August 27, 2003 is a remarkable day to remember. It is the day in which the website abouna.org was born.
Today, August 27, 2020 marks its 17th anniversary.
This site is the brainchild of Fr. Dr. Rif'at Bader. Thank you very much Fr. Bader for being so thoughtful and perspicacious that you launched this website with an idea in mind to serve as a mouthpiece for the Catholic Church in Jordan with the aim of spreading the message of love, peace, harmony, respect for religions and most of all "common living" based on citizens' rights and equality.
This website was born in Smakiyeh, southern Jordan, at a time when people were not very familiar with websites and with the power of such websites to disseminate views that penetrate hearts and minds. In the case of abouna.org website it was intended to circulate the message of love, peace and common living.
This website went through various stages until it reached this high standard and became one of the prominent websites that people seek to scan every day in order to get the latest developments in the world relevant to various religious and political issues as well as issues relevant to every walk of life.
This site recently received the award as being one of the best Arabic-language Christian sites, as it is being followed by millions of Arabic-language speaking people worldwide.
The launching of the Arabic-language website necessitated years later the launching of an English language website, namely en.abouna.org, with the aim of spreading news relevant to Middle Eastern affairs, Holy Land affairs, and world affairs to all English language-speaking people worldwide.
These websites necessitated the establishment of a center which became known as the Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM). This center, launched on February 8, 2012, is also the brainchild of Fr. Dr. Rif'at Bader.
The CCSM has played a key role in organizing several conferences or has taken part in others in Jordan and abroad. With regard to the uncountable achievements attained over the years, it is important to note that the CCSM has undertaken the responsibility of live-streaming Holy Masses at the time of lockdown caused by COVID-19 pandemic in Jordan, and took the slogan "My Home is My Church", a matter which had huge repercussions in both Jordan and Palestine, as well as in several countries worldwide. The efforts to live-stream Holy Masses and pray the Holy Rosary will continue uninterrupted until Blessed Mary's loving care brushes aside this pandemic and replaces it by the love and peace of Lord Jesus Christ.
Words said by Sister Caroline Bader continue to reverberate, as she said, "Fr. Rif'at Bader was a hero who acted behind the scenes, during the Corona pandemic. For besides being a spiritual father he was also a media man. He streamed events with faith, optimism and hymns that bring reassurance. He was never absent from this scene as he was the spiritual doctor who instilled tranquility."
A multitude of thanks goes to Fr. Bader for his excelling performance as a Man of God who manipulated media in the service of goodness.
