Two priests with the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land spoke about the past, present and future in the Middle East during the annual Cradling Christianity Benefit Dinner on Sept. 4 at Columbus Our Lady of Victory Church.
Father Peter Vasko, OFM, founding president of the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land (FFHL), and Father John Puodziunas, OFM, the current president, delivered keynote addresses at a dinner that followed a Mass with Bishop Earl Fernandes as the principal celebrant.
The evening included a Zoom call with two students from the Jerusalem area benefiting from the FFHL University Scholarship Program, which is supported by the Cradling Christianity group in the Diocese of Columbus and other benefactors.
An estimated 185 people attended the dinner sponsored by Cradling Christianity, the local non-profit that was founded in 2006 in Columbus to provide opportunities and education assistance for young people who live in the Holy Land.
The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land was established in 1994 and has raised more than $50 million in 30 years to help students obtain diplomas and degrees. Father Vasko thanked Cradling Christianity for funding scholarships for 70 Christian students in almost 20 years.
The average cost of a four-year degree in the Holy Land is $24,000. Students benefiting from the scholarships have achieved a 97 percent graduation rate, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fields including law, business, engineering and medicine. Upon graduation, 92 percent have secured professional employment.
Ayman Awwad, who is studying to be a medical doctor, shared his background on the Zoom call.
From a Christian family of six who went to church every Sunday, Awwad said his faith influences his daily life by giving him the ability to live in peace and love during troubled times in the region and also the capacity to care for others. He shared that even small, positive actions can lead to improved relations with others.
RosemarBassam Haroun, who is studying to be a dentist, told the guests that, like Awwad, she enjoys helping others and realizes people must work together to create strong communities.
Compounding the difficulties for students and their parents to obtain an education is the serious unrest that has gripped the region since October 2023.
Father Vasko, who has lived in the Holy Land for 39 years, offered his perspective.
“I’ve experienced two intifadas, I’ve experienced the Moslem suicide bombings, I’ve experienced the wall that was built that surrounded and closed the West Bank from Jerusalem, the hundreds of check points that are in and throughout the country, the confiscation of Arab land, the constant violent skirmishes between the IDF and the militant Moslems, the Gaza war of October 7, 2023, and the Iranian-Israeli 12-day war in June of 2025,” he said.
“The other thing which has transpired is the great number of deaths, especially among the Gazan Palestinians. And the other areas of Gazan living quarters is 90% destroyed. If you’ve seen any of the photos, you don’t even know where you are. And the problem of the distribution of the food supplies.
“There’s propaganda on both sides — on the Israeli side and on the Hamas side. You don’t know who to believe. It’s a very complicated situation over there.”
He explained that before the war there were 1,200 Christians living in Gaza among two million Moslems. Now, there are only 500 Christians after the others were killed, died while in need of medical attention or have gone missing.
For the most part, Christians throughout the Holy Land have lost their livelihoods since the war began in 2023 after Israel shut down universities, schools, hotels, businesses, banks and the airport.
With Christians heavily dependent on tourists from the United States, pilgrims stopped coming to the region and jobs were lost in the hospitality industry after hotels, restaurants and travel agencies closed. Israel also rescinded work permits to Palestinians to come to their jobs, leaving 100,000 workers, mostly Christians, unemployed.
“They are hurting, they are suffering, and they are losing hope,” Father Vasko said. “Your generosity over the years has been tremendous, but much more is needed. As the Latin Patriarch stated, ‘We hope that all faith traditions who call the Holy Land home intensify their prayers so that a permanent cease fire is declared, leading to the end of this devastating war, and a clear path emerges toward the peaceful conclusion to this decades-old conflict, which hopefully will lead to peace, justice and freedom for the Palestinians, and peace, justice and freedom for our Israeli neighbors.”
Father Puodziunas stressed that support from groups such as Cradling Christianity plays an important role not only financially but in showing families in the Holy Land that someone cares and wants to help.
“The Friars’ presence in the Holy Land, for centuries, has been one of hope,” he said. “It’s one of being with the people at the lowest points of their lives and to help them understand that there’s something else possible.
“We may not know what it is; we may not be able to do it ourselves; but because of our faith in our God who is Creator of All, a God that we can trust, a God who doesn’t promise to fix it for us, will enable us and accompany us to help make it better for people as we live through these moments. That’s what we bring, as friars, to the Holy Land.
“If we think we’re going to fix it quick, it’s not going to happen. It happens because we choose to accompany them. That’s why this (video conference with the two students in the Holy Land) was so important, so that we can hear them, we can feel their story, that they realize that they are part of our story and we are part of their story.”
Hope for the future comes through supporting education, Father Puodziunas said, and not taking sides but being Christians and offering prayers for peace and empathy for all those living in the Holy Land.
Looking to the future, Father Puodziunas hopes to build an endowment that will continue to support FFHL scholarships, schools, family centers and youth programs.
“But I think the greatest part of our mission is that we have to continue to identify opportunities of awareness where we don’t focus on solutions to problems that we have to fix, but we focus on ways that we can have understanding and greater empathy,” he said. “For that is where peace will come from.”
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