Last night, crowds from everywhere converged onto a packed and even congested St Maroun's Cathedral to attend the greatest event of the decade.
They came from all over Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and even from distant and faraway Lebanon .....just to witness the installation of Bishop Antoine Charbel Tarabay as the 4th Maronite Bishop of Australia.
The Ambassador of Lebanon Mr Jean Daniel representing the Lebanese Government together with representatives from the three spheres of the Australian Government-Federal,State and Local- participated in this happy event and promising chapter in our Australian Maronite Community.
At the start of the ceremony the representative of his Beatitude Patriarch Bshara El Rahi Bishop Mounir Kheiralla read the Patriarchal Decree and the Apostolic Nuncio to Australia Archbishop Paul Richard Ghallagher read the 17 April Appointment of Bishop Tarabay by Pope Francis.
The hand-over of the baton then took place between Bishop AbiKaram and Bishop Tarabay to the warm applause of all present.
In his speech, Bishop Antoine Charbel declared that his motto is: "Faithfulness and Openness"
Following the Mass, a huge reception was held at Le Montage in commemoration of this great happening with over two thousand people in attendance during which Bishop Antoine Charbel received the congratulatory greetings from the long queues eager to have a close glimpse of the new Bishop.
Congratulations to our champion!
Raymond Abi-Arraj
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