March 7, 2018

We spent a wonderful few hours at Bethlehem University right here in Bethlehem, getting a tour and meeting some of the student ambassadors. It’s an amazing school founded by LaSallian brothers who were given a commission from the Pope after he visited the middle east in the 1970s. The mission is to provide high-quality education for Christian and other students in the region who wouldn’t otherwise have access to good education because the economic opportunities for students are quite limited without education. We have a special connection to BU because most of us know well Sister Florence Steichen in St. Paul, who worked as Registrar at BU in the 1980’s and at a time when it was closed by the Israeli government and tried to hold classes in secret. The campus has been hit by Israeli rockets in the past and at one time a student was killed on campus by an Israeli sniper; however is normally an oasis of peace and safety.

One of the great things about it is that it’s about 1/3 Christian students and 2/3 Muslim students and the harmony on campus is palpable. About 3000 students study of the ride here of high-level courses including nursing (which has a 100% job placement success), arts and literature, tourism, science, and accounting. Good luck in your studies!