On Saturday, we were privileged to meet with Elias Chacour, Archbishop of Akko, Haifi, Nazareth, and Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Archbishop Chacour describes himself as a Palestinian-Arab-Christian-Israeli.

 Chacour is the author of Blood Brothers which the pilgrims read before traveling to the Holy Land. Blood Brothers is the true story of Chacour’s early life on the Sea of Galilee and his plea for reconciliation among the Christians, Muslims and Jews. It is a simple and moving story of his work to heal the conflict of his homeland. The Archbishop spent much time explaining the situation in the Holy Land and answering our questions. One of many things that he said was, “Do not become one-sided, when you do, you reduce yourself to be one more enemy and we don’t need any more enemies.” He also told us that they don’t need to learn how to live together, but they need to remember how they lived together.

 Archbishop Chacour was genuinely interested and supportive of the HOPE project. He asked each of us to describe why we were in the Holy Land and what we had done for the benefit of the teachers, parents and especially the children who live there.  He then expressed deep gratitude for our mission in the Holy Land.

A letter from Archbishop Dennis Schnurr was presented to Archbishop Chacour along with a book about the History of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.  We also gave him a book about HOPE signed by all of the 2012 pilgrims and a pen & pencil set as a symbolic gift of thanks for his book Blood Brothers.

Afterwards, Chacour signed our books and posed individually for a photo with each of us. Truly it was an unforgettable experience, meeting a Palestinian-Arab-Christian-Israeli working for peace in Israel.

Photos by Mark Bowen/HOPE