GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PILGRIMAGE
June 30 – July 30, 2018
Cultural, Academic and Spiritual Pilgrimage for Diocesan Seminarians
This pilgrimage is open to seminarians only.
DETAILS
Overview of Program
June 30-July 5: Guided Retreat at Mount Tabor
July 6-July 8: Nazareth, site visits in Galilee
July 8-July 29: Bethany, classes and site visits in Jerusalem area
July 30: Departure
Typical Daily Schedule
7:00 am: Morning Prayer
7:15 am: Holy Mass
8:00 am: Breakfast
9:30 am: Site visits with expert guide
12:45 pm: Daytime Prayer
1:00 pm: Lunch
3:30 pm: Class
6:15 pm: Evening Prayer and Meditation
7:00 pm: Dinner
9:00 pm: Night Prayer (optional)
*Saturdays during the Jerusalem portion of the program are free for optional site visits with a friar guide, including the Dead Sea/Qumran, Tel Aviv/Jaffa, or other sites.
*Sundays are largely free for seminarians to experience the liturgical richness of the churches in the Jerusalem area.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Most of the program will be spent at the Comboni Spirituality Centre in Bethany. The Comboni Sisters’ facility includes:
Beautiful chapel,
First-rate English library
Peaceful gardens and terraces
Proximity to the Old City
The Centre abuts the security barrier and guests can see over the wall from the Centre’s rooftop terrace; this location is absolutely safe but allows guests to tangibly experience a divided neighborhood as an aspect of daily life in the Holy Land.
FACILITIES AND INSTRUCTORS
Some classes will be held at the Comboni Centre and others at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in the Old City, where seminarians will also have access to the SBF’s internationally renowned library.
All SBF faculty who teach and guide for this program are actively involved in archeological and/or textual research full-time in the Holy Land, including Eugenio Alliata OFM, Alessandro Coniglio OFM, and Gregor Geiger OFM. Seminarians will also hear from friars in leadership in the Custody of the Holy Land, as well as hear Jewish and Muslim representatives describe and reflect upon their experience of these sacred places.
COST
$4,000
Cost includes:
- Lodging
- Transportation within Israel
- Full board
- Honorarium fees for instructors and guides
- Entrance fees into museums and historical sites
- Offerings at shrines on behalf of the group
*Optional Saturday excursions are not included within the program cost.
*Participants are responsible for their own airfare to and from Tel Aviv. The itinerary expects participants to arrive June 30 and depart July 30, 2018.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Fr. Jason Welle OFM
The Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies
Viale di Trastevere 89
00153 Roma
(U.S.): (773) 272-6851
(Italy): +39 (06) 58392611
Fr. Jason is a Franciscan friar of the Assumption B.V.M. Province (U.S.A.) and has ministered for several years as a pilgrim guide in the Holy Land. Born and raised in Minnesota, he currently resides in Rome, where he teaches at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. He holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University.
