It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of the Most Rev. Samir Hanna Kafity, the retired twelfth bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem and president bishop and primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, and bishop-in-residence at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Poway, who died on the afternoon of August 21 at home after a stroke.
He was 82 years old.
Bishop Samir was an important part of our diocese for many years, and even after his retirement, he continued to support the ministry of the diocese in the region. Bishop Samir was born on September 21, 1933 in Haifa, Palestine to an Anglican family. His childhood education was at St. John’s Anglican school in Haifa until 1948 the year of the Nakba, when his family left Haifa to Nablus in the West Bank.
He was educated in Beirut, Lebanon at the American University of Beirut and the Near East School of Theology. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1958 at St. George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem. After ministering as parish priest there, he served at St. Andrew’s, Ramallah; St. Peter’s, Birzeit; and All Saints, Beirut, where he served in the capacity of parish priest and archdeacon. In 1976, he returned to St. George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem to be the executive secretary of the diocesan council.
In 1982, he became coadjutor bishop of Jerusalem and in 1984; he became the twelfth Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. For the next 14 years he served in that position, the second Palestinian Arab to do so.
As Bishop, he was instrumental in developing many of the local institutions of the diocese. He served two five-year terms as the provincial president-bishop and primate to Jerusalem, prior to his retirement in 1998. Bishop Kafity was active in local and international ecumenism through the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches, which made him an honorary life president. He was also a member of the Anglican Consultative Council, where he served on the standing committee. He participated in numerous interfaith committees, including the Royal Jordanian Committee on Jerusalem, The Interfaith Committee of Jerusalem and the Clergy of the Three Faiths for Peace.
He received the Star of Bethlehem from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, was dubbed a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, was made an honorary chaplain by the Order of St. John, was awarded the Royal Jordanian Star, second degree, by King Hussein and was made a life member on the supreme council of the YMCA. He was awarded honorary degrees by Virginia Theological Seminary, Dickson College and the University of Kent at Canterbury.
In 1998, he retired to Poway, California to be close to his daughters and served as Bishop-in-Residence at St Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Poway. During his retirement in the US, Bishop Kafity continued to be active in interfaith and Middle East issues. After he became an American citizen, he was made an honorary colleague in the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops.
At his first Synod, as a Diocesan Bishop, Bishop Samir opened the Synod with these words:
“The Tune of Love will enable us to accomplish whatever we can’t without love, Love conquers all things. Love transforms all things; love gathers and does not scatter.”
With his love for all people, Bishop Samir took the Diocese from strength to strength, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, from glory to glory. It would take books to record the things that he did for his diocese and his people in the Land of the Holy One and across the Diocese.
Above all he was like a father for all his clergy. I remember with affection my time with him and his family in Beirut in the 1970s. Besides being my mentor, Bishop Samir offered me great support and spiritual direction during my Theological training.
Another important station in our lives together, Bishop Samir was delighted to share with me and my family and Diocese the day of my enthronement as the 14th Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem in 2007. Moreover, his dream for the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem to re-instate the Archbishopric in Jerusalem was fulfilled in November of last year, thus I became the first indigenous Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem.
All our clergy and parishes and institutions join me in offering our sincere and heartfelt condolences and sympathy to Najat, Samar and Rula, his grandchildren: Bishara, Serene, Michael and Mark, their families and friends and Kafity, Abed and Salfity families; you are all in our thoughts and prayers. Your loss is our loss and grief. Next Thursday I will preside over a memorial service in Amman-Jordan and in Beirut the same day. These will be other occasions to celebrate the life of a faithful man, a loving husband and dad, a great deacon, priest and Bishop, who gave all he could for his loved ones and his church.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whose great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Pet. 1:3).
Give rest, O Christ, to your servant Samir with your saints, where sorrow and pain are no more, neither sighing, but eternal life.
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Amen
