A three-day symposium for Detroit Christian leaders will be held to discuss ways and means to assist Holy Land Christians endure the difficult conditions created by military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. The symposium is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation and will be held on September 26-28, 2002.
The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation*
News Release
Detroit Christian Leadership Explores Aiding Mother Church of Jerusalem
A three-day symposium for Detroit Christian leaders will be held to discuss ways and means to assist Holy Land Christians endure the difficult conditions created by military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. The symposium is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation and will be held on September 26-28, 2002.
The symposium will consist of three components. The first day’s events will bring together Catholic religious and lay leaders in the Detroit area to discuss the specific issues that affect Holy Land Christians. The Archdiocese of Detroit will lead the efforts to organize assistance for Holy Land Christians among its parishioners. The Archdiocese has committed itself to sponsoring the education of 1000 children in the Holy Land. In pursuit of this goal, several priests from the Archdiocese are presently in the Holy Land evaluating the needs of the Latin Patriarchate School System. On their return to the United States, they will report their findings to the Symposium attendees
The second day will bring together leaders of all Christian denominations who will receive an orientation from Fr. Majdi Siryani, legal advisor to the Latin Patriarchate and parish priest in Beit Sahour (a town in the vicinity of Bethlehem), about the economic and social conditions in the Holy Land that exist at present under military occupation. The Mayor of Ramallah, the Honorable Ayub Rabah will review with the leadership the devastation inflicted by the military occupation and incursions on the economic, social, cultural and religious life of that West Bank town. The keynote address for this session will be given by Bishop Vikan, Armenian prelate of Detroit.
The third day of the symposium will consist of a meeting of Christian Arab American leaders from the United States. The attendees will review the situation in the Holy Land and devise ways and means to activate the Arab American Christian Community in the United States to assist their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land.
In addition, HCEF will sponsor the Fourth International Conference on the Christians of the Holy Land on October 18, 19, 2002 in Washington, DC. A third symposium will be held in Chicago in November. For more information about these meetings, visit our website at www.hcef.org.
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*The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization, committed to improving the lives of Christians in the Holy Land through building bonds of solidarity with between Christians in the United States and Christians in the Holy Land. We have two goals: inform Americans about the Christians in the Holy Land and provide humanitarian assistance for the needy in the land where Jesus Christ was born, preached, died and rose again. HCEF, 6975 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20815 (301)951-9400, Toll Free (866) 871-4234, www.hcef.org Email: news@hcef.org
*The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization, committed to improving the lives of Christians in the Holy Land through building bonds of solidarity with between Christians in the United States and Christians in the Holy Land. We have two goals: inform Americans about the Christians in the Holy Land and provide humanitarian assistance for the needy in the land where Jesus Christ was born, preached, died and rose again. HCEF, 6975 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20815 (301)951-9400, Toll Free (866) 871-4234, www.hcef.org Email: news@hcef.org
