Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / Hope for the Holy Land
Hope for the Holy Land
Franciscans work to keep the presence of Christians
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 30, 2007
Detroit — Franciscan friars have been the Catholic Church's official "custodians" of the Holy Land's holy places since 1492.
Since the mid-1990s they have also worked to conserve a living Christian presence in the land where Christ had His earthly ministry by sponsoring projects to improve conditions for the dwindling Christian minority in the area.
"We're trying to stem the Christian exodus – especially of young people – from the Holy Land," said Fr. Peter Vasko, OFM, president of the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land.
Christians now account for less than 2 percent of the area's population – down from more than 13 percent in 1960, he said.
Fr. Vasko was in southeastern Michigan recently to talk to Detroit and Flint chapters of Legatus, the organization for top Catholic corporate leaders.
He explained that the foundation takes a three-pronged approach to ensuring a better future for young Arab Christians:
- Providing them with a free four-year college education.
- Helping them find employment.
- Building housing for them.
The idea is to equip young Christians for a career, then help them get jobs in the overwhelmingly Muslim societies in which they live, and also provide affordable housing, Fr. Vasko said.
Housing has been a problem, because Muslim landlords typically charge Christian tenants more than they would fellow Muslims, he explained.
"After 11 years of following this approach, we finally are seeing a light at the end of a very dark tunnel – only now are we starting to make a dent," Fr. Vasko said.
So far, the foundation has provided more than 130 college scholarships to Christian students – mostly Catholics, but also Anglicans and Lutherans – to attend Bethlehem University, Beit Zeir University or Hebrew University, at a cost of $6,000 a year per student, he said.
In addition to seeking general donations for its programs, the foundation has a child-sponsorship program to help Christian children attend any of the 16 elementary schools operated by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.
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Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land photos
A Franciscan friar speaks with children in Bethlehem. |
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Construction workers work on St. Francis Village, a 107-unit apartment complex in Jerusalem that was completed last year. |
"People in the United States can sponsor a child for $500 a year from kindergarten through grade seven; it's an eight-year commitment," Fr. Vasko said.
Sponsors receive information about the student they are sponsoring, plus a photo. They also have an opportunity to meet the student if they go on one of the pilgrimages sponsored by the Franciscan Custody.
Besides being fewer in number than they were just a few decades ago, the Holy Land's Christians now face a Muslim majority that includes more militants than before, and that sometimes involves violence and intimidation. "It's not rampant, it's isolated, but it's there," Fr. Vasko said.
The indigenous Christian community needs the help of fellow Christians in the West. "This is where Jesus began His ministry. If we don't take care of our religious roots and heritage, how can we call ourselves His disciples?" Fr. Vasko asked.
There has been a Franciscan presence in the Holy Land since St. Francis visited the area and he and two friars established a church in 1218 in Acre, outside of present-day Haifa, Israel.
Then, in 1492, Pope Clement VI gave the Franciscans custody of the holy sites. Today, they maintain 74 sanctuaries in six Middle East countries plus 25 in Israel. They share custody of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem with representatives of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches.
When not making appeals for support at speaking engagements or appearing on EWTN, the national Catholic cable channel, Brooklyn-born Fr. Vasko, 60, conducts pilgrims on tours of the holy sites from his base at St. Saviour's Monastery in Jerusalem.
Besides helping pilgrims develop a richer appreciation for the roots of their faith, he said his 23 years in the Holy Land have been "spiritually enriching in so many ways."
"As a priest it's been spiritually earthshaking to say Mass at the holy sites. I'm lifting up the host where Christ was born, or where He was crucified, or at the tomb of the Lord, the site of His Resurrection," Fr. Vasko said.
More information about the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land can be found at www.ffhl.org. or by calling (866)905-3787. Donations may be sent to the foundation at P.O. Box 29086, Washington, D.C. 20017-9086.
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