Help on the Way for Jerusalem's Anglicans
Episcopal News Service. September 14, 2000 [2000-130]
(ENS) It's hard to imagine the Holy Land without Christians.
Yet that's the danger posed by the accelerating emigration of Christians from the birthplace of Christianity, a diaspora fueled by marginalization and despair over their socioeconomic future. In 1948, the year the State of Israel was established, Christians represented 20% of the population. That figure dropped to 9% by 1995 and is falling fast: an official Israeli government website reports that, of the over 6 million people living in Israel today, Christians constitute 2.1% of the population, with Jews at 79.2%, Muslims 14.9%, Druze 1.6%, and 2.2% not classified by religion. Anglicans represent the largest Protestant community in the Holy Land.
As a result, the Diocese of Jerusalem, part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, faces increased difficulty maintaining the schools, hospitals, and churches that are a vital part of its witness. So, just as the apostle Paul took up a collection for the Jerusalem church in the cities he visited, Anglican leaders want congregations and individuals to take up the cause of maintaining an Anglican presence in the land where Jesus lived and ministered.
On October 1, the U.S. Episcopal Church will launch the "Jerusalem 2000-Millennium Appeal" for donations to the Diocese of Jerusalem.
The appeal grew out of separate visits to the Holy Land by both Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey in 1998. A team of four worked with Bishop Riah Abu El Assal of Nazareth to evaluate the resources, liabilities, and needs of Jerusalem Anglicans. In April, another team composed of Sandra Swan, director of Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), Mrs. Phoebe Griswold, and the Rev. Jane Butterfield of the Episcopal Church Center's Office of Anglican and Global Relations, toured some of the facilities of the diocese and talked with staff members and clergy.
Among the projects to be funded are:
- Classrooms, laboratories, and equipment for the Arab Evangelical Episcopal School in Ramallah
- Constructing a neo-natal unit and emergency room at St. Luke's Hospital in Nablus
- Improvements to churches in Raineh, Shefar Amre, Ramla, Birzeit, and Marka
- Expansion and upgrading of the Ahlliyyah School for Girls, Amman, Jordan
- Establishing a home for seriously disabled children in Beirut, Lebanon
The American campaign's spokespersons are Patti Browning, wife of former Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning, and Phoebe Griswold, wife of Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold. The trustees of the campaign include George Carey; the Rev. Canon John Peterson, secretary of the Anglican Communion Office; and Sandra Swan.
Donations can be dedicated to benefit health, education, or church building projects. Brochures and other materials to help in raising awareness of Jerusalem 2000 will be sent to all Episcopal parishes.
The Province of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, formed in 1976, covers Jerusalem, Iran, Egypt, Cyprus, and the Persian Gulf. Its four dioceses do not exceed 35,000 baptized members, and the province maintains 55 congregations, 40 institutions of educational and medical services, and about 90 clergy. Christians in some of these countries face hardship; in others, the Anglican Church is a tiny enclave of Christianity in a sea of Islam; in still others, the church is tolerated but may not evangelize or seek converts; and in several instances, the church serves a primarily expatriate population.
The Jerusalem bishopric, founded in 1841, now includes Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank. Since 1970, the Episcopal Church has been one of only ten "recognized" Christian communities in Israel, whose ecclesiastical courts are granted jurisdiction in matters of personal status, such as marriage and divorce.