ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends,

As an American Cardinal and as Archbishop of Philadelphia in the United States, it is with deep respect and esteem for Lebanon and with deep support for the Church in Lebanon that I address you this evening. It is both a pleasure and a source of satisfaction for me to be able to return to Lebanon and to be with you on this occasion.

I am grateful to Father Boutros Tarabay, the President of this University of Notre Dame, for the gracious invitation extended to me in the name of all. I am likewise grateful to Chorbishop Faouzi Elia of the Diocese of Our Lady of Lebanon of St. Louis for all his efforts in coordinating my visit and in assisting me in making it possible. Without his help I would not be here.

In solidarity and friendship I greet all of you this evening—members of the faculty and administration, students, and especially you, dear Graduates. It is a joy to speak to you.

In this our encounter, permit me to evoke my relationship with Lebanon, established and maintained through the Lebanese community in the United States. It was in my former role as Archbishop of St. Louis that I was first welcomed into the Lebanese community and greatly honored by the Maronite Church. My contacts were on the level not only of warm personal relations, but on the deeper level of ecclesial communion.

It was in 2001 while I was the Archbishop of St. Louis that I had the extraordinary privilege of welcoming His Beatitude Patriarch Nasrallah P. Sfeir and the Maronite Bishops of Lebanon to my Cathedral for the episcopal ordination of Bishop Robert Shaheen as the Eparch of Our Lady of Lebanon. It was on that historic occasion that the first episcopal ordination of a Maronite Bishop took place outside of Lebanon. It was so significant that the first American-born Maronite Bishop could be ordained in the United States by Patriarch Sfeir himself, in the presence of the Maronite hierarchy and in the beautiful Latin Rite Cathedral of St. Louis, where the faithful of various rites assembled in the unity of the Catholic faith.

My meetings with Patriarch Sfeir have taken place on various occasions: during my visit to Lebanon in 2000; in St. Louis, as mentioned, in 2001; many times in Rome, and recently in Washington, D.C. during the Patriarch’s last important visit. My contacts with him, with so many Lebanese Bishops and with the Lebanese Catholics in the United States have always evoked in me sentiments of profound respect and esteem and a desire to assist and support Lebanon in some small way, so that it may fittingly fulfill its great mission in the world.

I recognize the international component of this university and am sure that all the students from other countries have come here, realizing all that Lebanon has to offer to the Middle East and to the world. Within this context let me share with you my own viewpoint about the importance of Lebanon, its mission, its role and its vocation at the service of humanity. As an outside observer permit me to render homage to the culture and history of Lebanon, to its people and their accomplishments over the centuries and to the outstanding achievements of the Catholic Church in Lebanon.

But may I also share with you the very personal experience that is the inspiration of my fascination with Lebanon. Where is it that I first learned to share the Church’s love for Lebanon? Who was it who taught me that the destiny of Lebanon and its mission were so important, and that the well-being of its people was such an essential part of the Church’s solicitude for justice and peace in the Middle East. I am proud to say that I learned all of this personally years ago from the Bishop of Rome at that time, His Holiness Pope Paul VI.

Let me explain. For the last eight and a half years of his life, from February 1970 until his death in August 1978, I had the honor, as a collaborator in the Secretariat of State, of acting as the English-language interpreter for the Pope. Although he knew English, he generally preferred to speak Italian. I would translate for him in his many private audiences with English-speaking world leaders. Hence I witnessed firsthand his passionate love for Lebanon. I was with him when he spoke of the need to support and help maintain a free, united and sovereign Lebanon. I heard him express his deep conviction that the model of respectful and fraternal coexistence of peoples of different religions and beliefs, as found in Lebanon, must not perish. Paul VI understood and extolled the mission of Lebanon to be and remain and increasingly become a model of human solidarity in the Middle East, where the destinies of peoples are so intimately intertwined and profoundly affect the whole world.

In promoting and defending this respectful and fraternal coexistence in a sovereign, united and stable national union, Pope Paul VI was, throughout the years of his pontificate, a faithful herald of hope for Lebanon, always insisting that peace is possible and that it is the fruit of justice and love. Although peace comes from God as a gift, it is humanly advanced by every fraternal effort at reconciliation made by brothers and sisters who are the sons and daughters of the same great nation and coheirs of centuries of human wisdom. The preservation of this patrimony, in the thought of Pope Paul VI could bring only blessings to all the people of Lebanon, and to the world. The disappearance of this patrimony or the weakening of this model of human solidarity between children of the same Almighty and Merciful God would be—the Pope was convinced—an enormous loss for humanity.

Pope Paul VI understood moreover the great contribution made by the Catholic Church to Lebanese society and the great historic challenge to the Church in Lebanon during the years of his pontificate. For this reason as herald of hope he was also the expression of the conscience of the world and the supreme advocate for fraternal reconciliation. While working faithfully to promote dialogue between the Catholic Church and other religions, and in particular between Catholics and Muslims, the Pope worked and prayed that the teachings of Jesus Christ on fraternal love would encourage Christian living in all Christ’s disciples and promote true reconciliation between them and all their brothers and sisters of other religious beliefs.

In the mid 1970s, in the face of the great catastrophe of civil war in Lebanon, Pope Paul VI never ceased to call all the Lebanese to peaceful reconciliation. He never weakened in being a witness to hope and a convinced advocate of the necessity and immense value of the Lebanese model of living together in justice and peace. At the same time Paul VI proclaimed the efficacy of the teachings of Jesus Christ in bringing about the needed climate for peace in Lebanon and in the whole world.

In October 1978 Pope John Paul II succeeded to the Papacy. In the early part of his pontificate, he spoke of Pope Paul VI as his “spiritual father.” Pope John Paul II inherited the entire legacy of Paul VI, including his love and solicitude for Lebanon. Thus there was an unbroken continuity in the Holy See of supporting the well-being of Lebanon and its role and mission. With deep pastoral solicitude, John Paul II responded to the dramatic situation that existed in Lebanon, when on June 12, 1991, he convoked a Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. He wanted the whole Church to be involved in assisting and supporting Lebanon and the well-being of its people. He invited the Catholics of Lebanon to inaugurate a journey of prayer, penance and conversion of heart in which they would examine themselves before the Lord on their fidelity to the Gospel and on their effective commitment to following Christ. He wanted the Bishops and faithful of Lebanon to discern and make precise those priorities that the situation in the country called for. In this appeal John Paul II was faithful to the Gospel, in which Jesus Christ calls everyone to the challenge of inner conversion and integrity of life.

The Pope also asked other Churches and ecclesial communities to be associated in this effort. He likewise invited the Muslim and Druse communities to participate. Although he was aiming at the renewal of the Catholic Church, the Pope knew that the whole material and spiritual reconstruction of Lebanon was at stake. Hence it was necessary for all to work together.

In 1992 the Pope accepted the suggestion of the Preparatory Committee and approved a theme that spoke of the need for Christ, for renewal by the Holy Spirit, for solidarity, and for witness to love. The Synod convened in Rome in November 1995. Unity in diversity was the characteristic of the Synod and its participants. Catholics of various rites, fellow Christians and members of the Sunni, Shiite and Druse communities were represented. At the end, the Pope was asked to formulate a document that would capture a program for the renewal of hearts, for the renewal of Lebanon. On May 10, 1997 he issued his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, entitled: “A New Hope for Lebanon.”

Dear Friends: I am convinced that this is where you come in, to be heralds of a new hope for Lebanon. This is where your personal contribution is important. This University and the education received here can help you rise to this challenge and thus make a difference for your lives, for Lebanon, for the Middle East and for the world. This challenge is before you. Your acceptance of it has significant consequences. It will influence the way you live, the way you love, the way you serve—your openness to others, your openness to God and to His commandments, your acknowledgment of the primacy of God in your lives and in all of Lebanese society.

At this moment in your lives, you graduates are certainly intent on making a contribution to society, to your own country and to the world. Even those of you who are not Lebanese, but have opted for your education here in Lebanon, understand the need for solidarity with Lebanon in its challenge to live in new hope.

Those of you who are Catholics can readily understand what Saint Paul has indicated and what the Church teaches about “Christ our hope” (1 Tim 1:1). Christ’s message of fraternal love and reconciliation is supremely important, not only for your personal lives but also for the well-being of all Lebanon. You understand that the new hope for Lebanon is intimately related to the way that all Christians accept the teachings of Jesus and are willing to apply them to their own lives. The dignity of each human person, the relationship of all human persons to one another, the need for forgiveness and for mutual respect even in the face of great differences are principles that leap out of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whom as Christians, we profess as “true God and true man”! It is He, Jesus Christ, from whom we learn the value of mercy, compassion, service to those in need, and solidarity with all our brothers and sisters—those who are children of the same loving Father, and whom, as Christians, we acknowledge as sharing humanity with the Son of God.

It is certainly clear that all these values are needed if “a new hope for Lebanon” is to be sustained.

Dear Graduates: I am suggesting that you are indeed in a position to make a great contribution to Lebanon if you embrace these principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this Catholic University it is evident to all who freely attend it that the person of Jesus Christ is central to all Christianity, as is His teaching. But it is also evident that this teaching involves the need for fraternal love, mutual respect and social justice. And without these, there could not exist a peaceful, united, free, sovereign and independent Lebanon. But with the exercise of fraternal love, mutual respect and social justice, a new hope for Lebanon repeatedly dawns. The determination to live together, side by side, in peace and dialogue helps build and consolidate a truly democratic Lebanon worthy of all the children of God.

By its very composition, Lebanon is able to send a message of fraternity and dialogue throughout the Middle East and the world. Indeed Lebanon itself is meant to be this message. How exhilarating, dear friends, dear Graduates, to be part of this message and to promote this great good by your gifts to one another and by your faith in God.

In how many ways are you able, dear Graduates, to serve the cause of your homeland, offering your talents as Lebanon strives for ever greater political, economic and social stability, preserving always fraternal religious coexistence and promoting upright leadership! Is not all of this a contribution to the peace and freedom to which you and all your fellow citizens aspire?

For Christians the culmination of all wisdom is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Mary; and His Mother, to whom this University is dedicated, is venerated as the Seat of Wisdom. In the Catholic Church, the chief Pastor of all the faithful is honored with the title Vicar of Christ. The Popes who have held this position in recent years have made so many efforts to be of service to the cause of Lebanon and its true well-being. They have worked and prayed so that Lebanon may fulfill its mission, and so that its people may worship God in tranquility and freedom.

In coming to address you at this University, one of my desires was to bear witness to the constant solicitude of the Holy See and of the Popes themselves for Lebanon. My own experiences of many years in the Vatican have taught me how the Pope and his collaborators strive to serve the world in the name of Jesus Christ and of His Gospel of peace and reconciliation. The Apostolic Nuncio here in Lebanon, Archbishop Luigi Gatti also spent a number of years serving in the Vatican, and during this time he too witnessed the profound love of the Catholic Church and the Holy See for Lebanon. Today as the Representative of Pope Benedict XVI, he is in your midst to serve the well-being of Lebanon in every way possible and to reflect the personal concern and support of the Holy Father for the realization of a new hope for Lebanon.

At this point, dear friends, I would like to return once again to the theme of your contribution to the well-being of this nation. Graduation presupposes an intense period of study and reflection—so many opportunities given to you to equip you for your individual mission. Since much has been given to you, much is expected from you (cf. Lk 12:48). Lebanon is waiting for you to take your responsibility for the betterment of society. This duty is incumbent on all the citizens of this land and yet I hope that, as graduates, you will be particularly challenged.

Permit me, in the words of Pope John Paul II, to summarize the urgent task that awaits you. Although these words were written eight years ago, they are still so relevant to the present situation. Let us listen to the Pope’s reflection:

“It is evident that the Christians of Lebanon, like all their fellow citizens, hope to enjoy the conditions necessary for the development of their person, of their family, in the respect of their cultural and spiritual traditions. In particular they aspire to tranquility, to prosperity, to a real recognition of essential liberties, those which safeguard all human dignity and which permit the practice of the faith; they aspire to a sincere respect of their rights and those of others; and finally to a justice that consecrates the equality of all before the law and that permits each one to assume their part of responsibility in the life of society. They know that such a project is for a good part conditioned by the years passed in war and by the grave situation that prevails in this region of the Middle East. I am conscious of the principal difficulties of the present moment [the Holy Father was writing in 1997]: the menacing of the south of Lebanon, the economic situation of the country, the presence of non-Lebanese armed forces in the territory, the fact that there remain not entirely resolved the problem of the refugees and the danger of extremism and the impression for some of being frustrated in their rights. All this nourishes passions as well as the fear that the values of democracy and of civilization which this country represents can be comprised. And hence the temptation to leave it creeps ever more into the Lebanese, especially the young. In order that a more serene future may be brought about, I know that this involves many sacrifices, a constant personal discipline according to which each one requires from themselves before demanding it from others an active, courageous and persevering participation in the affairs of society; but it is also necessary to count on the grace of the Most High who transforms hearts and wills, and directs them to what is good. The past and present experience which Christ’s faithful have of themselves and of others...is sufficient to convince them of the power of the forces of evil, always active and always capable of darkening minds, of hardening intentions and of constituting a threat for the future.

“But, notwithstanding everything, hope remains alive in them. They have not lost confidence in themselves or an attachment to the country and its democratic tradition. The enjoyment of living which characterizes them, and this fraternal solidarity among all, which is manifested above all in the difficult moments which they must often go through, constantly revive their will to collaborate actively for the building up of their country on the foundation of human values which make up the riches of their national patrimony (“A New Hope for Lebanon,” 17).

Dear Graduates: it is impressive to note that in your midst here in Lebanon there are students at this University from various countries. All of these your fellow students have shown solidarity with Lebanon and have, to some extent, made its cause their own. They know that the future of Lebanon will affect their own future.

Today I conclude recalling the great challenges before this country, but even more, encouraging all of you to realize how much you can accomplish with God’s help. A new hope for Lebanon is a gift of God, but it is also realized through you and requires your commitment, your perseverance. Be generous, be strong in working to consolidate and preserve a free, sovereign, independent, peaceful and united Lebanon!