Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon
Maronite
Catholic Diocese
Dear Reverend Father Antonio,
It is with great joy that I received the news of your new
publication, entitled The Maronite Tauditho Meal. It is my conviction that such
a spiritual publication could be used in all churches as a tool of
evangelization and as a constant reminder for our Maronite families in the
United States of America of their heritage dating back to the Apostolic Era,
precisely to the first Christian community in Jerusalem and Antioch.
The Maronite Tauditho Meal offers a very intelligent
response to the Second Vatican Council’s mandate for our going back to the
source. Your work will put in perspective three essential sections that cover
the entire history of the Maronite Church from its apostolic beginnings to the
present day. In each section you emphasize both times of hardship and times of
prosperity by highlighting the constant, divine virtues of faith, hope, and charity where you lay them
in the values of the Maronite Church: faithfulness to the Catholic identity,
freedom and independence.
The MaroniteTauditho Meal, which takes place in a family
environment is a real “thanksgiving meal” that puts into perspective the
Syro-Antiochene and Apostolic dimension of the Maronite Church. It will be a
modern witness to our youth and young adult organizations and to all our people
and our parishes of the universal dimension of the Maronite presence in the
entire world, where in every culture, for every tongue and to various ethnic
groups will live the culture of Christ.
I hereby grant you my Blessing and the permission to
circulate this Maronite Tauditho Meal within the boundaries and parishes of the
Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon in the United States of America.
May God be with you that through the intercession of Our
Lady of Lebanon, the Mother of our Church, the seeds of your hard work will
reap vocations to the priesthood and religious life, interest in the Maronite
Church so this “Pearl of the East” will shine Jesus Christ’s Salvation to the
West and to the whole world.
May 10, 2004
Robert J. Shaheen. D. D.
Bishop of The Eparchy of
Our Lady of Lebanon. USA
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