Tag Archives: Bethlehem

an email “toward” President Obama

14 Mar

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Hearing that President Obama is scheduled to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem next week, I sent him an email.

Mr. President –

While you are in Bethlehem, please keep your ears open to hear anything about the Cremisan Valley in the Beit Jala area of Bethlehem. There is a “win-win” opportunity in the Cremisan Valley for both the Palestinians and the Israelis. Adding in how it would be a “win” situation for you and for the United States, there is in the Cremisan Valley a “win-win-win” opportunity. My prayers will be for your safety and your success, especially during your visit to Bethlehem (and Beit Jala). You are a brave man, in more ways than one, for committing yourself to visit Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity.

Father Rob Waller, Pastor, St. Andrew Catholic Church, Milford, Ohio.

I don’t have his personal email address, of course. So, I guess I sent it “toward” him, through the White House website, realistically assuming that it might not ever “arrive” to him. But who knows? I did mark it “important.” That should get the attention of his staff, don’t you think, and make them want to rush it right to his desk in the Oval Office or take it upstairs to him and interrupt his breakfast? I added my telephone number, too, just in case he wants to call. Drat! I gave them the one at the office. I should have given them my cell phone number.

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8 days since I added my signature

7 Feb

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save the valley in Cremisan: online petition

31 Jan

Cremisan school

The Society of St. Yves is the Catholic Center for Human Rights of the Latin Patriarchate (the Roman Catholic Archdiocese) in the Holy Land. The lawyers of this society have been arguing before the Israeli Supreme Court, at the request of the Latin Patriarchate, asking the Court to stop the Israeli government from building a new section of the security fence (separation wall) through the Cremisan valley at the edge of Beit Jala (Bethlehem).

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Last summer I celebrated Mass in Cremisan valley, and wrote about the place in this previous post: “Not on Friday, but on Tuesday.”

The Society of St. Yves outlines the reasons against the building of this section of the wall, and provides an online petition of support for their position that will be sent to Israeli authorities.  Find out more and sign the petition at “Save the valley in Cremisan: Support bridges, not walls!”

When I signed the petition, I wrote this as my reason for signing:

Our friends in Israel could clearly express their desire for reconciliation and security for all who live in the land by a decision NOT to build this section of the fence/wall in the Cremisan valley as it is proposed. Just think of the good public relations message that the Israeli government would put out and the good will that they would spread by making it known that they want the Christians to stay, that they want the people of Beit Jala to have a green space in which to rest and play, that they want the people of the area to have access to water, that they do not want the farmers to lose their livelihood, and that they want the children of the valley to feel safe and secure enough to live and learn as all children deserve – by making it known that they will NOT build that proposed wall/fence through the valley of Cremisan. The Israelis and the Israel government have an opportunity here that they do not often have to put their actions where their words are and their hearts where their minds are. An international audience would hear the message. Not building the wall/fence in the Cremisan Valley along the proposed route is a win-win situation for both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and especially for the children on both sides of that fence/wall that now divides them.

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not on Friday, but on Tuesday

15 Nov

Every Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m., with obvious connections to the time of suffering that Jesus endured on the Friday that we call Good, Father Ibrahim Shomali, the parish priest of Beit Jala (Bethlehem) celebrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with his people in an olive grove in Cremisan Valley on the outskirts of the town.

This place is chosen by the parish of Beit Jala for Mass to protest in a prayerful and nonviolent way the proposed path that the Israeli government plans to follow in building another section of the separation wall through this very valley. What the Palestinians (and I) and many Israeli citizens call a separation wall, some proponents prefer to call a security fence, claiming that only 3% of it is actually a wall, and that the rest is a low lying, barbed wire structure. There is no doubt that this section will not be a fence; it will be a wall. And it will separate: 58 families  from their olive groves, 450 children from their school at the convent of the Silesian sisters, and all the people of Beit Jala from the only recreational park, green space that is left for them. And it is hard to imagine how this particular re-routing of the wall to take more land and water for Israel is necessary for security.

The schedule for our pilgrim-teachers from schools of our Archdiocese of Cincinnati did not allow us to join him/them on Friday, so Father Ibrahim arranged for Deacon Suleiman to accompany us to the place for Mass on a Tuesday morning.

When we arrived, we found the ground turned up and over. Someone had obviously plowed the ground.

It was alleged by some of the locals that the Israeli government had done that to make it difficult to pray there. No matter who did it or why it was done, the turned up ground did make it quite complicated to walk and difficult to stand, the slightest shift of our weight causing our feet to slip from underneath us. The situation made us more determined in our prayer. We stood our ground as best as we could.

Deacon Suleiman called us to worship with a reminder that Jesus prayed on the night before his crucifixion in another grove of olive trees: at the base of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. These olives trees are a Gethsemane of another kind. Here the agony of the garden continues.

We prayed that the agony of our friends from Beit Jala will be eased.

As we left, some of us picked up stones and olive branches, not knowing whether or not we will ever be able to return with them to this place.

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“Stars and Bucks” in Bethlehem

1 Jul

Mark (the photographer) and I (the priest) decided to walk from the Church of the Nativity to our Sancta Maria Hotel. We left the flow of the pilgrims, as they headed toward the bus for the ride home. I told Mark that I wanted to stop at Stars and Bucks. Always anxious to get a shot that other eyes might not see, he eagerly tagged along.  

Our first stop along the way was for twelve pictures (he couldn’t take just one) of a man making falafel at his street-side open restaurant. Amazing how a vat of hot grease and balls of seasoned, crushed garbanzo beans becoming falafel brings joy to a photographer.

Shortly after we rounded the corner Mark shouted out, “Oh no, it is Stars and Bucks.” He saw the sign hanging over the café down the street a bit. He thought I was going to Starbucks, and was teasing him with the name. Would I tease about such a serious matter? 

The shop is on the main road in Bethlehem that leads right to Manger Square and the Nativity Church, the site of the birth of Jesus.

Most tourists and pilgrims zip right past the café in a taxi, or walk up the inclined hill on the opposite side of the street because of the location of the garage where all the giant tour busses have to park. But it was the goal of the walk Mark and I were taking … Stars and Bucks.

As I walked into the café and saw that they had coffee mugs for sale, I gave out my own acclamation in the little town of Bethlehem, “Yes!” I had joy like the shepherds and the angels on Christmas eve in the fields of sheep and shepherds. Well, that may be a bit overdone.

My buddy Paul has a collection of Starbucks mugs (see yesterday’s post), but he does not have, and not many people in the whole world have a coffee mug from Stars and Bucks in Bethlehem, Palestine.

Mark bought two mugs, one for his daughter and her husband. I bought one for Paul, and one for myself. Mark was enjoying the moment so much he agreed to get into a picture, and gave his camera to one of the keepers of the café, who seemed a bit puzzled by the performance being played out in his sleepy shop.

My regrets are that I didn’t sit down for coffee and conversation with the locals, and that I didn’t buy a whole case of the mugs. I could have left a lot of clothes behind to have room for them in my return suitcase. I have something to add to my itinerary the next time.

Photos 2, 3 by Mark Bowen/HOPE. Photos 4, 5, 6 by Waseim/Beit Jala. Photos 1, 8 by Father Rob/Milford. Phot0 7 by Stars and Bucks Café Keeper/Bethlehem, using camera of Mark Bowen/HOPE. Phew! Everybody gets due credit.

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Christians of the Holy Land – CBS “60 Minutes”

22 Apr

On Sunday, April 22, CBS “60 Minutes” broadcast a 14-minute segment that is bound to receive more “comments” than many of their other topics.

The exodus from the Holy Land of Palestinian Christians could eventually leave holy cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem without a local Christian population. Bob Simon reports.

Here is a link to Christians of the Holy Land.

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“Kairos Palestine” Document

22 Apr

For the sake of my fellow pilgrim-teachers here is a link to The Kairos Palestine Document – A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.

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My Watch is “Two-Faced”

10 Apr

Usually I wear a wristwatch that has two “faces.” One is set for local, Milford, time – 10:47 a.m. in the photo below. The other is seven hours ahead: 5:47 p.m., which is “Bethlehem time.” I keep myself on track … and I am constantly reminded of my friends in Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Nablus, Nazareth and Jerusalem.

Sunday morning as I reached into my dresser drawer for a clean handkerchief, I noticed my “good” watch. I wear it on special occasions. Easter is special! So, onto my wrist went my good watch. As a reminder that Easter Day is actually an Octave, I will wear my special watch for eight days, until next Sunday evening.I can easily and quickly add seven hours to remember whether my friends in the Holy Land are awake or asleep.

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C-D at BU

31 Jan

During a Holy Land pilgrimage with a group of 50 archdiocesan priests Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York visited Bethlehem University.

Catholic News Service reports the visit in their online “New York cardinal-designate: Bethlehem U. helps build culture of peace.”

While at the university, the priests met with students who told about their experiences as Palestinians.

“Opportunities for work in Palestine are very limited,” noted third-year accounting and business administration student Christina Jueejet, 20, of Beit Sahour, West Bank. “There are a lot of educated people, but not enough jobs. We can only look for jobs in a limited area, in the West Bank, not even in Jerusalem.”

Father Andrew Carrozza of St. Ann’s Parish in Yonkers, New York, said he was humbled listening to the students’ experiences and struggles to receive an education, including having to go through checkpoints and border crossings to get to school. It made the priests take stock of everything they had taken for granted during their own college studies, he said.

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See how they shove one another

29 Dec

There was a “fight” between the Greek Orthodox and the Armenians in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on December 28. Some 50-60 priests and monks were swinging broomsticks at each other, until Palestinian police came in to break it up.

The fight started while they were cleaning the church. It often happens between the three religious denominations that have rights and services within the church. There is a principle that asserts that “if you clean it, it must be yours.” The Greeks and the Armenians have certain sections of the church that are under their authority. Apparently, someone was sweeping a spot that belonged to the other, or at least so it must have been charged. 

Fortunately, from the Catholic point of view, the Franciscans were not involved in this one.

Father James Martin, S.J. cleverly commented, “See how they shove one another.”

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