Script for theme of Spirit

Voice over + images: In order to help support the local parishes and communities of the region, the Liturgical, Catechetical and the Pastoral Offices of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem organize pastoral and liturgical activities all over the Holy Land. Thanks to the support of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, these three offices are able to expand their fields of action and set up more events and initiatives.

Father Aziz Halaweh: The [Liturgical] Office was reorganized just two years ago when His Beatitude the Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa appointed me as a director of this office after my studies in Rome. Now we are reorganizing all the work of the liturgy so that this office will organize all the activities in all the parishes in a pastoral way, and also to guide all the actions for printing the new liturgical books for the older dioceses.

Voice over + images: The activity of the Liturgical Office includes many ongoing projects, including the publication, among others, of the missal for the Altar in the Arabic language to be shared with all Arab countries and of the book in four volumes of the Liturgy of the Hours; the organization of the liturgical activities; and the creation of a booklet for altar servers and altar trainers, among other things.

Voice over + images: For both the Pastoral and the Liturgical Offices, the support of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is crucial to develop their activities. Without their help, many projects very important to the local communities would not see the light of day.

Father Aziz Halaweh: I believe that the support of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is very important and it is the center of the work of the Patriarchate because it comes with support for the pastoral activities in all the dioceses.

Voice over + images: The Pastoral Office, which was founded in 2017, looks after the different aspects of pastoral work in the dioceses. For instance, with the support of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the game called “In the footsteps of Jesus” was created. This is based on the Holy Scriptures and allows the youth to discover the life of Christ in a fun and challenging way.

Father Ibrahim Shomali: “In the footsteps of Jesus” is a game that you supported and that helped us a lot to make our community know better their land, know better their holy places, which is very important and very nice for our people to go out of the curriculum of the schools, to live something special with God.

Voice over + images: Last but not least, the Catechetical Office aims to teach about the Christian faith in all Latin Patriarchate Schools, to help form teachers of religion in all Christian schools, and to support the preparation of Christian Catechism textbooks. The office also helps the parishes to prepare for Sunday Schools and other activities.

Fr. Remon Haddad: We visit schools and supervise them, we organize workshops and training sessions for teachers as well as spiritual retreats. We are also working with Bethlehem University to form teachers in Catechism and we help them obtain a diploma in this domain. We also visit holy sites and implement other projects that aim to strengthen the faith of the students and create classrooms for catechism classes in LPJ schools.

Voice over + images: The Catechetical office also works and collaborates with the general secretariat of the Christian Schools to serve all Christian Schools whether they are Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant