Patriarch Rai visits Maronite Cathedral in Brooklyn
His Beatitude Patriarch Bechara Peter Cardinal Rai, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, visited the Eparchy of Brooklyn from June 22-29. He is in the United States as part of a trip that culminates in Los Angeles and San Francisco for the Annual Convention of the National Apostolate of Maronites (NAM), at which he will preside next week.
Patriarch Rai has served for five years as the 77th Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. He is also a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic (Latin) Rite. Being a cardinal allowed him to participate in the Conclave of March 12 to 13, 2013 that elected Pope Francis.
Maronites are Eastern Rite Catholics, but the Maronite branch of Christianity is also Antiochene (Antiochian), and traces its origins to Antioch—called the “cradle of Christianity”—of the 1st Century Common Era). Orthodox Christianity also sprang from Antioch.