Jubilee Gift to the Holy Land
Episcopal News Service. August 22, 2000 [2000-122Z]
(ACNS) Anglicans and Episcopalians from around the world have started to respond well to a call from Archbishop George Carey to strengthen Christian outreach in the Holy Land.
A report stated that Carey has challenged his fellow Anglicans "to give thanks for the incomparable gift of Christ, and to show our solidarity with our brothers and sisters."
An initiative, called Jerusalem 2000, is under way in the Anglican Communion to assist the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and its ministry. The Episcopal Church is a small part of an even smaller Christian presence within the Holy Land, with one bishop and 32 clergy.
Initial monies received have enabled the trustees to renovate the Nablus Hospital and provide much needed assistance for the Bishop's School in Amman, Jordan. A community service program and increased work with the disabled are slated for the fall, pending the availability of funds.
Sandra Swan, director of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) of the Episcopal Church in the United States, announced that Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and the Episcopal Church would start the Jerusalem 2000 appeal in the United States in October 2000. The Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal, Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, said that he was delighted with what he had heard at the meeting of the trustees regarding the progress so far. "I am greatly encouraged," the bishop said. "It is so wonderful to know that we as a Christian presence in the land of the Holy One are being prayed for and indeed being helped through this vigorous appeal. Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem are familiar names. Seemingly, few people understand that a Christian witness has continued in the Holy Land for the past two millennia. Today many of the churches, including the Anglican Church, are under greater pressure than for centuries -- and the problems are very difficult to resolve."