February 10th– In light of the theme of our spring Cornerstone issue “Towards Jerusalem,” Sabeel hosted an open forum on Jerusalem for the local community to reflect more on the challenges that are facing Jerusalemites in general and Christians in particular. Some of the challenges identified among the 30 participants were:
1. Being a minority as Palestinian Christians
2. The lack of unity among Christians
3. Insecurity
4. The identity issue
5. Christian emigration
6. The Church not serving the community, and this leading people away from the Church
Also discussed at the forum, led by Sabeel co-founders Mrs. Samia Khoury and Rev. Naim Ateek, was the issue of extremism in different sectors in Jerusalem.
We hope that by knowing the concerns of our local community, we can learn how to support each other as Jerusalemites. All of the concerns were sent to the Former Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah and a committee consisting of several clergy for follow-up.
