[HWPL]

[HWPL] ‘Peace Appreciation Plaque’ and Appointment as Honorary Principal awarded to Chairman Lee by ‘Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI)' in Israel

A peace appreciation plaque presented by Elias Chacour, Founder of the Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI), to Chairman Man-Hee Lee

The message of peace proclaimed to the global village by Man-hee Lee, Chairman of Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), has manifested into solid educational material for posterity. On December 2nd 2015, the fruits of Chairman Lee's peace movement turned eyes and ears within the educational system in Israel. Mar Elias Educational Institutions (MEEI, Principal Father Elias Chacour), which is one of the top five schools in Israel, was designated as the 'First HWPL Peace Academy', and Chairman Lee was appointed honorary principal. Fr. Elias delivered a plaque of appreciation to the chairman who visited his school on that day.

This was done to acknowledge Chairman Lee's tireless work for world peace and the fight against war. In addition, the  school decided to conduct peace education using HWPL peace material for about 3,000 students once or twice per semester.

The 1st HWPL Peace School designation ceremony held at Mar Elias School in Ibilin, northern Israel, on December 2nd 2015

“A prophet and messenger of peace has come from a distant land - not the Middle East, but the East beyond the Mediterranean Sea. We have become one with this messenger of peace who has come in the name of the Lord. With my own eyes, I have witnessed this representative cry out for a world of peace that is established on inclusivity and justice. Chairman Lee received the heavenly duty of attainig peace for humanity. Chairman Lee's visit is a real blessing for us.”

Principal Elias explained about the school's guest representative to students. He said, “HWPL’s acts of peace are establishing the way forward for people around the world. I hope that through HWPL’s peace education, the students of Mar Elias School will become messengers of peace, like Chairman Lee, and become a leading example to the world’s youth.”

Chairman Lee told students that day, “If people who have received the grace of heaven cause conflict and war, this cannot be the will of the Creator God. We are all children of one God, so it would be right to love our neighbors as ourselves. ” He also said, “That these young people, born in the same world as you and I, have been cut down before their lives had a chance to bloom, is unfair. Neither politics nor legislation is able to offer compensation to those youth who have lost their lives in war.”

In response, Principal Elias said, "We have reached a historic day," and, "It is a day to think about who I am and what kind of work I should do."

Why has Mar Elias School, a prestigious Israeli comprehensive educational institution with a full curriculum from kindergarten to university, paid attention to the peace movement of HWPL's Chairman Lee? Why did Principal Elias decide to incorporate HWPL's peace curriculum within the school's own?

It is because of the lasting impression made on Principal Elias who attended the 1st World Peace Summit held in Seoul on September 17th-19th 2014. He directly witnessed the unity of 200,000 members of our global community in an event that transcended creed, race, border, and ideology. The site of the WARP Summit was as if the results of the peace movement that Principal Elias had been carrying out in Israel had come true. He signed the Unity of Religions Agreement and promised to become an ambassador for HWPL.

After attending the 1st WARP Summit in Korea in September 2014, Fr. Elias returned to Israel to establish an HWPL WARP Office and actively participated in the WARP Dialogue of Scriptures. Fr. Elias responds to the scripture dialogue questions with an 'O' plate

Has anyone in Israel, more than Fr. Elias, longed for peace and made practical efforts to achieve it? As the son of native Palestinian refugees, he has dedicated his life to establishing peace between Israel and Palestine for more than 50 years, to the extent that he has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.

He founded the Mar Elias Educational Institutions as part of his peace movement. Founded in 1980 in Ibillin, northern Israel, the school was established by Fr. Elias to achieve peace and harmony among Arab Christians, Muslims and Jews. It seems that he was able to better empathize with the peace movement led by Chairman Lee because it was Fr. Elias who has directly worked to achieve peace.

He actively participated in HWPL's peace movement. He personally attended the 2nd annual commemoration of the WARP Summit held in Korea in September 2016, one year after the establishment of the HWPL Peace Academy. On May 25th 2017, a congratulatory message was played at the ceremony to commemorate the public proclamation of the Declaration of World Peace. He paid a visit to the celebrations of the third annual commemoration of the WARP Summit held that same year. In March 2018, he wrote an official letter to the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week to recommend HWPL as a HWPL's ambassador. Mar Elias Educational Institutions held an Israel-Palestine Peace Camp with HWPL on March 29th 2019.

Fr. Elias is also well-versed in the religious field. He received his PhD in Theology from St. Sulpice Seminary (Paris, France), and his PhD in Bible and Talmudic Studies (Hebrew University, Jerusalem). He was ordained a priest of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1965 and is archbishop emeritus. He currently serves as Vice President of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. He participated a total of 28 times (23 times in Ibilin, 5 times in Jerusalem), until July 2018, in activities such as the WARP Dialogue of Scriptures, which began in April 2015 in Israel after Fr. Elias provided a location for a WARP Office there.

HWPL Chairman Man-hee Lee had dialogue with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan during the 22nd Peace Tour in Jerusalem, which included the designation of an HWPL Peace Academy at an awards ceremony. Local religious leaders exchanged messages of peace, including peace discussions with Patriarch Theophilus III of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, in Israel, in addition to the Mar Elias Educational Institutions, teachers and students from Yusufiya Middle School participated in the HWPL Peace Camp held in Korea for 7 days and 6 nights from June 23th to 28th 2018. At this time, Yusufiya Middle School appointed Chairman Lee as school honorary principal, and HWPL appointed Majida Mansour as the peace teacher.

On the first floor of the HWPL Peace Institute in Gapyeong district, Gyeonggi province, the plaques and gifts that Chairman Man-hee Lee and his peace delegation received from people from all over the world are on display

Peace!