Father Marwan Dadas has a very particular and rich history that, in a way, reflects the complex reality of Holy Land. Born to an Orthodox father and a Catholic mother of the Latin rite, he was baptized in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Later, he was educated in an Anglican school. However, he was eventually ordained a Franciscan priest.
"When I was young I met some friends who were part of the Franciscan Youth in the Old City of Jerusalem. I joined them because I liked the way these young people gathered to pray and meditate on the Word of God. Little by little I got to know the Franciscan friars better and I began to feel God's call to be part of this Franciscan fraternity.
By the end of my senior year of high school, I had already decided to enter the friary for a trial of Franciscan life with the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, but my parents were very strongly opposed. However, after so much insistence on my part, they had to accept and allowed me to enter the convent," she says.
After serving as a parish priest in two very important basilicas, the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth and the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, he became interested in communication, because he believes it is important, especially in a reality like the Holy Land, not only to spread the faith, but also to give correct information about the reality and the events of that region so afflicted. For this reason he is in Rome to study for a degree in Institutional Communication at the University of Rome. Pontifical University of the Holy Cross thanks to a grant from the CARF Foundation.
"I'm currently training with a view to returning and working in the Christian Media Center Jerusalem, where I will be able to evangelize through the media in my country. I would like to transmit the voice of the Christians of the Holy Land nationally and internationally, because our voice makes it clear that we are the living stones of the Land of Jesus and our life is a mission, a vocation to persevere in the faith. Representing the true identity of the Christians of the Holy Land is a duty, and if I really want to do it, I have to know how to do it, that's why I chose to study Social and Institutional Communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome".
He explains the situation of Christians in the Holy Land: "We Christians in the Holy Land are from many different churches. Certainly there is the Catholic Church, but there is also the Anglican Church, the Protestant Church as well as the Orthodox Churches".
However, he notes, "Christians live together in great harmony of faith, because we believe in the same God and savior Jesus Christ. Our absolute need is to affirm our existence and presence, as a united body, because we are less than 2% of the population of the world. Holy Land (the State of Israel alone has almost 9.5 million inhabitants), so we are really a minority. It is normal, then, that there is this need for self-affirmation, and to say that we are really present; in fact, we are present from the scientific and educational point of view, we are present from the administrative point of view in the world of work and business and also, we are present from the point of view of faith. Christians in the Holy Land are a minority in number, but not in quality".
