The smallest parish in the whole of the Holy Land, according to its new parish priest, Friar Ibrahim Sabbagh ofm, welcomed no fewer than eight bishops to its Sunday Mass on 9th January. On the day of their pilgrimage to the banks of the River Jordan, when the Church celebrates the Baptism of Our Lord, the bishops of the Coordination for the Holy Land stopped at the parish of the Good Shepherd to take part in the local community’s prayers. The Christmas carols and the Mass of the Angels were sung in Arabic with great enthusiasm by this small but very dynamic community, made even more joyous by the voices of many children.
They included Samir, the son of Lina and Giries, only just a few weeks – or maybe even days – old, who was blessed and taken to the altar by Mons. William Kenney, Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham, who presided the Mass.
In his words of welcome, Brother Ibrahim said how delighted the community was to receive this delegation representing the Episcopal Conferences of Europe, Scandinavia and North America, which is the sign of the unity of the Catholic Church. “You are most welcome here, and this parish is also yours.”
Mons. William Kenney thanked him for the warm welcome and, after having explained to the assembly that the Coordination for the Holy Land comes every year to express its communion and study how to boost solidarity between the Western Churches and those in the Holy Land, invited the assembly to pray in particular for the diocese of Tucson, in Arizona, where the day before a dramatic shooting had cost the lives of seven people. “The Bishop of this diocese, Mons. Gerald Kicanas, is here with us now and tomorrow he will join his faithful in the United States, taking the prayers of the Christians of the Holy Land to them.”
At the end of the celebration, the bishops, after having exchanged a few words with the faithful who spoke Italian or English, listened to Brother Ibrahim speak of the joys and sorrows of the parish of Jericho. “Being the priest of such a small parish means I can know all the faithful, including the Orthodox; all the more so as their parish priest is a Greek monk and cannot, due to his monastic life and as he does not speak Arabic, accompany them in the same way. It also means being ready to do a bit of everything: parish priest, but also head teacher, administrator, policeman, nurse, social worker etc. I have to keep watch over my flock that is continuously urged to convert to Islam or to Protestantism.”
After this speech and after lunch at the foot of the Mount of Temptation, the bishops reached their destination, the banks of the Jordan, to commemorate the Baptism of Jesus.
The next day and for the rest of the week, the bishops will meet with the Assembly of the Ordinaries of the Holy Land to discuss the same subject that the latter dealt with at the Synod of the Middle East: “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and testimony. The community of believers was of one heart and one mind” (Acts 4, 32)”. The lectures they will follow will be on ecumenism in everyday life in the Holy Land and inter-religious dialogue with Judaism and Islam, but also the pilgrimage as a means of reconciliation and peace.
The Coordination for the Holy Land will conclude its work with a final statement.
Mab