wfn.org | [ACNS] Vicar of Nazareth appeals for help

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3984	     |		ENGLAND      |		31 MAY 2005	

Vicar of Nazareth appeals for help

Photographs for this article are available here:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/39/75/acns3984.cfm

An appeal for the churches in Britain to help bring an end to the 
inequality and discrimination suffered by Palestinian Christians in the 
Holy Land was made today by Father Samuel Barhoum, Anglican Vicar of
Nazareth.

Preaching at the National Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of 
Walsingham, Father Samuel requested the church's "solidarity and support so 
that we can continue with our work, so that we can encourage Christians to 
remain steadfast."

Thousands of pilgrims packed the streets of the Norfolk village, which was 
last year voted England's favourite spiritual place in a poll of BBC Radio 
4 listeners. Many bishops and clergy joined the pilgrims from all over the 
country.

Father Barhoum said that matters of peace and justice were central to the 
everyday life of Palestinians in the Middle East.

A key problem was the issue of emigration. What used to be a Christian town 
now has only 35% of the population as Christians, and hordes of young 
people are leaving the Holy Land to find a better and safer life elsewhere.

"Peace and justice is a condition that cannot be reached unless a person 
has inner peace, peace with oneself, then peace with God and your fellow 
human beings. A person has to be convinced of and study peace and justice 
and then will be able to teach and work for peace an justice," he said in 
his sermon.

Father Philip North, Administrator of the Shrine, welcomed Father Barhoum 
and said that he wanted to create stronger and more direct links between 
Walsingham (known as England's Nazareth) and the Nazareth of Jesus in Upper 
Galilee.

Walsingham's web site can be found here www.walsingham.org.uk 
<http://www.walsingham.org.uk>

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