By Lisa Dahm Hawaii Catholic Herald WAIKOLOA — A cardinal, eight bishops, numerous priests and deacons, and more than 500 knights, dames and their guests from five states gathered in Waikoloa on Hawaii island earlier this month for the annual meeting of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem’s Western USA Lieutenancy and […]
Christians in Holy Land celebrate Easter despite hardships
By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News BETHLEHEM, West Bank — The pews of the St. Catherine Church in Bethlehem were full and it was standing room only, as parishioners dressed in colorful Easter finery filled in for the Easter Sunday Mass. For some, it was a matter of choice and tradition to attend Mass at their […]
Anti-Christian sentiment increasing in the Holy Land
Posing as priest, reporter is spat at several times, while walking the streets of Jerusalem By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News JERUSALEM — A local Israeli reporter went undercover as a priest and was spat at several times while walking the streets of Jerusalem, Haaretz, the Israeli daily, reported. Haaretz underlined that at a time when […]
Pope Francis returns part of relic of Jesus’ crib to Holy Land
By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — As Advent approached, Pope Francis gave a small fragment of Jesus’ crib back to Catholics in the Holy Land. In Bethelehem, West Bank, Franciscan Father Rami Asakrieh of St. Catherine Church welcomed the relic’s return and called it “a great blessing.” “This is more blessings for […]
Photo: Walk around the tomb
Tourists walk around the tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City, June 13. Following the successful cooperation on the 2016 restoration of the Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the leaders of the Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Armenian Orthodox, who serve as guardians of the holy site, have […]
Holy Land pilgrims get tattoos to remember their travels
By Judith Sudilovsky Catholic News Service JERUSALEM — Three generations of the Razzouk family busily attended to Christian pilgrims and tourists packed into a tiny shop to get Christian tattoos to mark their pilgrimages to the Holy Land. The Razzouk family has been tattooing Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land for 500 years — and […]
Good Friday appeal gave $90,000 to Holy Land
The Diocese of Honolulu last year contributed $89,549 to the Holy Land through the Pontifical Good Friday Collection, according to the collection’s 2016 annual report. A letter from the Commissariat of the Holy Land, dated Sept. 27, to Bishop Larry Silva thanking the diocese of its donation, called its generosity “a special grace for Christians […]
Christians concerned with Israeli restrictions for Holy Week, Easter
JERUSALEM — Israeli restrictions on reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for Holy Week and Easter are part of the current Israeli government’s policy of making Jerusalem an exclusively Jewish city, said Yusef Daher, secretary-general of the Jerusalem Interchurch Center.