Kafity Elected Head Of Mid-East Anglicans
Episcopal News Service. December 23, 1986 [86011]
LARNAKA, Cyprus (DPS, Jan. 23) -- The Rt. Rev. Samir Kafity, Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, was elected to a five-year term as Bishop President by the Central Synod of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East at its meeting here in mid-January. The election took place on the first ballot.
Kafity, 52, succeeds the Rt. Rev. Hassan B. Dehqani-Tafti, Bishop of Iran, who was forced into exile after church properties were confiscated and his son and a priest were murdered. Dehqani-Tafti now lives in England, where he serves as an assistant bishop.
A lay delegate from Iran was prevented from attending the January synod here when his passport was removed as he was boarding the plane to Cyprus. His place was taken by an exiled lay leader living in England.
The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, one of the 27 provinces of the Anglican Communion, comprises four dioceses -- Jerusalem, Cyprus and the Gulf, Egypt and North Africa, and Iran -- and covers a geographical area of more than six million square miles, stretching from Lebanon to Ethiopia and from Iran to Algeria.
The province was inaugurated in 1976 as a replacement to the Archbishopric of Jerusalem, which had been in existence for nearly 20 years. Anglican presence in the province goes back almost 150 years.
Kafity was born to an Anglican family in the port of Haifa, which is now part of the state of Israel. In 1948, as a consequence of the war, he moved with his family to Ramallah, where he studied at the American School, an educational institution sponsored the Society of Friends. He has also studied in Syria and Lebanon. He holds a theology degree from the Middle East School of Theology in Beirut.
The new Bishop President was ordained deacon in 1957 and priest the following year. After serving parishes in Jerusalem and Ramallah, he was transferred to Lebanon, where he served there as parish priest and later as archdeacon.
Kafity has a long experience in ecumenical affairs. "My first encounter with the ecumenical world came in 1961, when I attended a conference in Strasbourg, France, sponsored by the World Student Christian Federation," he recalls. Since then he has been active in local and international ecumenism through the Middle East Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. He also has been a member of the Anglican Consultative Council, where he has served on the standing committee.
In 1982, Kafity was elected bishop coadjutor in Jerusalem and became the 12th bishop of the diocese in 1984. His jurisdiction covers Israel, the Occupied Territories of Palestine, the Kingdom of Jordan and the republics of Syria and Lebanon. The Diocese of Jerusalem has 32 service institutions, which include schools, orphanages, hospitals, and homes for the blind, the deaf and the mentally handicapped. These institutions care for the needs of the Arab population, regardless of creed. Since 1922, the Good Friday Offering, which is taken in churches around the Anglican Communion, is designated for the work in Jerusalem and the Middle East.
Kafity and his wife, Najat, have two daughters, who are studying in the United States. The couple lives in Jerusalem, where their home is part of the cathedral close which includes St. George's Cathedral, St. George's College and a hostel for pilgrims.
In a recent interview with the Rev. Onell Soto, editor of World Mission News, Kafity expressed the hope that the problems of the Middle East can be solved by peaceful means. Said he: "We must win people to the cause of love, honor each other and serve them in the name of the Living God. This witness will convince many that there is a much better way than violence and oppression."