Focus on projects

Sami El-Yousef, Administrative Director of the Latin Patriarchate, shares updates with us from Jerusalem as we approach Easter. While we Catholics live Holy Week accompanying Jesus in the central events of his passion, death and resurrection, Jews are also preparing to experience Passover and Muslims are in the midst of the month of Ramadan. "So Jerusalem will undoubtedly be very busy in the coming weeks as each faith celebrates according to their own traditions, in their designated...

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Over the past two years, the Grand Magisterium, in agreement with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, has decided to invest more on some small projects in the Holy Land compared to large construction projects. In 2018 the Grand Magisterium of the Order continued its support of those major projects already underway, such as the completion of the work in the new church in Jubeiha and the restructuring of a kindergarten in Hashimi (both in Jordan), but above all the important project that...

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Thanks to a contribution from the Austrian Lieutenancy, the Latin Patriarchate school in Nablus was able to upgrade its IT equipment. The Saint Joseph school has 22 classrooms, one PC laboratory and one library for a total of 608 students. The PC laboratory was very old and needed immediate rehabilitation since nowadays computers are useful tools for different subjects across the curriculum. The Latin Patriarchate therefore considered the upgrading of the IT equipment of this school a priority...

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The relationship between the Holy Child Program and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre began several years ago. The Mother General of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, Mother Shaun Vergauwen, would meet periodically with the Grand Master of the Order, Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, who took an interest in the activities of the community, and in particular, their work in the Holy Land. This relationship took on new impetus when a grant was submitted to the Order, for sustainability of...

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In reflecting upon the events of 2015, it is important to remember Israel’s Parliamentary elections, held on March 17, which brought the victory of the Likud Party of the Premier Benjamin Netanyahu with 30 of the 120 Knesset seats in Israeli Parliament. In this regard, the regional director of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, Sami El-Yousef, in his Eastertide letter expressed concern with respect to what he saw as “the most right-wing government in the history of the State of...

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