Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay

Maronite Bishop of Australia

along with

The Coalition for Marriage

invite you to a

Morning Tea

in support of the campaign of the

Coalition for Marriage

Guest Speaker

The Hon. Tony Abbott MP

Member for Warringah

Saturday 2 September 2017

9.30am

St Charbel’s Multi-Purpose Hall

142 Highclere Ave, Punchbowl

The Coalition for Marriage is a grassroots effort powered by ordinary, mainstream

Australians who want to defend marriage. It is not supported by any major corporations.

Your financial donation will go towards much needed resources

like advertising, mailing, and volunteer training.

RSVP:

events@maronite.org.au

028831 0000

This event is generously hosted by St Charbel’s Monastery. 

METROPOLITAN ARCHBISHOP PAUL SALIBA

The Hon. DAVID CLARKE ( 10:09 ): I move:

(1) That this House notes that:

(a) on Saturday 1 July 2017, his Eminence, Metropolitan

Archbishop Paul Saliba, of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese

of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, passed away aged 77; and

(b) his Eminence:

(i) was born by the name of Badih, in Bsarma El-Koura in

North Lebanon on 10 July 1939;

(ii) took the name Paul in 1957 when entering the

seminary;

(iii) was ordained as a deacon in 1958;

(iv) ministered in Tripoli, the University of Balamand, as

well as Bransville, New Kensington and Washington DC in the United

States; and

(v) was elected Metropolitan Archbishop to Australia and

New Zealand on 5 October 1999.

(2) That this House acknowledges his Eminence's great achievements

and his contribution to his congregations and community as well as Australia at

large.

(3) That this House sends its thoughts and prayers to the Antiochian

Orthodox Archdiocese community.

(4) That the President conveys this resolution of the House to the

Archdiocese.

Dearly beloved in Christ, 

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.”

1. These famous words were spoken by the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and they have resounded throughout the history, to reach us today, as fresh and as powerful as ever.

2. The example of Our Lady stands as a shining beacon, guiding us as we travel the road to her Son. For this reason, she was given a name of great honour in the early Church: Mary the “Theotokos”, meaning Mary “the God bearer.” At two councils held more than fifteen hundred years ago, the bishops of the Church agreed to glorify her with this name, and to declare that He who was born of her was not merely a man, but both God and man.

3. And we are here today, celebrating the feast of her Assumption, we are meditating the amazing event in which Mary was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, and with God and in God she is Queen of Heaven and Earth. Our celebration tonight is to venerate her and to proclaim once again our devotion to her, as the patron saint of this cathedral and parish, keeping this holy tradition, alive in our Maronite community here and everywhere.

4. I recently came back from Lebanon where I participated in the annual Maronite Synod of Bishops meetings headed by our Patriarch, His Eminence and Beatitude Mar Beshara Boutros Cardinal Rai, during  which we discussed many matters related to our Maronite Church and the presence and the future of the Christians in the Middle East. When we travel to Lebanon and the Middle East, we are reminded, too, that Mary is the Queen of Martyrs, for the people of God are suffering from terrible persecution in that unfortunate part of the world. As a sign of solidarity with the Church there and the families of victims from the different terrorist attacks, I also joined a delegation of bishops from Australia as we visited Egypt at the end of May to support the Church and pray for the unity of the Egyptian people.

5. It is because of the worrying increase of violence and hostility to Christians, that our Maronite Church has declared this to be the Year of Martyrs and their witness. In this year we especially remember all those who have accepted death rather than abandon their faith in our Church: the 350 disciples of St Maroun, St Shmuni and her seven sons, the Patriarch Gabriel the Second (of Hajjoula, martyred in 1367), and all the martyrs, from the earliest times with St Aquilina of Byblos in the year 293 to the Blessed Massabki Brothers in Damascus, Syria in 1860. We also remember the many martyrs of modern times. 

6. We are grateful that we here in Australia are not suffering persecution like our brethren of the Middle East, but we are experiencing something, which we have not been through before: we are undergoing a serious and sustained attack on our values, which is spread, and even promoted through many outlets of the mainstream media.

7. There is a new hostility openly displayed towards our Gospel values, our Christian ideals and our very right to live by our beliefs. The assault especially targets our teachings on marriage, sexuality, education and bioethics. It also targets in an evil way our stands against abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage. The current anti-Christian tide even denies us the right to speak, or to object when our children are subjected to a misleading propaganda dressed up as an anti-bullying campaign, and falsely named Safe Schools Program. 

8. Over the coming weeks, we expect a postal vote on same-sex marriage to be conducted all over the country. How should we deal with it? We firstly need to make sure that our details are correct with the electoral commission in order to receive the documents. Secondly, it is our Christian duty and pride to stand for the traditional and biblical definition of marriage, as a union between one man and one woman. I ask you, your families and your friends to respond to the postal vote by opposing same-sex marriage. Do not think that this matter does not affect you. This redefinition of marriage threatens our religious freedoms, in particular our ability to teach the true faith in schools, and  the way we offer social services. This attack is an attack on the family, as the building block of society. I urge you all to venerate Our Lady and the Holy Family by voting NO to same-sex marriage and to the redefinition of marriage. 

9. I address those issues of persecution and anti-Christian sentiment, because it is necessary. But it is also necessary to share the good news, and thanks to your prayers and other support, there is an abundance of it. 

10. First, after a long wait, we have received approval from the relevant authorities to begin the construction of Our Lady Aged Care Centre and to reopen the hostel here at Our Lady of Lebanon, Harris Park. We are soon to begin demolition of the present buildings, and then, to begin construction of a new centre after we have been awarded in May of this year 90 bed licences for our nursing home. It is a wonderful landmark in the development of this super-Maronite community in this area. This achievement would not have been possible without the support of the Australian Federal Government, the Department of Health, Parramatta City Council, the Our Lady Aged Care Centre Committee, and many people of good will. I am very grateful to all of them and I am sure that our elderly who will benefit from these facilities share my sentiment. 

11. Further, our second good news lead me to proudly announce that the relics of St Maroun will be arriving to our diocese in February 2018. How wonderful to celebrate the feast of St Maroun, the spiritual father of the Maronite Church, having for the first time his relics in our Church. They are coming from Lebanon, from the Monastery of St John Maroun in Kfarhay. These relics will visit all our churches in Australia so that the faithful may pray in the presence of these sacred memorials of our heavenly patron. And the other good news is that we are going to keep the relics in Australia, at St Maroun’s Cathedral in Redfern. 

12. Then, the third good news is our first Maronite Diocesan Assembly to be held in November this year at this parish here. I promised when I became your bishop to hold this Assembly, and I am pleased to be able to preside at this important opportunity to gather in faith representatives from all the Maronite community over our country, so that they may speak to each other and to us, and not only to speak, but more importantly, to be listened to! I want the laity, the good people who flock to the churches, to express their fears, their hopes and their aspirations. 

13. Our Diocesan Assembly will be marked by three moments: to listen, to understand and to act. We have to listen to our people who are facing new challenges in transmitting the faith from generation to generation, and they strive to keep alive the Gospel spirit of the wider Church in Australia. We wish to meet these challenges with understanding, seeking the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and with charity: including all of the faithful, not least our young people who are so important to us. And so we shall act by envisaging strategies and directions in our gathering in November, here in Sydney, with the motto “Strong in Faith – Growing in Love”. 

14. Dear Brothers, Sisters and friends, 

Before I conclude my homily for tonight I would like to say few words in Lebanese:

15. As Pope Benedict XVI says: 

Being in God and with God, Mary is close to each one of us, knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness and has been given to us, as the Lord said, precisely as a “mother” to whom we can turn at every moment. She always listens to us, she is always close to us, and being Mother of the Son, participates in the power of the Son and in his goodness. We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother, who is not far from any one of us.

16. And tonight, I entrust all of you beloved sons and daughters of the faith to Mary, the Theotokos, the bearer of God. I also entrust to Mary’s Holy Heart all our priests especially Monsignor Shora Maree who celebrates 30 years to the priesthood. Let us pray to all those who have served this wonderful community, past and present, asking Our Lady of Lebanon, Patron of this parish to lead us all closer to her son Jesus Christ. Amen

 by  Nazir Gayed

(HH Pope Shenouda III before going into monastic life) 

Translated in Australia

To Pope Yousab II

We offer our great respect to your apostolic position. One of the weekly political newspapers published a very dangerous article and if it is true, the heart of everyone, who loves God will melt out of worry and care that the souls of our congregation shall not perish. But we say that this article in the newspaper by itself if it is true, is enough to shake heaven and earth with a great earthquake.

This article states that one of the servants for the papal residence is selling the thrones of the diocese to the highest bidder, starting at 5000 pounds and whoever pays more takes the position of bishop of the diocese.

You o our father are the head of the shepherds who have been entrusted with the millions of souls of the congregation, to lead them to the kingdom of God and save them from eternal perishing.

Your holiness knows that the canons of the holy apostles is very clear as it says: "any bishop or priest or deacon who obtains any rank of priesthood through Bribe of money or promised to give money that he be given a priestly rank or uses cunning and deceptive ways to get a priestly rank, the rank he is given is void.

He is counted as a heathen and he is cursed and is excommunicated and is cast out of the church of God and everyone should be away from him as St PETER the apostle did with SIMON the sorcerer and excommunicated him from the church of God by the order of the Holy Spirit.

You o our father do not need anyone to remind you of these holy canons of the apostles.

Is it true o our father that among our shepherds there are those who do not highly respect or take those curses and excommunications seriously???

Is it true o our father that among our shepherds the king of kings and Lord of Lords entrusted for our souls for whom the Lord died on the cross and the canons of the holy apostles put upon his shoulders the responsibility of the congregation; is anyone of them who bought these positions for money as was the intention of SIMON the sorcerer whom the curse came upon.

Is there among our shepherds one like judas Iscariot. Please our Lord don't allow it.

We need from your holiness an urgent clear answer for this serious matter and we hope that it is not true so that we may be comforted and not bring shame upon the name of our gracious saviour among the nations of the world.

We are requesting a quick investigation and a clear declaration to be in the newspapers to confirm with proofs that this is a wrong thing and just rumours against the church.

However if it is proved that this matter is true, so we await quick action from your holiness as a matter of care for the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your holiness knows very well that the Lord has ordered very clearly the excommunication of any priesthood rank for the person who is found to be adulterous drunk or swearerer and is given a chance to repent and prove that repentance in order to

be accepted; therefore if this is the case for all people, what will it be the impact to hear that among the shepherds of the church, whom our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted for His sheep are buying these priestly ranks with a bribe of money. We are waiting your action.

The Hon. SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE ( 11:07 ): I move:

(1)That this House notes that on Tuesday 27 June 2017, Mr Michel Jarjoura, OAM, passed away peacefully aged 88.

(2)That this House notes that Mr Jarjoura:

(a)was born in Betram, Lebanon in 1929;

(b)moved to Australia at the age of 19;

(c)worked initially as a travelling hawker, like many of the Lebanese migrants to Australia at the time;

(d)established the Mansours chain of retail homeware specialty stores, beginning in Lakemba in 1956;

(e)worked to develop the Mansours chain across New South Wales, ultimately turning these stores into the MyHouse homewares company, now managed by Mr Jarjoura's sons Richard and Stephen; and

(f)was a tireless community leader, serving as:

(i)Chairman of the Antiochian Orthodox Committee of Sydney from 1983 to 1992;

(ii)President of the Australian Lebanese Association New South Wales Branch from 1977 to 1980;

(iii)Vice President of the World Lebanese Cultural Union from 1979 to 1984; and

(iv)Dean of the Lebanese Humanitarian Appeal Committee since 2007.

(3)That this House notes that Mr Jarjoura's exceptional contribution to his community and Australia was recognised through:

(a)the Order of the Cross of St Peter and Paul awarded in 1989;

(b)the Gold Merit Award from the World Lebanese Cultural Union awarded in 1983; and

(c)a medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division for service to the Lebanese community in New South Wales in the Queen's Birthday Honours for 2012.

(4)That this House acknowledges that Mr Jarjoura lived a complete life, touching everyone he met in his own distinct way through his belief that "life is what you make of it", and sends its thoughts and prayers to his family, especially his beloved children Ann, Michael, David, Richard, Gary, Stephen and Peter.

For you my love i screamed and cried

For you my love i swam oceans and rivers

For you my love i crossed forests and valleys

For you my love i fought battles and waged wars

For you my love i conquered the world

Oh my love my hopeless love you tore my heart apart

Oh my love my hopeless love you drowned me in your deep manipulative sea

Oh my love my hopeless love you turned me insane 

Oh my love my hopeless love you destroyed me with no mercy

Oh my love my hopeless love i hate you and will always do