Washington D.C., Mar 8, 2018 / 10:09 am
As a sign of solidarity with Catholics in the Middle East, the National Council of Catholic Women has set up a pen-pal exchange pairing Catholic schools in the United States with those in the Holy Land.
"We determined that a very effective way to assure them that we know and care about them and pray for them is to begin a program with our USA Catholic schools and their Franciscan schools in the Holy Land," said NCCW President Maribeth Stewart.
The first schools to participate are Saint Lawrence School, a pre-K-8 school in West Haven, Connecticut and Terra Sancta College in Bethlehem, which serves preschool through high school students. The grade school students will be the first to take part in the program.
The Holy Land Project has started with younger children exchanging drawings and older students exchanging letters. According to the council, the students have been excited to learn from each other's culture and explore similar point of interests, like sports, hobbies, family, and faith.