Children, families, schools, professional training

All our activities have always been carried out in reliance on the generosity and charity of the universal Christian community and on the contributions of occasional supporters.

The friars present in the Holy Land very soon get to understand that these places would have very little importance without the “living stones” represented by Christians and focus strongly on their education. They thus create, next to the sanctuaries, parishes and, from the second half of the sixteenth century, the very first schools in the Holy Land. The next step was to open the schools to everyone (Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews), in the conviction that school is a “laboratory for living together”, where each person learns to know, to respect, to value, and to love the other. Ultimately the Franciscans introduced an authentic revolution, setting up the first schools for girls. The schools run by the Franciscans over recent centuries have thus had an indisputable value: bringing culture to all and universalising it.

Today the Custody runs numerous schools of every type and level, efficient and appreciated, even if rarely self-sufficient, distributed through the Palestine Territories, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Cyprus. These schools are attended by 10.000 children, without any distinction of religion, nationality, or race, and they take particular care of the poor: many alumni belong to indigent families and are educated for free.

The Custody is concerned with the cultural formation of Christians also through study bursaries granted to qualified young students who intend to follow a course of studies at a Middle Eastern university. In this way moreover they are encouraged to stay in the region. The schools and parishes of the Custody organise cultural and recreational activities, so as to offer to young people constructive opportunities to make use of their free time, indispensable to fight against despair, drug dependency, or violence.

The Franciscans demonstrate moreover that education and dialogue can also come about through music. The “Magnificat Institute” set up in 1995 today trains musicians at a high level, bringing together students from diverse backgrounds and religious confessions.

“Education is fundamental in a context where Christians are in a minority, the school is the only place where we can consistently train Christians. If education disappears, Christians will disappear, not numerically, but in the sense that they will no longer know what to say. Without education Christians are liable to become an insignificant presence.”

“Even taking responsibility for certain tasks that do not receive the attention they deserve, like the promotion of respect for women and the dignity of women, is a particular feature of the Christian presence in the Holy Land.” *