With Open Doors

photo credit: Mark Bowen/HOPE

Suheil was standing out. In the East believers stand at some times during the Mass when we in the West normally kneel. At the Mass at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity he was standing up and standing out.

Notice what is above him. It is the second of the Stations of the Cross: Jesus carries his cross.

Living in the small town of Zababdeh in the West Bank, Suheil, his family and his students carry the cross in a way that those of us who live in Milford find difficult to imagine. “These people carry the cross,” is often the response of those who meet and speak with the Christians who live their faith in the Holy Land.

Suheil and his people are at Station II. We can only hope to lift them up, as they meet us at Station V. Like Jesus, they carry the cross. Like Simon of Cyrene, at least with our affection and attention, we can help them.

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

photo credit: Mark Bowen/HOPE

It was part of the prayer of Jesus: “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3).

The teachers and administrators from Jordan (Yousef, Suha and Suhail) presented to Nancy Hemminger a banner bearing the motto of the Latin Patriarchate Schools: “Ut Cognoscant Te.”

“That They Might Know You” is the mission and goal of all who teach and pass on the faith. It is the mission and goal of every Christian household. It is the goal and mission of every Catholic school and every Catholic parish throughout the Holy Land and, yes, in Milford, too: that all will know the only true God and his Son, Jesus Christ.

“That they might know you” is why Yousef, Suha and Suhail teach their students.

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

photo credit: Mark Bowen/HOPE

Iman teaches Arabic to her second and third graders. Waseim is the technology teacher for the school. They are from the Latin Patriarchate School in Beit Jala, in the Bethlehem area of the West Bank. They are Palestinians. They are Christians. They are Catholic: Iman is Greek Melkite Catholic; Waseim is Roman Catholic.

Tomorrow Iman and Waseim will come to St. Andrew, with the other nine teachers from the Holy Land, to the 11:00 a.m. Sunday Mass, and will give a presentation after Mass during a luncheon in their honor. On Wednesday, they will come to our St. Andrew-St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School to meet all of our students and teachers, and to take some steps toward creating a partnership between our two schools, joining the little town of Bethlehem with the little town of Milford.

We already have a history with the Catholic School in Beit Jala. In 2003 Issa, Mary, Ranim, Tamer and Tamara came as 8^th graders from that school to spend six weeks studying in our school and living with our parish families.

Iman told me that her name means “faith,” as in “faithful to God.” I could see her name in her. But then, with an impish grin, Waseim said that his name means “handsome.” We laughed together as I said that, in his case, something obviously gets lost in translation.

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

photo credit: Mark Bowen/HOPE

Nancy waited at the airport for the arrival of our guests from Jordan, Galilee and the West Bank. The “LPS” on the sign she held welcomed the educators from the Latin Patriarchate Schools (LPS), the Roman Catholic schools of the Holy Land.

By accident, coincidence or divine desire the Transportation Security Administration sign also greets them with, “Keep walking … Do not stop or turn back.”

All teachers and administrators can become discouraged, weary or disheartened. In their lands, in which Christians are in the minority, and where the presence of violence or the threat of violence or the tendency toward violence or the call for violence can distract or even appeal to their students, these teachers from the Holy Land can have additional challenges, with the accompanying additional opportunities, of course.

Dear friends from the Holy Land, keep walking, do not stop or turn back. Keep walking …  in hope. Do not stop … trusting. Do not turn back … from your dreams. Do not turn back … from your peaceful and non-violent ways. “Keep walking … Do not stop or turn back.”

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

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)