Trending
STEUBENVILLE -- Thirty-eight study-abroad students from the Franciscan University of Steubenville returned safely to their Gaming, Austria, campus Wednesday after their 10-day pilgrimage to Israel was cut short by growing concerns stemming from the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and Israel's subsequent declaration of war.
The students and university pastoral associate Sister Lisa Marie Shatynski, TOR, arrived back around 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, about halfway through their planned Holy Land trip, said the Rev. Dave Pivonka, TOR, university president, in a statement.
The voluntary trip had been organized by Beatitudes Missions, which has been hosting the biyearly Israel trips since 2018.
Students, who arrived in Israel on Oct. 6, had just started their pilgrimage in the northern half of Israel when news broke about Hamas' surprise attacks in the south.
Pivonka said students spent their first night in Nazareth, a landlocked city about 85 miles north of Israel's capital of Jerusalem.
By the next day, the group had transferred eastward to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where they remained until the university arranged for their return.
The evacuation necessitated crossing the border into Israel's eastern neighbor, Jordan, and the students flew out of that country's capital city of Amman.
"My thanks to all who joined us in prayer over these past few days and to our merciful father, who heard and answered our prayers. Let's continue to pray for each other and for all affected by this terrible conflict and for true peace to come quickly to the Holy Land," Pivonka said.
The Rev. Anthony Ariniello, CB, the founder and executive director of Beatitudes Missions, accompanied students throughout the tour until the final evacuation from Amman.
Maria Brown, a sophomore at the university who attended the pilgrimage, recalled how members of the group remained largely calm, with some fearful of the circumstances.
"We all went pretty quiet," Brown said of the group when they received the news. "All the goofing off stopped. We definitely became serious."
With return flights for the students scheduled for Saturday, Ariniello informed the group on Oct. 8 that they would either remain on the shores of the Sea of Galilee until the end of the pilgrimage, or they would soon cross the border into Jordan.
Ariniello said signs of Israel's war with Hamas, which was declared on Sunday, were not immediately evident to the group, as fighting remained concentrated around Gaza, which was outside of the planned itinerary. There were concerns, however, about the group's closer proximity to Lebanon, home of the armed, anti-Israeli military group Hezbollah.
Ariniello reported hearing what could have been missile strikes, as well as seeing at least one jet fly overhead.
The university notified the students on Monday afternoon that Catholic pilgrimage operator 206 Tours had agreed to escort them out through the Israel-Jordan Beit She'an border crossing, which lies north of the Palestinian West Bank territories.
Ariniello said students on Tuesday made their way to the crossing, where they withstood hours of 95-degree heat in line alongside other evacuating tourists.
Wednesday afternoon saw every individual fly out of Amman, but not after "affectionate hugs and some joyful tears of relief," said Ariniello, who was the last to fly and was bound for his community in France.
Senior Ricky Silva said afterward, "I never thought I'd come to know what it feels like to be thankful just to be alive."