The Contents & The Contributors

CONTENTS

  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • Jerusalem: A Holy City
    H.B. Msgr. Michel Sabbah
    Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem
  • Weeping For Jerusalem: A Theological Meditation
    Fr. Dr. Drew Christiansen, S. J.
    Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Global Development,
    Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service
  • What Jerusalem Means To Me: A Personal “Presbyterian” View
    Rev. David A. Renwick
    Senior Pastor of the National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
  • What Jerusalem Means To Me: A Personal “Evangelical Lutheran” View
    Rev. Richard H. Graham
    Bishop, Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod of
    the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
  • Jerusalem: The City That Witnesses God’s Love
    Fr. Ramzi Sidawi, OFM
    A Franciscan of the Holy Land and the general treasurer of
    the Custody of the Holy Land
  • Jerusalem: Holiness To Strive For
    Dr. Carole Monica Burnett
    Editor of the Church and Fathers of the Church Mediaeval Continuation,
    The Catholic University of America Press
  • A Reflection On Jerusalem: A Divided City Built On Holy Ground
    Ms. Marie Dennis
    Co-president of Pax Christi
  • Jerusalem: City Of Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection
    Dr. Melanie A. Duguid-May
    John Price Grozer Professor of Theology, Colgate Rochester
    Grozer Divinity School
  • What Jerusalem Means To Me: A Christian Archaeologist’s Perspective
    Dr. Cynthia Finlayson
    Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology,
    Brigham Young University
  • Jerusalem: A Sign To The Nations?
    Fr. Michael McDonagh
    Senior Advisor to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
  • My Jerusalem: A Call For A Human World
    Amb. Hind Khoury
    Secretary General of Kairos Palestine
  • Jerusalem Is For All
    Sir Rateb Y. Rabie, KCHS
    Founder and President/CEO, The Holy Land Christian
    Ecumenical Foundation
  • Jerusalem Has Taught Me
    Fr. Rafiq Khoury
    Preacher and a specialist in Pastoral Theology and Catechism
    within the Latin Patriarchal Diocese of Jerusalem
  • Memories Of Jerusalem
    Dr. Nahida Halaby Gordon
    Professor Emerita in Probability and Statistics, Case Western
    Reserve University
  • Jerusalem: The Source Of Our Identity
    Fr. George Makhlouf
    Antiochian priest who was ordained in Jerusalem and has served
    in Ramallah and New York
    An Impactful Sojourn In Jerusalem
    Amb. David Mack
    American diplomat and former Vice President and
    Acting President of The Middle East Institute
  • Embracing Jerusalem: A Pilgrim’s Journey Of Delight And Disorientation
    Rev. Dr. Carl S. Hofmann
    Pastor of Congregation Care, Denver, Colorado
  • Jerusalem, Medjugorje, Sarajevo… A World Prayer Movement For Peace
    Ms. Sabrina Čović Radojičić
    Writer and co-founder of Maranatha-Conversion, Medugorje,
    Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • The Earthly Jerusalem: Captive And Transformed
    Dr. James J. Zogby
    President, Arab American Institute
  • Jerusalem Is Fading From Our Sight
    Mr. Daoud Kuttab
    Award winning Palestinian journalist and TV Producer
  • Jerusalem: A Sad Reality But There Is Still Hope
    Mr. Sami El-Yousef
    Chief Executive Officer, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
  • What Jerusalem Means To Me: A Palestinian Catholic Perspective
    Dr. Bernard Sabella
    Executive Secretary, Department of Service to Palestinian
    Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches, Jerusalem
  • Living My Faith In Jerusalem
    Dr. Saliba Sarsar
    Chair, HCEF Research & Publication Committee and
    Professor of Political Science, Monmouth University

Appendices

  • The “Memorandum Of Their Beatitudes The Patriarchs And Of The Heads Of The Christian Communities In Jerusalem”
  • Status Of Jerusalem, A Statement By Patriarchs And Heads Of The Local Christian Churches In Jerusalem
  • III. Letter From Three Patriarchs To Three Political Leaders Who Met In Camp David To Decide The Status Of Jerusalem
  • The Churches’ Message From Jerusalem To Israelis And Palestinians On Their 60 Years
  • Patriarchs And Heads Of Local Churches In Jerusalem
  • Notes
  • Select Bibliography: Christianity, Palestinian Christians,
    And Other Christians In Jerusalem
    Compiled by Dr. Saliba Sarsar
    Chair, HCEF Research and Publication Committee and
    Professor of Political Science, Monmouth University
  • The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF)
  • Book Sponsorship: Coordinating Catholic Aid Organizations In The HolyLand (CCAO)

 

CONTRIBUTORS’ BIOs

H.B. Msgr. Michel Sabbah is Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem. He was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008, the first non-Italian to hold this position in more than five centuries. He was born in Nazareth, studied at the Latin Patriarchate Seminary in Beit Jala, and was ordained in Nazareth in 1955. He received his doctorate in Arab philology from the Sorbonne. During his priesthood, he served in parishes in the diocese, as the diocesan youth director and the director of education, and as the President of Bethlehem University. Among his many publications is Faithful Witness: On Reconciliation and Peace in the Holy Land (Hyde Park, NY, 2009), edited by Drew Christiansen, S. J. and Saliba Sarsar.

 

Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen, S.J. is the Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Global Human Development at Georgetown University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He is a Canon of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and a co-founder the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation and a member of its Advisory Board.

 

 

Dr. David A. Renwick is the Senior Pastor at The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. He has been an ordained Presbyterian Minister for over 35 years, serving diverse congregations in Newfoundland, Canada; San Antonio, Texas; Lexington, Kentucky; and Spartanburg, South Carolina. Dr. Renwick is a graduate of St. Andrew’s University in Scotland, where he studied Applied Mathematics. He received his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. David’s wife Currie is a Media Specialist in the DC Public Schools. They have three adult children and four grandchildren.

The Rev. Richard H. Graham is the bishop of the Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A Baltimore native, he was educated at Washington and Lee University, Harvard Divinity School, and the Catholic University of America. Before being elected bishop ten years ago he served parishes in Hagerstown and Annapolis and College Park, all in Maryland. He and his wife Nancy Ann have two married daughters and three granddaughters.

 

Fr. Ramzi Sidawi, OFM, is a Franciscan of the Holy Land. He was born in Jerusalem into a Catholic family in 1972. After graduating from high school, he joined the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. In 2002, he was ordained a priest and then went to Rome where he obtained his doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical University Antoniaum. He was the parish priest of Jaffa and director of the Terra Santa Boys School in Jerusalem. Currently, he is the general treasurer of the Custody of the Holy Land.

 

Dr. Carole Monica Burnett is the editor of the Fathers of the Church series, an expanding collection of early Christian texts translated from Greek, Latin, and Syriac, published by the Catholic University of America Press. She has taught Church History at the Ecumenical Institute of Theology of St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, as well as Greek and Latin at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Her spiritual home is the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

 

Ms. Marie Dennis is Co-president of Pax Christi International. She is a prime organizer of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative and was for many years director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. Marie was named the 2016 Person of the Year by the National Catholic Reporter and was a Public Peace Prize laureate, also in 2016. She is a lay woman, a mother of six, and a member of Assisi Community in Washington DC. She received honorary doctorates from Trinity Washington University and Alvernia University, is author or co-author of seven books, and a sought-after public speaker.

 

Dr. Melanie A. Duguid-May is John Price Crozer Professor of Theology at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York. Her numerous publications include Jerusalem Testament: Palestinian Christians Speak, 1988-2008 (Eerdmans Publishing, Co., 2010), and “The Ecumenical Movement in the 20th Century and the making of worldwide Christianity,” in A Global History of the Christian Movement, vol. 3 (Brill/Kohlhammer Verlag, forthcoming). She regularly leads pilgrimages to Israel/Palestine, with a focus both on where Jesus walked and what Jesus saw: a land and a people living under military occupation.

Dr. Cynthia Finlayson is Associate Professor of Archaeology at Brigham Young University. She has extensive archaeological excavation and cultural heritage site development experience in Syria and Jordan since 1977. She is the current director of the   Ad-Deir Monument and Plateau Project in Petra, Jordan, and acting director of the Syro-American expeditions to both Palmyra and Apamea, Syria. At Apamea, she directed the excavation and restoration of the Great Roman Theater of Apamea, that vies with the Large Theater at Ephesus for the title of largest extant Roman theater in the world. At Palmyra, she directed excavations close to the Efqa Spring. Dr. Finlayson has also directed a U.S. State Department museum project at the Azem Palace in Damascus.

Father Michael McDonagh was born in 1950 and is a native of Sligo, Ireland. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1974 at All Hallows Seminary, Dublin for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida. He completed his graduate studies in Canon Law at the Catholic University of America in 1978, and worked as a Judge in the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal. From 1983 to 1987, Father McDonagh served as Pastor of St. Michael’s Parish, Clearwater, Florida. Then he worked at EWTN, presenting a weekly Bible program and co-hosted Mother Angelica Live for five years. Hearing the call of the Lord to live and work in Jerusalem, he moved there in 1999, and is presently incardinated into the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Ambassador Hind Khoury is the Secretary General of Kairos Palestine. An economist, she worked in development of the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) with USAID, UNDP, UNFPA, the Bethlehem 2000 Project, the Multi-sector Review of East Jerusalem Project, NORAD, and UNESCO. She was Minister of Jerusalem Affairs for the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian ambassador to France from 2006 to 2010. Ambassador Khoury also served as board member of Sabeel-Jerusalem and is currently on the board of Bethlehem Bible College. Other present-day roles are president of the Arab Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ) and president of the Bethlehem Rotary Club.

Sir Rateb Y. Rabie, KCHS is the Founder and President/CEO of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF). Born in Amman, Jordan to Palestinian parents, he is co-founder and past national president of the Birzeit Society and co-founder, Vice President, and Treasurer of the Institute for Health, Development, and Research in Palestine. He is also a Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of Holy Sepulchre and a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus, founder and co-chair of the Holy Land Outreach Committee of the Knights of Columbus, Maryland State Council. He is recipient of the Faith and Tolerance Award from the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee. Sir Rateb is committed to improving the living conditions for Palestinians Christians in their homeland, preserving Palestine’s Christian heritage, and strengthening the identity of Palestinian Christians in the worldwide diaspora.

Father Rafiq Khoury was born in the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh. A renowned Palestinian theologian and preacher, he specializes in Pastoral Theology and Catechism with the Patriarchal Diocese of Jerusalem. He holds a Ph.D. from the Lateran University in Rome, serves as a board member of the Al-Liqa’ Center for Religious and Heritage Studies in the Holy Land, and was the Secretary General of the Synod of the Catholic Churches of the Holy Land. Most of his writings are in Arabic, but among the titles of his works in English are “The History of Jerusalem: A Christian Perspective,” “The Palestinian People as a Theological Issue,” “Jesus Christ in Christian Faith,” “Identity: Meaning, Components, and Dimensions,” “The Theological Implications of the Current Situation in the Holy Land: From the Point of View of a Christian Palestinian,” “The Conflict of Narratives: From Memory to Prophecy,” and “Living with the Cross.”

Dr. Nahida Halaby Gordon, professor emerita at Case Western Reserve University, served as Senior Fulbright Scholar at Birzeit University, Palestine. A life-long Presbyterian, she is a church Elder and serves on several Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) committees. Professor Gordon is a Palestinian-American who experienced, first hand, the 1948 Palestinian Nakba. Her book, Palestine is Our Home: Voices of Loss, Courage, and Steadfastness, is an expression of her passion for peace and justice for the people of Palestine. In addition to extensive professional publications, Professor Gordon’s articles on Palestine have appeared in The Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, CounterPunch, and Unbound.

Father George Makhlouf, born in West Jerusalem before the Al-Nakba (literally “catastrophe”; the 1948 Palestinian exodus and dispossession) and raised in East Jerusalem, is a retired Antiochian priest who was ordained in Jerusalem in 1985 and has served in Ramallah and New York. He received his education in Terra Sancta School in Jerusalem and Collège des Frères in Bethlehem, followed by theological studies in Jerusalem, France, and Lebanon. As Pastor Emeritus, he is attached to St. Elias Antiochian Church in Atlanta, GA and lives in Duluth, GA, USA.

Ambassador David Mack, Retired, served for over 30 years in various positions in the United States Foreign Service. He held diplomatic assignments in Iraq, Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates. From 1990 to 1993, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. From 1998 to 2008, Ambassador Mack was Vice President and Acting President of The Middle East Institute, a Washington-based educational organization. He is an elder at The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.

 

The Rev. Dr. Carl S. Hofmann (B.A. University of California, Berkeley; M.Div and D.Min, Fuller Theological Seminary) has served as associate pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Boulder, Colorado for more than 15 years. A native Southern Californian, Carl is married to Rupali and they have two young adult children, Jason and Jordan. Carl enjoys craft coffee and cycling the steep mountain passes of Colorado. Carl has made pilgrimage to the Holy Land four times with a fifth pilgrimage currently in the planning stages.

 

Ms. Sabrina Čović Radojičić was born in Osijek (Croatia) in 1966. Although she grew up in Paris, she frequently travelled to the United States. A close friend of the Medjugorje seers, she is an author and translator of a range of books, and has directed documentaries about Medjugorje that are available on both video and CD. She is co-founder of the international prayer movement “Maranatha-Conversion.”

 

Dr. James J. Zogby is president of the Arab American Institute. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2013. In addition to writing a weekly column published in 16 countries, Zogby is the creator and host of the award-winning call-in political television show “Viewpoint” and is frequently featured on national and international media. In 2010, Zogby published the highly-acclaimed book, Arab Voices: What They Are Saying to Us and Why It Matters. His 2013 e-book, Looking at Iran: The Rise and Fall of Iran in Arab Public Opinion, is drawn from his extensive polling across the Middle East with Zogby Research Services.

Mr. Daoud Kuttab is an award winning Palestinian journalist, TV producer, and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He was the editor of the weekly English language Al Fajr and was the cofounder of the Jerusalem Film Institute. He studied at St. George’s High School and has lived most of his adult life in Jerusalem. Follow him on twitter.com/daoudkuttab. Among the films he produced are Palestinian Diaries, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem: Dealmaker or Dealbreaker.

 

Mr. Sami El-Yousef is the first lay person to assume the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Latin Patriarchate. Following higher education in the United States, he returned to his native Jerusalem and worked at Bethlehem University in various positions, ranging from Dean of Faculty of Business Administration and Assistant Cice President for Academic Affairs to Vice President for Finances and Planning. He then joined the CNEWA – Pontifical Mission for Palestine (PMP) office team in Jerusalem in 2009 as the second lay regional director for Palestine and Israel. There, he was involved in securing institutional support to tens of mostly Christian institutions providing quality services to marginalized communities in the sectors of education, health, and social services.

Dr. Bernard Sabella, a native of Jerusalem, holds MA and PhD degrees in Sociology from the University of Virginia. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Al-Quds University in the Master’s Program on Jerusalem Studies and a retired Associate Professor of Sociology from Bethlehem University where he taught for over 25 years. In 2006, he was elected on the Jerusalem Christian quota seat to the Palestinian Legislative Council or Parliament to represent the city of Jerusalem. Dr. Sabella’s scholarly interests and writings are focused on Palestinian Christians and questions of identity and other challenges, including emigration. He is the author of A Life Worth Living: The Story of a Palestinian Catholic.

Dr. Saliba Sarsar, Professor of Political Science at Monmouth University, is Chair of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation’s Research and Publication Committee. Born and raised in Jerusalem, he received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in political science, with specialization in Middle Eastern affairs. He is the author and co-author of several books, articles, and commentaries in the national and international media, and is co-editor of Patriarch Michel Sabbah – Faithful Witness: On Reconciliation and Peace in the Holy Land. He was featured in The New York Times, “His Mission: Finding Why People Fight – A Witness to Mideast Conflict Turns to Dialogue and Peace.” Among his awards is the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation Award.