Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Northwestern Lieutenancy

Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre in Cyprus
By Terry O’Brien, KGCHS

The Lieutenants of the Order were invited by Cardinal Grand Master Foley to participate in a pilgrimage to Cyprus on the occasion of the June visit of Pope Benedict XVI. The Order was well represented by members of the Grand Magisterium and Lieutenants from around the world, including the Northwestern Lieutenancy. When processing and seated as a group in our robes we made a very favorable impression!

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA,

SISTER CITY: BETHLEHEM

As an introduction to the Sir John H. McGuckin Mentoring Program, three students from Bethlehem University are interns in the Bay Area for the summer and one is in Southern California. The following are biographies of each of the new interns:

Name: Nadine Elias Jildeh
Residence: Jerusalem
Major: Accounting
Host Family: Mr. Albet Hazboun
Company: El Dorado Hills Town Center - El Dorado Hills
Short Bio:

GETTING TO KNOW OUR MEMBERS

The Brother Vincent Malham Center

The Brother Vincent Malham Center was blessed and dedicated on Wednesday,
April 14, 2010. The Center is located in an historic 100 year old Bethlehem home located next to Manger Square off Milk Grotto Street and comes to Bethlehem University through the kindness of donations through the Brother Vincent Malham Memorial Fund and the consistent generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Moley, whose support throughout the years has been very instrumental in providing quality higher education to the Palestinian people .

Newsletter
June 2010
Città del Vaticano Message from the Cardinal Grand Master

Dear Knights and Ladies,

Mark your Calendar

Annual Meeting in Reno
OPEN WIDE THE GATES OF JERUSALEM
October 8 – 11, 2010
Peppermill Hotel
Reno, Nevada

The Reno Steering Committee is looking forward to greeting you in Reno for the 17th Annual Meeting of our Lieutenancy and renewing old friendships and welcoming our new Investees. The Annual Meeting is a time for the whole Lieutenancy to get together and strengthen the bond we all share in our concern for our fellow Christians in the Holy Land.

Dear Knights and Ladies,

Mark Twain once stated: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Yes, it is foggy and overcast here in San Francisco, but for most of you, hopefully, the sun is shining and you are relaxing with family and friends this summer.

While the weather may be dreary here, the past few months have brought forth exciting events for the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Please peruse this newsletter to learn more about:

Archbishop Schwietz’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land with nineteen other pilgrims.

Gaza Student Completes Her Bachelors Degree from Bethlehem University
• Ms. Berlanty Azzam completes course requirements for her bachelors degree!
• 75 days from when she was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken from Bethlehem to Gaza
• Berlanty graduates in Gaza at the Holy Family Church
• Bethlehem University expressed gratitude to Gisha and to thousands of local and international friends who joined in the efforts to seek justice for Berlanty.
• Bethlehem University continues to seek support for other Palestinian students from Gaza to enroll in and attend courses at the Vatican-sponsored Bethlehem University – as well as at all other Palestinian universities in the West Bank or Gaza.

News Letter Citta del Vaticano No. XVII • December 2009
Holy Land Projects

In September the Members of the Grand Magisterium’s Holy Land Commission visited the Holy Land. They gained a picture of the progress made with the 2009 Projects and saw for themselves the proposals made for 2010. Then, at the meeting of the Grand Magisterium held on 12 November last, the President of the Commission, Dr. Christa von
Siemens, reported the results of the visit and outlined the hopes for 2010:
“Building projects are sometimes criticized on the grounds that it would be better to provide
humanitarian aid. In my opinion, however, they are a powerful instrument in the realization of

GETTING TO KNOW OUR MEMBERS
as told by
Deacon Richard Edward Combs

I was working for Radio Corporation of America in New York City in 1954 as a Management Analyst when I was transferred to Beale Air Force Base, Marysville,
CA, as the Operations Audit Manager on the Atlas Missile Project. It was there that I met Yukiye who was employed as an Executive Secretary. We dated occasionally for two years, until I was transferred back to New York City as Assistant Controller in the National Broadcasting Company, a division of RCA.

Even though we wanted to get married her family would not approve so we corresponded until they finally gave their permission in 1965. Without that permission we would never have had 43 years of a very happy and unforgettable marriage. We were married in June of 1966 and lived in Santa Monica, California, where I had the position of Operational Audit Manager with Douglas Aircraft Company until 1972. I was offered a position as Management and Systems Analyst Consultant with Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles (LA). When the LA Department of the FAA was divided into three regions in 1972 we were transferred to Denver, Colorado in the same position. It was there that I was recommended for the Diaconate Program. Both Yukie and I attended the seminary part time for five years. I was ordained in 1981, Yuki was not. We decided that our ministry would be to the shut-ins, handicapped and terminally ill.

CARDINAL WILLIAM LEVADA ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
ACADEMIC YEAR 2009-2010

I am Tamer Ishaq, 4th year student major in Accounting at Bethlehem University and very grateful for the Cardinal William Levada Scholarship.

I am writing this letter to show you how much I appreciate the scholarship that I got from you. Your very kind support helped me to continue my studies and also to make my dream a reality. I am closer to my goal and my dream of further studies in a specialized field of Accounting.

Recently, I gained a lot of training from the internship program held last summer. I learned more regarding accounting and business in general, especially from the different Bethlehem Hotels where I made my training. This course is very helpful for me and I thank you again for the opportunity because of my scholarship.

Dear Knights and Ladies,

It seems as if we were just celebrating Christmas and now the Easter season is upon us!
This quarterly newsletter highlights many activities that our Knights and Ladies have participated in. They bring hope and love to our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. Your contributions, despite this economic downturn, have certainly increased the hope that someday they may enjoy peace and stability. Students, like Berlanty Azzam, have felt our support through an outpouring of letters and prayers. Berlanty has been able to graduate this January. However, there are many students that have been accepted to Bethlehem University, but because of their birthplace (Gaza) they are unable to travel to classes there. Your generosity has allowed us to provide computers for the Gaza students. Now they can attend classes via the internet. While sometimes there is a feeling that the issues of the Holy Land are insurmountable, helping one student at a time may be the answer. The students of today will be the leaders of tomorrow and the Order is making a difference!

Letters of Gratitude from Bethlehem University for your generous contributions on their behalf.

BETHLEHEM UNIVERSITY
جامعـــة بيـــت لحـــم

USA Development Office

October 5, 2009

H.E. Cardinal John Cardinal Foley
Borgo S. Spirito 73
Rome 11193
Italy
Alumni and Career Services Project Gift
Your Eminence,

On behalf of Brother Peter Bray, V ice Chancellor, I wish to acknowledge and thank you for the personal support – and to thank the Grand Magisterium for the very generous contribution of $50,000 to support the Alumni and Career Services Project. This project will now begin in earnest and you will be informed of its progress. As you may know, Lady Mary O’Brien, Lieutenant of the Northwestern lieutenancy, is also supporting this initiative with a focus on establishing the John McGuckin Mentorship Program.

Obituary

Please pray for the Repose of the Souls of

Sir William Dougherty, KGCHS, - Deceased 4/15/2009
Sir William and his wife Lady Lenore, LGCHS, were invested in the Order in 1995 and served as very active members of the Stockton Council.

Lady Charlene Day, LHS Deceased – 4/15/2009
Lady Charlene was pre-deceased by her husband, Sir John, KCHS. They were invested in 1998 and were in the Oregon Council.

Lady Yuklye Combs, LHS, - Deceased 5/30/2009
Lady Yuklye and her husband Deacon Richard Combs, KCHS, of Renton,
WA, were invested into the Order, she in 2003, and he in 1998.

PROFILE OF OUR MEMBERS

The Northwestern Lieutenancy is fortunate to have many wonderful members who are dedicated to the well-being of the people who live in the Holy Land. The Lieutenancy welcomes several individuals who were born in Palestine or Jordan or the general environs of the Holy Land. Two such couples are Joseph and Mai Dayyat and Kamel and Samira Totah.

Kamel and Samira Totah were born in Ramallah, Palestine and both were of families who emigrated in the United States in 1956. Kamel attended the University of Texas in Austin and graduated in 1964. Samira lived in San Francisco and attended St. Paul High School, graduating in 1964. Kamel and Samira married in San Francisco in 1964 and moved to Texas where they lived for 4 years. They moved to California with their two sons, had another son, and opened a grocery store in the Mission District in San Francisco. In 1987 they moved to Los Altos and opened a delicatessen/restaurant in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. Their children were all educated in the Bay Area and are successfully engaged in careers of accounting, marketing and engineering.

The Pope in the Holy Land
A Personal Memoir

by Rev Canon Donald Fraser, KCHS

Having visited the Holy Land every year since 2001, this last spring was definitely the most significant and inspiring. I spent a full month at my usual residence at the Patriarchal Seminary in Beit Jala, neighboring Bethlehem. As always, my hosts treated me as a member of the community, as indeed I have become. This time, we shared in the historic visit of the Holy Father to the Holy Land, the third time (or fourth, counting St. Peter) that a Pope has visited the holy sites of Jesus life and the beginnings of the Church.

Greetings Knights and Ladies!

This spring has been busier than most. It began with John Cardinal Foley’s Award Dinner at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome during the month of April. He was honored as an alumnus and for his affiliation as the Grand Master for the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Your Lieutenant traveled to the “Eternal City” with two other Ladies from the Order, Jane Waal and Jerry Lynn Sullivan, for the celebration. The Eastern and North Eastern Lieutenancies, and the Grand Magisterium were also represented at the dinner as well. Cardinal Foley was very appreciative of our attendance and perseverance in traveling so far.

E

ANNUAL DONATION

WE SINCERELY THANK OUR DONORS FOR THEIR
GENEROUS GIFTS TO THE ORDER THIS PAST YEAR. WITH
YOUR GENEROSITY OUR GOALS OF HELPING THE PATRIARCH
FULFILL HIS MANY COMMITMENTS CAN BE MET.
AS A RESULT SCHOOLS UNDER HIS JURISDICTION CAN
BE SUBSIDIZED AND MANY OF THE NEEDS OF THE
CHRISTIANS WHO MAINTAIN THEIR PRESENCE IN THE
HOLY LAND ARE BEING ADDRESSED.

WE ASK FOR A MINIMUM DONATION OF $600
PER MEMBER SENT TO OUR TREASURER (Envelope Enclosed)

Sir Leonard Vuylsteke, KHS
2838 East Burnside Street
Portland, OR 97214