Patriarch Bechara RaiAs a Lebanese Maronite Catholic student in Rome and a new intern at Istituto Acton, I had the great honor and privilege to attend the audience of the new Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Bechara Rai, with Pope Benedict XVI. The April 14 audience gave me the occasion to think about our new Patriarch’s role in promoting the entrepreneurial vocation in Lebanon. Our new patriarch seems to be a very active, energetic man, in keeping with the majority of his flock, but both his church and his country face many daunting challenges.

The Lebanese have a great reputation for entrepreneurship the world over, dating from Phoenician times. The nation’s universities are also some of the best in the Arab world and the country has a strong capital base. But the seemingly constant political turmoil in Lebanon has forced many entrepreneurs to go abroad in search of the peace and stability required for economic growth, but entrepreneurial talent and technical knowledge still exist in large quantities — equal to any in the region.

Brain drain, how to make the best use of investments, cultural barriers and bureaucratic inefficiencies are all issues that a Lebanese entrepreneur must contend with, though all are surmountable. Indeed, a wide variety of non-profit organizations exist to provide crucial support services. And there are plenty of business plan contests that can help provide startup capital.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to starting a business in Lebanon is the country’s lagging infrastructure, not surprising due to past and recent civil wars and foreign interventions. The individual entrepreneur is obviously limited in what he or she can do to improve the quality of the country’s munications and electricity grids. But if we think of entrepreneurialism as state of mind, there is much the Maronite Church can do to encourage it.

The role of the Maronite Church in Lebanon remains a very important one culturally and politically, in addition to religiously. Half of the Lebanese population are Maronite, including the President of the republic. The Maronite Patriarch has Patriarchal See in Lebanon and the church works to preserve and strengthen the power of the Maronite Catholic Christian in Lebanon. The Maronite often finds himself caught between secular Syrian instigators, Shiite and Sunni Muslim factions, and Israeli military incursions, all of whom have their own particular interests and plans for Lebanon.

But, as a former seminarian, I can now see that there was very little formation in social doctrine and especially in market economics. I very much hope the new Patriarch may follow the lead of Pope John Paul II and encourage his Church to strengthen the cultural-ethical framework of society rather than intervene directly in the messy and at times dangerous realm of Lebanese politics. If Maronites could find a way to bridge the gap between the warring factions of Lebanon through merce, it may have the possibility of helping pave the way for peace in one small but important part of the Middle East. I would love to see some basic economic education for seminarians towards this end, so that Lebanese entrepreneurs both inside and outside the country feel that their faith supports their normal activities and that their normal activities can and should be the place of their sanctification.

The old ways of businessmen leaving the country so that the politicians can ruin it is no longer feasible. I will be praying that Patriarch Rai finds new ways of addressing ancient problems for all of our sakes.