Greetings. HCEF’s Fourth International Conference is coming up quickly and I wish to extend to you a personal invitation. The conference will be Friday and Saturday, October 18-19, 2002 in Washington DC.
My dear brothers and sisters,
Greetings. HCEF’s Fourth International Conference is coming up quickly and I wish to extend to you a personal invitation. The conference will be Friday and Saturday, October 18-19, 2002 in Washington DC.
Your participation in the conference would mean a great deal to the Christians of the Holy Land who so desperately need your solidarity and support. The conference will also be a great opportunity to meet and speak with Christian leaders who will share about the joys and frustrations of living in the Holy Land. Come show your solidarity and encourage Holy Land faithful to continue in their mission to preserve the Christian heritage of the Holy Land. As this is a yearly effort, we anticipate seeing old friends and new faces at the conference. I encourage you to register at once and bring a friend with you so that they too might hear about the situation in the Holy Land from those experiencing it firsthand.
The conference will include presentations both Friday and Saturday by prominent Christian religious and lay leaders from the Holy Land and the United States. Included will be an update on the Arab Christians in the Holy Land, presentations on settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, views on the crisis, seeking a path to peace, workshops, and others.
A Cultural Night Saturday evening will celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the Arab Christians of the Holy Land. It follows our theme: The Divine Light Still Burns: The Holy Land Christians Endure. Despite their agony and the deplorable living conditions under occupation, they are still contributing much to humanity. The Cultural evening activities include delicious Arabic food, Palestinian folkloric dance, a fashion show of traditional Palestinian dress, and traditional Palestinian music. Please print the attached flyer and distribute it widely. https://www.hcef.org/events/4Conference/Pal_Culture_Night.pdf
An Awards Banquet on Friday evening will recognize the outstanding efforts of four people and institutions working to support the Christians of the Holy Land. HCEF Award Recipients will include His Beatitude, Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and Reverend Dr. M. Craig Barnes, Pastor, National Presbyterian Church, Washington DC. Living Stones Award recipients will include Reverend Dr. Victor Pentz of Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA and the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit in Detroit, MI. His Beatitude Michel Sabbah will be delivering the keynote speech at the banquet. We will also be welcoming a special guest, His Grace Bishop Demetrios of Xanthos, Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Please print the attached flyer and distribute it widely. https://www.hcef.org/events/4Conference/Banquet_flyer.pdf
It would be a pleasure to have you join us for the events. The conference program is available on our website at https://www.hcef.org/events/4Conference/program.cfm. You can register for all the events online at https://www.hcef.org/holy/shop/index.cfm?order=conference. You can also register by emailing HCEF’s Luma Haj at luma@hcef.org, or you can register by mail or phone. The cost to register for the conference is $40, the cultural night is $30, and the banquet is $85. For more information on all activities, visit https://www.hcef.org. If you need to arrange accommodations, contact us at the office at (301) 951-9400.
We hope to see you all there!
In Christ,
Rateb Y. Rabie, KHS
President
Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation
