HOLY LAND – From March 19- 24, 2019, A delegation from the Holy Land Commission represented by the Chairman of the Holy Land Commission of the Grand Magisterium; Prof. Bart McGettrick, along with Dr. Detlef Brummer, Mrs. Cynthia Monahan, and Mr. Thomas Mckiernan, paid a 5-day visit to the different projects of the Latin Patriarchate in the Jerusalem Diocese.
Welcomed by Mr. Sami El-Yousef, Chief Executive Officer of the Latin Patriarchate, the members firstly visited the Latin Patriarchate, met with representatives from the Project Development, Financial, and Technical teams along with the catechism office before they left to inspect the on-going and finished projects that they funded. During their meeting at the Patriarchate, they discussed the proposed projects for the coming years, which will focus on youth, scouts, pastoral work, educational projects, humanitarian and infrastructure needs.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Sami thanked the Holy Land Commission representatives for their support and generosity and presented Mr. Tom McKiernan with a simple gift as a token of appreciation.
Moreover, the HLC visited Jaffa of Nazareth, met with Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli and visited St. Rachel Center in Jerusalem before visiting four families who they support. And after a short stop at St. Louis Hospital, they had an audience with H.E. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
In the West Bank, the members met with the living stones, they had quality time with students at Bethlehem University, the Latin Patriarchal Seminary in Beit Jala, and the youth in Beit Sahour. They visited the Home of the Elderly in Ramallah and met with Fr. Iyad Twal, Director of the Latin Patriarchate Schools in Palestine and Israel and other schools directors. They ended their visit celebrating the Sunday Mass with parishioners in Our Lady of Fatima parish in Beit Sahour.
