Christian Lebanese town offers empty houses as refuge for displaced

Published: 2006-08-09

ROME (CNS) -- A Christian town in central Lebanon is welcoming displaced Muslims and Druze from other parts of the country, offering them shelter in the homes of Christians who have fled across the border. The permanent population of Deir el-Ahmar is almost 100 percent Christian, the local bishop told Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian Catholic magazine. "Many Christians have emigrated, but kept their houses here," said Maronite Bishop Simon Atallah of Baalbek and Deir el-Ahmar. "In agreement with them, we have opened these houses and settled the refugees in them." The flow of people fleeing the fighting in the south has been so overwhelming that "all the inhabitants are hosting the displaced. It is a sign of brotherhood and a witness for the unity of Lebanon," said the bishop. "The Christians have gone through very tough times, but in the Maronite tradition hospitality is sacred," he said, adding that "peaceful coexistence is our mission as church."

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .