To the Christian Refugee Relief Director Sir Knight Hikmat Dandan and all the councils, the Knights of Columbus members, their Ladies and parishioners in Canada.

From the Holy Land, we send you our Greetings, our love, and our best wishes for a Holy Lent.

We believe God’s peace is special here. It is the peace that fills the hearts with comfort, trust, and love. It is not like any other peace; it is the peace given by Jesus and sent to all, to comfort and strengthen people through their difficulties, fears, and sufferings. We hope that this faith and peace be present in all Christian and non-Christian communities.

I would like to inform you of what has happened during the past year due to covid-19. Unfortunately, we went through hard times and had to go under lockdown on the 5th of March 2020. All the churches, schools, families went through a major crisis because the main means of income is tourism. Many parents lost their jobs and were unable to pay their expenses and the tuition of their children. We have hard days: pandemic & closure, no works, families need help everywhere, more poor people, students are not able to pay their fees. On the other side, as Patriarchate and school, we have to pay salaries and so on. To be honest, we are having a complicated situation. It is a big problem, It will not be easy to continue . But we hope and pray to overcome this situation.

However, we insist on keeping our children in their school and to be raised upon Jesus’ teachings, words, light, and life. We managed to start and continue teaching immediately by virtual means.

We really appreciate your support, which has been of great benefit for our needy Christian students in Beit Sahour- the town of the Shepherds. A lot of thanks to all the councils, knights and their ladies as well as all the sponsors. Special thanks and appreciation for our beloved Sir Knight Hikmat Dandan. I pray to God from Jerusalem, from the Church of the Resurrection, during this Holy Week, to bless all of you. This year our prayers will be limited in the churches, only the priests. This is not normal to the faithful in the Holy Land. It is only because of the coronavirus, that we all are facing and wish to arrive to the end.

Christ is Risen. Truly He is Risen
Christos Anesti. Alithos Anesti

Melkite Catholic Patriarchal Vicar
Archbishop of Jerusalem
Yaser Al Ayyash

(To sponsor the education of a student, visit www.jerusalemstudents.org or call The Ontario Christian Refugee Relief Holy Land & Persecuted Christians Director SK Hikmat Dandan 416-893 8060 or email: [email protected]. 75 students' education is sponsored and already 24 graduated while being sponsored and went into higher learning. Participate to strengthen Christianity in the Holy Land)