Archbishop Samir Nassar — who has led the Maronite Archeparchy of Damascus in Syria since 2006 — arrived in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis Jan. 26 and plans to visit parishes and a school through Jan. 31.
His latest visit — the archbishop last visited in November 2018 — is being made through a partnership with the archdiocese that began in 2017 and was organized by the Center for Mission, which serves the archdiocese. Archbishop Bernard Hebda sought help for such a venture from the center’s director, Deacon Mickey Friesen, after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops asked U.S. dioceses to assist suffering and persecuted Christians in war-torn parts of the Middle East.
In an interview Jan. 27 at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul, Archbishop Nassar said he views his visit to the archdiocese as “a time to say thank you for your friendship, a time to celebrate the conversion of St. Paul, we (the archdiocese and archeparchy) met because of St. Paul, and to see what we can do more of … to make our friendship more useful, our testimony more solid.” To do so, he said, “We have to pray for each other.” He also said, “I think Providence, the Divine Mercy, has sent your Church (the archdiocese) to look after this small flock” in Damascus.
Archbishop Nassar said he has watched the flock of which he’s a part become even smaller in recent years.
“We were a majority and now we have become a small minority,” Archbishop Nassar said about the Christian faithful in Syria. Since the Syrian civil war began in March 2011, Archbishop Nassar said he has seen the Christian population fall from 5% of the overall population to about 2%. Factors contributing to the decline include deaths amid the war, people fleeing the country and interfaith marriages resulting in some Catholics leaving the faith, Archbishop Nassar said.
“There is a war, there is a bomb, there are problems,” Archbishop Nassar said. “The situation and security and the social problems are (a) very, very hard time.” Under those circumstances, maintaining hope can be a challenge, Archbishop Nassar said. “You have to plant hope, but you have to have hope for it to be planted” and “optimism and hope, sometimes we don’t have it.”
How does Archbishop Nassar rely on his faith to find hope?
Pulling a rosary from his pocket and holding it, he said, “I walk, every day, an hour, sometimes two hours, having the rosary with me, praying for the priests, for the poor, for the families, for the Church, for peace. I find my hope very much in this rosary, in Our Lady. I feel we need the Mother of God.”
In forming the partnership, Deacon Friesen had some knowledge of the Maronite Archeparchy of Damascus through St. Maron in Minneapolis, a Maronite-rite Catholic church, and suggested a partnership between the archdiocese and the archeparchy. The “Damascus Partnership” was formalized Jan. 25, 2017 — the feast of the conversion of St. Paul the Apostle — who experienced his conversion on the road to Damascus and is patron of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
To honor the partnership, a 3-by-4-foot icon was completed in 2021; Stillwater-based iconographer and Orthodox Christian Deb Korluka created the icon, depicting St. Paul’s baptism into the Church by St. Ananias.
“You can feel the first faith of Christianity in this big act because St. Paul changed the word of his mission,” Archbishop Nassar said Jan. 27. “He was the enemy of Jesus and (then) he becomes the most useful apostle, I think … he ran from here to there to build community and to write letters of support.” The icon is on permanent display in the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and a replica will be given to Archbishop Nassar as part of his trip.
In addition to public events while he is in the archdiocese, Archbishop Nassar will visit St. John Paul II School in Minneapolis and attend a Synod Evangelization Team Kickoff event. Expressing interest in the Synod process here in the archdiocese, Archbishop Nassar said, “Synod, it’s a Greek word meaning together, working together, and working together with Damascus also. We are your partners, so I’m happy to be part of this, working together for salvation for the Kingdom.” He mentioned also wanting to translate Archbishop Hebda’s pastoral letter into Arabic, Syria’s official language.
Archbishop Nassar talked about the importance of building fraternity, which he prays the Damascus Partnership promotes. “We have to be friends, to accept each other and this is a way for peace.” He went on to say, “Also we have to keep strong our faith … we are not alone in this Church, we don’t walk alone, we walk together, with Jesus, Our Lady, all the saints, the Holy Spirit — they are supporting us on our way and this helps us to follow our mission, even if (it’s) difficult.”
Public events planned during Archbishop’s Nassar’s visit are:
- Archbishop Nassar will concelebrate 5:30 p.m. Mass Jan. 28 at St. Paul in Ham Lake, with a reception after Mass.
- Archbishop Nassar will concelebrate 10 a.m. Mass Jan. 29 with Archbishop Hebda at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
- Archbishop Nassar will concelebrate a 5 p.m. Maronite-rite Mass Jan. 29 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
Complete coverage of Archbishop Nassar’s visit will be included in The Catholic Spirit’s Feb. 9 edition.
