“It’s hard to explain the benefit of seeing the actual area where Jesus walked but
it makes reading my Bible a whole new experience,” said Aleta Mayrose, an Ann and
Joe O. Neuhoff School of Ministry Holy Land trip participant.
Mayrose was particularly surprised by how much the topography affected her impressions of the Holy Land. She noticed with astonishment that the Kidron Valley, running east of Jerusalem and the site of many scenes from the lives of Christ, David, and other Old Testament kings and prophets was surprisingly small.
“I think we drove about 30 minutes and in that time we went from lush valley to desert to mountain top and from 1,300 feet below sea level to 800 feet above sea level. You just have to see it to understand it,” said Mayrose.
Mayrose and her fellow pilgrims spent 13 days in the Holy Land, journeying through the land of the Bible and walking in the footsteps of Israel’s patriarchs, matriarchs, kings and prophets. Highlights included the tomb of King David, the Negev, where God revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and many important sites in Jerusalem including the Holy Sepulchre, Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to explore so many facets of the Holy Land – archaeological, historical, biblical, spiritual and even political and agricultural!” said Maggie Frederick, CBS ’12, another trip participant.
The trip was led by Neuhoff School of Ministry instructors Fr. Rafael Ramirez, SSD, Gene Giuliano, Pía Septien and archaeologist Maura Sala, whose combined expertise in the Old Testament and Levantine archaeology respectively, enabled participants to gain a deep understanding of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and the evolving ancient culture that shaped the lives of the men and women of the Bible.The itinerary also included time for daily prayer and the celebration of the liturgy.
View photos from the trip at the Neuhoff School of Ministry Facebook page >>
The University of Dallas has announced a new director of civil rights, Luciana Milano. Milano, who has a Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard College and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law, began her new role on Oct. 12.
+ Read More“This is the first time we’ve had a scholarship in honor of a great Catholic intellectual — and now, within the last year, saint,” said President Thomas S. Hibbs, Ph.D., BA ’82 MA ’83, by way of introducing the St. John Henry Newman Scholarship in Philosophy recently endowed by alumnus Matthew Hejduk, MA '98 PhD '06, and his wife, Julia Hejduk, Ph.D. Julia was a colleague of Hibbs during his time at Baylor University, where she teaches in the Classics Department.
+ Read MoreMichelle Cortez-Gonzales, MFA ’20, was a Fort Worth ISD high school teacher with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Texas at Arlington when she decided to go back to school to get her master’s. At the recommendation of a friend, she visited UD, and knew immediately from the wooded area around the Art Village, the architecture of the buildings, and the faculty members she met that UD was the place for her.
+ Read More
