EPJN announces Holy Land pilgrimage
Episcopal News Service. August 31, 1995 [95-1221A]
(ENS) The Episcopal Peace and Justice Network (EPJN) has announced a series of trips to the Holy Land in 1996 designed to offer an in-depth orientation to issues affecting Middle East peace. The itinerary will include visits with Anglicans and other Christians, political and religious leaders of many viewpoints, human rights activists, educators and students, residents of settlements, villages, and refugee camps, and visits to the holy places. The Rev. Jess Gaither, convener of EPJN, described a two-week trip to Israel/Palestine taken in March, 1995, by members of the steering committee of EPJN as a "transforming experience.... whether seen as a fact-finding mission, as a Lenten pilgrimage, or as a gesture of solidarity with Palestinian Christians. Among participants, preconceptions shattered as new images of Middle Eastern reality emerged." Gaither said that the 1996 itinerary will provide "opportunities for the same variety of experiences that our trip gave us." He noted that "each group of travelers will be accompanied by a member of the steering committee and, in Israel/Palestine, by a staff member from the Middle East Council of Churches." Six departures are scheduled throughout the first three months of 1996. For a brochure that provides details of the EPJN 1996 Pilgrimage to the Holy Land itinerary, cost and other information, write to Keystone Tours, Inc., 12872 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33181, or call Keystone at (305) 893-1818.