I realize I have been away from this Jerusalem Diary for over a week, so here's a catch up. Last Sunday, May 8 I went across the street to worship with the Syriac Catholics. The Syriac Catholic Church is one of the Eastern Rite churches in communion with the Holy See. As usual, the history of [...]
I was the guest on a podcast today and we got talking about the end result of the sexual revolution and it occurred to me as I was thinking it through that the sexual revolution will ultimately cave in on itself and end up at exactly the opposite place intended. In fact, on further reflection, I [...]
One of the advantages of an extended stay in Jerusalem is a chance to dig more deeply into the city's rich history and traditions. Today I worked in the Ecole Biblique library in the morning, but decided to look for some books I couldn't find here at the Franciscan Study Center in the Old City. The [...]
After two exhausting days--Monday to Bethlehem and the West Bank and Tuesday's day trip to Masada, Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea, Elias and I took a day to unwind and recoup. I had some laundry to do and some errands to run. Elias had to take care of details for his departure today (Thursday). He [...]
If you should attend an Anglo-Catholic Eucharist you would find that it appears (and maybe feels) the same as a Catholic Eucharist. I should point out that Anglo-Catholics are Anglican Christians who like to do things in a Catholic way. Indeed, they are often "more Catholic than the Catholics" in their commitment to fine liturgy, beautiful [...]
Elias was planning to leave on Thursday so we got a couple of day trips in today and Monday. On Monday we went back to Bethlehem and the West Bank. My friend Loai met us at the monastery and accompanied us on a shuttle bus through the border wall the Israelis have built that separates Israeli [...]
Saturday we took a rest day. I wrote an article for Imaginative Conservative and a draft script for the filming we plan to do in England in June. Elias chilled out and visited the Citadel of David near the Jaffa Gate. On Sunday morning after a quick breakfast we hiked over to the Old City to [...]
Today was another colorful and eventful day. I got up early to hike over to the Notre Dame Center--a big hotel and pilgrimage hostel that comes under the auspices of the Holy See. Marcellino D'Ambrosio is leading a pilgrimage here and invited me for breakfast. I first met Marcellino years ago when we still lived in [...]
After a long day we had a somewhat later and more leisurely start. Waking up in Madaba, after breakfast we visited the Ancient Greek Orthodox Church of St George where a 6th c. Byzantine floor mosaic has survived portraying a map of the Holy Land. Madaba is known as the "Mosaic city" and there are lots [...]
We had another early start on Wednesday as we had a lot of ground to cover--literally. We left Petra after breakfast and Yusef drove us North to visit an archeological site I had been fascinated with ever since doing the research for The Mystery of the Magi. Khirbet et Tannur (Khirbet means "ruins") The Ruins of Tannur are [...]