With Open Doors

It was a very good day.

While having lunch at “Melt” in Northside, my Celtic Woman’s “Amazing Grace” ringtone stole my attention from my good company and my Muffaletta sandwich. The number I did not recognize at all; the voice I did not recognize at first. It was Ranim, calling from Jordan. In her fourth year of medical school, eight years since her visit to us at St. Andrew, she lightened and brightened my day, as she does whenever we speak.

I told Ranim that it was a big day in Milford, with teachers from the Holy Land arriving this afternoon, two of whom are from her (former) school in Beit Jala. “Who is coming?” she asked. “He was my teacher! She is a very good teacher,” she said of Mr. Waseim and Ms. Iman.

The teachers have arrived safely in Cincinnati. Thanks, God! A gorgeous day has greeted them. They are settled in their rooms, have eaten their first meal in America, and are resting from a long trip.

Ahlan wa Sahlan. Welcome.

Tags: Christians in the Holy Land, HOPE (Holy Land Outreach to Palestinian Educators), Palestinian Christians, St. Andrew Catholic Church (Milford, Ohio)

From the cross

flows a message of 

a message of hope … a message for peace

in the school cafeteria

on the Seton campus

 of St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School

Milford, Ohio

for our visitors from the Holy Land

who arrive on Thursday.

(Yes, it’s a rosary)

Tags: Christians in the Holy Land, HOPE (Holy Land Outreach to Palestinian Educators), Palestinian Christians, St. Andrew Catholic Church (Milford, Ohio)

Twelve teachers and administrators from the Holy Land are visiting Cincinnati from September 29 until October 9: six from the Palestinian Territories, two from Galilee and four from Jordan.

The first public event for the educators from the Holy Land will be a “Welcome Mass” on Sunday, October 2 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Andrew, Milford. At a luncheon following Mass, the teachers from the Latin Patriarchate School in Beit Jala will give presentations about their school and about the situation in which they and their students live.

This visit from the schools of the Latin Patriarchate (Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jerusalem) is sponsored by H.O.P.E. (Holy Land Outreach to Palestinian Educators), and continues the interaction that began when teachers from various Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati traveled to Bethlehem during the summer of 2010.

Four of these Holy Land educators, as representatives of their school, will be entering into a permanent partnership with teachers and administrators from our St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton school. Teachers and children from our Catholic school in Milford will be joined in solidarity, learning and faith with teachers and children from the Catholic school in Beit Jala (Bethlehem). How exciting and mutually beneficial this relationship will be!

Another group of the teachers will be visiting Our Lady of Lourdes School to establish a relationship with them. Doubly blessed our Archdiocese will be!   

Tags: Christians in the Holy Land, HOPE (Holy Land Outreach to Palestinian Educators), Palestinian Christians, St. Andrew Catholic Church (Milford, Ohio)