Beer Sheva community


This is the only Catholic community in Beer Sheva, the capital of the South, and no other recognized Christian community exists in that city.

The community was established by Father Jean-Roger Héné, a French priest belonging to the Assumptionist congregation, himself of Jewish origin. In the 1950s he would regularly visit the city in order to celebrate mass for the Christians who worked in the area. In 1990 he completed the construction of a spacious community house. Today the priest in charge is Father Roman Kamirsky. 


Beer Sheba community is very diverse with members being Israeli Jews and Arabs as well as immigrants from India, Poland and Russia. Some of our faithful are long-time Christian residents, others are more recent arrivals from different countries who work in the town or who have come to settle here. 


A regular group of foreign students (PhD candidates and Postdocs) who study at Ben Gurion University, together with foreign workers, come to pray in the only Catholic church in the city.

bs icon concert

The community house is named after our Father Abraham who lived in Beer Sheba (cf. Gen 21:31). In the chapel hangs the beautiful icon of the Russian iconographer Andrei Rublev. Three angels sit around the table of the Lord, reminding us of the story of their visit to our Father Abraham (Gen 18). Abraham, who had been sitting at the opening of his tent, hurried to welcome the three strangers (whom he did not identify immediately as angels). He serves as an example of welcoming visitors. Furthermore, when he learned from them the eventual fate of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, he lifted up his voice in order to intercede for the sinful people of these towns. This intercession reminds us of our duty to pray for all people, especially those in trouble. The icon represents God’s great love. Observe the way the angels are looking around. The middle angel gazes at the angel to the left who looks towards the angel to the right. The angel to the right gazes downward, towards the earth. The icon explains to us the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – one God who is love!


Rublev's Trinity in the chapel, Beer Sheba



Address: 51 Ha-Shalom Street, Beer Sheva


Priest in charge: Rev. Roman Kaminski


Mass Schedule

Weekday mass in Hebrew from Monday to Friday: 18:30 

Sunday mass in English on Saturdays: 18:30

Sunday mass in Hebrew on Sundays: 18:30



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