| Christ Church Pilgrimage to The Holy Land and Mission to St. John's Hospital 
Father Hague is leading a group of forty-five parishioners on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The group will visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the West Bank, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Sephoris, Nain, and many other sites. There will be a day devoted to mission work at St. John’s Hospital in Jerusalem. The Pilgrimage is providing an opportunity for the congregation to learn more about the issues in the Holy Land.
Lectures
Educational programs on the Holy Land were scheduled during the months of October and January, so that the entire parish could benefit from the focus on religious, political and societal differences in the Holy Land. Three distinguished lecturers were featured at the Adult Forums in October, which are held at 10:15 each Sunday. They were asked to offer reflections on the complexities of the religious, political and societal composition of a land claimed by Christians, Jews and Muslims as holy ground. As a parish, we have been asked to carry these topics further by thinking about their significance to us as people of faith.
The October program was as follows:
Oct. 5: Ambassador William Caldwell Harrop, “A Personal Perspective of the Political and Societal Situation in Israel Today.
As a former United States Ambassador to Israel, Bill Harropl offered a perspective on the dynamics that make up much of the thinking that guides our involvement in Israel and the Middle East. Ambassador Harrop brings with him 39 years of distinguished service as a Foreign Service Officer, and offered insights into what we might expect to find on our ten day visit in this conflicted country
Oct. 12: Dr. John Francis Griffith, The Challenges of Reaching Out in Charity to the People of Israel/Palestine.
Dr. Griffith serves as the Chairman of the Medical Committee and on the International Board of Directors of the Holy Family
Hospital, Bethlehem, He brings his gifts as the former head of the Georgetown Medical Center as well as his teaching skills as a former Professor at Georgetown, Tennessee, Cincinnati, and Duke. (He also taught at Harvard and Case Western Universities). Dr. Griffith is deeply involved with the charitable work of the Hospital in Bethlehem, cared for by the Order of Malta for centuries. He addressed the challenging (and deeply frustrating) issues of providing care for those in need in a war torn land. This was of particular interest to us as we involve ourselves in a similar ministry to St. John’s Hospital in Jerusalem.
Oct. 19: Professor Jonathan Ray, “The coexistence between Christian, Muslim and Jewish Societies in Iberia, and the Implications for Jerusalem Today.
Dr. Ray is the Samuel Eig Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies in the Theology Department at Georgetown University. Realizing that Jews, Christians and Muslims coexisted together for three hundred years in Spain (before the Inquisition), Dr. Ray explored the possibilities of such coexistence in the world today.
On Wednesday, January 14, at 7:40 pm the program features Canon John Peterson, former Dean of St. George’s College, Jerusalem.
Reading and Reflection
Ambassador Harrop suggested a selection of books to provide exposure to a point of view shared by Palestinians generally and by many Israeli citizens concerned about the implications for Israel’s future of continuing Israeli policies in the Occupied Territories. He said that these concerns are not as widely discussed as they perhaps should be in America.
Lords of the Land: The War over Israel’s Settlements in the Occupied Territories, by Idith Zertal nd Akiva Eldar, Nation Books, NY 2007
Dark Hope: Working for Peace in Israel and Palestine, by David Shulman, University of Chicago Press, 2007
Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape, by Paja Shehadeh, Scribner, NY 2008
Walled: Israeli Society at an Impasse, by Sylvain Cypel, Other Press, NY, 2006
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, NY, 2007
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