Middle East Christians in New World
13 Oct 2010 – VATICAN CITY — Archbishops Thomas Collins of Toronto and Allen Vigneron of Detroit, Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour of Brooklyn and Melkite Greek Catholic Bishop Ibrahim Ibrahim, B.S.O., of Montreal will meet with members of the press on 13 October at 3:00 at the Istituto Maria SS. Bambina, Via Paulo VI, No. 21, which runs along the southern side of the Piazza S. Pietro. Msgr. Robert L. Stern, Secretary General of CNEWA, will moderate the discussion.
As members of the special assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops, our guests will discuss the various pastoral and social needs of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian Christians who have found refuge in their jurisdictions. Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., of Ottawa, who chairs CNEWA’s national office based in Ottawa, will also join the discussion.
Founded in 1926 by Pope Pius XI, CNEWA is an agency of the Holy See providing aid to the churches and peoples of the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe. Its operating agency in the Middle East, the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, was founded by Pope Pius XII to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees displaced by the Arab-Israeli war in 1948. Today, the Pontifical Mission today functions as the Holy See’s relief and development agency for the Middle East. Programs include emergency relief to displaced Iraqi and Palestinian families, community redevelopment projects, job-creation programs and pre- and postnatal medical care.