Syrian Catholic Leader Visits L.A.

Congregants of the city’s only Melkite Church welcomed Syria’s new Catholic leader to Los Angeles on Tuesday, comparing the visit by black-robed Gregory III to an appearance by the Roman Catholic pope.

Gregory III addressed about 30 churchgoers and reporters at a news conference in North Hollywood, his bearded and wizened face framed by silver medallions adorning his chest.

The 67-year-old “patriarch of Alexandria, Jerusalem and all the East,” stopped briefly in Los Angeles to greet parishioners and draw attention to unrest in the Middle East.

“Our position is that the rights of Palestinians are just human rights,” he said in heavily accented English. “We’re just asking to be recognized as human beings. We all have to be committed to the peace of Jerusalem.”

Gregory III was elected patriarch in November by the Melkite Synod in Lebanon, succeeding the previous patriarch who retired at age 92.

Descendants of the early Christians of Syria, Melkite members describe themselves as aligned with the Roman Catholic church, but they interpret their practice through the Byzantine tradition in the Middle East.

One of the largest of the Eastern rite churches, the Melkite Church has been called a “voice for the East within the Western Church.”

There are more than 1 million Melkite Catholics in the world, with an estimated 4,000 families in Southern California. Los Angeles County’s only Melkite Catholic Church is St. Anne’s in North Hollywood, a modest white building on Moorpark Street.

Propped behind a desk, the patriarch spoke at length about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, asking that President Bush get involved before more gunfire erupts.

Alternating between Arabic and English, his watery eyes looked grave through his heavy, gray eyeglasses.

“We’re asking Mr. Bush to be really committed and not just intervene when everything is on fire,” he said.

Born Lutfi Laham before taking the traditional title of Gregory III, he grew up near Damascus in Syria. Completing his religious vows in 1954, Laham continued his theological studies in Rome, where he earned a doctorate in 1961 in Asian theology at Pontifical Oriental Institute. He held a number of church positions in Lebanon and Jerusalem, writing several religious texts.

He will address parishioners during services today at St. Anne’s.