Your Excellency, Lieutenant Dr. Declan P. Lawlor, your Grace, Most Reverend Bishops, Clergy, fellow Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
It is my great pleasure to be with you this evening to
speak for a few moments about the Land we call Holy and our special attachment
to the place where the Redemption of humanity was achieved. Also, I am pleased
to be with you on the 10th anniversary of the founding of
Lieutenancy, Canada – Vancouver. Congratulations on this wonderful achievement
and the vitality manifested in the events of these two days I have shared with
you.
To speak of the Holy Land one must consider that this Land
is constituted by the modern geographic boundaries of Israel, the West Bank and
Gaza, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. In order to comprehend the current
political dynamics of this land a quick review of the history of the region
will provide a context.
The Middle East Empires in this region from 3000 BC to
2006 are as follows:
1. The Kingdom of Egypt
2. The Hittite Empire
3. The Kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon
4. The Kingdom of Israel (Northern) and Judea.
5. The Assyrian Empire (modern Iraq).
6. The Babylonian Empire (modern Iraq).
7. The Persian Empire (modern Iran).
8. The Macedonian / Greek Empire of Alexander the Great.
9. The Roman Empire – conquerors of the region during the time of Christ.
10. The Byzantine Empire
11. The Sassinid Empire - Islam arrives in the Middle East
12. The Caliphate of Damascus
13. The Crusader Kingdoms
14. Saladin’s Empire
15. The Mongol Empire
16. The Ottoman Empire
17. Colonialism / Imperialism of the West
18. Nation States with borders after World War I and the call for independence by ethnic and tribal groups.
If ever there was a tumultuous piece of real estate on the face of the earth, it is this much conquered and occupied land which we call Holy.
It was here in this very land that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, a city occupied and governed by Rome. Born in an occupied territory called Palestine (part of Syria) where the local people (The Jews) struggled against the yolk of occupation. In nearby Jerusalem Jesus was presented in the Temple; he was lost in that Temple and as a boy he debated with the elders of that same Temple. He grew to manhood in the town of Nazareth in the Galilee region. It was in Galilee that he began His itinerant ministry to the Jewish people along the way attracting a few non-Jewish follows. In Cana of Galilee He worked His first public miracle and continued to preach to those broken in heart, in mind and in body.
Some touched by His ministry were even cured of bodily sickness and in some cases even returned from the dead. His fame spread so much that some wished to make Him King. He retreated the Judean desert to avoid their entreaties to lead them, and in that same desert was tempted and tried by Satan offering Him that same role of leadership. Returning to Jerusalem, He went to the Temple, so often visited in His youth, and there He confronted the professionally pious for turning God’s house into a den of thieves and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the stable of those who sold the sacrifices offered in the Temple by the faithful who came on pilgrimage to Temple Mount.
The zeal for God of this troublesome rabbi attracted the attention of those who had a vested interest in organized religion. He had to be dealt with before the masses made him king. But before He became their victim, He offered in Jerusalem the first Mass in the Upper Room (Cenacle) near the Zion gate. From this holy place He went to the Mount of Olives to endure the painful agony in the garden and suffer abandonment by many of His followers (“I know not the man”, “the young man rushed out of his cloak to avoid capture with Him”).
Led from the garden of Gethsemane as a prisoner, He was subjected to violence, judgment and execution on a cross. He was a failure; His death a disaster for His followers. But in this city, Jerusalem, He rose from the dead and appeared to many disciples in the city and throughout Galilee. From Jerusalem He ascended to heaven returning with the Father from whence He came. He completed the work of human redemption.
Jerusalem is our hometown where victory was snatched from the jaws of seeming defeat. Let us be clear. Christianity is an eastern religion begun in Asia. Jesus Christ never physically went beyond the region of the Holy land. Often Christians in that very region are condemned for being of a religion of the west, but we Christians were there 640 years before Islam arrived. This was the land of Jesus and His earliest disciples.
For Jews, Abraham lived and is buried in Hebron (south of Jerusalem); for Muslims, the Kabbah of Mecca constitutes their center of worship; for Christians, Jerusalem is our hometown. As Knights and ladies of the Holy Sepulehre when we go on pilgrimage to this Holy land, we remember the work of Redemption wrought here by the presence of Jesus Christ. Our roots are here. When one looks at the troublesome history of the region which I noted from 3000 B.C. to 2006, there are conquerors, occupiers, military incursions, battles, peace treaties and more battles, even to this day. The violence of today in the region is much the same as at the time of Jesus. This is a region much in need of Redemption, for if peace can be established in the troublesome region, peace can exist anywhere. It is my considered opinion that God chose this troubled region of history as His exemplar for Redemption for it could work here, it would work anywhere. This land, we call Holy, enjoys a special relation with God’s Plan for Redemption. With all of the turmoil from this area, the followers of Abraham, Jews (12-15 Million), Christians (2.2 B) and Muslims (1.2 B) have reached more than 50% of the world’s population. God’s plan for the three monotheistic religions calls for them to be a model of coexistence. Alas, the “ups and downs” of that history have not been exemplars of peace, but that is another story.
The Church of The Holy Land Today
As Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, our ministry is to support the Church in its birthplace. Who are the people of this Church; who are our fellow Christians living in the land of Jesus? A bit of overall demographics is needed here. In Israel with a population of 7 million there are 144,000 Christians of whom 118,000 are Arab Israelis. In the West Bank and Gaza out of 3 million there are roughly 50,000 Christians. In Jordan from a population of 6.2 million there are 217,000 Christians. Christians in the region are Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestants and Oriental Catholic and Orthodox.
Of particular interest to the Equestrian Order is the Latin (Roman) Patriarchate of Jerusalem. This is basically the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jerusalem with 77,000 members in Israel / Palestine / Jordan and Cyprus. The Patriarch is Michel Sabbah (a Palestinian). His coadjutor is Archbishop Fouad Twal (a Jordanian). They are assisted by a vicar general, a vicar for Jordan, a vicar for the Galilee and a vicar for Hebrew speaking Catholics who attend Mass in Hebrew rather than Arabic. These latter are largely Catholic who had married Jews who were a part of the Soviet Jewry influx of the 1980’s into Israel.
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the recipient of yours generous honoraria and donations. It is made up of –
- Parishes - 65
- Mission Stations – 10
- Diocesean Priests – 79
- Religious Orders Priests – 293
- Permanent Deacons – 2
- Seminarians – 22
- Male Religious – 498 (priests and brothers)
- Female Religious – 1,144
- Schools – 166
- Charitable Institutions – 37
I note in particular the dynamisin of this Church with 166 school and 37 institutions ranging from hospitals, clinics, orphanages, special needs institutions (deaf, blind, handicapped, et al). This is not a museum Church. Largely Arab, it is a vital presence within society providing service to the larger community. Through your generosity every Arab Catholic is guaranteed a Catholic education. On a tuition basis unoccupied seats are given to Muslims and in some rare instances, Jews (La Salle H.S., Jaffa).
Over the years the Equestrian Order has responded generously to requests for support special institutions in the Patriarchate:
1. The Patriarchal Seminary, Beit Jala
2. Renovated Churches
a) Annunciation (Ain Arik, West Bank)
b) Immaculate Conception (Birzeit, West Bank)
c) St. Joseph, (Renek, Israel)
3. The Crèche, Daughters of Charity, Bethlehem
4. St. Joseph’s Hospital, Jerusalem
5. Our Lady of Sorrows (Home for the Aged), Abu Dis
6. St. Vincent’s Home for Boys, Bethany
7. The House of Peace, Jerusalem ran by the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, Poland
8. Playgrounds in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Gaza City.
9. Bethlehem University, Bethlehem
I single out this last institution for moment since my own congregation, the De La Salle Brothers, operates this pontifical university for Arabs. Founded in 1973 in Bethlehem, with a current enrollment of 2500, it serves the Arabs of the occupied territories. The student population is 35% Christian and 65% Muslim with 62% of the Muslim population being female. This statistic is most unusual for an Arab Muslin society.
The mission of the church, in its birthplace, is to teach all, regardless of creed. The work of the Church is an evangelization of witness. Beyond the words of preaching, this Church proclaims today the message of Christ that we are to love one another. Whether in the classroom, the clinic, the day care center, et al., the vitality of His message continues today even under the grave circumstances of pitched battles or occupation. This is a suffering Church, a witness to the suffering Christ.
No presentation to a group of Knights and Ladies commissioned to protect the Church of the Holy Land can ignore the hard geopolitical realities which make this a suffering Church. The regimen of checkpoints, security closures and the security wall make freedom of movement next to impossible. This results in a lack of access to education, medical services and employment. Such dranconian security measures upon occasion even prevent access to religious shrines and holy sites for indigenous Arab populations. When unemployment and underemployment in the West Bank run at 40-50% and in Gaza from 60-70%, major social dislocations occur. Violence often erupts. Those who can leave the region do so. Christian emigration from the Holy land has reduced our presence to less than 2% whereas in the 1940’s it was upward of 10%.
The present turmoil within the Palestinian policy between Hamas and Fatah, often violent, has led the United States and the European Union to cut off funding to Palestinian Authority. The result, unpaid civil servants (as much as 6 to 8 months); teacher strikes in the public schools (70% of the school age population); no electricity or water supplied as well as no sewage treatment. Studies indicate that the P.A. needs $150M per month to sustain services to the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has withheld $100M in taxes collected on behalf of the P.A. The Palestinians voted in a free election to put Hamas in power to fight the corruption of Fatah, and now those voters are threatened with economic collapse because the outcome of the election did not suit the expectations of those controlling the purse strings.
Yes, this is a suffering people; this is a suffering Church. The decline in pilgrimages and tourism has dramatically impacted the Christian population of the Holy Land. The income derived from visitors is essential for their economic survival. Beyond that, the Christians of the Holy Land feel abandoned by the 2.2 Billion fellow Christians worldwide. Who fights for us, they ask, when our fields are confiscated for a wall to separate us from our neighbor and family? Who seeks justice for us when diversion roads and access roads are built on our land? Who speaks out for us as settlements are built on our prime farm land and sources of water? We are alone!
It is most important far us as Knights and Ladies to be with this suffering Church of Jerusalem. Yes our money helps, but our presence to be with them to hear their stories about their witness to Christ’s message and what our Holy Land like in 2006 is of extreme value. A minority within Judaism and Islam, our fellow Christians need our physical support.
Finally, Pray each day for the Church of Jerusalem. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, the common patrimony of Jews, Christians and Muslims, all followers of Abraham. You say pray, that’s easy Brother, too easy, something we expect a religious person to would say. But let me remind you, that we are old enough in this room to remember reciting 3 Hail Mary’s and the Hail Holy Queen for the “Conversion of Russia”. Since Russia was already Christian, I do not know what the conversion was. Perhaps it was really a prayer for the collapse of Soviet Communism. Whatever, the prayer required, it was surely answered, for in 1989 the Berlin Wall came crashing down and the Iron Curtain was rolled up. Yes, the prayers were answered.
Do not underestimate the power of prayer. Pray each day for our fellow Christians in the birthplace of Christianity and for the Peace of Jerusalem, it might just work.
Thank you