October 20, 2005
By Matthew Davies

The Rev. Fuad Dagher, priest of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Shefa Amr, Israel, had a vision: to rebuild the parish school and offer education to the local community.

In 2004, Dagher's prophecy was realized when Church of Our Savior, Los Angeles, under the leadership of the Rev. Denis O' Pray, rector, and the Rev. Catherine Gregg, associate rector, dedicated itself to the ministry of St. Paul's and entered into a sister relationship with the parish.

Gregg's theme for the parish's Lent 2004 program was Journey to Jerusalem: Then and Now.

A healthy environment

Expected to open its doors in 2006, the school initially will offer education to 60 preschool kindergarten children.

"We need to share our faith with others and help them to understand Christians and Christianity more," Dagher, who has been St. Paul's priest for three years, said. "The church has a role to help young people be educated and to grow up in a healthy environment."

In addition to Christians, Dagher hopes to welcome children from the Jewish and Muslim communities.

"We need to start sharing our faith with those small kids because [they] will be the future," he said. "We need to learn how to live side by side [with other faith traditions] because that is our history."

Opened in 1871, St. Paul's educated children until the early 1990s, when the school closed for financial reasons.

"I hope that since we used to have a school and have a long history, in the future we can expand to include a primary school," Dagher said. "But we need to start small and grow step by step."

St. Paul's boasts a vibrant congregation that includes more than 200 people and several young people who are qualified and enthusiastic about contributing to the school's success.

"I am hoping to make these people part of this project," Dagher said. "Some have degrees and we need qualified teachers to obtain the [education] license from the government."

Evolving partnership

In April, 2004, Sandy Smock, senior warden at Church of Our Saviour, had a conversation with the Rt. Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal, Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, after he and his wife, Sue, encouraged their parish to adopt a sister parish in Galilee.

El-Assal offered to fund the construction of the school on condition that the Diocese of Los Angeles and Church of Our Saviour raised the $150,000 needed to buy the land adjacent to the church on which the school will be built.

Furthering its commitment to Christians in the Holy Land, the Los Angeles diocese entered into a companion relationship with the Diocese of Jerusalem in December, 2004.

Smock explained that the relationship, which he heads, has evolved with the help of Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles and the Rev. George Woodward, chair of the diocese's World Mission Group and rector of St. Edmund's Church in San Marino, California.

"My wife and I have committed to coming back here once a year minimum to show our support for the rest of our lives," Smock said. "And we will try to bring as many people here from the Diocese of Los Angeles as we can."

Education is essential

"Education is absolutely the key for Palestinians and it is something that can never be taken away from them," Sue Smock said. "It also offers the chance for Muslims and Christians to grow up together – as they will at St. Paul's – and know each other as real people and not as stereotypes."

The Smocks hope to help develop online learning for college-age students in connection with educational institutions in the U.S., an initiative that would enable Palestinians to receive degrees without having to leave the country.

"That way, if there are curfews or problems that tie them to their own homes or limit their ability to travel, they still could work on their education," she said.

Shefa Amr – also known as Shefara'am depending on tradition – is a town of 30,000 residents 15 miles from Nazareth that has excellent interfaith relations.

"We don't evangelize," Dagher said. "I don't believe we need to convert people from being Muslims to Christian. This is not the aim or vision in our mind as a church."

"We belong to the same tradition, whether we are Arabs, Muslims, Christians or Jews," he added. "We have the same ambitions and walk the same tunnel and we need to see the light at the end of this tunnel together."

The Smocks became godparents of Dagher's daughter at a service of thanksgiving October 16 – a testimony to the strength of their relationship with the parish. "That was such a tremendous honor," Sue Smock said. "We feel so privileged that they want us to be a part of their lives."

There are other schools in the Diocese of Jerusalem that need this kind of relationship, Sandy Smock said, citing St. Andrew's, Ramallah and St. John's, Haifa as examples.

"Starting a sister parish relationship does not require lots of money for it to be successful," Sue Smock said. "We have done some wonderful things that didn't cost anything like pen pal arrangements, or last Christmas when our choir learned silent night in Arabic and sent it over to St. Paul's."

Likewise, St. Paul's choir also recorded a Christmas carol in English, which Church of Our Saviour played at a Christmas Eve service.

"The relationships we have built here in the Holy Land are very real and very personal and something that we intend to continue all our lives," Sue Smock said. "And we are committed to coming back every year and do whatever we can to help because we really believe that Christians in the Holy Land need all the help we can give."

The Smocks plan to return to the Holy Land in October, 2005, accompanied by Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles and many more parishioners from the diocese.

Episcopal News Service
Matthew Davies is international correspondent / multimedia manager for the Episcopal News Service.