Boston, August 25, 2020

Dear friends and colleagues of the ICS:

We hope that you are keeping safe and well during these difficult times. The corona virus has upended our lives in ways that we could not have imagined six months ago. Just as pandemic dislocations have required us individually to adapt to a new reality, the International Catacomb Society, too, has had to make some adjustments.

À propos, two highly anticipated events supposed to have taken place this year will have to be rescheduled:

The meeting scheduled for May in New York, featuring a lecture by Professor Steven Fine, was a casualty of the lock-down.

The upcoming 40th ICS anniversary celebration, originally scheduled for October at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE), will be postponed.

Both these events will take place at a time when it will be safe to meet.

In a happier development, not even a plague of biblical proportions could deter the Shohet Scholar committee from its appointed task. The committee completed its annual mission by awarding grants to two important archeological projects. It should be noted, however, that these awards will be distributed to cover a period of two years instead of the customary one year: https://www.catacombsociety.org/news-and-events/

Finally, board members will be relieved to know, even in this topsy-turvy world, that the new normal of meetings on Zoom will allow the annual ICS board meeting to take place in September. Please mark your calendars for the 26th proximo.

Details regarding all of the above will be available on our website: https://www.catacombsociety.org/

Until we meet again, please keep safe and well.

With our very best wishes on behalf of the ICS Executive Board,

Annewies van den Hoek, president
Philip Olander, secretary

Inquiries to: info@catacombsociety.org