Lebanon war interrupts Americans' family reunion, baptism

Published: 2006-08-09

GULFPORT, Miss. (CNS) -- Tania Rizk, 38, and her four children had planned to spend their summer vacation in Lebanon, visiting grandparents and other family members and having her youngest child, 10-month-old Gabrielle, baptized "at home." But the idyllic family holiday turned into a nightmarish experience as the Rizks fled to Syria after war broke out in Lebanon in mid-July. For more than a week, parishioners at St. James Parish in Gulfport prayed for the safe return of the family. The Rizks are members of the parish, and their three older children, Alex, 12, Philip, 10, and Chloe, 6, attend St. James Elementary School. Dr. Antoine "Tony" Rizk and Tania were born and raised in Lebanon. Both studied in America and in 1999 they decided to move here. Dr. Rizk, 41, is a cardiologist with Memorial Hospital in Gulfport. He had planned to join his family by the end of July "in time for Gabrielle's christening," his wife told the Gulf Pine Catholic, newspaper of the Biloxi Diocese.

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