{"id":10105,"date":"2013-07-11T10:31:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T14:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/?p=10105"},"modified":"2020-09-21T16:09:12","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T20:09:12","slug":"encountering-holy-land-christians-velmas-dream-come-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/encountering-holy-land-christians-velmas-dream-come-true\/","title":{"rendered":"Encountering Holy Land Christians: Velma\u2019s Dream Come True"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Velma Harasen is the past national president of the Catholic Women\u2019s League (C.W.L.) of Canada. We asked for her reflections after participating in the C.W.L.\u2019s Holy Land pilgrimage with CNEWA. She shares her thoughts below: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a blessing, what a gift to have journeyed in pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a small group that soon became like family. My daughter, Lori, was my accompanying family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our guide Alex, a Palestinian Christian, was an amazing source of information and referred to Bible readings at the various holy sites that we visited. A tearful departure spoke volumes of the love and respect we had for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Father Geoff celebrated Mass for us and truly served as our spiritual leader, including when we renewed our baptismal promises at the river Jordan. He may never know how much he meant to all of us but hopefully our gift of the handmade purple stole expressed our thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been to the Holy Land twice before but this pilgrimage was very special to me. We met, mingled and ate with the Christians of the Holy Land and learned more about their daily struggles. Life is not easy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a local parish in Reineh, we attended a Latin Mass celebrated in Arabic and were treated to a reception afterward. We visited a number of projects supported by CNEWA, plus the two projects that were part of Velma\u2019s Dream<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shepherds\u2019 Field Hospital in Beit Sahour is operated by the Cooperative Society for Health Welfare, which is comprised of local families maintaining the hospital for the poor of the area, mainly pregnant women and babies. With limited resources, they serve their community with Christian love. We met the board, the midwife, nurse and a doctor who volunteers his time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a very small, sparse labor and delivery room with two narrow beds, I wondered aloud how they could manage should there be two mothers in labor at the same time! The response: \u201cSometimes we have three; we can manage!\u201d The board is working hard to build a larger facility and was proud to show us the excavation!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Infant Welfare Center is in the heart of Old City of Jerusalem. Children from the age of 4 months to 5 years are accommodated in the daycare. When we were there, the babies were enjoying their afternoon nap. However, we spent time with the older ones assembling puzzles, talking and singing. One class made thank you cards for each of us while, in another class, we joined in singing \u201cRow, Row, Row Your Boat\u201d! The center also operates programs for teens to keep them in school and off the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was affirmed that both these projects supported by the Catholic Women\u2019s League were worthy and our donations were put to very good use! We have made a difference!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Velma Harasen is the past national president of the Catholic Women\u2019s League (C.W.L.) of Canada. We asked for her reflections after participating in the C.W.L.\u2019s Holy Land pilgrimage with CNEWA. She shares her thoughts below: What a blessing, what a gift to have journeyed in pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a small group that … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":10106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[963],"class_list":["post-10105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholic-womens-league"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEncountering Holy Land Christians: Velma\u2019s Dream Come True | CNEWA Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cnewa.org\/ca\/encountering-holy-land-christians-velmas-dream-come-true\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Encountering Holy Land Christians: Velma\u2019s Dream Come True\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Velma Harasen is the past national president of the Catholic Women\u2019s League (C.W.L.) of Canada. 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