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The Jubilee and Nicaea anniversary summon Christians to reconciliation.
Editor’s Note: The Maronite Catholic Church is one of 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope in Rome. The Church’s approximately 3.5 million members worldwide are primarily concentrated in Lebanon. Bishop Gregory Mansour leads the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, New York, one of the two Maronite eparchies (dioceses) in the U.S. His commentary below originally appeared on the eparchy's website and is reprinted here with permission, in conjunction with Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2.
The year 2025 has brought with it two occasions of grace and challenge: the Jubilee Year proclaimed by the Catholic Church and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Each summons us to repentance and renewal, to fidelity and hope. The Jubilee invites us to turn again to God, to seek reconciliation with one another, and to embrace mercy as the path of renewal.
The commemoration of Nicaea recalls the first of the Ecumenical Councils, convened in 325, when the Church, under the authority of an emperor but guided by the Spirit, confessed with clarity that the Son of God is homoousios with the Father — true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.
For me as a Maronite Catholic, these two anniversaries converge in a single summons: to reflect deeply on the unity of Christians. My own life bears witness to both unity and division. I was baptized in a Latin parish in Flint, Michigan, for no Maronite parish yet existed there. And yet, by the faith of my father, I was “born” into the Maronite Church, ascription in canon law would describe it. From the very beginning of my life, I have lived the paradox of division and unity: a Maronite in heritage, a Latin in baptism, a Catholic in both. I also grew up with Assyrian Christians (Church of the East) as well as a variety of Orthodox Christians. This reality has shaped my vocation and my longing for the restoration of full communion among all Christians.
Continued below.
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Editor’s Note: The Maronite Catholic Church is one of 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope in Rome. The Church’s approximately 3.5 million members worldwide are primarily concentrated in Lebanon. Bishop Gregory Mansour leads the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn, New York, one of the two Maronite eparchies (dioceses) in the U.S. His commentary below originally appeared on the eparchy's website and is reprinted here with permission, in conjunction with Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon Nov. 27-Dec. 2.
The year 2025 has brought with it two occasions of grace and challenge: the Jubilee Year proclaimed by the Catholic Church and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Each summons us to repentance and renewal, to fidelity and hope. The Jubilee invites us to turn again to God, to seek reconciliation with one another, and to embrace mercy as the path of renewal.
The commemoration of Nicaea recalls the first of the Ecumenical Councils, convened in 325, when the Church, under the authority of an emperor but guided by the Spirit, confessed with clarity that the Son of God is homoousios with the Father — true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.
For me as a Maronite Catholic, these two anniversaries converge in a single summons: to reflect deeply on the unity of Christians. My own life bears witness to both unity and division. I was baptized in a Latin parish in Flint, Michigan, for no Maronite parish yet existed there. And yet, by the faith of my father, I was “born” into the Maronite Church, ascription in canon law would describe it. From the very beginning of my life, I have lived the paradox of division and unity: a Maronite in heritage, a Latin in baptism, a Catholic in both. I also grew up with Assyrian Christians (Church of the East) as well as a variety of Orthodox Christians. This reality has shaped my vocation and my longing for the restoration of full communion among all Christians.
The Doctrinal Achievement of Nicaea
Continued below.
1,700 Years After Nicaea: A Maronite Bishop’s Call for Christian Unity
COMMENTARY: The Jubilee and Nicaea anniversary summon Christians to reconciliation.
