Some 1650 years ago, St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She started a trend that continues to this very day at the rate of over 3,000,000 people per year. Those who come to the Holy Land come to see many things but the most popular places are the places that Jesus walked and performed his miracles. Two of the most beloved places are the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Basilica of the Nativity. Because of their importance, several denominations claim the right to be present at these churches. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians, and the Coptics claim equal authority and at the Basilica of the Nativity, the Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, and the Armenians claim equal rights.
These competing claims have created a tradition which says that the denomination which makes a repair has ownership rights to that which is repaired. This tradition has been a major obstacle to maintenance at both churches. The Basilica of the Nativity was built in the fourth century and torn down and rebuilt in the sixth century by the Emperor Justinian. For 1500 years, the Basilica, once adorned with mosaics and artwork, has been neglected due to this tradition. Since 1461, it has been noted that the roof is in disrepair, that the beams are rotting away, that the roof leaks and is destroying the mosaics and artwork, and that the competing parties cannot agree to repair any of the problems.
The problem has become so acute that the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a mostly Muslim group, has decided that the 2,000,000 visitors yearly to the Basilica are in grave danger. This danger threatens the very economy in the West Bank. The Muslims cannot afford to wait for the Christians to deal with their problems anymore. So, despite the poverty and needs of the people of the West Bank, the PLO has decided that the roof must be repaired at the cost of $10,000,000 to $15,000,000. This is money that is meant for the starving poor, but in order to guarantee that there will be some tourist dollars, the PLO must spend the money to save the roof of a Christian church. What a disgrace.
The parable is that Jesus prayed in the Gospel of John that Christians would all be in agreement even as He and His Father were in agreement. At the first, it seemed as if his prayer was being answered, but just as this shiny new church built 1500 years ago has become decrepit and dangerous so also has the Christian faith become decrepit and dangerous. Various branches of the faith -- Catholic, Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic, and Protestant -- have ignored the words of Jesus and allowed their petty differences to keep them from what is important. Jesus told them that on the day of Judgment they would be judged by how they feed the poor, visited the sick and prisoner, and showed forth love to each other. But in our modern day, we are left with Muslims, despised due to terrorists, to fix the Holy Sites of the Christianity. The Church where Jesus was born has joined the homeless and the wealth that has come to those who claim his name is spent on warfare rather than peace.
Perhaps, today is a good day to change all of this. For just one penny per Christian person, $20,000,000 can be raised to fix the Basilica of the Nativity and make it safe for the faithful. The seamless garment conceived by Jesus and represented by the clothes he wore to his execution may begin to be repaired by a joint act of all Christians to repair his birthplace. We should be shamed that we spend more money in America keeping up the shrines to Lincoln, Washington, Grant, Kennedy, and Martin Luther King than what it would take to repair the birthplace of Jesus the Christ.
Merry Christmas
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