• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
A Palestinian student wearing a protective visor and a special plastic mouth covering writes on the board during class at the Ephpheta Institute for the Deaf in Bethlehem, West Bank, Sept. 15, 2020. The visors and plastic mouth covers were made so the students can read lips and be protected from COVID-19. (CNS photo/Debbie Hill)

U.S. evangelicals get Israeli visas; Catholics want equal treatment

September 15, 2020
By Judith Sudilovksy
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

JERUSALEM (CNS) — Catholic leaders in the Holy Land expressed astonishment that a large group of evangelical Christians from the U.S. received visas to come to Israel to help with the grape harvest in West Bank settlements, while Catholic institutions have not been able to obtain Israeli visas for their volunteers and staff members because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The refusal to grant visas is jeopardizing the work of the Christian communities, especially the institutions that serve the neediest,” they said in a Sept. 10 statement.

Catholic institutions and religious communities requesting visas for their volunteers have been told numerous times that visas could not be issued because of COVID-19, they said. Israel has banned most non-Israelis from entering the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.

However, a Sept. 8 report in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz newspaper said some 70 volunteers from the Missouri-based Hayovel Volunteer in Israel organization were given visas so they could come to Israel and pick grapes for settler-owned wineries during the grape harvest season. The harvest season usually runs from August to October.

The volunteers were given a three-month visa and completed a 14-day quarantine before beginning work on the harvest at the Har Bracha settlement near Nablus, according to the paper.

The church statement noted that many Catholic-administered hospitals, schools, homes for the elderly and the handicapped, clinics and social centers in Israel depend heavily on volunteers who come from Catholic communities around the world, especially from the U.S. and Europe.

Many of the institutions such as St. Louis Hospital, which provides end-of-life care, and the Sisters of Charity home for the severely handicapped — both in Jerusalem — serve Muslims and Jews as well as Christians, the statement noted.

An administrator at the Sisters of Charity home for the severely handicapped in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem said they were short-handed on staff to care for the children and felt this acutely because they were abnormally busy preparing for the upcoming government-imposed three-week lockdown, set to go into effect Sept. 18 at the onset of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year holiday.

In Bethlehem, West Bank, Sister Lara Hijazin, director of the Ephpheta Institute for the Deaf and a member of the Sisters of St. Dorothy, said their volunteers from Italy have been unable to come since March because they have not been given visas.

Volunteers arriving at institutions in Palestinian areas also require Israeli visas, because Israel controls all points of entry.

The Ephpheta boarding school section has been closed since the outbreak of the pandemic, said Sister Hijazin, so the local staff is managing with the basic learning needs of the students despite the loss of the volunteers. But, she said, the students are not being given the extra activities in sports and English, which expand their capabilities and outlook.

“The volunteers come, giving new directions, opening the minds of people here. If the volunteers come we have more help for our students for other activities, and they assist the teachers,” said Sister Hijazin. “When there are no volunteers, these activities are stopped.”

The church leaders asked that visas be granted to volunteers “that sacrifice periods of their lives” to work in Catholic institutions of the Holy Land and to members of religious congregations who want to join their religious communities in the Holy Land “in lives of prayer and service.”

They also requested that new students of various Catholic academic institutions in the Holy Land be afforded visas as well, especially after it was announced that foreign students registered to study in programs of Jewish Israeli institutions can receive visas.

“The Catholic Church of the Holy Land seeks to play its role in helping to build a society in which all have their place,” the leaders said. “We also ask — insist — that Christians and their institutions enjoy the same rights as all others in the state of Israel. … We ask again that visas be granted to those whose presence in the Holy Land is a necessity for the life of the church.”

Copyright © 2020 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Judith Sudilovksy

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • superman Movie Review: ‘Superman’

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

  • Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

| Latest Local News |

Quo Vadis attracts biggest crowd ever, promotes camaraderie and faith

Lay associates journey with the Oblate Sisters of Providence

Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

| Latest World News |

Three dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack

Proof of life for kidnapped Nigerian priest received by Alaska diocese where he served

Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says

Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza

School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Quo Vadis attracts biggest crowd ever, promotes camaraderie and faith
  • Three dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack
  • Proof of life for kidnapped Nigerian priest received by Alaska diocese where he served
  • Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says
  • Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza
  • School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others
  • Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing
  • Mahmoud v. Taylor: A Supreme Court victory for parents, freedom
  • Church leaders, faithful in procession to Detroit ICE office call for just immigration policies

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en