Link: https://cathnews.co.nz/2023/07/10/br-peter-bray/
From: CathNews New Zealand
Br Peter Bray, Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University since 2009, is stepping down at the end of 2023, and has been awarded the Papal Cross of Honour, one of the highest honours the Pope can bestow.
Bray describes his tenure as a blessing and the most challenging job of his career.
“I have never been in a place where it is so obvious that what we are doing is worthwhile,” he told the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference Communications Advisor.
He says the complexity of the university, the context in which it exists, and the unpredictability of so much that happens make it a very challenging and difficult job.
Over the New Zealand summer, Bray undertook a speaking tour of New Zealand, engaging with Catholics about the lives and conditions of his students and ordinary Palestinians.
Bethlehem University, established in 1973, was the first registered university in the Occupied West Bank and is the only Catholic university in the Holy Land.
Br Hector Hernán Santos González from Paraguay has been elected as the new Vice-Chancellor and will assume full responsibility on 1 January 2024.