schools of the latin - latin patriarchate of...

Schools of the LatinPatriarchate of Jerusalem

LPSMothers are invaluable Gift from GOD

March - 2015English Issue 17

“ Ut Congnoscant Te”

2

Contents ...

Our Schools in March

Aboud

Beit Sahour

Bir Ziet

Jinin

Jifna

Taybeh

Zababdeh

Beit Jala

Fr.Dr. Faysal Hijazen: The mother is the teacher who devotes

herself to her children the students

Dr: Khaled Jawareesh: The progress of the educational develop-

ment in LPS during the school year 2014-2015

Father Bashar Fawadleh: Palestine, A Nursery Of Sanctity

LPS observe Mother day

3March - 2015English Issue 17

We celebrate Mother’s Day and highly value the role the mothers play for humanity. Her motherhood involves a special participation in the secret of life that develops in the develops in her womb. She accepts the child that is conceived in her and loves him/her as a human be-ing. This unique form of contact with

the new human being during pregnancy creates a unique stand of women towards the human beings. This unique-ness is clear in her three qualities.

•She is a mother: A mother for her children in the physical sense, and a mother in the spiritual sense for whom she is responsible. I mean being a teacher is being a mother to all the children. She protects them, refines their per-sonality, enhances their self confidence, and gets them ready to be active members in their society.

•She is an educator: A mother is endowed with the ability to care for the care for the child and to safeguard it dig-nity. This is bestowed upon her by being a mother. She brings up the children on human values; the values of life, love, giving and devotion for good, in order to build up an integrated society whose core is the family. Through her educational role, she leaves her mark on the whole edu-cational process which develops the personality of the new generations of mankind.

•She devotes herself: devoting oneself is a preliminary for a new life, a new human being through marriage. The woman achieves herself by devoting herself gratis. I do assert in this respect that the mother is the teacher who devotes herself to her children, the students, and imbues herself in them as she builds up their personality and en-hances the human values in them.

All that we say about the mother applies to the unmar-ried woman as well. Marital status does not deprive the woman from her special characteristics, but it directs her towards spiritual motherhood in its various forms. Spiri-tual motherhood is evident in the lives of consecrated women through caring for persons, especially the de-prived, the sick, the handicapped, the orphans, the old, the prisoners, and generally speaking, the marginalized. Through each and every one of them, celibate conse-crated women meet with their Divine groom in Hisvari-ous shapes and forms. He himself said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”(Mathew 25:40).

Fr.Dr. Faysal Hijazen: The mother is the teacher who

devotes herself to her children the students.

This year we celebrate the canonization of two nuns: Mary Alfonsine, founder of the order of the Holy Rosary Nuns, which specializes in educating the generations of students, and caring for the sick, and Mother Mariam Bawardi, founder of the Carmelite convent which is es-tablished on openness unto God and self sacrifice.

Congratulations on the canonization of these two nuns, the true example of the teacher and the dedicated for the human person in the field of education. Thanks to all the administrators and teachers. Thank you for your presence, your personality and your entity. Thank you for your big hearts and devotion and for your positive effect on our students. We ask God to bestow upon you blessings, grace and good health

Fr. Dr. Faysal Hijazen,Secretary General of the Christian Schools in PalestineDirector General of LPS in Palestine and Galilee


Development of the educational system constitutes a top priority in most countries. The supreme ob-jective is searching for methods of improving the teaching quality. It is universally acknowledged that upgrading the teachers quality is one of the most important factors in improving teaching techniques, and in achieving high quality teaching for students, because the

teacher is the pedagogical mediator for students in order to acquire knowledge, as he/she is the one who plans the educational events in class. Studies on the teach-ers’ competence show that the progress of students who are taught by teachers with high competence is three times as much as that of students taught by teachers of low competence. This proves that the teachers have the greatest effect on the students’ achievement, and that the educational development that excludes the teachers will not suc-cessful.

In June 2013, the Ministry of Educa-tion perceived this, and began work-ing on designing a framework for training, based on the strategy of re-habilitating and preparing teachers while on the job. Similarly,LPS ad-ministration took the following steps:

1. Prior to the beginning of the school year 2014-2015, a workshop for the teachers of grades 1-10 and the kindergarten teachers was held. The workshop included: Ac-tive teaching, educational games, skills of creative, critical thinking, the strategies of asking questions, preparing worksheets, class man-agement, measurement and evaluation. All these issues were included in the ministry’s plan for rehabilitating the teachers.

2. During the current school year, class visits were done and reports were written about the class management for all 120 teachers of grades 1-6. These visits were started in the first semester by visiting the teachers of the basic subjects: Arabic, English, Math and Science, then, in the second semester, the teachers of the remaining subjects were visited. Teachers who excelled will be honoured at the end of the school year.

Dr. Khaled Jawareesh:The progress of educational

development in LPS during the school year 2014-2015

The feedback that was given to the teachers included: using modern teaching methods that are compatible with active teaching, giving the students the chance for discov-ery , positive and efficient class reactions, enriching the educational content and analyzing its basic components, utilizing educational games and teaching cards, providing an efficacious teaching environment and an educational atmosphere that is imbued with seriousness, reactivity and continuous stimulation to engage in the various ac-tivities, and to work on the development of cognitive and performance adequacy for both teachers and students, to evaluate the students positive attitudes and stimulate them on discipline and attentiveness by means of effica-cious methods and successful class management.

3. During the break between the two semesters, a 30-hour workshop for training on administrative and tech-nical work was held to train the new principals and the nominees for the positions of principals. The workshop included: the administrative and technical qualifications of the principal such as planning, heading the meetings, intercommunicating, school discipline and making deci-sions.

The technical issue dealt with means and methods of su-pervision, evaluation and measurement, class manage-ment, methods of teaching, teaching thinking, teaching

aids, procedural research, active and cooperative teaching.

4. Based on the observations from the class visits during the first se-mester, descriptive reports were sent to each school individually. These included the positive issues, issues that need development, and recommendations. Regional work-shops, in which teachers’ specialties were taken into consideration (sci-entific- humanitarian studies), were also held during the break. All prob-lems where discussed and proper solutions were put for them.5. During the second semester, and based upon the notes of the super-visory visits, enriching educational newsletters were sent out.

These newsletters dealt with the daily preparation in a horizontal way were the behavioral objective is horizon-tally matched with its methods, means, activities and means of evaluation. The annual plan and its compo-nents, with illustrated examples for each. Leaflets about the cognitive objectives and their levels, and information about “learning by means of projects” were also sent out. Meetings were held with school principals and staff to dis-cuss them aand follow up on their implementation.


6. During the second semester, achievement tests were held for fourth –graders of all LPS in Arabic and Math. The points of strength and weakness in the basic skills of these two subjects were detected in the students an-swer sheets. Further unified tests for grades 4+6+9 in the basic subjects (Arabic, English, Math) will be held by the end of the this school year.

7. Based upon the results of the questionnaire of diag-nosing needs, the program “The School is a Training Unit” will be adopted, and all the teachers of all schools will be trained in the subjects they have chosen, before the end on the current school year.

Dr. Khaled Jawareesh

Preparations are in progress to cel-ebrate the canonization of the two Palestinian nuns: Mary Alfonsine, founder of the order of the Holy Rosary Sisters, and Mariam of the Crucified Jesus, founder of the Car-melite nunnery in Bethlehem. The canonization will take place during the Pontifical Mass officiated by His Holiness Pope Francis in Rome on May 17.

In an interview with Fr. Fawadleh, the spiritual counselor of the Christian Youth Students in Palestine, he pointed out to the importance of this event on the spiritual, re-ligious, ecclesiastical and national levels. He asserted that Palestine was, is still and will always be a nursery of saintliness. He called upon the youth to follow the ex-ample of the life of the two saints in terms of meekness, love, sacrifice, and faith.

Fr. Fawadleh also pointed out to the importance of can-onizing the two Palestinian nuns on the national level, because it asserts the deeply-rooted Christian presence in Palestine which extends to more than 2000 years ago, despite the very difficult conditions endured. He added that the final word is not for sorrow, crucifixion and death, but rather for the resurrection and life. The grain of wheat that died produced much fruit.

Father Bashar Fawadleh: Palestine

A Nursery Of Sanctity

From Palestine to the world: Two Saints


The French department of LPS in Palestine held a meet-ing at Taybeh LPS for all the French teachers in Pales-tine. Fr. Dr. Faysal Hijazen, LPS director general, wel-comed the teachers and asserted the importance of holding such meetings for upgrading teaching French in LPS. He also concentrated on the importance of learning languages, especially French. Sister Claudine summed up the main objectives on the agenda of this meeting in the following points:

1.The importance of holding the DELF exam, and how to prepare the students for it in order to achieve excellent results.

2.Holding a competition in French, and tits scheduled date.

3.Concentration on motivating students to learn French due to the importance of the language.

Meeting of LPS French Dpartment

The second annual LPS foot-ball championship tournament

On Friday March 20, 2015,the general administration of LPS launched the second annual LPS football cham-pionship tournament which was held at the Clerical In-stitute playground in Beit Jala. Beit Sahour, Taybeh, Ramallah,Bir Zeit and Beit Jala schools took part in the tournament. The Taybeh LPS came first and Beit Sahour came second.

Mr. Samer Badra, the director of LPS administration of-fice awarded the trophies to the winning teams


LPS celebrate mother’s day

On Saturday, March 21, all LPS and kindergartens in Palestine and Galilee celebrated Mother’s Day. Various activities which included plays, speeches, carnivals were held in all the schools. Some students brought small gifts to their teachers as a sign of love and gratitude. Kinder-garteners designed and coloured special cards which they took home for their mothers.

At the junior Seminary , the students also held a very nice party to honour their there mothers at home and their spiritual mothers at the seminary mothers, the nuns. The program was started with a reading from the bible, a poem by the student Yanal Masarweh, followed by a play entitled “The Mother’s Invoice.”

The rector, Fr.Dr. Jamal Daibes congratulated the teachers and thanked them for their efforts in educating the priests of the future.

Happy mother’s day to all the Palestinian mothers, and to all the mothers of the world.

Nablu

s


Bir Zei

t

Jifn

a


Beit S

ahour

Beit J

ala


Our Schools in March

AboudIn cooperation with Caritas Health Center in the village of Aboud, a lecture for the fourth-graders was held about teeth health. The correct way of brushing the teeth was demonstrated to the stu-dents who, in turn, brushed their teeth as demon-strated to them.

On the other hand, the doctor and nurses of the center carried out a medical checkup for the kin-dergarteners to make sure that they all enjoyed good health.

Teeth health care

In cooperation with Carits Medical Centre in Aboud, the nurse of the centre delivered a lecture to the third graders about road safety. She explained to the students how to behave on the road in order to avoid road accidents on their way to school in the morning and home in the afternoon.

Road Safety


An Italian educational group visited the school accompanied by Dr. Castelli, the one-week volunteer dentist at Caritas dental clinic .The group visited the village church and met with the school principal who ex-plained the policy of the school, the progress of the educational process and the future vision for the school. The group, accompanied by the school principal, toured the school and met with first-graders, and plant-ed a pomegranate tree presented by Italian first-graders, as a cultural ex-change for the olive tree which our students sent to them last year.

AN ITALIAN educational group visits the school

The first and seventh-graders paid a visit to the Golden Wheat Flour Mill in the village of Burham in the Ramallah Governorate to learn about the various kinds of wheat, the milling and packaging processes.

Wheat flour mills project is considered one of the impor-tant industrial projects in Palestine. Their produce is sold all over the country.

A visit to the Golden Wheat Mill

The French teacher accompanied the students to the village greengrocer’s to teach them the French names of the fruits and.vegetables in order to build up their French vocabulary, and encourage them to learn and speak French

Learn to shopin French


Beit Sahour

The English teacher of grade six staged a fashion show for the sixth graders. The students brought the clothing articles they would like to talk about in English. The objec-tive of the show was to encourage the stu-dents to talk and ex-press themselves in English.

A fashion show as an English Language activity

The eleventh-graders carried out an activity that demon-strates the effects of oil on human health. Posters on this subject were put on the bulletin board and in the corridors

The effects of oil on human health

Second semester open day

for the parents.

The administration and staff held an open day for the parents. Each teacher was given a separate room where he met with the stu-dents’ parents individually. The parents were informed about their children’s academic and conduct progress in the school. The teach-ers asked the parents to keep in constant touch with the school in case any problems might arise in order to solve them quietly before it is too late


Beit Sahour LPS staged the open day for the second consecutive year. It started with the holy mass celebrated by Fr. Bashar Fawadleh. The open day included an open buffet, a play performed by third-graders, a Palestin-ian mimic wedding performed by seventh-graders, and a folklore dance (dabke) presented by ninth and tenth-graders, and concluded by a gymnastic performance by eleventh graders.Gifts were presented to women teachers and workers by the students’ council on the occasion of mother’s day.

Open Day

Bir Zeit

In order to enhance cooperation with the municipality, and to encourage reading , an activity entitled, “ The readers of today are the leaders of tomorrow,” Was held .

The activity included painting a mural depicting beautiful landscape scenes onto the school playground wall. Post-ers encouraging reading were also hung in the school corridors.

At the end of the activity, the youth council and the dep-uty mayor paid a visit to the school and handed a poster on this topic to the administration

The readers of today are the leaders of tomorrow


The religious education department held a lecture tfor ninth-graders on the subject subject of comparison of re-ligions. The lecture was delivered by the religious educa-tion teachers, and concentrated on fasting in Islam and Christianity on the occasion of Lent. It discussed the simi-larities and differences of fasting in the two religions.

Comparison of religions:

In cooperation with the Palestinian Counseling Centre, a special counseling workshop was held for all the teach-ers. The aim of this workshop is to help teachers deal with certain situations and solve the students’ problems in a way that is in the best interest of the students

A counseling work-shop for the teachers

`In cooperation with Ibda’ society for practice and development, a work-shop for seventh and eighth-graders was held to teach students the art of making origami items.

origami


The director of the consumer protection committee and representatives from Al Jibrini dairy products factory paid a visit to the school. They were met by Fr. Louis Haz-boun, the school principal Mrs.Rawand Musallam and the teachers.

Mrs. Musallam opened the meeting by stressing on the importance of boycotting Israeli products that are invad-ing the Palestinian local market. Both Fr. Hazboun and the director of the boycotting committee said that boycot-ting Israeli products is a national struggle against the Is-raeli occupation which is displacing Palestinian families, killing children and stealing Palestinian land and resourc-es, and that it has a great effect on the Israeli economy. At the end of the meeting, the comedian Omar Tamer entertained the students with a comic performance on the theme of boycotting the Israeli products.Al Jibrini dairy factory representatives talked about the importance of the factory as a means of boycotting Israeli products, and gave out some dairy product samples to the students.

Boycotting Israeli prod-ucts and protecting the

consumer campaign

The Egyptian Land Bank, represented by Mrs. Iman Arouri and Abu Mahmoud, in cooperation with the monetary authority, visited the school to talk to the students about the impor-tance and the history of the banks in Palestine and their role in the Palestinian economy.

The Egyptian

Land Bank visits the

school


Jenin

The kindergarteners visited the Haddad iron factory that produces heavy machines and playthings. The manager of the factory explained to the children the importance of the products of the factory.

The children then paid a visit to a nursery where they were taught how nurseries work and their importance for agriculture.

The kindergarteners visit Haddad factory and a nursery

Jifna

A meeting was held between the staff and the students’ parents to discuss various educational issues that con-cern the administration, parents and students. The impor-tance of cooperation between the school and the parents was the main topic discussed at the meeting.

Staff meeting with the students’ parents

In art classes, students’ latent talents in art are discovered and encouraged. During these classes, students draw portraits, some with coloured sand and others with coloured grains. They are taught how to mix colours and.combine them to create a beautiful portrait

Drawing with sand


Taybeh

Students of LPS observed the beginning of Lent by holding a healthy ascetic lunch “ Mujaddara” (Rice and lentils)prepared by the teachers for the students’ council. Ascetic , healthy dishes were brought by the students and teachers and sold in the school at nominal prices. The main purpose of this activity is to enhance the meaning of fasting and to help poor students, since helping the poor is the core of fasting during lent.

A healthy ascetic

lunch on the oc-

casion of lent.


In order to encourage Palestinian products , and to en-lighten consumers about their basic rights, the Society of Protecting the Consumer in the Ramallah governorate staged a consumer week campaign at Taybeh LPS .The meeting was attended by all the students from grades one through twelve.

The pivotal topic discussed at the meeting was the im-portance of encouraging Palestinian products, on both individual and government levels. The meeting also dis-cussed the rights of consumers in choosing the goods they want to purchase, and the right of knowing all the details about the product.

The chairman of the society said that the target groups of this campaign are the students and housewives.

The Al Jibrini company representatives gave out samples of its dairy products to all the students, as part of its cam-paign of tasting the product by all the schools in the area.

Staging “Consumer Week Campaign”

ZababdehTenth-graders paid a visit to the government hospital in Jenin. They visited the dialysis section and were in-formed about the mechanism of renal dialysis, how the dialytic treatment emulates the functions of the kidneys, and the suffering of the patients following each session.

They also visited the Visitors Centre for Preserving the Heritage of Jenin governorate to get acquainted with the historical and archeological sites of the governorate.

The centre shows pictures, information and documenta-ries by means of an advanced technological method.

A field trip to Jenin


The LPS girl’s handball team won the first place in the handball tournament which was held in Qabatya. Con-gratulations and keep up the good work.

LPS girls’ handball team wins first position in the handball tournament in Qabatya governorate

Under the supervision of the social worker Rawan Bou-los, the mediation students group carried out a voluntary work on the occasion of the tree day. They planted some trees in the shrine of the blessed virgin in the school.

Voluntary work by the mediation students group

The teachers of the first, sec-ond and third grades accompa-nied the students on a picnic to the neighboring fields to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the green nature in spring.

A picnic for the first, second and third-graders.


Beit Jala

In accordance with the twinning relationship between the Spanish football team Real Madrid and four LPS,(Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Reneh, Rameh,) The Real Madrid offi-cial football kit (T-shirts and shorts) was given to the LPS male and female players of the football teams which were founded as subordinates to the Spanish team. We wish these the teams all the best

LPS football team receives Real Madrid

football kit

A group of “Volantari del Mundo” association from Regio Emilia-Italy ,associated with the Alliance for Inclusive and Quality Early Childhood Education program ,visited Beit Jala LPS where they were received by Mr. Suhail Daibes, the school principal. The program aims at upgrading and developing the various kindergartens in the Bethlehem Governorate. The preliminary implementations of this program will begin next month, and it will be officially implemented at the beginning of the first semester of the next school year 2015/2016. The program will include ex-change visits of teachers and administrators. During the meeting, the mechanism and plans for implementing this program were discussed.

Launching the Kindergarten development program in

cooperation with Reggio Emilia-Italy


Mr. Kattan, the high school chemistry teacher, is not merely a school teacher, but he is also one of Palestine’s best basketball players. He has been with LPS for over 32 years, and a member of the basketball team of the Arab Orthodox Sports Club in Beit Jala for about the same period.

Mr. Kattan was born in 1962. He graduated from Bethlehem Univer-sity in 1985. His major subject is Chemistry and his minor is biology. He has been with LPS since 1985. In 1983 he joined the basketball team of the Arab Orthodox Sports Club in Beit Jala. He is considered the lead-ing player and the coach of the team. He is married and has five children;

two boys and three girls;

George19, studies Maths at Bethlehem University.

Petro 13, LPS Seventh-grader .

Elizabeth:23:Graduated from Bethlehem university in2014. Her major subject was Chemistry and her minor was industrial Chemistry

Phylicia 21: In her senior year at Bethlehem University : her major is Chem-istry and her minor is physics.

Eleona 15: LPS tenth-grader.

We wish Mr Kattan al the best, both in teaching and sports

Mr. Charlie Kattan: Teacher and Player

Beit Jala LPS teachers build up a socio-academic re-lationship with the students. This helps to enhance the educational process as the teachers give advice to the students on the social, academic or even the personal levels, thus building a relationship of mutual respect and understanding.

During the morning break, teachers join students on the play ground, talk to them, pace the playground with them, and even joke with them. They talk to them about vari-ous issues whether political, social or academic, which widens their horizons and enhances their independent thinking.

Teacher-student socio-academic relationship


Beit Jala LPS ninth-graders participated in a Math plural Olympics which was staged on the national level by the Ministry of Education. The main objective of this plural is to emphasize the major role that math plays in all facets of life, especially in the fields of science and technology, and to test the students’ level in this subject.

This initiative comes after the pattern of the International Math plural which aims at discovering the latent talents of the participants in the math field, and helping them in their future studies.

We wish our students the best of luck in this test.

Beit Jala LPS participates in capitalize Math Olym-

Mr. Suhail Daibis, the school principal, and Mrs. Suzan Al-Qas, the financial secretary, accompanied a delega-tion of students from grade seven and grade nine, to pay a visit to the actor Khaled Massou, owner and manager of Inad Theatre in Beit Jala, to congratulate him on his miraculous escape from death in the horrible Jericho thy-phenate.

Mr. Massou welcomed the group and thanked them for this kind gesture. He also expressed his gratitude to the students, the classmates of his children, and added that he is proud to have his children educated in a school which he considers one of the best in the Bethlehem Governorate.

A visit to the Actor Khaled Massou


The sixth-graders, under the supervision of the religion de-partment teachers: Mrs. Alice Andoni, Jumana Nassar and Nida’ Hijazi, staged a “Bring & Buy” program. The students fetched some food, juices, cookies and sweets and sold them to the school students and teachers at a nominal price. The proceeds of this activity will go to the poor. It is worth mentioning that despite the fact that this activity was carried out during Lent for the Christians, Muslim students also participated in this activ-ity which clearly expresses the spirit of sharing, coexistence and accepting the other. The very same activity was also carried out simultaneously in Bir Zeit LPS.

Feeling with the poor and

the needy, the Sixth-graders launch a

bring & buy program

Beit Jala LPS is very proud of two students: the ninth-grader Miral Sarras and the eleventh-grader Mariam Nazzal. They both represented Palestine in the under 16-year olds women football first team in the champion-ship tournaments held in Qatar.The team won the bronze medal.

Al-Ayyam newspaper interviewed Mariam upon her re-turn from Qatar. She said in the interview that she started play-ing football with girls of her age group in the neighbourhood al-leys about five years ago, and that she liked the game and en-joyed it very much. She met with J a c q u e l i n Jazrawi, the player and coach of the Diyar women football team who discovered her latent talents and encouraged her to join her team, one of the best women football teams in the Bethlehem governorate.Mariam joined the team and gradually became the best defence player, a stumbling block for the attacks of the opponent team. She demonstrated her football skills in the championship tournaments in Qatar, and won the re-spect and admiration of the spectators.

She extended her gratitude to all those who helped and supported her, beginning with her mother, Jacquelin Jaz-rawi, her coach, Major General Jibril Rujoub for his en-couragement and support for the women football teams. Mariam said that had it not been for him, the Palestinian flag would have never been raised in the Arab or interna-tional women football tournaments. Her wish is join the senior team and to lead it to the medal podium.

Mariam Nazzal, the avoid hy-phen in eleventh football star.


A group of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher visited the elementary school and met with the school principal Mr. Shuail Daibes who toured the school with them and explained to them the policy of the school, the progress of the educational process and the future vision of the school.

The group met with the teachers and the students and was impressed by the manner in which the school is run, and promised to resume cooperation with the school and to start a twinning relationship with one of the parish schools in the United States

A Group Of The Equestrian Order Of Holy Sepulcher

Vists The School

The fourth –graders held a communal breakfast un-der the supervision of the fourth grade teachers. The purpose of the activity was to strengthen the student-student relationship as well as student-teacher relationship, and create an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect

The fourth-graders hold a communal

breakfast

Launching the sports clubFollowing the improvement in the weather conditions, and in order to curb the hyperactivity of the students, which is the major reason for the teachers and parents com-plaints, the school launched a sports club program which will deal with football training for the boys and gymnastics for the girls, hoping that a girls’ football team will begin in the near future. The sports teacher Saher Musleh as-sisted by the gymnastic trainer Falastin Sar’awi will will manage the club.


The ninth-graders clean the classroom and the play-

ground

A group of the ninth-graders volunteered to clean their classroom and the playground last Friday, their weekly holiday. This initiative was meant to encourage the rest of the students to keep their classrooms and the playground clean, in order maintain the clean image of the school environment.

The tenth-grader Lourde Atwan , member of the De La Salle swimming team, achieved the first place in the freestyle and underwa-ter finswimming champion-ship staged by the Pales-tinian Water Sports Union. The competition was held at the swimming pool of YMCA-Beit Sahour. Lourde, we are all very proud of you and wish you all the best.

Lourde Atwan, swimming champion.


Director of Office of Educa-tion visits kindergarten.

Mrs Yaser Amer, director of the Bethlehem Office of Edu-cation, paid a visit to the kindergarten. She was received by Mr. Suhail Daibes, the school principal who highly valued this visit. She toured the school and the kindergarten ,and met with the teachers. She expressed her satisfaction and impression about the school and the kindergarten.

Mr. Daibes and Daniella, the representative of the Ital-ian association that will help develop the kindergarten ,briefed her about the new program for developing the kindergarten in cooperation with the Italian association, and about practical plans to go ahead with implementing the program.

The hyphen placement, accom-panied by Mrs.Jumana Nassar, religious education teacher, and Mr. Fadi Estephan, teacher of the social studies, went on an internal tour to visit the holy and historical sites in Bethlehem governorate. The tour included the shepherds’ field in Beit Sa-hour, the church of nativity and the milk grotto in Bethlehem, and the conference palace op-posite Solomon’s Pools in Beth-lehem.

Eleventhgraders on an internal tour.


The General secretariat of Christian Schools in Palestine concluded a series of distinctive retreats that were staged through a spiritual, humanitarian and social initiative during Lent, in order to pause with self before God amidst the ac-celeration of life and the challenges that people go through in the daily life.

Commenting on this distinctive spiritual achievement, Fr. Dr. Faysal Hijazen, secretary general of the Christian schools in Palestine, said that this spiritual activity is an exigency to help both the Christian teachers and the teachers of reli-gious education to remember his message and to pause with themselves and with God during Lent. It is an invitation to bring everything else to a halt so as to meditate and meet with God, and to pray with his colleagues in order to real-ize that he is not alone in the arena, and that there is a body that gathers all of them together, namely the church. The retreat is also an exigency for all of us, in order to pause and remember our message as witnesses for Christ, and that it is the spiritual objective of our existence as Christian schools for hundreds of years in this Holy Land.He added that life goes on and days pass by swiftly, and sometimes people drift away from the Christian spirit and the soul of their message and the message of our schools.

This is only normal in view of our life conditions and the circumstances that our country lives. That is why this retreat is distinctive to all of us in order to remember that we are all one, and that we serve our students with one spirit which needs a pause with ourselves every now and then in order to support ourselves and our souls, recharge them and arm them spiritually so as to be able to carry on our message in the best way, and to prepare ourselves to live the salvation events of the Holy Week and come together to the joys of the resurrection.

Fr. Hijazen added that he participated with 450 LPS teachers in Palestine, teachers of the religious education included of course, in the retreats that were held at five different locations on five different dates so as to give everybody the chance of to participate. These locations were:

Ramallah area: the Evangelical Lutheran School, Taybeh, St.Joseph’s School.Bethlehem area: The Catholic Action,The Greek Orhhodox Shepherds’ School.

The meetings had a unified program which consisted of:Morning prayers, a lecture and meditation, delivered by Fr. Issa Musleh, Fr. Dr. Aktham Hijazen,Fr. Yousef Riziq,Rev. Imad Hadad and Fr. Johny Bahbah. All the lectures pivoted on the topic of fasting and its message. The Shepherds’ Choir chanted religious songs.

The meetings were open for discussion, and the teachers asked several vital questions which reflected their great need to satisfy their spiritual needs. This was followed by the prayers of way of the cross. The retreat concluded with and austere lunch for all the participants.

It is worth mentioning that all the participants donated money tto be distributed to needy families by the general secre-tariat.

Fr. Hijazen greatly appreciated the teachers’ participation in this retreat and their insistence on participating despite their heavy work obligations. This reflects their true commitment to their message, their honesty in their work and their belief that every initiative enhances the soul during Lent. He also valued the role the school principals played, not only by personally participating in this retreat, but also in encouraging the teachers to participate, a sign that our schools are in good hands, and heralds a promising future. He also thanked the Rev. Fathers for their valued lectures, and the schools that hosted these retreats despite the large number of the participants.

Lent is a special time in LPSFive pauses with self before God amidst family and educational life


Director: Fr. Faysal Hijazen

Edited by: George Abu Dayyeh

Designed by: Waseim Kasabry

With your help, we can complete projects to renovate buildings, purchase lab equipment, school supplies and furniture, as well as many more necessities.

You can even give a poor child the priceless gift of education by providing his or her tuition!

If you feel called to help the students in the schools of The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusa-lem, the bank details are below.

For our friends in Europe:General Director : Rev Faysal Hijazen - [email protected]

www.latin-schools.org************************************************************

Pax-Bank:Payment Instructions:

Please pay / transfer to our current account at pax-Bank eG in Germany according to the follow-ing instructions

• Beneficiary: Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Latin Patriarchate Street. BOP 14152 91141- Jerusalem Israel• IBAN (International Bank Account No.) DE 16370601930058029017• Account with (bank name & address) Pax-Bank eG, Von-Werth-str. 25-27, 50670 Cologne, Germany

Please ask your Bank to directly wire through:

WGZ-Bank, Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 20, 40227 Duesseldorf with SWIFT-code GENODEDOLatin Patriarchate of JerusalemLatin Patriarchate Street. BOP 1415291141- JerusalemIsrae************************************************************

•For our friends in the United States:For U.S Dollar currency transfers utilize the following bank address: -Intermediary Bank, -Credit Suisse , Zurich. -Swift Code: CRESCHZZ80A - Favor of:Arab Bank No.49 -Bethlehem Branch No. 853

schools of the latin - latin patriarchate of...

Documents