ACOHL meets in Amman

The Assembly, which gathers together all the heads of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land (Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus) held its bi-annual meeting in Amman, at the Latin Catholic Vicariate. Present were most of the members of the Assembly, the five Latin Vicars: Bishops Shomali (Jerusalem), Marcuzzo (Nazareth), Sayegh (Amman) and Fathers Herrera-Dias (Cyprus) and Neuhaus (Hebrew Speakers) as well as the three Greek Catholic Archbishops: Chacour (Galilee), Zreyi (Jerusalem) and Al-Ayyash (Amman), the Maronite Archbishop Sayyah and two priests representing the Syrian Catholics and the Chaldeans. In attendance were also the Nuncio to Israel and Cyprus and the Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem, Archbishop Antonio Franco, and the Nuncio to Jordan and Iraq, Archbishop Giorgio Lingua. Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, President of the Assembly was absent because he was attending the prayer with the Holy Father in Assisi. The meeting was organized by the secretary of the Assembly, Father Pietro Felet.

The proceedings of the Assembly included discussions with regard to the participation of the Local Church in various international congresses, the statutes of the Assembly, the establishment of commissions to study certain areas and other issues that needed to be resolved. A more prolonged discussion was devoted to the question of migrants in the diocese. Father Neuhaus presented the increasing efforts in Israel to coordinate the pastoral with migrants. Father Herrera-Dias presented the situation in Cyprus. Father Raymond Moussali, the representative of the Chaldean Church, described the reality of the Iraqi refugees in Jordan. The assembly unanimously agreed to intensify its work in order to serve the migrants among us.

The second day was almost entirely devoted to a discussion of the Catholic schools in the diocese. The Ordinaries invited two experts: Sister Virginie Habib of the Rosary Sisters and Father Aemad Twal of the Latin Church in Jordan, to present an overview of the schools, religious education and a plan for the schools. Then reports were given by the three offices for schools in the three areas of the diocese: Father Riyad Hijazeen for Jordan, Father Faysal Hijazeen for Palestine and Deacon Jiryis Mansour for Israel.

On Wednesday evening, October 26, the Ordinaries gathered in the Greek Catholic Cathedral in Amman for the celebration of the Eucharist according to the Byzantine rite. After the mass, three young people from Jordan gave there testimony about the World Youth Day in Madrid.

The meeting ended with lunch at the Vatican Embassy in Amman thus putting an enjoyable end to two very full days.