ASIA/LEBANON - MECC TV: The Middle East Council of Churches launches an ecumenical television channel

Tuesday, 10 June 2025 ecumenicalism local churches oriental churches media

MECC

LEBANON

2025-06-10
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Lebanon (Agenzia Fides) - A new "ecumenical" television and radio station is intended as an instrument of shared witness for the churches and ecclesial communities of the Middle East. The new channel, MECC TV, began its experimental test broadcasts today, June 10. It is a new media initiative of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), which celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in 1974.

The initiative was presented at a press conference yesterday, Monday, June 9, in Beirut, at the headquarters of the MECC General Secretariat.

During the press conference, MECC Media Relations Officer Lea Adel Maamary emphasized that the primary role of Christian media "amidst dangers and surprises is to give its people strength" and to help preserve the historical and ecclesiastical heritage of individual Churches. Jordanian priest Rifaat Bader, initiator and editor-in-chief of the news portal "abouna.org," who also participated in the conference, emphasized that the ecumenical initiative, which aims to unite Christians in proclaiming the Gospel through the media, is taking shape at a time when the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which formulated the common creed still recited by the various denominations today, is being celebrated.
Professor Michel Abs, Secretary General of the MECC, pointed out in his contribution as an academic and analyst of social processes that, in modern times, the manipulation of information can go so far as to constitute a real crime, while the sharing and dissemination of information for the common good "represents a human, national, and religious duty."
Founded in Nicosia in 1974 and currently based in Beirut, the Ecumenical Council of Churches of the Middle East aims to facilitate cooperation among the Christian communities of the Middle East on issues of common interest and to contribute to overcoming denominational differences.

Approximately 30 members of several "ecclesial communities" - the Catholic, the Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Evangelical - are members of the Council. (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 10/6/2025)