Lebanonwire.com | Sfeir celebrates 25 years of Catholic Information Center

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Lebanonwire, May 31, 2003

Sfeir celebrates 25 years of Catholic Information Center

Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir on Thursday celebrated a mass at the Mar Abda Church in Jal al-Dib in commemoration of the Catholic Information Center (CIC)’s silver jubilee.
On the same occasion, the center’s episcopal committee honored almost all Lebanese print and audiovisual information media that carry political and/or religious news, including The Daily Star.
“The church has supported information media because they have a certain mission, the mission of serving the truth,” Sfeir said, quoting Pope John Paul II’s warning in his Apostolic Exhortation on Media Day earlier this year against “turning information media into a means for misinformation or propaganda.”
“Thus information media should not serve racist, religious, material or ideological interests and stereotypes,” Sfeir told the several hundreds that attended the mass. “Therefore pressures practiced by some parties on information media should be fended off.”
“Truth, freedom, justice and solidarity that are rooted in love are the bases of peace,” he said, stressing the importance of achieving peace in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Sfeir later inaugurated CIC’s new Jal al-Dib headquarters, which has been equipped with modern technology.
The two events were attended by officials and politicians, including former presidents Elias Hrawi and Amin Gemayel, Information Minister Michel Samaha and Youth and Sports Minister Sebouh Hovnanian.
CIC then honored the Press Federation, the Journalists Union, 11 newspapers, nine television stations, seven radio stations, six news agencies, and 10 magazines.
On Thursday night, CIC’s Episcopal Committee held a dinner in Sfeir’s honor at the Jardin de Chine restaurant in Jal al-Dib while fireworks lit the sky.
Streets were crowded by onlookers as the army and police enforced strict security measures. Posters of Sfeir were raised in all streets surrounding Mar Abda Church.