The Methodist Church in Ireland

Latest News - 28th April 2008:

 

Methodist President Joins in Visit to Holy Land

 

The President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Rev. Roy Cooper, will be joining with the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rt. Rev. Dr. John Finlay, Archbishop Alan Harper and Cardinal Sean Brady in a pastoral Pilgrimage to the Holy Land from Monday 28 April to Saturday 3 May.

The Church Leaders are responding to the urgent need for solidarity with local Christians, and will seek to offer Christian hope in a situation where continuing hostilities are causing increased hardship to both Israeli and Palestinian alike.

The visit will focus mainly on Bethlehem and Jerusalem where the Church Leaders will meet local church leaders and representatives from the Palestinian Authority and Israeli Government as well as seeing at first hand the relief and development work that is being undertaken by partners of Christian Aid and Trocaire. One of the visits being made by the President is to the East Jerusalem YMCA, which is supported by the Methodist Church's World Development and Relief Fund.

Their outline itinerary is as follows:

Tuesday 29 April

After travelling from Belfast to Tel Aviv on Monday, the Four Church Leaders begin their official engagements in Jerusalem on Tuesday 29 March with briefings from officials representing the United Nations and UK and Irish Governments. After meeting Church representatives at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute the leaders will travel from Jerusalem through the Bethlehem Checkpoint and into Manger Square. They will be welcomed by representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Franciscans and the Mayor of Bethlehem and will take part in a time of prayer in the Church of the Nativity.

Following lunch the leaders will visit Dheisheh Refugee Camp, one of 59 such Palestinian camps dispersed throughout the West Bank and home to over 11,000 people, before joining with other local Christian leaders, representatives of relief organisiations and the Lutheran Choir at about 6.00pm for 'Keeping Watch' worship at the Shepherds' Field Caves. After hosting a Bedouin Tent meal for participants in the service the church leaders will spent the night in Bethlehem.

Wednesday 30 April

Cardinal Brady may join the Latin Patriarch in a pastoral visit to Gaza though this can only be confirmed closer to the time.

The other leaders will remain in Bethlehem and during the morning will visit Bethlehem University, The Holy Family Maternity Hospital, the Bible College and the YMCA Beit Sahour project.

After lunch with representatives of local Palestinian Christian organisations the leaders will return to Jerusalem to meet with the leader of the Lutheran Church in the Holy Land, the Roman Catholic and Greek Patriarchs and the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem as well as visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

In the evening the leaders have been invited to attend a special ceremony at the Yad Veshem Holocaust Memorial on the eve of Israeli Holocaust Memorial Day.

Thursday 1 May

After an early meeting with the Grand Mufti, the leader of the Muslim community in Jerusalem, and a visit to the Western Wall, the leaders will meet with the Israeli Ministry for Religious Affairs and at about 1.30pm with Minister Isaac Hertzog, minister for Welfare and Social Services whose grandfather, Yitzhak Hertzog, was the first Grand Chief Rabbi of Ireland. The leaders then travel to Ramallah to meet with representatives from the office of President Mahmound Abbas and members of a special committee on Christian Affairs.

On returning to Jerusalem an evening meeting is planned with a panel from the Israeli Human Rights Movement.

Friday 2 May

Following breakfast with Irish and UK representatives there are meetings with various church groups and a time for reflection in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the evening the leaders are expected to attend a Synagogue service at 6.30pm followed by a meal with Rabbi Levi Kellman.

At 5.30am on Saturday the leaders depart for Tel Aviv and return to Belfast via London for 3.00pm.