If you’re curious about CNEWA, a great place to find information is at the top of this page, in the “About” section. But an in-depth history of the organization and how it began hasn’t really been available.
Until now.
We’ve just posted online the first chapter of “Catholic Near East Welfare Association: The Foundational Years” by Bishop John Gavin Nolan, who served as the National Secretary for CNEWA and President of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine from 1966 to 1987. We’ll be posting additional chapters every Monday.
As his successor, Msgr. Robert Stern, notes in his introduction:
In spite of continual interruptions of the work due to the responsibilities of his position, Bishop Nolan completed this first draft of a history of these foundational years…It is an eminently readable and captivatingly informative narrative.
For those who have not been privileged to know and work with its author, Bishop Nolan clearly stands out in the later history of CNEWA. A challenge for the future is to tell the comparably fascinating tale of his years of leadership!
Check out the link on our website for more, and we invite you to revisit every Monday, as more chapters are added and this remarkable story continues to unfold.