{"id":16319,"date":"2016-07-13T12:25:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-13T12:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=16319"},"modified":"2016-07-13T12:25:36","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T12:25:36","slug":"syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/","title":{"rendered":"SYRIA &#8211;  Eyewitness account of latest rocket attack &#8211; Archbishop Jean-Cl\u00e9ment Jeanbart"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><figure id=\"attachment_16321\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16321\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Archbishop-Jeanbart-inspects-the-damage-to-Christian-quarter-of-Aleppo-after-recent-attacks.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16321\" src=\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Archbishop-Jeanbart-inspects-the-damage-to-Christian-quarter-of-Aleppo-after-recent-attacks.jpg\" alt=\"Syria, Aleppo April 2015 Damage to Christian quarter of Aleppo after recent attacks: Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart inspecting the damaged quater Only this small file quality available\" width=\"640\" height=\"478\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16321\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><br \/>Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart inspects the damage\u00a0in\u00a0Christian quarter of Aleppo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1>Letter from Aleppo: Eyewitness account of latest rocket attack<\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There were 25 of them &#8211; \u00a020 children, three priests and two lay volunteers &#8211; \u00a0gathered after Mass the evening of July 2, in the Al-Wouroud School, next to the parish Church of St. Dimitrios in Aleppo, when a rocket hit just a few yards from the interior of the church. People in the neighborhood were in a panic, but calmly and swiftly the children were led to the basement, just in time before a second rocket hit the school full on. Thanks to Divine Providence, none of the 25 souls gathered suffered a scratch! But, meanwhile, fire and destruction once again ravaged the poor parish which already had seen its buildings bombarded and destroyed four times since the beginning of this detestable war. What a sad ending to the week. Once more, residents of the city had to suffer greatly the terror that has not stop menacing them day and night.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, when a great crowd had gathered for Sunday Mass, I was at a loss for words, but I called on the faithful to join me in a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord, who, once again, had seen fit to protect us. It was a good occasion to remind Christians that they are not alone and that our Good Shepherd is always there, very close to us, and that He will never leave us orphaned or without help for even a single instant. For the faithful and myself this was a moment of awakening and awareness, occasion to take concrete stock of the care with which the Lord\u2019s Providence protects us! In reviewing the course of events of the past five years of this pitiless war, we cannot fail to see his salutary actions among us. This terrible and infernal war, would have utterly destroyed us or driven us to despair and madness, had it not been for his tender care. Without his providential protection, the ceaseless bombardments we are suffering would have annihilated us a long time ago. In fact, during these sorrowful years of assaults, some 300 bombs have hit various churches, parishes and compounds in Aleppo.<\/p>\n<p>Should we forget our Cathedral, or five churches that were put out of commission, or demolished rectories and catechetical centers, our damaged schools and institutions and the practically entirely destroyed archdiocesan center having been targeted six different times? Despite everything and thanks to God\u2014except for our gravely wounded (yet miraculously restored to health) Father Imad\u2014none of our many priests, deacons, lay volunteers have been killed. All of them, just like Father Imad, are continuing to give themselves generously to their pastoral and apostolic tasks. That is one more reason for us to have confidence in our beloved Jesus Christ, the All Powerful and Merciful, the Master of Heaven and Earth.<\/p>\n<p>As I am writing this, deafened by the explosions of intense bombing raids, I raise my eyes on high, to ask God to shorten the duration of this long trial, which, for five years, has not stopped hurting his people. They are exasperated and don\u2019t know where to turn anymore, where to find refuge; and, sadly, many of them are fleeing the country and there is talk that Aleppo will lose all its Christians. What unhappiness, as our 2000-year-old is confronted with such a fateful time in its history. Yet, despite everything, we will not let ourselves be defeated. May our friends who wish us well accompany us with their prayers, may they be at our sides to defend our cause, strengthen our resistance and help us stay put.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Jean-Cl\u00e9ment Jeanbart<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Letter from Aleppo: Eyewitness account of latest rocket attack &nbsp; There were 25 of them &#8211; \u00a020 children, three priests and two lay volunteers &#8211; \u00a0gathered after Mass the evening of July 2, in the Al-Wouroud School, next to the parish Church of St. Dimitrios in Aleppo, when a rocket hit just a few&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SYRIA - Eyewitness account of latest rocket attack - Archbishop Jean-Cl\u00e9ment Jeanbart - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SYRIA - Eyewitness account of latest rocket attack - Archbishop Jean-Cl\u00e9ment Jeanbart - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Letter from Aleppo: Eyewitness account of latest rocket attack &nbsp; There were 25 of them &#8211; \u00a020 children, three priests and two lay volunteers &#8211; \u00a0gathered after Mass the evening of July 2, in the Al-Wouroud School, next to the parish Church of St. Dimitrios in Aleppo, when a rocket hit just a few...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-13T12:25:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Archbishop-Jeanbart-inspects-the-damage-to-Christian-quarter-of-Aleppo-after-recent-attacks.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"478\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/\",\"name\":\"SYRIA - Eyewitness account of latest rocket attack - Archbishop Jean-Cl\u00e9ment Jeanbart - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Archbishop-Jeanbart-inspects-the-damage-to-Christian-quarter-of-Aleppo-after-recent-attacks.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-13T12:25:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-13T12:25:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Archbishop-Jeanbart-inspects-the-damage-to-Christian-quarter-of-Aleppo-after-recent-attacks.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Archbishop-Jeanbart-inspects-the-damage-to-Christian-quarter-of-Aleppo-after-recent-attacks.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/07\/13\/syria-eyewitness-account-of-latest-rocket-attack-archbishop-jean-clement-jeanbart\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SYRIA &#8211; 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