Lebanon is going through an economic and monetary crisis. This crisis has meant that basic necessities such as food and medicine are too expensive for many in Lebanon. ACN is helping to support the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon to provide food packages to the most vulnerable.

By ACN Staff

Father Geryes is a 29-year-old Maronite Catholic priest ministering in Addousiyyeh, the Archdiocese of Tyr. Father Geryes was ordained a priest last year. His great-grandfather was a married Maronite priest and had ministered in Addousiyyeh a decade ago.

Addousiyyeh was always poor, but Father Geryes is insistent that things have worsened in the village in the last few years. By Father Geryes’ reckoning before the current economic crisis in Lebanon, around 20% of the village was poor. Now about 80% are poor.

The Archdiocese of Tyr previously had a thriving Christian community. Sadly, the Lebanese Civil War and the 2006 war with Israel have significantly reduced this community. There are now only 50,000 people in the diocese. The diocese is one of the poorest in Lebanon, with many people making a living as labourers or farmers.

Archbishop Charbel Abdallah of the Maronite Archdiocese of Tyr explained some of the difficulties faced by the local people.

“For around two years we have been going through a terrible economic crisis in Lebanon. The people are desperate, they need everything. Food, electricity, medicine, milk, at every level they need things to be able to survive.”

This crisis is hitting regular families, many of whom must limit the amount of meat and fish they eat due to the cost of food. ACN learned of one family that is only able to have meat once a month. The Church remains close to the people during the current difficulties. As ever, the Church provides for the spiritual needs of the people and has also begun to provide humanitarian relief to those most impacted by rising costs and poverty.

ACN is supporting the local Maronite archdiocese in providing food packages to the poorest families in every parish. Archbishop Charbel spoke of how ACN assisted the archdiocese in this project:

“I wrote to ACN to ask if they could help us to support the families which are in greater need. Thankfully they responded very quickly, and with great generosity, and assured us of financial aid to buy food packages. They created a programme for us, and this programme will run until July and will include several distributions of 1,500 food packages among all the parishes in our diocese.”

Each package contains basic necessities. Before the current crisis, 1,500,000 Lebanese Pounds was worth around a thousand US dollars. Now it is only worth $30. It is practically impossible for those on a low or minimum wage to afford food and medicine. This means the initiative of the local archdiocese, supported by ACN, is a vital lifeline.

Archbishop Charbel explained to us how vital this project is and his thanks to ACN for the support:

“This is an initiative that means so much to us. The people of Lebanon are very attached to their faith and they are pleased to see that the Church, both in Lebanon and internationally, shows this solidarity to them…Thank you very much, from the heart to ACN, which has always been so close to our diocese. Our people are happy to see this solidarity of the Church, and to receive these packages that will help them face their daily lives.”