Modern Social Issues

His Holiness Defends Coptic Position on Divorce, Remarriage

Fr. Moses
| Tuesday, June 8, 2010 | No comments.

Coptic Pope Shenouda III held a press conference today in which he announced a decision by the Coptic Holy Synod vis-a-vis an administrative court ruling issued last month obliging the church to allow divorced Copts to remarry.

“The Coptic Church is announcing its respect for Egyptian law,” [His Holiness] said at the press conference, held at the papal residence. “But it doesn’t accept rules that contravene biblical teachings and violate our freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by law.”

Marriage within the Coptic Church, the pope declared, “is a sacrament and a religious duty, not merely an administrative action.”

The pope’s position was supported by 82 attending priests in addition to nine others that were not in attendance.

Pastoral Message on the Recent Egyptian Court Ruling on Divorce

His Grace Bishop Serapion
| Thursday, June 3, 2010 | No comments.

On Sunday, May 30, the Supreme Administrative Court in Egypt issued a final decision in the case of a Copt who sued the Church for denying him authorization to remarry in the Church after divorcing his wife. The court decreed that the Egyptian constitution guarantees his right to remarry in the Church.

This decision, however, is contrary to the teachings of the Holy Scriptures and the Orthodox Church. His Holiness Pope Shenouda III respectfully rejected the Egyptian court’s verdict, saying, “…this is a strictly religious matter for which the Bible serves as our only reference.”

His Grace Bishop Serapion recorded a pastoral message to all parishioners in the diocese expressing his support and solidarity with His Holiness in this matter. The message may be heard and downloaded here:

Diocese Welcomes His Grace Bishop Youssef to speak about "Egyptian Christians in America"

Fr. Moses
| Saturday, October 31, 2009 | No comments.

Family Planning

His Grace Bishop Serapion
| Friday, May 1, 2009 | No comments.

Family Planning means that the family plans to have children according to its economic and social conditions, as well as according to its ability to care for the children spiritually, economically, and socially. The family’s role is not limited only to having children, but more essentially to raising the children well.

AIDS

His Grace Bishop Serapion
| Friday, May 1, 2009 | No comments.

AIDS is a serious disease, which was discovered in 1981 in the U.S. among homosexual men. The word AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is an acquired infection as opposed to a genetic immune deficiency or autoimmune. A virus called human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) causes it. Once the virus is transmitted, it attacks the body’s immune system, which depends on the white blood cells.

Euthanasia

His Grace Bishop Serapion
| Friday, May 1, 2009 | No comments.

‘Euthanasia’ is a Greek word that means ‘happy death. It is used to signify the medical intervention in discontinuing the life of patients with complicated diseases, or those who suffer sever pain from incurable diseases. This intervention is seen as stemming from the doctor’s mercy and pity on his patients. The concept also calls for discontinuing the lives of children or infants who suffer from mental retardation or complicated diseases, thus having mercy upon them and saving them from a callous life.

SUPPORTERS OF EUTHANASIA ARE DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS:

Abortion

His Grace Bishop Serapion
| Friday, May 1, 2009 | No comments.

Termination of pregnancy occurs for various reasons. When there are either maternal or fetal factors, which cause termination of pregnancy without human intervention, then it is referred to as “spontaneous abortion”. It can also result from trauma to the mother as a result of an accident, or due to other reasons. However, sometimes termination of pregnancy is due to human intervention because of the woman’s choice to abort by request or consent.

We now pose this question:

Is it a woman’s right to have an abortion?

Drug Addiction

His Grace Bishop Serapion
| Friday, May 1, 2009 | No comments.

Drug addiction is considered to be one of the most serious issues which society faces in the modern age, for addiction is the destruction of man and the loss of the most valuable thing that society possesses, namely, youth. It is an expression of the frustration and the pain from which the community suffers. Addiction and crime are two sides of the same coin, and they are a threat to humanity at large.

Homosexuality

His Grace Bishop Serapion
| Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | No comments.

The following is an expansion of a lecture given by H.H. Shenouda III to a group of predominately Anglican clerics in Great Britain, November 26, l990. In the East "rightly dividing the word of truth" is not done with a scalpel but with a fathers hand. The style of teaching is pastoral, conversational, intimate, and loving. You’ll not hear the concern in his voice, the gentle admonitions, or even the shame at having to introduce certain subjects into his lecture, but they were there.

Homosexuality And The Church

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
| Sunday, June 1, 2008 | No comments.

I am very glad to have the opportunity to speak to the pastors of the Church of England, I mean, to speak to the angels of the Church and to the ministers of our Lord; those who were mentioned in the Book of Revelation as stars in the right hand of our Lord. I thank God because He has given me a chance to speak to those to whom the Lord said, ‘You will be witnesses to Me.’ ‘Witnesses to Me’ means witnesses to the truth, to the Holy Bible, to the commandments of God, to what the Holy Spirit has said to the churches. I want to speak to you about many things, and hope that should you desire to discuss any point, we will have time to do so.