Religious Peacebuilding: the Life and Work of Archbishop Raya As a Model for Religious Peacebuilding

i Religious Peacebuilding: The Life and Work of Archbishop Raya as a Model for Religious Peacebuilding Lesya Michalina Sabada Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Ministry Ottawa, Canada December 2016 @Lesya Michalina Sabada, Ottawa, Canada, 2017 ii Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my father Eugene Sabada, a man a head of his time, who desired women to be educated. And to my mother Katherine Sabada, whose model has demonstrated to be the strength and courage of a woman forged on the anvil of persecution and injustice. Both my parents suffered greatly under the former totalitarian Soviet regime and through World War II. My mother, a former Nazi slave who came to Canada, and my father, were left with permanent scars. My prayer is that I have honoured them both. I also dedicate this work to Thomas, to our beloved children Oriana, Omelian, and Julian, their spouses, Padraic and Melanie, and our grandchildren, Rowan, Alastair, Niall, Poppy and joyfully anticipated Ms. Watt. Finally, I dedicate this book to all those who have suffered conflict around the world, especially children, to the peacemakers of this world, and to the flourishing of life on this wondrous planet. May the effort of this thesis be of benefit to the emergence of a genuine understanding of religious peacebuilding, between the world’s nations and great religions, and may it foster in us a deep reverence toward one another. iii Acknowledgements Many have contributed to the strength of this dissertation. Without their help, it could not have been written. I respectfully acknowledge and am grateful to Madonna House Apostolate, especially Father Ron Cafeo, Bonnie Staib, Theresa Davis, Mary Kay Roland, Mary Davis, Elsie Witty, Susan Adams, Mamie Legris, Suzanne Stubbs, Father David May,Father Bob Pelton, Mark Schlingerman, Miriam Stulberg, Kathy Rodman, Patti Birdson, Joanne Digido, and Douglas Guss. I owe a debt of gratitude to St. George Melkite Greek Catholic Parish but primarily, Shirley Larussa, Ed Abrasley, Joanne Kemp Smith and her daughter Patricia Smith Tucker, Jamely A. Hall, Mary Ann George and daughters Kathy George Mezrano, Anita George Pilato, Ferris Ritchey, Mary Grace Ritchey and Albert Ritchey, Bob and Bill Zazaur, Louis Zaden, Anne Owens, Richard and Donna Smaha, Rosalie and Mike Ritchie, Alex and Jackie Shahid, Rickie Shahid, Joseph T. Ritchey, Francis David and daughter Mary David, Father Frank Milienewicz, Elizabeth Ritchey, T. J. and Mary Jo Kassouf, Charles and Pat Abrasley, Sam Ritchey, Francis Finney, William Ritchey, Joseph Pharo, Marie Salem, Joey Shaw, Deacon Seraphim Ritchey and Annette Ritchey, and Dianne Morris. I also acknowledge Catherine DeVinck, Baron Jose DeVinck, Christopher DeVinck, Karl Friedman, Father David Kirk and Laura and Norman Dikdan. Patriarch Lutfi Laham, and Melkite Archbishops, Cyril Bustros, Nicholas Samra, and John Elya, made distinct contributions. I would like to thank the innumerable people in Israel. While researching in Israel I greatly appreciated the love and hospitality of the Shehade family, especially Agnes and son Bernard. Included are Mr. Elias Jabour, Mr. Uri Avnery, Sheikh Jaber Mu’adi, Sheikh Mowafak Jareef, Sheikh Yosef Amarg, Ibrahim Sima’an, Professor Werbowsky, Daniel Rossing, Bob Tolin, Edward Sa’ad, Soad Haddad, Ibrahim Atallah, Yousef Atallah, Dr. Daoud Bshouty, Ibrahim Sima’an, Naser Shakkour, Bolos Nieft Khoury, Dr. Deed Daoud; Alice N-Jean; Mr. Buotros; Kamilia Samara-Shehade, Theresa Mansour, Father Francis Bouwen, Rushi Almadym, Mr. Alex Massis. Im George Nujaim, Shafiqua Sa’ad, Sima’an Sbeit, andYousef Ne’ematallah. The many friends and family who have supported me while writing deserve special mention. Their encouragement and compassion have been the bedrock of constant support: Francine Quesnel, Fr. Yvan Mathieu, Fr. Stephen Wojcichowsky, Hania and David Nahachewsky, Edith Kuprash, Christine Shalagan Nahachewsky and Taras Nahachewsky, Zoria Broughton, Sharie Parkinson, Noor Jadavji, Remi Lessard, Sisters of St. Joseph, Rita Gillies, and Mary Ann Lyle. iv I would like to thank my academic support. In particular my gratitude goes to Dr. Mary Ann Beavis, Dr. James Mullens, Dr. Heather Eaton, Dr. Brian Butcher, Father Dr. Peter Galadza, Dr. Nathan Funk, Dr. Andriy Nahachewsky, Dr. John Jillions, Dr. Junior Smith, Dr. Remi Lesard, Dr. Elaine Hulse, Dr. Anna Sheftel, Dr. Manal Guirguis- Younger, and Glorie Tebbutt. Together their comments and support have added depth and insight into many of the dissertation’s central ideas. Financial support was given by the Fr. Beyrouti Scholarship, Mary Dyma Canadian National Women’s Scholarship, The Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, and the Sessional Lecturers’ Academic Participation/Professional Development Fund, and the University of Saskatchewan. My thesis director, Dr. Vern Neufeld Redekop, helped me focus on the field of religious peacebuilding. I had not known that it would be the perfect fit for me. His comments on the many drafts of this manuscript were most insightful. He was not only a real scholar but a teacher and a guide on a difficult journey. I shall never forget his kindness and patience. And finally, I want to acknowledge my editor, Dr. Edna Froese. I greatly admire her and I am pleased beyond mere words to have had her support. Dr. Froese added such grace, elegance, and beauty to every sentence. In the process of writing, she helped me think through the challenging aspects of my ideas and to express my thoughts. Her compassionate presence is something I shall never forget. I am deeply indebted to her. v Abstract Throughout this dissertation, I argue that the same religion that incites people to hideous acts of violence and destruction can also influence people to act in love, to work toward healing in all stages of conflict, and to offer hope in difficult situations. As Katrien Hertog argues in her major work, The Complex Reality of Religious Peacebuilding, religion has much to contribute to the work of peacebuilding. Unfortunately, as John Paul Lederach and Cynthia Sampson, leading scholars in religious peacebuilding, have pointed out, there are few case studies regarding the peacebuilding activities of religious actors, particularly those who demonstrate a “legitimate connection between spirituality and pragmatic international peacebuilding” (qtd. in Hertog 2010, 40). This dissertation addresses that lack through an examination of the life and work of Joseph Raya, who demonstrated, throughout his life, the importance and effectiveness of a pastoral and prophetic approach (rooted in his Byzantine tradition) in building peace, even in deeply troubled areas of the world. Archbishop Raya can be a model for peacebuilding that is “simultaneously authentic to a religious tradition [Byzantine Christianity] and simultaneously accepting of other traditions” (Gopin 2000, 23). This might be an opportunity for scholarly reflection on one man’s spiritually inspired thought processes that appear to have led to practical pastoral peacebuilding. Thus the research question that shapes this dissertation is “How can the life and teachings of Archbishop Joseph Raya serve as a model for a pastoral and prophetic love- based approach to religious peacebuilding?” My hypothesis is that a practical theology vi for a pastoral and prophetic approach can be synthesized from Archbishop Raya’s life, actions, and spirituality. The most suitable method of research for this dissertation, with its ultimately practical goal of personal ministry, is qualitative research, specifically a narrative approach appropriate to exploring the life of an individual (Creswell 2004, 78). My organizing principle for this dissertation has been the narrative methodology of Thomas H. Groome which is expressed in five movements. In the first movement, “Naming/Expressing ‘Present Praxis,’” participants name or express their own and/or society’s present action typically around a generative theme (Groome 1998, 146). In this case, the present action is that of Joseph Marie Raya, presented in Chapter 2 as a condensed biography. Although I function here as secondary story-teller, shaping Raya’s action into a chronological coherent whole, that narrative is partially based on Raya’s own writings and oral story-telling, supplemented by primary sources and interviews with those who knew him. The second movement of Groome’s pedagogical method is a “Critical Reflection on Present Action” (Groome 1998, 147) or “The Participants’ Stories and Visions” (Groome 1980, 211). In Chapter 3 of this dissertation, the reflection occurs through my own story of peacebuilding activity, before, during, and after interactions with Archbishop Raya. His continued role as my mentor had a lasting impact on my understanding of Eastern spirituality and religious peacebuilding. It is important for me, in my exploration of what peacebuilding entails in the context of Eastern Catholic Christianity, to examine the effect that Raya’s example has had on me, even before I began to put both stories, Raya’s and mine, into their larger context. vii The task of the third movement, “The Christian Community Story and Vision” (Groome 1980, 214), is “Making accessible expressions of Christian Story and Vision as appropriate to the generative theme” (Groome 1998, 147). Chapter 4 of the dissertation discusses two contexts of importance for the story of Archbishop Raya: first, the larger

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