During Christmas season, as we sing joyfully of the Nativity stories, I am reminded of the Christians of Bethlehem. 

That little town in the Judean Hills to which we raise our voices in song is surrounded by a huge concrete wall. Its residents have no freedom of movement, their food and water is rationed and, since Oct. 7, 2023, there have been no pilgrims, resulting in mass unemployment in a place whose economy centres around it being the birth place of Jesus.

The town itself is about 75 kilometres from Gaza. Although areas across Galilee and Jerusalem have seen defamation and even arson attacks in Catholic churches, and the West Bank has experienced an escalation of violence, Bethlehem has been spared so far from the fighting. Yet the sounds of war are close at hand. These past two years have seen few “silent nights” in Bethlehem.

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Settlers have moved to date into several areas of the West Bank but have been kept at a distance from Bethlehem by a law which denies Israeli citizens entrance through the checkpoint to the city. Thus, in spite of constant hardship, Muslims and Christians continued to live in harmony, sharing schools, hospitals and holidays.

But, alarmingly, that situation has come under threat. Plans are in motion to build an  Israeli settlement in Beit Sahour, a small town that borders Bethlehem. The local mayor has warned that such a move could upend the peaceable life of the predominately Palestinian Christian population, which might soon face a troubling reality of settler clashes, dispossession and forced migration. 

Beit Sahour is 80 per cent Christian, the highest concentration of Christians anywhere in the Holy Land. The very name, which means “Home of the Vigilants,” recalls the Lukan gospel story of the vigilant shepherds watching their sheep as the triumphant angels announced the birth of Jesus in a nearby stable. That story has been retold repeatedly through the ages at the Shepherds Fields, an essential destination for pilgrims. This is a sacred site where today pilgrims are met by Franciscans to celebrate Mass in a shepherd’s cave and relive the “First Noel.”  

Any challenge to the status quo in Beit Sahour would be a particular heartbreak for many Canadians. The town holds a special place in the hearts of hundreds who have prayed there as pilgrims over recent decades through Faith Journeys Toronto. Since the mid-1990s, Canadian donors have supported major renovations to the site. 

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One of the chapels is named the Church of Canada. A tree of remembrance was planted and is draped with stars to commemorate deceased Canadian pilgrims. A beautiful marble bench holds a central place in gratitude for Canadian support. The Franciscan superior of the community often would open the site after hours so we could experience the gospel story by night, like the shepherds who watched their flocks under a star-lit sky, creating moments etched indelibly in mind and heart.  

Close by the Franciscan property is the local Catholic church and school of Beit Sahour. Faith journey pilgrims have visited both sites regularly for more than 20 years, sponsoring children who cannot afford tuition. 

Like the shepherds of old, the people of Beit Sahour are poor. Yet every visit to the school has filled pilgrims with admiration for the children’s deep faith. They radiate hope as they welcome and pray with us. 

They can see Jerusalem from their classroom windows, but sadly are prevented from going there. Sometimes a child will share a dream of a day when the wall will come down and they will know peace. Now our hearts break at the prospect of these children facing even more hardship should a proposed new settlement rise on the town’s border. 

Yet we cling to the message the Angels delivered to the vigilant shepherds on the first Christmas. It was a message of hope and peace, a light we pray will some day shine on Bethlehem and the hills of Beit Sahour. 

This Christmas, as we tell the story and sing the songs, we must remember our Christian brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. We should be vocal in making their difficult reality known as we call for mercy and justice, and pray that the children’s dreams for peace and freedom are realized. 

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All Christians, not just those who have been there and seen with their own eyes, can play a part in bringing to light the plight of the downtrodden. All of us can speak out and pray that the people of Bethlehem and Beit Sahour are swaddled by tidings of comfort and joy in the place where Mary birthed our Saviour, Emanuel.

(McGilly is a retired Catholic adult faith consultant and Scripture teacher. She has led pilgrimages to the Holy Land since 1990.)