On the first day of the Theology and the Local Church Conference, an evening honoring the memory of the founder of Al-Liqa\u2019 Center and its first director, the late Dr. Geries Sa\u2019ad Khoury, was held. It was introduced by Mr. Ziad Shlewit, member of Al-Liqa\u2019 Center in the Galilee. He began by saying: \u201cWho among us was not bereaved of his sudden death? Who among us was not shocked by his unexpected departure? Who among us did not stand helpless before fate and God\u2019s will? Who among us did not wish that what he is passing through is a hideous nightmare? Ten months have passed and we do not believe yet that you left us and that you are no longer among us? Ten months have passed and we cannot imagine that Al-Liqa\u2019 Center, its conferences and its activities are done without you! Ten months have passed and we have been waiting for a telephone call from you\u2026 a consultation session\u2026 an invitation\u2026 is this an evening honoring you\u2026 oh you who did well honoring others? Or is this a commemorative evening and you are still present among us?\u201d<\/p>\n
In the evening, a number of the friends of the late Dr. Khoury talked. The first speaker was his eminence Bishop Butros Al-Mu\u2019allem who recalled the song of Fayrouz \u201cPeople Asked Me about You?\u201d which she presented to her husband Asi after his departure, in which she says: \u201cFor the first time we are not together.\u201d He said: \u201cWe for the first time hold Al-Liqa\u2019 Conference without D. Geries whom sudden death made him disappear from us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He was followed by Mr. Mousa Darwish, deputy director of Al-Liqa\u2019 Center who said about his friend that \u201che enjoyed moral audacity. He said what should be said\u2026 He had one face. He continuously sought respecting the other. National unity was his obsession and he sought respecting the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
His friend, lawyer Ali Rafi\u2019 said: \u201cDespite his many and permanent preoccupations, he was interested in picking olives in his village in its season. We discovered that this man did not neglect his family and his house.\u201d Mr. Yousef Matar talked about his relationship with Dr. Geries which goes back to the time before the establishment of Al-Liqa\u2019 Center. He enumerated some of his outstanding traits. He conveyed condolences to his family and to Al-Liqa\u2019 family on this enormous loss. Sheikh Fawwaz Hussein emphasized the importance of what the late Dr. Khoury had achieved for his society and for thought and he called for continuing the march of Al-Liqa\u2019. Dr. Muhammad Habib-Allah recalled his relationship with the late Dr. Khoury when he was deputy director of the Arabic College of Education in Haifa, and Dr. Geries came to teach Christian education in it, and the dialogues which took place between the two of them, and the late Dr. Khoury\u2019s emphasis on dialogue and shared living. Poet Attallah Jaber and Mr. Nathmat Khamayse delivered poems elegizing the late Dr. Khoury. The poems were replete with personal feelings and lauding the outstanding personal traits of the late Dr. Khoury.<\/p>\n
The final speech was by lawyer Bishara Geries Khoury, son of the late Dr. Khoury. He thanked Al-Liqa\u2019 Center and its Board of Trustees for all what they did in order to continue the march which his father had begun. He emphasized that he will continue on the national and human method.<\/p>\n
During the evening, pictured sections of a number of the speeches of Dr. Geries in Al-Liqa\u2019 Conferences were shown. At the conclusion of the evening, the Board of Trustees of Al-Liqa\u2019 Center and its administration presented a special plaque to the wife of Dr. Geries and his family.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Bethlehem, 3 December 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the first day of the Theology and the Local Church Conference, an evening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-54","category-al-liqa-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2313,"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions\/2313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/al-liqacenter.org.ps\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}