Giving Hope to the Middle East

Bishop Mulvey welcomed Msgr. Peter Vaccari to our diocese. They both studied in the 1970s at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Msgr. Vaccari is a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn. He served for more than 30 years in seminaries in New York before, in 2020, becoming president of CNEWA, an acronym for the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
 
The chancery staff were the first who could listen to Msgr. Peter Vaccari’s testimonial about his work. Founded in 1926 by Pope Pius XI, CNEWA is a papal agency dedicated to giving pastoral and humanitarian support to Eastern Catholic Churches. Among the 1.3 billion Catholics, around 16 to 18 million belong to one of the 23 Eastern Churches. “These are the oldest Catholics; they go back to the Apostles' teaching,” said Msgr. Vaccari.
 
CNEWA has offices in different regions: in the Middle East, supporting Catholics in Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Egypt; in Northeast Africa for Ethiopia and Eritrea; in Eastern Europe, focusing on Ukraine, Georgia, Romania and Armenia, and in India.
 
Vaccari recounted a recent visit to Palestine, where his delegation had to spend a night in the bomb shelter. When they went to the church to celebrate Mass the following day, people flooded the Church to pray. “Christians in the Middle East need our support; they are suffering,” said the CNEWA president.
 
Another area of work is the elimination of human trafficking and psycho-social counseling in war-torn countries. Many parts of Beirut and Aleppo are still destroyed, more than ten years after the height of the civil war in Syria. His greatest challenge in his work? “See the immense suffering and children who are not smiling,” said Msgr. Vaccari. His greatest joy is to see the difference that CNEWA can make. And the biggest obstacle is global indifference, “so many people just don’t care.”
 
Despite all the challenges, he is still hopeful that peace is possible, “we need to look at the Middle East and find a solution as a region.” Bishop Mulvey thanked him for sharing his insights, “Often, we don’t know what’s going on in the other parts of the world.”
 
The work of CNEWA can be supported through prayers and donations through their website, cnewa.org