Al-Liqa’ Center for Religious and Heritage Studies in the Holy Land
Celebrates the Silver Jubilee 1982-2007
Mrs. Hanadi Sudah -Younan
Your Beatitude, honorable clergy and sheikhs, guests: local and visiting, ladies and gentlemen. Al-Liqa' Center reflects the Palestinian identity that is based on resistance, resilience, hope and struggle to achieve justice and peace. Since its establishment in 1982, the center became the beacon that called peoples of different faiths to meet. It provided a safe and constructive environment inductive to dialogue among the different faiths communities in Palestine. The center, under the guidance of its Board of Trustees led by his eminence Patriarch Michel Sabbah, and its tireless director Dr. Geries S. Khoury, works on fulfilling its mission of building the foundation and creating opportunities for "interfaith and cultural dialogue, Palestinian Contextualized Theology, youth activities, international activities, and the publication of journals, newsletters, books and occasional papers." [Mission Statement]
Throughout the past 25 years, Al-Liqa' center excelled in documenting and availing authoritative and factual information regarding the different religions in the area despite all the political, economic and social challenges it faced. Its publications are trusted references on religions, the environment of co-existence and interfaith dialogue in the Holy Land. It disseminates trustworthy, documented researched information about history, current political facts and challenges, social and economic challenges as well as advances, successes and realistic hopes in all these areas. On this occasion, it is important to note the invaluable contributions of Father Dr. Rafiq Khoury who oversees the publication of the Al-Liqa' Journal in Arabic since its establishment 23 years ago.
Al-Liqa' Center is proud of the contributions it makes in all its activities that will lead us to peace and justice. And, on its 25th anniversary, the family of Al-Liqa' family is grateful to all its catholic and protestant contributors. A special word of gratitude goes to Missio Aachen whose continuous support has helped the center in advancing its mission. Without the support of Missio Aachen and others, financial and/or moral, the center would not have been able to continue to achieve its goals in the Holy Land. Another word of thanks goes to each one of you present today, to all those who were not able to make it, and to all those who helped al-Liqa' center throughout the years in all its activities including tonight's celebration. Thank you all for your support and let us mark this moment as the beginning of the work on making the next 25 years as prosperous as, if not more successful than, the past ones.
Let us celebrate our jubilee by a promise of continuous work to keep hope alive for justice and peace in the Holy Land.