Ann Andriacco, President of HOPE and  former St. Dominic DRE along with  Bob Bonnici, religion teacher at Our Lady of Mercy High School will work together with Suhail Daoud. Suhail was part of the HOPE LPS delegation which visited  Cincinnati in 2011.  Suhail is also a religion teacher. Ann and Bob will be working on a digital photography project with the students in Zababdeh, the students will be the photographers. Their work will be brought back to Cincinnati to be used by a collaborative group of students from St. William, St. Dominic, St. Teresa of Avila and Walnut Hills schools. The group meets at Elder High School and uses their equipment for their projects. The Cincinnati students will use the photos to create a 2018 digital calendar which they will share with the students in Zababdeh.  

Bob (in orange plaid) and Ann (to his right) pictured with Team Nablus

Meet Ann Andriacco

Ann Andriacco was born in Cincinnati, OH and raised in St. Dominic Parish on the Westside. She has been married for 41 years to Dan Andriacco and they have three children (2 sons and a daughter) and now six grandchildren (2 boys and four girls!). In 1987, Ann decided to “be a teacher.” She had already earned a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati and worked (until the day before their first child was born) in the Mental Health field, now it would be known as Art Therapy. She  attended  Mount Saint Joseph University to earn a teaching degree and then returned to the parish of her birth where she taught from 1989-2001. She felt the call and the nudge of the Holy Spirit to pursue more knowledge of our Catholic faith. It led her to the Athenaeum of Ohio and the University of Dayton for additional course work.  In September 2001 she became the Director of Religious Education for St. Dominic Parish. She oversaw the sacramental preparation for the parish, worked with the students to become  cantors and lectors at Mass, etc. Ann recently retired in 2015.

This will be Ann’s second trip to the Holy Land. She went on a pilgrimage in December 2014 with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. She  fell in love with the Holy Land and knew someday she would return. Ann is looking forward to returning to the Sea of Galilee where she felt closest to the Lord while on the banks of the sea. She is  especially looking forward to seeing Saad Rahhal from Jaffa Nazareth who stayed with her and her husband last October.

Ann is excited about beginning a twinning relationship with the parish she will be visiting in Zababdah, Palestine. Most of all she  can’t wait to get to know her twinning partners  better to forge a friendship across the world. While in Zababdah,  she will be doing a photography project with the students in the school about the wonderful cooperation there is among the three faiths who attend the school: Christians, Muslims and Samaratins. She  also is bringing letters from a Brownie Girl Scout Troop in Cincinnati who want to correspond with partners in the Holy Land. She will also have notes from many ages of students of St. Dominic School to share with the students in Palestine.

 Meet Bob Bonnici

Bob teaches religion at Mother of Mercy High School.

Bob’s first journey to Israel was when he was in grad school when he went on a Biblical archaeology tour. One of the holy sites he is hoping to see is  Jacob’s Well in Nablus, the  place where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman.

He is also looking forward to visiting the Catholic schools  in the West Bank. He hopes to begin a sister relationship between Mercy  in Cincinnati and the school in Zababdeh

for mutual enrichment and support.