Munir Gabriel’s story began in Egypt, where he was born and lived for the first 22 years of his life. His father was Egyptian; his mother was Syrian. Munir is keenly aware of his home country’s history, his own lineage, and religious freedom, which impacted his future choices in practicing his faith. But a series of life-changing events pushed him out of “Christian cruise control.”
“My father was involved in Catholic youth programs in Egypt, the ‘OCIA’ of the time. He was helping people become Catholic. That was a very dangerous situation in a Muslim country because you are not allowed to baptize an adult. Originally, my father was born and baptized Coptic Orthodox, coming from a lineage of pure Egyptians.”
Munir’s father was educated by the Christian Brothers in Cairo and, at some point, prior to meeting Munir’s Catholic mother, he converted to Catholicism. Munir’s parents enrolled their three sons in a Jesuit school; one of Munir’s brothers became a Priest and then Superior of the Jesuit community in Egypt.
Munir attended Cairo University, where he earned a degree in pharmacy, moved to Lebanon, in part due to anti-Christian sentiment, married Myriam and eventually earned his Ph.D. at the American University of Beirut. In 1970 the couple emigrated to the United States to better his scientific career.
With a comfortable family life in Westfield raising three children, Munir used to describe himself as a “Christian on cruise control. You come and settle in, and you live your life.” This approach to his faith changed dramatically with two life-altering health events.
“Our son Marc was in his first year in college (in the 80s) and contracted Lyme disease. At that time, the diagnosis was not easily identifiable and treatable. We were praying, praying, praying.” Marc’s 1 ½ years of treatment “changed us forever.”
Following Munir’s own stage 4 cancer diagnosis in 1996, he was “miraculously cured. It put a new perspective on life. Why are you in this world? Why is God giving you a chance to survive? All those questions come to your mind. These two shocks gave me a completely different perspective on my life.”
In 1998, he answered the plea of Sr. Joanna Kerwin, G.N.S.H., to join the RCIA team. In 2003, following his retirement as a pharmaceutical executive at Merck for over 30 years, he started praying, “Lord what do you want me to do?” Persistently, the one thing that came to his mind was to take the leadership of the RCIA as Sr. Joanna Kerwin, G.N.S.H., was retiring. Munir responded. “In Egypt, I come from a minority of the minority. I had the privilege to have been educated by the Jesuits; I realize that evangelization is critical.”
In sharing his faith, he focused on two aspects, Scripture, and Tradition. “In order to understand Scripture, we need to know three things: who is the author, what is the environment, who is the audience.” Following in his father’s steps of evangelization, he eventually took over the leadership of OCIA. “For 27 years, I’ve kept at it. It is a passion for me to share my faith and what I believe in.”
“Another thing that affected me significantly is that, when I was transferred for 5 years to France and Belgium in the 1980s, I noticed that the churches were empty”. When Munir returned from these European assignments, he thought, “Something must be done. Here, we take our faith for granted, while the Church worldwide is suffering. We are relatively blessed here. We have so many Masses that we can attend. Faith needs to be challenged to grow and deepen.”
Munir Gabriel’s stewards his faith – a gift given by God through his parents – extending its reach and impact for generations of Saint Helen parishioners.
