Local Maronite community prays for Lebanon

Friday, Aug. 14, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY — At least 220 people were killed, 7,000 wounded, and 300,000 left homeless by the Aug. 4 blast in Beirut.

The explosion is believed to have been caused by a fire that ignited tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored at the port since 2013.

Although half a world away, this tragedy has had a big impact on the Lebanese community in Utah. Many parishioners of St. Jude Maronite Catholic Church in Taylorsville have family and friends living in Lebanon. Among them is Tania Schamy. Almost all her family members live in Beirut.

“It has been very hard to accept this terrible, terrible thing; my mother had an apartment facing the port of Beirut,” Schamy said.

The explosion severely damaged the apartment, and Schamy’s mother was wounded. 

“She is still alive, by a miracle. … She is 85, so this has been really hard,” Schamy said. “I also have cousins that completely lost their houses. My mom’s apartment, [despite] being all blown up, is still there, but my cousins’ houses have nothing left – all the building is gone.”

When Schamy heard about the explosion, the only thing she could do was cry and try to get hold of her family members in Beirut, she said.

“Beirut destroyed – it’s just heartbreaking and frustrating, because I don’t know how the country is going to get out of this,” Schamy said.

Even before the blast, which is estimated to have caused at least $10 billion in damages, Lebanon was facing an economic crisis, as well as coping with the coronavirus. 

“Lebanon needs many prayers; prayers that God removes the evil from the country,” Schamy said. “Please help Lebanon through the Red Cross and through Catholic Charities. I would also wish that we all gathered as one whole community.”

Msgr. Joubran BouMerhi, pastor of St. Jude Parish, said that after the blast the Lebanese people have become refugees and are in dire need.

In the hours after the blast, some of his parishioners, like Schamy, called him with the news. “They told me it felt like an atomic bomb just exploded,” he said.

“Now the Church is trying to help, but most of the churches are not functioning, the hospitals are running out of supplies; people had enough already with the COVID-19 (pandemic),” he said.

Msgr. BouMerhi, himself of Lebanese descent and with family members living in the country, is asking people for their prayers.

“Pray for the people and stand behind them,” he said. “They have suffered for so many years, and now this. ... We need to step up and protect Lebanon.”

On Aug. 5, a day after the blast, Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, president of the Conference of Patriarchs and Catholic Bishops of Lebanon, pleaded for help from the international community. (See left.)

 On Aug. 7, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis, through the department for Integral Human Development, already has sent nearly $300,000 in aid to Lebanon.

According to a Vatican press release, the money was sent to the Vatican embassy in Beirut and will be distributed to medical facilities and shelters for the displaced run by the Lebanese branch of Catholic charity organization Caritas International, as well as several partner offices. (See p. 18.)