Congregation Centers outside Lebanon
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, missionaries have followed their Maronite brethren, the sons and daughters of their homeland Lebanon all the way to the countries of expansions, and established missions in city after city, in the service of the Gospel, the Church and society. Soon enough, mission houses became tantamount to a second home for every Lebanese and an embassy before there was one. In these centers, all would congregate, without division and discrimination, to become acquainted with each other and to collaborate, and to further clutch on to their religious beliefs, their social traditions and their national heritage.
The Argentine Mission – Buenos Aires
When the number of missionary fathers did not exceed ten, the Superior General Father Youssef Moubarak heeded the request of His Beatitude the Patriarch and the Pontifical See. On May 8, 1901, the feast day of St. John the Beloved, the patron saint of the Congregation, it declared the appointment of Fathers Hanna Ghosn and Mikhael Hajjar to proceed to Argentina and establish a mission carrying the name of St. Maron, to serve the Maronites and the Lebanese immigrants. The two Fathers left on the Monday of Pentecost, May 27, to reach Buenos Aires on July 5, 1901, and launched the mission the very next day, Sunday July 6, with a very well attended Mass.
Despite all the hardships they encountered, the mission took off and grew, thanks to the support of many of the benevolent, Lebanese from all groups, and Argentineans. Afterwards, the number of missionaries began to increase. After nine decades, thirty missionaries were counted, priests and brothers, and they trickled in, in succession, to work laboriously and worthily in all religious, educational, cultural and national fields. They traveled throughout the vast Argentinean landscape, and in every city with a Maronite community, they established religious fraternities and social clubs. In the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires, aside from the monastery, they built a small church which grew and is now a cathedral. It was consecrated and inaugurated by the Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Peter Sfeir in 2001, on the occasion of the one hundredth Jubilee of the mission.
In 1904 an elementary school was formed. It became a secondary school in 1920. It is still teaching today, in addition to the official curriculum, Arabic and French for those desiring to learn them, and also the commercial sciences and accounting.
In 1913, the printing press and the newspaper Al-Murssal (The Missionary) were established. On April 28, 1959, an Apostolic Decree was issued mandating the erection of a diocese specific to the Eastern Churches headed personally by the head Bishop of the Catholic Church in Buenos Aires and the mission head was appointed Vicar General of the Maronites. On December 2, 1990, the head of the mission, Father Sharbel Merhi, was ordained in Bkerke as Bishop of the St. Sharbel Maronite Eparchy in Argentina.
The United States of America Mission
In a first stage (1916-1952), at the request of the people and the permission of the ecclesiastical authorities, three missionaries worked in the United States: Father Francis Sham’oun (1874-1920), pastor of the St. Louis Parish in Missouri, 1916, where he died and was buried there in 1920; Father Boulos Al-Khoury (1900-1951), who served the Akron Parish in Ohio, where he died on February 28, 1951, and was buried there; and, Father Youssef Kmeid (1876-1952), who traveled for seven years (1920-1927) serving Lebanese communities throughout the States, settling to serve St. Maron Parish in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, until his death on June 29, 1952.
After a long break, and condescending at the insistence of the Shepherd of the new Maronite Eparchy, the missionaries returned in September of 1988, to study and to perform the apostolic service in numerous fields. They served existing parishes, developing them, and they established new ones and erected a permanent center for the Congregation in Houston, Texas. His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Peter Sfeir visited the center on May 19-20, 2008.
The South Africa Mission – Johannesburg
The history of establishing the Johannesburg Mission goes back to 1927, with the appointment of Father Youssef Juan as a Patriarchal Visitor, and thereafter, the appointment of Father Boutros Al-’Alam as the proper pastor of the Maronite community through a Patriarchal Decree on September 21, 1928. He served very well until his death on June 13, 1962. He was succeeded by Father Mikhael Chebli and carried out the mission with zeal and purity in conduct throughout thirty years, until the Congregation was able to send a number of young priests who worked strenuously and diligently on developing the mission and erecting a new center on the east side, and another in the southern sector of the city. On February 10, 1992, Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Peter Sfeir consecrated the Church of Our Lady of the Cedars. It was the first visit by a Maronite patriarch to this distant land. His Beatitude again graced with a second visit on May 7, 2008, to dedicate the Church and Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in the southern part of the city.
The Brazil Mission – Rio de Janeiro
In the middle of June, 1931, Fathers Elias Maria Al-Ghorayeb (1881-1960), and Gibrayel Zaidan (1882-1963), came in from Argentina to Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil at that time, for the purpose of establishing a mission there. On February 16, 1932, they were joined by Father Youssef Al-Hani (1894-1975), who would become Father Al-Ghorayeb’s traveling companion throughout more than thirty years. For, Father Gibrayel Zaidan was to leave them in the middle of August, 1937, having been appointed roaming missionary among the communities in all the republics of South America, with the Argentine mission in Buenos Aires as his base.
The missionaries worked laboriously and competently to launch the mission in Rio de Janeiro. Aside from the religious and social services, they built a school which closed after eleven years. They erected a monumental church and a mission house under the name of Our Lady of Lebanon. They were not able to establish Maronite parishes outside Rio de Janeiro due to a shortage in priests, but, they compensated for that with their seasonal pastoral visits to all regions, even the very remote ones, endeavoring to rally together the communities, establishing fraternities and clubs.
Father Al-Ghorayeb assumed quite a very illustrious stature in all circles and was appointed by Cardinal Camra, Head Bishop of Rio, as his Vicar General to deal with all the affairs of the Eastern Catholics, from Maronites to Syriacs to Chaldeans to Armenians. To perpetuate the memory of his glorious deeds and contributions, the municipality named a street after him.
The mission is still prospering and those in authority are seeking to erect new centers as needs demand and capabilities allow.
The Australia Mission –Sydney
At the request of the Shepherd of the Maronite Eparchy in Australia, Archbishop Youssef Hitti, the Congregation dispatched to Sydney in 1993, one of its sons, Father Sarkis Charbel (1957-2000), to aid in the pastoral service and to undertake mission endeavors. With increased needs, it became necessary to dispatch more missionaries, and they served many of the parishes and administered youth organizations and apostolic movements. They also established a branch of the Voice of Charity, broadcasting programs in Arabic and English. They strove to build a permanent center for the mission, which was inaugurated in 2004, under the name of St. John the Beloved, the patron saint of the Congregation.
The Holy Land Mission
Responding to pressing needs, and at the request of the Shepherd of the Eparchy, Archbishop Boulos Sayah, the Congregation agreed in 2005, to dispatch priests to serve the Lebanese in general and the Maronites in particular, especially those who left their southern border villages. They resided in the city of Nazareth at first, and from there, they began to roam through all the regions where the displaced are grouped. They are now based in Akko, carrying on with their apostolic endeavors.
New Missions Being Established
Emanating from its gifts and in realization of its goals, the Congregation is presently striving to establish many new missions in response to zealous calls and in accordance with the capabilities at hand:
1. In the City of Santo Domingo – The Dominican Republic;
2. In the City of Bogotá – Columbia;
3. In the City of Malmo – Sweden;
4. In the City of Vienna – Austria;
5. In the City of Guadalajara – Mexico; and,
6. In the City of Mendoza – Argentina.
It is also in the process of establishing other new centers in Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and the United States of America.
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