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The Falling Asleep of Archbishop Raad (9/99) |
Archbishop Ignatius Raad (1923-1999)
On
Tuesday, July 20, 1999, Archbishop Ignatius Raad, a renowned canonist and
retired Archbishop of Saida and Dair El-Kamar (Lebanon) died unexpectedly at
Montréal, Canada from a heart ailment at age 75.
Ignatius Raad was born on December 20, 1923 at Kfar-Nabrakh in the Shouf
Mountains of Lebanon and entered the Monastery of the Holy Savior as a pre-teen
where he completed his initial schooling and seminary education.
Ordained a priest on November 9, 1947, the young cleric began graduate
studies in Rome where he earned doctorates in both political science and law (in
utroque jure).
From 1953 through 1972, Father Raad served the Melkite community at
Cairo, Egypt where he functioned as president of the ecclesiastical court and
Patriarchal Vicar.
He
moved to the Vatican in 1972 where he was appointed as a Judge Auditor of the
Sacred Rota where he contributed regularly to the development of jurisprudence[1]
and, in 1974, was appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the
Eastern Code of Canon Law. He made outstanding contributions to the revised
Eastern Code as a member of the coetus
that dealt with the canons De
Processibus or the laws concerning canonical processes and
procedures.[2]
Elected
Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saida and Dair El-Kamar by the Melkite-Greek
Catholic Synod on September 9, 1981, he was consecrated to the episcopacy by His
Beatitude, Patriarch Maximos V Hakim, assisted by Archbishops Nicholas Hajj and
Francois Abou-Mokh, at Damascus, Syria on October 30, 1981.
In
September 1985, following political upheaval in southern Lebanon, he resigned
his post in Saida and was appointed moderator of the Greek-Catholic
ecclesiastical courts in Lebanon.
Appointed
Judicial Vicar and canonical consultant to L'Éparchie de Saint-Sauveur at Montréal,
Canada in 1993, the retired Archbishop applied his considerable expertise in
canon law to the establishment of the Matrimonial Tribunal for the Melkites in
Canada where he served until his untimely death in July 1999.
Writing
for the Eastern journal of canon law: Kanon in 1977, the Archbishop defended the
rights of the laity for active participation in the life of the Melkite-Greek
Catholic Church.[3]
An
intensely private man, Archbishop Raad shunned public display during the years
of his retirement but was called upon frequently for an expert opinion
concerning the many issues of law that arose after the promulgation of the Code
of Canons for the Eastern Churches by Pope John Paul II in 1990.
May his memory be eternal.
[1] SRR coram Raad, Apr 15, 1975. An opinion concerning intimacy in marriage as involving more than just a physical reality; it involves a true intertwining of personalities.
[2] See Nuntia 8 (1979) p.103.
[3] Raad, Ignace, Participation des laïcs à la vie de l'Église Grecque Melkite Catholique, in Kanon III, Vienne, 1977, pp. 120-130.
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