RAMLEH – On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis celebrated the liturgy in a prison, washing the feet of the prisoners. During Easter Week, the Prison Chaplaincy team had the privilege of celebrating the Good News with the Catholic prisoners in Ayalon Prison.

Ayalon Prison, a high security prison in Ramleh, has about a dozen long term Catholic prisoners. They are diverse in their origins and backgrounds: Arabs, Latin Americans, a North American, a South African, an Indian, an Eritrean… What unites them is their faith in Jesus Christ. They communicate in the only language they have in common: Hebrew.

JERUSALEM – Bishop Munib Younan met with the heads of churches at the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem today to give his Easter greetings. Ten of the thirteen heads of churches were present, as well as priests and Bishops from Jerusalem. The Lutheran delegation to the meeting included Bishop Younan, Propst Wolfgang Schmidt, representative of the Evangelische Kirche Deutschland in Jerusalem, the pastors of the English Speaking Congregation and Special Assistants to the Bishop, Revs. Angela and Martin Zimmann, Rev. Saliba Rishmawi of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala, Rev. Jari Honkakari of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FELM), and Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Jerusalem representative Rev. Mark Brown.