Suheil Dawani
Quick Facts
Biography
Suheil Salman Ibrahim Dawani (born Tablus, West Bank, 1951) is a Palestinian Anglican bishop. He has been the 15th Anglican bishop in Jerusalem since 15 April 2007. He is married and has three daughters.
Ecclesiastical career
Dawani graduated with a B.A. at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1976. He was ordained an Anglican deacon in 1976 and a priest in 1977. He served for eight years at St. Andrew's parish in Ramallah, and St. Peter's in Bir Zeit, West Bank. He moved with his family to the United States in 1985, to study at Virginia Theological Seminary, where he won his M.A. and completed eighty percent of his Doctorate. He was recalled to his diocese in 1987, and became priest at St. John's Episcopal Church in Haifa, Israel. He went to serve once again at the Ramallah and Bir Zeit parishes, from 1992 to 1997.
He was elected Secretary General of the Diocese of Jerusalem in 1997. He became then Canon for the Arabic-speaking congregation at St. George's Cathedral, in Jerusalem. He went to serve for a third time in Ramallah, from 2004 to 2007. He became Coadjutor Bishop on 15 June 2005 and was consecrated on 6 January 2006. He was installed Bishop of Jerusalem on 15 April 2007. The same year he completed his D.D. at Virginia Seminary.
He was critical of the Global Anglican Future Conference, that took place in Jerusalem, on 22-29 June 2008, stating that he believed that "reconciliation" was the way to solve divisions in the Anglican Communion. Dawani was elected Primate of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East on 17 May 2017, for a two years and an half mandate.