On 19 March, the solemnity of St Joseph, the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land celebrated the feast-day of the patron saint of the Universal Church in Nazareth, in the place where according to tradition the Holy Family lived after they returned from Egypt. The Angelus in the Crypt of St Joseph At noon, the Franciscan friars, accompanied by some faithful, celebrated St Joseph in the church dedicated to him, next to the Basilica of the Annunciation. The prayer […]
“It is very important that music reaches as many people as possible in Jerusalem, and that it can be a fundamental part in the life of our local Christian community.” With these words, Jamil Freij, a teacher at the Magnificat Institute in Jerusalem, that he tells of his passion for music. He was born and grew up in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and is one of the many “Living Stones”: people who are, for one […]
Fourteen years have passed since the start of the Syrian civil war and just over three months since the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. “We could summarize the climate in Syria today with the word uncertainty,” says Fra Bahjat Karakach, the Latin Parish priest of Aleppo. “The fall of the regime does not automatically mean a good situation. We are going through a very difficult phase: the old certainties are no longer there and we do not know […]
The first Congress of commissaries of the Holy Land of Asia was held from 7 to 12 February in Jakarta and Bali (Indonesia) on the topic of “Formation and mission in communion.” The Custos’ delegate for the Commissaries of the Holy Land, Fra Silvio De la Fuente was present . Fra Robertus Wowor, commissary of the Holy Land since 2008 for Indonesia, who hosted the meeting, emphasized that for him “the greatest challenge is to make known the Holy Land […]