Resources
Students and alumnus share about Church's unique presence in Jordan
Author: Brooke Guryn
Publication Date: 31/7/2020
Source: Brigham Young University
Living in the region where Christ ministered, according to students and an alumnus, is not only special because of historical context, but also because of the service faithful Church members show daily.
Hagia Sophia as mosque has global implications for religious freedom
Author: Matt Hadro
Publication Date: 17/7/2020
Source: Catholic News Agency
As Christians and world leaders lament Turkey’s reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, some experts warn that the act could spell a religious resurgence as much as a nationalist action.
Catholic hospitals in Syria working to help indigent patients
Author: Dale Gavlak
Publication Date: 17/7/2020
Source: Catholic News Agency
Three Catholic-run hospitals providing life-saving services free of charge to vulnerable Syrians hope to aid some 50,000 patients by the project’s end next year.
After Beirut blast, what some Lebanese Christians are doing to help their neighbors
Author: Jonah McKeown
Publication Date: 14/8/2020
Source: Catholic News Agency
Last Tuesday, Julie Tegho and her husband Hicham Bou Nassif were enjoying an ordinary day at their local mall in Beirut, Lebanon. Without warning, they felt what seemed like an earthquake, followed by a mighty blast that shattered the glass all around them.
Lebanon's Christians reflect on impact of blast on community and country
Author: Sunniva Rose
Publication Date: 13/8/2020
Source: The National.ae
The scene was biblical. On the barren, snowy peak of Qornet Al Sawda in northern Lebanon, believers sat on the hard ground last Sunday to hear an open-air mass in a 1,000-year-old tradition.
Behind the priest stood a cross made from three slabs of wood. A goat – dinner – bleated mournfully.
Top Iranian aide praises Turkey's Hagia Sophia conversion
Publication Date: 2/8/2020
Source: Ahval News
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday praised Turkey for reconverting Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Syrian government to build replica of Hagia Sophia
Publication Date: 30/7/2020
Source: Catholic News Agency
The government of Syria plans to build a replica of Hagia Sophia, with support from Russia, as a protest against Turkey’s decision to turn the famous former Byzantine cathedral back into a mosque.
Bishop Nicola Baalbaki, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Hama, has approved the construction of a new church built as a replica of Hagia Sophia in the city of Suqaylabiyah, which has a heavily Greek Orthodox population, according to Lebanon’s Al-Modon media.
Chaldean patriarch tells clergy that, COVID-19 aside, they must be with God and close to the people
Publication Date: 11/7/2020
Source: AsiaNews.it
In the "difficult circumstances" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, priests are called to find new ways to show “closeness to people", morally support them, and help them remain "united with God" and "supportive of others,” this according to Card Louis Raphael Sako in a message to the Chaldean clergy.
