender issues. As well as, Dr. Abs and Mrs. Luce exchanged opinions and experiences on the possibility of planning joint work and future projects in Iraq, Egypt and Sudan.

With the Presence of Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian, MECC President for the Evangelical Family, President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East, and President of Haigazian University in Lebanon, and the church Reverend Pastors, the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), Dr. Michel Abs, attended meeting at Haigazian University to honor the CEO of the Armenian Missionary Association of America (AMAA), Mr Zaven Khanjian and his spouse.

After the Earthquake that Struck the North of the Antiochian Levant

Following the catastrophic earthquake that shook the North of the Antiochian Levant, the Middle East Council of Churches’ team in Syria made an interview with His Eminence Archbishop Youssef Tobji, the Maronite Archbishop of Aleppo and the Head of the Ecumenical Relief Committee for Relief in Aleppo, which was formed by MECC initiative with Churches’ representatives in Syria, aiming at supporting the affected people and help them restore their homes.

What Are the Implications of this Event?

Since the first century AD, the Coptic Church celebrates on the first of June of each year an Ecclesiastical Feast that has a special place in history, geography and civilization, according to the His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. It is the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family into the Land of Egypt, after taking a journey full of hardships, torments, and dangers, to escape from King Herod.

Hence, the path of the Holy Family carries many spiritual, historical and cultural meanings and connotations, in addition to a tourist aspect, as His Holiness Pope Tawadros II described this path as "a special blessing and a unique gift that God gave to Egypt."