The shady alley of Sainte-Anne resounds with a joyous cacophony. The place, a French national domain run by the White Fathers, next to the esplanade of the Mosques in the Old Town, hosted around forty monastic communities for a day “friendly and cultural”Saturday, June 18.
For the second consecutive year, they meet to sell their handicrafts and publicize their activities. Opportunity was born in adversity: it was the pandemic that brought them together.
Border closure
By 2020, border closures had plunged some of these congregations into poverty. The year before, 4 million tourists had come to the Holy Land, including at least half a million pilgrims. Suddenly, the streets of Jerusalem and Bethlehem fell silent, and with the silence came the loss of the sale of handicrafts, a livelihood often essential to the survival of communities. The smaller ones, which do not have the organized support of the parent companies, have also sometimes lived through this period in total isolation.
This Saturday, smiles abound under the sun. Trade is booming, both in local religious craftsmanship, olive wood rosaries and reproduction of icons, and in products adapted from French traditions: gingerbread is snapped up. Among the customers, many French speakers. Palestinians, other expats and a few Israelis joined in the fun. Groups of pilgrims from the United States, Nigeria or Spain came to punctuate the afternoon. Their spontaneous praises found an echo in those of the monks and the sisters, taking turns to sing in choir in the church.
Behind the stands, the sisters greet newcomers with a smile, refusing however, out of modesty, to talk spontaneously about their difficulties. If they do, it’s with a smile. “We certainly felt a abandonment”, says a sister from a small community in Bethlehem, recounting the severe movement restrictions put in place during successive lockdowns. But for her, as for many others, it was a lesson in faith, a way of deepening their spirituality in solitude.
“We got together in our fraternal life”
In their conversations, some underline the opportunity presented by the abrupt end of the pilgrimages. “The risk, in normal times, is to be a little outward-looking, tells a Carmelite sister of the Pater Noster, on the Mount of Olives. There, it was the opposite movement, we pulled ourselves together in our fraternal life. »
It also allowed neighboring communities to meet. The need for an officiant for the mass, or a practical helping hand, prompted them to discover each other. A group of lay volunteers joined this new dynamic, launching the first day of mutual aid in June 2021.
The network is formalized
Today, the network, made up of a hard core of about ten female contemplative communities, is formalizing itself, allowing the sisters to find in this concrete and tangible unity support that is as precious as it is necessary. “They tend to say that everything is fine, to carry their burden without talking about it, explains Sylvie Thibaut, one of the lay people associated with the project. But we have seen some collapse, with real issues that are often difficult to resolve: how to take care of older sisters, for example. »
The network opens up the possibility of exchanging ideas and skills, and access to practical training. With a broader issue, which caught the attention of the Pontifical Mission in the Holy Land. “Communities play a crucial role in Palestinian society in particular,” recalls Joseph Hazboun, its director: nearly a third of Palestinians, almost all Muslims, receive services from Christian congregations.