By Greg Friedman, OFM Since the middle of March, life for the friars and student priests living at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in Washington, D.C., has undergone two major shifts, as measures to contain the pandemic have drastically changed life around the world, as well as in this Franciscan friary. Keeping safeFirst, [...]
Since the beginning of April, the city of Washington, D.C. (known also as the District of Columbia) has been under rigid shut-down by the order of the city’s Mayor, Muriel Bowser. The Mayor’s order specifies that residents may only leave their residences to “engage in essential activities, including obtaining medical care that cannot be provided [...]
By Beatrice Guarrera For Christians in the Holy Land, the time of Lent and Easter always has had a slightly different flavor from the rest of the world. But during the time of the pandemic, Franciscan parishioners have been able to count on their pastors in a special way. A video catechesis, a blessing at [...]
[Note: Image is from April, 2019] In the unprecedented circumstances of celebrating the liturgies of the Holy Week behind closed doors, faithful from all over the world have sought comfort in the liturgies streamed over the Internet from the Holy Land. The Custody of the Holy Land transmitted, through the Christian Media Center in Jerusalem, ceremonies for [...]
Father Francesco Patton, OFM ‘Tell them I have overcome death, forever!’ Here we are inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, just a few steps from here we see the empty tomb where the body of Jesus was buried on the evening of Good Friday and a few meters higher we can see Calvary, where [...]