{"id":23907,"date":"2017-08-01T06:26:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T06:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=23907"},"modified":"2017-08-01T06:57:06","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T06:57:06","slug":"syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/","title":{"rendered":"SYRIA &#8211; \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d &#8211; Archbishop Samir Nassar"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">SYRIA &#8211; \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar Describes the Suffering of Syrians<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In November 2016, Pope Francis made the unusual move of elevating Archbishop Mario Zenari, papal nuncio in Syria, to the College of Cardinals. With this appointment, the Pope acknowledged and honoured Cardinal Zenari\u2019s commitment to remain in his post despite Syria\u2019s civil war; it was also an expression of the Pope\u2019s solidarity with the suffering Syrian people, in particular, its Christian community. This spring, speaking in New York, Cardinal Zenari described Syria as \u201can immense field to practice corporal and spiritual works of mercy.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> In this letter from Damascus, Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar describes the suffering faced by their faithful and clergy. The letter was obtained by international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 20pt;\">***************<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><em><strong>Letter from Archbishop Samir Nassar<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> THIS seventh year of Syria\u2019s civil war is reaping the bitter fruit of successive violence storms that have shattered Syrian society\u2019s peace. Here are the main three victims: families, young people and the Church.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Shattered families: This basic unit of Syrian society, which had previously saved its country in crisis, has lost its identity. Dispersed, deprived of resources, lacking shelter, grieving, ravaged by disease, the elderly\u2014the heads of the family in the past\u2014are increasingly isolated and find no assistance whatsoever. Forced to row against the current during these seven years of violence, can this shattered and fragile family keep standing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Tormented young people: In the past, young people were the strength of our society; today they\u2019re divided between the battlefield fronts of war and trying to escape the massive and prolonged military service conscription that\u2019s part of the country\u2019s general mobilization. Great numbers of young people leave the country, leaving a huge emptiness behind. Their absence is felt in the Syrian economy which suffers from a pronounced shortage of manual labour and is greatly weakened. How can we guarantee the survival of a country deprived of its active workforce?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> A Church that questions herself: There hasn\u2019t been one single baptism or marriage in the last eight months. This drop in the sacraments has been felt in the last five years. The absence of young people has big repercussions for parish life.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Sunday liturgies, catechism, First Communion and parish activities across the board have diminished considerably and have contributed to the exodus of priests who have seen their pastoral duties reduced to a minimal level; they are extremely discouraged.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Can\u2019t we see in these changes the beginning of a twilight?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> These structural mutations invite us to question ourselves concerning the pastoral traditions.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Such an old Apostolic Church, rooted in tradition and customs\u2014can she take steps towards a new type of Christian testimony?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> In order to save the last witnesses of the Gospel, our little Church relies on the Holy Spirit, who alone guides us toward a new Pentecost.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong> COME SPIRIT OF LIGHT!<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <strong>Damascus, July 18, 2017<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">+ Samir NASSAR<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Maronite Archbishop of Damascus<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYRIA &#8211; \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar Describes the Suffering of Syrians In November 2016, Pope Francis made the unusual move of elevating Archbishop Mario Zenari, papal nuncio in Syria, to the College of Cardinals. With this appointment, the Pope acknowledged and honoured Cardinal Zenari\u2019s commitment to remain in his&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","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 - \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d - Archbishop Samir Nassar - 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\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SYRIA - \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d - Archbishop Samir Nassar - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SYRIA &#8211; \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar Describes the Suffering of Syrians In November 2016, Pope Francis made the unusual move of elevating Archbishop Mario Zenari, papal nuncio in Syria, to the College of Cardinals. With this appointment, the Pope acknowledged and honoured Cardinal Zenari\u2019s commitment to remain in his...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-01T06:26:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-01T06:57:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\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\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/\",\"name\":\"SYRIA - \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d - Archbishop Samir Nassar - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-01T06:26:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-01T06:57:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":768},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SYRIA &#8211; \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d &#8211; Archbishop Samir Nassar\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\",\"name\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"description\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\",\"name\":\"ACN Malta Media\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ACN Malta Media\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SYRIA - \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d - Archbishop Samir Nassar - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SYRIA - \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d - Archbishop Samir Nassar - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","og_description":"SYRIA &#8211; \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar Describes the Suffering of Syrians In November 2016, Pope Francis made the unusual move of elevating Archbishop Mario Zenari, papal nuncio in Syria, to the College of Cardinals. With this appointment, the Pope acknowledged and honoured Cardinal Zenari\u2019s commitment to remain in his...","og_url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/","og_site_name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","article_published_time":"2017-08-01T06:26:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-01T06:57:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ACN Malta Media","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ACN Malta Media","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/","name":"SYRIA - \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d - Archbishop Samir Nassar - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-01T06:26:42+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-01T06:57:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/ACN-20131203-03266.jpg","width":768,"height":768},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/08\/01\/syria-rowing-current-damascus-archbishop-samir-nassar\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SYRIA &#8211; \u201cRowing Against the Current in Damascus\u201d &#8211; Archbishop Samir Nassar"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/","name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","description":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2","name":"ACN Malta Media","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ACN Malta Media"},"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23907"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23977,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23907\/revisions\/23977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}