Nazareth's Extended “Family” Stands United Against the Proposed Sale

They came out in force—teachers, parents, alumni and students of Collège Notre Dame de Nazareth (NDN)—to proclaim loud and clear their attachment to the identity, distinctive character, history, heritage and predominantly French-language educational system of a school that has stood for more than a century and a half—153 years—on the heights of Achrafieh, a neighborhood that, like the school, has withstood decades of hardships and existential crises.

Gathered in large numbers in a warm, convivial atmosphere, they filled the iconic Courtyard of the Virgin from end to end, chanting slogans and holding signs declaring that “NDN is in our DNA,” “Our history is not for sale,” “Nazareth is a legacy to preserve,” and “Nazareth has a soul—let us preserve it.”

Levant Time was the first media outlet to report information from reliable sources about plans to transfer ownership of the Achrafieh school—and likely also the Kfarzeina school in Zgharta, the Feytroun convent in Kesrouan and the Aïn Alak retirement home in North Metn—to a Lebanese religious congregation. Unconfirmed reports have named the Antonine monks as potential buyers.

The proposed transfer was put forward by the Superior General of the international Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth, based in Rome. It sparked an outcry among teachers, parents, alumni and even students. Their stance does not reflect hostility toward any potential buyers, but rather a determination—clearly demonstrated at Saturday’s gathering in the Courtyard of the Virgin—to preserve the historical heritage, identity and values championed by the school for a century and a half.

It must be acknowledged that every religious congregation and every school has its own distinctive character, identity, history and educational traditions. Lebanon’s pluralistic calling and very reason for being demand that this diversity and complementarity—a source of richness—be preserved, particularly in private education. In this context, over the course of its 153-year history, Collège Notre Dame de Nazareth has become a beacon of the French-speaking world and a center of education grounded in Christian virtues.

The need to preserve this distinctive character was the central message of the speeches delivered at Saturday’s gathering by Nazareth alumnae representatives Nada Chaoul, Reine Riachi and Paola Rebeiz, as well as by delegates representing parents and students currently enrolled at the school.

The statement issued at the end of the sit-in said unequivocally that, “whatever legal form” the proposed transfer might take, and regardless of “how this change is presented or what name it is given,” the teachers, parents, alumni and students gathered in the Courtyard of the Virgin affirmed their determination to fight the “disfigurement” of an institution whose history, shaped by successive hardships and wars, has become intertwined over the years with that of the iconic Achrafieh neighborhood.