Inauguration of the Liqaa International Centre for
Dialogue
(in Rabweh, Lebanon at 5p.m.
on Tuesday 10 May 2011)
On Tuesday, 10 May 2011, in Rabweh (Lebanon), Patriarch
Gregorios III of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem for
the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, inaugurated “in the name of Christ the
Saviour, risen from the dead,” the Liqaa International Centre for
Dialogue, in the presence of the President of the Lebanese Republic, General
Michel Sleiman and Sheikh Abdullah Bin Muhammad As-Salemi, Minister of the
Awqaf and Religious Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman.
Many distinguished figures, both civil and religious, accepted
the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch’s invitation. Present were the Grand Mufti of the Lebanese
Republic, Sheikh Muhammad Rashid Qabbani, Sheikh Akl of the Unitarian Druze
community, the Apostolic Nuncio to Lebanon, Archbishop Gabriele Giordano
Caccia, representatives of the other Catholic Patriarchs of Lebanon, Pastor Selim
Sahyouni, President of the Supreme Council of Evangelical Churches in Lebanon
and Syria, as well as many Melkite Greek Catholic, Maronite and Orthodox
bishops, not to mention the superiors general and mothers general of the main
Lebanese religious orders.
Also present were Ministers Michel Pharaon, Tarek
Mitri, Selim Wardeh and Hassan Mneimneh, as well as Members of Parliament Hagop
Pakradounian, Michel Moussa, Ghassan Moukheiber and Marwan Fares, military
leaders, heads of university and leading representatives of the judiciary.
The international community was very well represented
by some 29 Western and Arab ambassadors and the Sultanate of Oman by a
delegation led by the Secretary-General of the Sultan Qaboos Centre for Islamic
Culture, Mr. Habib Bin Mohammed Al-Riyami.
The
ceremony was introduced and presented by Father Michel Sabee. The Apostolic
Nuncio read a letter from Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation
for the Oriental Churches. Then Mr. Habib Bin Muhammad Al-Riyami gave a speech
for the occasion, and H. B. Gregorios III gave a speech that can be found on
the Patriarchate’s website (in English, French and Arabic.) http://www.pgc-lb.org/english/index.shtml
At the end of the ceremony, the Patriarch, the President
and the Omani Minister unveiled the commemorative plaque of the event, then together
cut the ribbon to the entrance to the Centre’s main hall, where a cocktail was
offered to all the attendees.