Maronite Academy graduates 100 new young ambassadors for Lebanon

The Maronite Foundation in the World sponsored and hosted 100 young men and women, who have Lebanese roots, from 16 different countries. For the seventh consecutive year, the Foundation’s Maronite Academy took the participants to see a number of Lebanon’s religious and cultural sites.

Certificates were distributed to the students of the Maronite Academy last Friday, in the presence of Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai and prominent local and international figures.

During his speech to the students, Patriarch Rai called on the “young ambassadors of Lebanon” to head back to their homelands and encourage friends and family to visit Lebanon. “Today we gained 100 ambassadors for Lebanon who will tell truth about the country,” Patriarch Rai said.

This year’s Academy was named after the late Ramez Gilbert Chaghoury, son of H.E. Ambassador Gilbert Chaghoury. Alongside the patriarch and Mr. Chaghoury, the following spoke to the students: Rev. Fr. Abbot Neematallah Hachem, Colony Capital Inc. Chairman Thomas Barrack, Central Bank Gov. Riad Salameh and Maronite Foundation in the World President Charles Hage.

Rev. Fr. Hachem compared Lebanon to the saints it has produced, such as St, Charbel, St. Hardline and Ste. Rafqa.
For his part, Mr. Hage said what the students learned from their trip to Lebanon would now be carried across the world. “You are the image of Lebanon. Head back to your countries and succeed." The president of the Foundation urged the students to go forward and not be afraid of anything “because God is with you wherever you go.”