Holy Week 2004

Dear Friends:

Happy Easter Friends. Christ is Risen!  Let us rejoice and be glad. Ps. 118

Because of your prayers, interest, and support for Christians in the Holy Land, we are writing now to thank you and to make an urgent appeal for your continued help on behalf of Christians there and everywhere.

We just returned from a moving trip to the Holy Land.. Our visit revealed an unfolding tragedy for Christendom worldwide.  The world’s oldest Christian community is endangered.  Future access to the holiest sites of our faith is being threatened.

The conflict in the Middle East has impacted so many. Perhaps the least noticed by the world community is the population of Palestinian Christians which dates back to the time of Christ on earth.  They are struggling with a staggering loss of jobs, access to adequate health care, widespread confiscation of property and homes, and crushing challenges to maintain their Christian schools. The situation is far more serious than we had anticipated.

While we were in the Holy Land, we had the opportunity to visit with Palestinian friends and families and celebrate this holy time of year. We prayed in the Garden of Gethsemene, walked the Way of the Cross, reflected silently at Calvary, and pondered the immense significance of Christ’s death and Resurrection at the tomb of the Holy Sepulchre.  On the Mount of Olives, we stood at the place where Jesus began his triumphant entry into Jerusalem over two thousand years ago.

Unfortunately, this same procession is impossible for many Christians today.  The extreme difficulty of worship for so many in the Holy Land became a sobering reality for us.  As we stood on the Mount of Olives we watched the construction of a 30 foot wall taking place before our eyes. Church property and the lands belonging to many of the Christians for generations in that area are being confiscated to build this concrete structure which is projected to extend 400 miles!

Patients in homes for the elderly are now being separated from their families and workers. Convents are being blocked from their schools.  Christian businessmen are having their fields of olive tree stands, used by generations of carvers of religious products, being plowed up and confiscated to construct the wall.  World visitors are facing increasingly unpredictable and threatened access to Holy Land sites.  It is becoming impossible to thoughtfully follow the life of Christ - a journey that has inspired Christians for centuries. Checkpoints, roadblocks, changing regulations, and implementation of closures make life almost impossible for residents and visiting worshipers.  

Our fear with only 2% Christians left, the sacred sites will become museums for a select few instead of places of worship for many. That is why we visited with students and teachers from the schools you have helped sponsor. We met with doctors who still hope to receive a shipment of medical supplies you sent in December.  We held the babies in the Creche in Bethlehem and took the hands of the elderly at the Home of the Little Sister of Sorrows in Bethany.   We watched the workers in Shepherds’ field carving olive wood in hopes of providing much needed income for their families. And we told them we care.  We told them there are many like you who care.
 
HLCS delegation with a Benedictine Mother Superior of the Emmanuel Convent in the Bethlehem area on 3/14/04.
 
Fr. Jack and Fr. Rooney celebrating mass at St. Joseph Church in Bethlehem, recently renovated by HLCS. The words of Sister Boucez, Daughter of Charity were haunting, however. “In a few weeks a wall will be raised in front of us.  That will intensify the violence and fanaticism...Christians not daring to open their mouths...they feel themselves rejected by all...We are counting on you.”  We told her that she and other Christians are not abandoned.  But at this writing, and since our return, the wall is being constructed on her Church land without compensation and directly impacting the many lives of the foster children under her care.

The Christians in the Holy Land need your help.  Upon our return we have worked to raise awareness with government leaders and with the press to tell their story.  People are listening and asking questions.  HLCS is working hard to fulfill a promise we made to so many during our visit.  We hope we can count on you to do the same.  Please tell the story of Holy Land Christians to others. Support them in any way you can.  Your contributions towards the sponsorship of children, medical relief and education are so critical at this time.  We appreciate your generosity.  The Christians in the Holy Land need to know we all care.

Thank you for your generosity and your prayers.  God bless you during this Holy Season of Renewal and Hope. May Christ’s message of peace once more begin to resonate in the land of His birth.

Gratefully in Christ,
 
Holy Land Christians Society