Shrinking Catholic presence (Lebanon).

Beirut-Between May 9 and 20, 1999, more than 200 Catholic patriarchs, bishops and other delegates representing a variety of Catholic rites met at a monastery north of Beirut. Their purpose was to discuss cooperation among the Eastern Churches and ways of preserving their tradition in the Middle East, especially in view of massive emigration from the region.

Coptic Bishop Youhannes Zakaria of Luxor, Egypt, pointed out that the Latin Catholic Church in the Middle East counted some 150,000 members in 1950, and now the number is down to only about 10,000. All the Eastern rites-Greek Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Maronites, Melkites, Catholic Copts and Chaldeans--have greatly lost in numbers and are now very weak. Because of the instability of the area, thousands of Catholics and Orthodox have emigrated to Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

The Coptic Church is the strongest Catholic Church in Egypt, with about 200,000 members. (There is also an Orthodox Coptic Church with about four million faithful.) Bishop Zakaria said, "We Christians should stay in Egypt." He added, "We have a mission in our country and have to give it our Christian witness in love and charity."