H.B. Patriarch Michel
Sabbah’s Speech at the Inauguration Ceremony of the Turath Center
Bethlehem, September 30, 2003
It is my pleasure to welcome you all and to acknowledge the work of those who
collaborated to create this center, of which the aim is to serve and help people
have a dignified life through their work.
We live in a time in which inhuman conditions are imposed on the Palestinian
society here in Bethlehem and elsewhere. The permanent siege which had
transformed the Palestinian villages and towns into big prisons, made it
impossible to lead a normal life. Despite this, many are at work to help the
human being in this time of war to overcome difficulties and to find a human way
of living. Poverty and need indeed in our present days can easily lead some to
moral degradation which is the demolition and the real defeat of the Palestinian
society, while others exploit the poverty and absence of authority to allow
corruption in their souls and deeds, and corruption of the strong means the
stealing of the money of the poor.
Therefore any effort done towards helping people to decently earn their life is
in itself a basic education and protection of the society. And so generosity
coming from others will not remain a mere passive assistance and hence a second
dependency and servitude, the first being the military foreign occupation, and a
second loss of one's freedom, when people becomes dependent only on generosity.
I have to thank our partners, the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF),
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and US Agency for International
Development (USAID/MAP), and all the others who supported the center, for all
the work they are doing in this country, for the Palestinian society, and sure
for this Center which we are inaugurating today.
The Latin Patriarchate, in addition to the religious Christian education, used
to care also for the human development of the Christian community as such, fully
integrated within the whole Palestinian society, (Moslems and Christians), with
its sorrows and hopes. Today, it is a big challenge to help people feel that
they are supported, not abandoned. Indeed our message to our faithful is: do not
lose courage; keep hoping through the present trials, you are able to overcome
them with the spiritual joy of the faithful, as says St Peter in his first
letter: "This is a great joy for you, even though a short time you must bear all
sorts of trials...You are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot
be described" (1Pt 1: 6.8). To discover the sources of this spiritual joy and
strength, the Patriarchate is facing all the challenges in these days with all
the society, and tries to inspire everyone the power to bear, to resist and to
overcome all difficulties, waiting for the time when real freedom and dignity
will be given back to all Palestinians.
I would like to add a precision about the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical
Foundation. We as Patriarchate, along with other Churches, we have given our
full support to this Ecumenical Association, started few years ago by Christian
Palestinians emigrated in the US.
The mission of the association is to give to all Christian Palestinians who
emigrated a full awareness of their identity and their ties with the mother
Church and their Home Land. The aim is to help them to remain present in the
land they have left, through their thought, their action and their voice. We
would like indeed to see all Christians united together to be better
Palestinians and better Christians, in order to be able to give a real support
to their Palestinian society through the richness of their faith.
We keep calling upon all to unite and coordinate all efforts of all associations
in order to reach this aim: to have a well defined Christian Palestinian
identity and a strong presence abroad and here in the land, not to form a closed
society, but to remain open, aware of its belonging to all their society, Moslem
and Christian, and to be in it a source of action and spiritual strength.
I hope this Center will be a successful help in order to reach this aim. Finally
I would like to thank Father Majdi Siriani, Mr. Rateb Rabie, Mr. George Ghattas,
and all those who work with them for their leading action in this field.
You can read also these information about this project which was distributed to
all the guests, or visit their Web Site:
http://www.turathcenter.org
The Turath Center project was conceived by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
and developed in conjunction with the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation
(HCEF), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and US Agency for
Informational Development (USAID) Market Access Program, to support and promote
the development of Palestinian handicrafts industry and to provide them with
improved access to international markets.
Turath Center aims to increase market competitiveness, quality standards and
productivity as well as to build capacity in the Palestinian handicraft sector.
Turath Center will also promote Palestinian cultural heritage through showcasing
and marketing arts and design in a wide variety of product categories.
Turath Center's mission is to become the principal address for Palestinian
handicrafts. From opening day on September 30, 2003, Turath Center will house a
quality control, packaging and shipping department. Business support services,
including financial facilitation, order and inventory management, design and
marketing will be provided to qualified producers.
Source : HCEF :
http://www.hcef.org/