Grégoire Haddad
Grégoire Haddad (born 25 September 1924 in Souk el-Gharb, Lebanon) was, from 1968 to 1975, Archeparch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Beirut and Jbeil. He was known as the "Red Bishop of Beirut" and in 1975 under pressure from the Holy See, resigned. Since this resignation he is emeritus archbishop.
Life
Grégoire Haddad was born in Souk El Ghard, a small town in Lebanon. His father was a Protestant Christian and his mother belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. He attended elementary school from 1934 to 1936, after which he spent a year in a Basilian secondary school. By 1943 he was in a school of the Eastern Churches taught by Jesuits and ended his High School. Haddad began the study of philosophy and theology, and in 1949 was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Philippe Nabaa, his predecessor in the Episcopate of Beirut (1948-1967). He then worked as a secretary in the Archbishop's Ordinariate in Beirut and devoted himself to several social projects, and founded the Lebanese social movement. On 30 July 1965, with an appointment would come Bishop in Beirut and Jbeil and titular bishop of Palmyra of Greek Melkites. On September 5, 1965, he was ordained to the episcopate by Maximos IV Sayegh, SMSP (Archbishop of Beirut and Jbeil from 1933 to 1947) and his co-consecrators were Archbishop Philippe Nabaa (Archbishop of Beirut and Jbeil 1948-1967) and Archbishop Joseph Tawil (Archbishop of the Eparchy of Newton). In this role, Haddad also participated in the fourth session of the Second Vatican Council in part. After the death of the archbishop, he led the Diocese of Beirut and was appointed on 9 September 1968 to the Melkite Archbishopric of Beirut and Jbeil. He was consecrator the Archbishops Elias Nijmé, BA (Archbishop of the Archeparchy of Tripoli) and Jean Assaad Haddad (Archbishop of Tyre).
Red Bishop of Beirut
In the first years of his term, the new archbishop had many decisions of the Second Vatican Council to implement. This included the new situation for the participation of the laity. In 1975 in a periodic publication of a magazine, were treated the spiritual, theological and social issues. With some articles written by him on the question of coexistence between Muslims and Christians he faced resistance from Rome. In particular, the active contacts with the Amal movement and his commitment to work with worldly conditions, led to warnings from the Vatican.[1] Haddad complicated Vatican when designed himself to work with the founder of the Amal Movement, the Shiite Imam Musa al-Sadr.[2] Together they founded in 1960 the "social movement" and promoted in the following years, the Islamic-Christian dialogue. In any of these events Musa al-Sadr held a speech at Easter in a Capuchin church. In addition, Grégoire Haddad had his theory about a rapprochement between socialism and Church published. He represented publicly thoughts on secularization, which not only among his brothers, but with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith led to sharp debate. His objective was to attempt to promote peace religion to justify.[3]
Not only the political pressure, but also the threat of sanctions within the Church eventually led to Grégoire Haddad requested on September 19, 1975 his resignation, which Pope Paul VI in the concurrent appointment as Titular Archbishop of Adana of Greek Melkites approved. After his resignation he retired to a monastery, and refused any further bishop offices offered to him within the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Grégoire Haddad continues to promote social movements in Lebanon.
References
- ↑ "H-Net Reviews". H-net.org. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ↑ Religioscope - JFM Recherches et Analyses. "Religioscope: Lebanon: Hizbullah, a progressive Islamic party? - Interview with Joseph Alagha". Religion.info. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
- ↑ [Peace pin end religions? Religion and the de-escalation of political conflicts, Ed. Manfred Brocker, Mathias Hildebrandt, 1st edition 2008, VS Verlag für Social Sciences, ISBN 978-3-531-15724-5]