Shepherds Field Olive Wood Handcrafts
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"A group from the Holy Land (Bethlehem & Jerusalem) will be selling religious articles after masses to support the Catholic Christian minorities in Bethlehem. As a tradition, many of the Catholic families in the Holy Land work in small workshops to produce religious articles from olive wood. These articles represent the Christian art of the Holy Land. In the past, they used to sell their artwork to pilgrims who visit the Holy Land. However, these days they are facing an economic hardship, as there are not many pilgrims visiting the Holy Land due to pandemic and political issues. Many of the Catholic families immigrated and left the Holy Land. The percentage of Christians in the Holy Land has dropped from 20% to less than 1 %. Therefore, if this hardship continues as it is now, we believe that in a few years, there will be no Catholics in Bethlehem or Jerusalem. The struggle to preserve the Catholic identity of the birthplace of our savior; Jesus Christ is a serious concern for Catholics around the world. Sales will be used to help and support the Catholics in the Holy Land and to encourage them not to
immigrate."
