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The Franciscan Custodian (or Custos) is, in simple terms, the head of the Franciscans in the Holy Land; the most exceptional aspect of his charge is that he has authority over all the Catholic sanctuaries of the Holy Land. This task was handed out by the Holy See more than 600 years ago. The term used at those times to designate this task was “Custody” of the Holy Places, from which derived the terms still in use “Custodian” and “Custos”. (More detailed information on the role and activities of the Custos can be obtained from the web site of the Custody of the Holy Land.) The TERRA SANCTA EDUCATION TRUST has placed itself under the Patronage of the Custos, supporting the Terra Sancta College in Bethlehem, part of the netwok of local schools run by the Franciscans, and promoting inter-faith dialogue, in the spirit of St. Francis’s visit to the Holy Land in 1219. To promote awareness of the current situation in the Holy Land, the TERRA SANCTA EDUCATION TRUST recently invited the Custos to visit London. The visit included a press conference and an audience with Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor. It also allowed the Custos to meet the Trustees and benefactors of the Trust, culminating in a Gala Dinner in the crypt of St. Etheldreda’s Church, during which the Custos gave a talk on the Christian presence in the Holy Land today. The Custos rounded off his time in London with a visit to St Hugh’s Charterhouse (Parkminster, West Sussex). Cardinal
Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster
Read
the interview with Fr Pizzaballa More coverage on the Custos visit in our In the Media page Fr Pizzaballa’s visit to St Hugh’s
Charterhouse,
Fr Pizzaballa and Br Raymond with the Carthusian monks
Fr John Babeau, Fr Raphael, Fr Pizzaballa and Br Raymond All photographs by Fr Anthony McNeill ofm Connecting
to Christ through our Brothers and Sisters in the Middle East: Friday night. In a tastefully-furnished flat overlooking the Thames at St George’s Wharf, a party of people sip good wine and admire the setting sun as it illuminates the London skyline and turns the surface of the river into a thing of cut-glass beauty. In surroundings of such peace and congeniality, one might be forgiven for expecting to find more worldly topics than conflict and poverty to be at the centre of conversation. In fact, conflict and poverty are the very reasons that these people have come together. Everyone at the party has one overriding thing in common – a passion to help those suffering as a result of the troubled situation in the Middle East. They have been invited by Jordan Lancaster, founder of the Terra Sancta Education Trust. Terra Sancta, to use its own words, “works to support Christian children living in the Holy Land through education projects, alleviation of poverty and promotion of respect and dialogue with other faith communities, allowing them to grow up in security and become a voice for peace in a troubled land”. Many of tonight’s guests are in fact Trustees of the charity and the home that has been generously opened up for us belongs to John White, himself a Trustee. There is a particular and very special reason for the party. Jordan has invited a patron of Terra Sancta to visit England for a few days – Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land. This evening is a welcome break for relaxation in a busy schedule which has already included a formal press conference and audience with Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor and will also encompass a Gala Dinner and a round of visits, notably to St Hugh’s Carthusian monastery at Parkminster and the shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in West Grinstead. I was privileged to be invited to attend, along with Fr Raglan Hay-Will, my parish priest at St John the Evangelist, Horsham (where Jordan regularly attends the Italian Scalabrini Mass). Jordan has promised me the chance of a few words with the Custos. She arranges this right at the beginning of the party using her usual combination of vivacious charm and irresistible enthusiasm, against which, as Fr Pizzaballa is later to tell me, he is unable to mount any defence at all! As we obediently make our way towards the kitchen for the impromptu interview, Jordan informs me that her guest “is one of the mostly highly regarded exponents of religious tolerance and moderation in the Middle East.” The Custos of the Holy Land is the Minister Provincial of the Friars Minor living in the whole Middle East, which means that he has jurisdiction over the territories of Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, part of Egypt, Cyprus and Rhodes, as well as the numerous “Comissariats” (houses) in various parts of the world including Rome and Washington. He is also responsible for co-ordinating and directing the reception of pilgrims who come over to the Holy Land to pray at the shrines of our Redemption, disseminating information about the Holy Land and motivating Christians to “lovingly care” for the holy sites. He is considered one of the main Christian religious authorities in the Holy Land. Given the importance of this role, the Custos is not elected but directly nominated by the Holy See. Fr Pizzaballa is, further, a renowned expert in Old Testament studies who has studied at the Hebrew University and has taught at the Studium Biblicum in Jerusalem. Knowing all this, I admit to feeling just a bit overwhelmed as we sit down at the kitchen table. However, Fr Pizzaballa is all courtesy; moreover, one feels that a “great man” is the last thing he considers himself to be. Although a certain air of gentle gravitas makes one think he must be older, he is in fact a mere 42. I ask how he felt to be appointed as Custos at such a young age. “I didn’t believe it – to the extent, in fact, that I thought it must be a joke of some sort! I admit to feeling scared. It’s a very demanding office. However, in the end I drew courage from accepting my appointment as the will of God.” What drew him into the priesthood, I wonder, and to the Franciscans in particular? “I grew up in a little Italian village where religion was taken for granted as part of everyday life. There wasn’t anything ‘odd’ about having a devotion to one’s faith and the boys of the village saw priesthood as a genuine option, something that it would be quite normal to do. I was always attracted by the life of the Church and was greatly influenced by four wonderful local priests who were role-models for me. My attraction to the Franciscan order came about by chance, really, or so it seemed. I happened to come into contact with some Franciscans and was attracted both by their communal way of life and by a certain friendly openness to others.” Whilst his natural courtesy means that he responds obligingly to all my questions, I sense that Fr Pizzaballa would rather talk about the causes that are dear to his heart than about himself. I ask what he would like to tell the people of Arundel & Brighton diocese about the lives of their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. He at once warms to the topic. “Christians comprise a mere 1% of the population of the Holy Land. They are a tiny, fragile presence with no political influence, caught in the middle of the tensions between the Muslim and Jewish peoples. It’s not so much that they are persecuted – they are simply ignored; but because of this they have severe economic problems and little future.” I nod. Jordan has already told me why she founded the Terra Sancta Trust. On a visit to the Holy Land in 2006, the unexpected illness of a fellow pilgrim meant that she found herself on the way to hospital in the taxi of Ibrahim Tanas, a Christian. On getting to know the Tanas family, Jordan was both appalled by the economic hardship and lack of freedom they experienced and impressed by their indomitable spirit. The military occupation had caused the tourist industry to dry up and Christians in Bethlehem became virtually cut off from the world when the Israelis built a 30 foot security wall around the town in 2004. How can Catholics living in the south of England best show solidarity with these beleaguered people, I ask? “I think there needs to be a greater consciousness about the reality of life in the Holy Land and so one of the greatest services that can be done is to disseminate information about this,” the Custos responded immediately. “I would also urge pilgrims not to stay away from the Holy Land. It is safe to travel there and tourist income is badly needed. Exchange programmes with schools and twinning projects with parishes can help raise awareness and provide moral and financial support.” I enquire how he first got to know Jordan and her work, and he smiles. “It was rather the other way around! She came to see me in my office and presented her projects to me. Let’s just say she was very persuasive! Her enthusiasm and passion were beautiful to witness – how could I refuse to get involved?” Fr Pizzaballa has been very kind but I’m beginning to feel, albeit reluctantly, that I should let him rejoin the party, so I pose just one last question. What would he say to a Catholic Christian of our diocese who asked why it was so important to maintain the holy shrines? His answer goes to the heart of the incarnational nature of our faith. “The Holy Places are essential. Our faith is not just a Creed, a spirituality or a set of emotions. It’s a Person: Jesus Christ. This Person entered our history at a specific time and in a specific place. If - as human beings who need to touch and see – we are to experience our faith as a living thing, not just as a theoretical proposition, we need to connect to the real places in the world where Christ revealed Himself.” As we move back into the main room to enjoy the company, I reflect that Fr Pizzaballa’s closing words effectively sum up the spirit of the evening and of the Terra Sancta Education Trust itself. I am indeed privileged to have met a group of people with such a passion to incarnate their faith through very real acts of service to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. It is wonderful to be here this evening in this lovely place with the 12th-century Chapel. I would like thank the Terra Santa Education Trust and especially Dr. Jordan Lancaster who has been following up the work of the trust as well as arranging the visit here. And with a grateful heart I would like to thank the rest of you wonderful men and women who have come from all across London to be with us this evening and to show your support and solidarity for the Terra Santa Education Trust in our efforts to maintain the Christian presence in the Holy Land. I cannot thank you enough. This evening we are all here to speak, pray and act for the Holy Land and for the few Christians that are still there. Why is this small country, located in a geographical area without any apparent value, without natural wonders, without great resources, so decisive for the history of the world and for the history of all of us? Perhaps each and every one of us has asked themselves this question at least once. Israel-Palestine is not only a country that has borders with Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and a long Mediterranean coastline. It is, above all, the Holy Land, a crossroads of peoples, religions and cultures; a land of furious violent incursions by ancient peoples and a country of political and military interest for too many in the past and even for today’s powers. The Holy Land, the land of our redemption, the cradle of the three monotheistic religions, is a microcosm which is the image and projection, in good and evil, of the global situation. This is a land of many human contradictions, a paradoxical and incredible - scandalous - triumph of violence, domination and fundamentalism, but always the land of God more than any other. This is where the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land has worked for almost eight hundred years. As Christians and as Franciscans, we have to interpret the reality of this land with the eyes of faith, in search of the fine thread of the History of Salvation, in the impassioned and obstinate effort to construct peace through the choice of non-violence. It was 1221 when St. Francis, in the Earlier Rule, wrote about “those going amongst the Saracens and other infidels” and advised his brothers “not to engage in arguments or disputes, but to be subject to every human creature for God’s sake and to acknowledge that they are Christians”. Chapter XII of the Earlier Rule ends with a long series of evangelical quotations which starts with “Blessed are those who suffer persecution on account of justice...” and which could form a sort of “Magna Carta” of non-violence. It is from that moment that the history of the Franciscan presence in the Holy Land starts, and the history of the presence of the local Christian communities is renewed. The age-old history of the Custody in the Holy Land shows that humility, joyous testimony, fraternal charity, the force of forgiveness, simplicity and continually proposing a possible reconciliation have built up the road which has allowed us to pass through the tormented history of this country and form a co-existence that has not only allowed preservation of the Holy Places and the development of Christian archaeology but has also guaranteed the survival of the Christian communities, the living stones of this Church. Today, this has to become the privileged road to be taken: the only one that will obtain for us the gift of peace from God. For all Christians, it is a clear warning to return to the logic of the Gospel. This evening, dear friends, we are here above all to express our love and our solidarity with the Christians who live in the Holy Land. In order to understand the situation of the Christians in the Holy Land, first of all we have to look carefully at this extraordinary strip of land. I cannot presume to present and decipher the political situation of the Middle East, and of the Holy Land in particular, here this evening. I think that even the greatest experts in international politics have given up more than once in the face of the difficult political situation in the Holy Land, where local and international economic and political interests are mixed with religious faith, and where history and the present overlap, creating a complex situation which is objectively difficult to solve. It is not up to me, as a religious authority, to make political analysis. However, I can try to outline and present some of the problematic points that we have in the Holy Land, aware that having to be brief obliges me in part to be partial. A first point concerns the political instability and above all the absence of political leaders capable of a political vision and courage. The situation that emerges both in Israel and in Palestine is the real absence of points of reference in the political sphere. Especially after the recent war with Lebanon, Israel seems to have withdrawn from any type of debate. If, on the one hand, there are declarations of desire and willingness for dialogue, in actual fact there are very few real concessions. In Israeli society, apart from a few movements and a few intellectuals, it is as though the majority of the population, tired and paralysed by the fear of bomb attacks, has withdrawn from any form of dialogue and recognition of the other. The wall of separation, which we have all seen in photos, is a clear symbol of this will or, to put it better, this non-will to dialogue with and recognize the opposite party. An Israeli diplomat recently said: “Today there is great confusion, both in the Palestinian and Israeli governments: in this situation I doubt that we can obtain anything solid. Declarations of good will, perhaps. But you do not change something on the ground with poetry.” The same diplomat also expressed his opinion on the political debate within Israeli society, which I think offers an excellent definition of the situation in Israel: “The bitter debate in Israeli society on the orthodox fringes and on the settlers is in itself the warning light of a change and of the tiredness of Israeli citizens on the conflict. The majority of Israelis were cold to the personal and family tragedy of the settlers during the dismantlement of the settlements in Gaza in 2005. This is the most important message, because it is the first time since 1967 that the Israelis started a serious debate on what Eretz Israel is and on the territories, and they are winning the battle: awareness is growing in the country that we have to return the Occupied Territories. I’m not saying that it is easy, but it is possible: the Israelis today are willing to do it, we need the political will.” Here is the point. I’m wondering if is it there, the political will. It is not a question of finding a new vision. “It is not a question of inventing something new: after 60 years everybody is familiar with the terms of the problem and the possible solutions: the occupation of the territories, Jerusalem and the refugees. It is now up to the international community to take on the responsibility of a precise proposal.” As I said, I really think there is a lack of political will today and not only in Israel. However, the political situation is no better in Palestine. It is perhaps even more chaotic than in Israel due to the tensions between Fatah and Hamas, between the different factions that have, to all intents and purposes, paralysed the State, if the Palestinian Autonomy can be so defined. People’s lives are fragmented, each aspect comes under the leader of a faction and this is definitely paralysing. The new Gaza entity has further divided and made the situation more intricate. The political and economic difficulties also create tensions at a religious level as well, which unfortunately are constantly on the increase. If the wall of separation, with the road blocks, protects Israel from totally unjustifiable attacks of unheard of ferocity, it unjustly paralyses, to all intents and purposes, the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The people who live in the territories of the Palestinian Autonomy are now enclosed in a large enclave, from which it is difficult to leave. Permits are very rare and are not easy to obtain. This has also created great psychological pressure on people. They cannot take initiatives; to go to hospital or to school they have to ask for a permit, they cannot go on holiday to the beach and so on. It is a situation of frustration, which creates further tension, triggering off a spiral of fear and violence. The rate of violence in the schools and inside families is very high. Conflict becomes a way of thinking. The hatred that smoulders inside people is not only directed towards enemies, but runs the risk of becoming a way of thinking, because it remains in the heart, and poisons it. The Israeli and Palestinian political leaders now meet every month, the international community constantly sends its representatives as does the US Secretary of State. Nobody honestly pays attention any more to their arrival and respective declarations. When people suffer and die, the repeated declarations are of no use, they only irritate. I could go on like this for a long time, describing the difficulties, the abuses, the injustices and frustration to which the Palestinians are subjected, of the fears and the problems of the Israeli society, but I am sure that all of you are already familiar with them. I want to focus a little more on the tiny Christian community of the Holy Land. In the context I have very shortly described, the Christian communities are paying a very harsh price: as well as suffering the tragic consequences of the conflict, they are also forced to a sad exodus from the land and the cities where they have lived for centuries. The presence of Christians is not a “historical accident” just as the presences of the Muslims and of the Jews are not. As a consequence, we are together here in this Land, as a sign of the will of God, the Lord of History. But it is the Christians we want to talk about this evening. There are not very many Christians in the Holy Land: it is very difficult to have exact figures, because statistics are also subject to political phenomena and in this country there is always the tendency to increase one’s own numbers and decrease those of the others. The Christians (not only the Catholics, all the Christians together) do not number more than one hundred and sixty-five thousand, maybe one hundred and seventy thousand but not more than that. A little more than 1% in the whole of the Holy Land. When we speak about the Holy Land, we mean Israel and what is today the Palestinian Autonomy. For us, it is all the Holy Land. This percentage refers to all this territory. Sixty per cent live in Israel, political Israel, and 40% in the territories of the Palestinian Autonomy. The problem is very serious. It is true that Christians accounted for 10% half a century ago, but different phenomena have occurred: the population has greatly increased whilst the number of Christians has often stayed the same and therefore the percentages have decreased. This is the phenomenon which takes place in Israel, for example. In Israel, the number of Christians does not decrease in absolute terms, it decreases as a percentage because the Muslims have far more children and the Jewish population is also increasing. On the other hand, the problem is far more dramatic and serious inside the Palestinian Autonomy, because there the numbers are decreasing in absolute terms as well. In 1967, Bethlehem had an absolute majority of Christians but today they account for just under 10% of the population. This is one of the serious problems we are facing and so we also wonder what will happen to the Christian presence in the Holy Land. I believe that the Christians will not disappear but will become an increasingly significant presence from the point of view of incisiveness in the life of the territory. Politically, 1% does not mean anything. You do not count with this percentage; politics and the public situation tend to ignore you. As Christians we will need to make ourselves heard, we will need bonds with the international community so that the Christian reality of the Holy land is taken into consideration. This will be one of the main commitments in the future. Alongside the demographic problem, there is the phenomenon of emigration, due to the lack of political and above all economic prospects, because the political situation also paralyses economic prospects. The situation has become intolerable for many, in particular due to the endless conflict. Today, more than ever, there is a shortage of those indispensable conditions such as housing, education, work, safety and a clear political and economic perspective for development, to be able to believe in a future for which it is worth making an effort. As I have to simplify for reasons of time and opportunity, I would say that the main reasons for the exodus are the following:
With reference to emigration, we have to emphasize that the majority of those who emigrate represent the middle and most culturally qualified sector of the population: teachers, lawyers, doctors etc. This doubly impoverishes the Christian presence which is not only reduced in figures but is also less constructive. This search for new prospects and an escape from a hostile reality is not limited to Christians. Many Muslims and many Israeli Jews also leave the country because all of them are suffering from the conflict and the political situation. In the mid nineties, the Franciscan Custody was quite involved with trying to handle the exodus of our Christians leaving the Holy Land. The three main causes for their emigration were: 1. not being able to go to college; 2. not having a job; 3. not being able to have affordable housing. This three pronged approach then became our “modus operandi” and we immediately established “scholarship grants” for college, we established a committee of professional corporate and business people to assist our graduates in securing professional employment, and we began to construct a new housing complex for our Christians. The Terra Sancta Education Trust has also seen the need for education but focused its work on scholarships for students between the ages 4-14. The trust promotes education as its main objective, not only academic studies but also cultural activities that enrich the mind and trigger the spirit, such as recent field trips to the Jerusalem zoo and the flora and fauna nature trip to the Judean desert organised by the Palestinian Wildlife Society and the Catholic Near East Welfare Agency. As the trust in its cradle stages, it has begun with some of these cultural and recreational activities and aspires to run many more. Its focus is to help the Christians in Bethlehem who at the moment are living in very difficult civic and economic conditions. Nonetheless, I am happy to inform you that the trust has supported over 50 students by granting them scholarships, in this, its first year, and hopes to be able to support many more in the years to come. The Custody through its organisations also grants university scholarships for higher education to help Christians find employment and work. We recently finished and assigned more than 150 apartments for our Christian families in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and on the Mount of Olives and we are attempting to build 150 apartments in Nazareth and Jaffa at a cost of £1.5 million. And this is being accomplished despite all the political turmoil that surrounds our Christians. They are beginning to reconsider their need to leave the Holy Land because they are finally experiencing some real hope. And it has been people like yourselves here this evening as well as other Christians who are making a difference to help rebuild our Church in the Holy Land, who are helping to maintain the Christian presence in the Holy Land and who are doing something about protecting these guardians of Christianity... about loving them and somehow guaranteeing that they will always be available to those coming after us. However, dear brothers and sisters, we must never forget that our real strength is in God. Our efforts, our collections, our capacity for organization and our love for the Christians of the Holy Land must always be accompanied by our trust in the presence of God and by ardently praying that He supports our efforts and our intentions. As Christians, we have a historical task: not to abandon the land of the Lord, to be there, to stay there, to be Christians there. Our presence should be a source of balance, a sign of tolerance and a concrete invitation to collaborate and build up a new co-existence together. It is solidarity not only towards the local Christian communities but also towards all the sons and daughters of the only Lord, it is protecting the identity of the Holy Places. Much has been accomplished to assist the remaining Christians to remain in the Holy Land through your support but much more is needed as endless streams of young Christians continue to knock on our doors asking for a college education, for employment and housing. But to do this we need help from everyone. This is why we are all here today. It is with your help and your solidarity that, despite everything, we can today be a point of reference that is small but important for many Christians in the Holy Land who, in spite of everything, with their faith and your works can see a glimmer of hope in their existence. A glimmering light is finally shining at the end of a long dark tunnel. In many ways, each of you truly reflects the spirit of that wonderful saint called St. Francis of Assisi. Because where there was despair you have given hope; where there was doubt, you have given faith; and where there was sadness you have given true joy. And for this, God will repay you abundantly. Thank you! | ||||
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2008
Custos Visit
