An Audience with His Beatitude-iness, Dude.

Tuesday, we had an Audience with His Beatitude, Patriarch Fouad Twal, the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem. More than simply the Archbishop of Jerusalem, he is the Pope's man-on-the-scene in the Middle East, serving as the Metropolitan Archbishop for all the Catholics in Syria, Jordan, Israel, Cyprus, and the Palestinian Territories. This photos was taken after the audience. We are Br. Ambrose Sigman, Fr. Carl Schlichte, Br. Matthew Augustine Miller, His Beatitude, Fr. Gregory Tatum, Me, and Fr. Steve Maekawa. The Dominicans are all of the USA Western Dominican Province.

During the Audience, the Patriarch enlightened us to the state of the Church in the Holy Land. Christians make up less than 5% of the population of the areas for which he has responsibility. But we have been here for a long time and are continuing to do great work. He spoke of the difficulties created by the political realities of this region. He explained that the Wall (fence?) erected by Israel and the tight noose that Israel keeps around the Palestinians create a feeling of hopelessness, especially for young people. He is using his bully pulpit to encourage Israel to hand the situation differently. When asked what we could do to help, he said their were 3 P's - Prayer for all the people of this region. Encourage Pilgrimages as many of the people of the region depend on the money spent by pilgrims for their livelihood. And finally Projects - encourage people in our parishes to adopt particular projects supported by the Church in Israel to support with our finances and support.