The December 2024 edition of ONE magazine — with compelling stories and stunning photography — wraps up the publication’s 50th-anniversary year.
The headlines might indicate that our anniversary year ended in the same way it began, with articles on war and conflict in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, and on the tireless efforts toward peacebuilding and reconstruction in other areas of the Middle East and northeast Africa.
In times like these, it is easy to raise our hands in despair, to think with resignation, “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” to give up on our hope for peace, prosperity and fraternity.
However, I am convinced the stories in the December 2024 edition of the magazine titled, “Wounded. Traumatized. Unbroken.,” featuring many young and determined protagonists, will convince you that hope still abounds.
Click below to read about:
- A Palestinian Christian woman in the West Bank, who is mobilizing to take back her family’s confiscated lands against the backdrop of war.
- Young men in Ethiopia, preparing to become priests who can accompany their people in post-war healing.
- Young adults in Ukraine, who have chosen to stay in their country and to commit to lives of service amid the travesty of war.
- The dedication of Christian groups over decades in Lebanon to tend to the needs of Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian refugees, with the support of Pontifical Mission, CNEWA’s operating agency in the Middle East.
- The Jubilee of Hope — the virtue and spirit aligned with CNEWA’s mission since its founding in 1926 — to which Pope Francis has summoned the entire church.
- The celebration in Atlanta of ONE’s tremendous reporting on the Eastern churches.
I also invite you to read the final installment of our yearlong series, One @ 50, which looked back at seminal issues in the church that ONE covered in its 50-year history. In this edition, read a reprint of Bishop Nicholas Samra’s essay, “Healing the Church of Antioch: The Greek-Melkite Initiative,” first published in 1997. In it, he speaks of the hope for unity between the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and the Orthodox Patriarchal Church of Antioch.
We, at CNEWA, continue to walk in the hope for peace and reconciliation this Advent, confident in the promises of the Prince of Peace, Jesus, born in a manger for each of us this Christmas.
May these stories inspire you in your Advent almsgiving and to greater love and solidarity for our brothers and sisters in the Christian East in the New Year.
From everyone on the team at ONE: Very best wishes to you and yours this Christmas and God’s choicest blessings in the New Year!