tvc.dsj.org | March 6, 2018
IN THE CHURCH
9
Muslims (Literally) Hold Key to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher
By Judith Sudilovsky
Catholic News Service
JERUSALEM – Jerusalem’s most
famous Christian church, shared by
three denominations, is unlocked each
morning by a Muslim.
Since the seventh century, the fam-
ily of Wajeeh Nuseibeh, 69, has handed
down the responsibility of opening the
door of the Church of the Holy Sepul-
cher.
“If the key would be in the hands of
the Greek Orthodox, then that would
signify they are the owners of the
church. If it is the hands of the Catholics,
then it would be a Catholic Church, the
same with the Armenians (Orthodox)”
Nuseibeh told Catholic News Service in
a 1999 interview. “So Muslims are neu-
tral people to open and close the door.”
Nuseibeh was the one to officially
close the doors of the church February
25 as the heads of churches announced
its indefinite closure to protest for Israeli
measures they described as a “system-
atic campaign ... against the churches
and the Christian community in the
Holy Land.” He said he felt very sad-
dened by the turn of the events.
“I am very sad pilgrims are coming
from distances to come here ... they come
to visit the church and are not able to
see it because of a mistake made by the
mayor” of Jerusalem to charge prop-
erty taxes on church-owned property,
he said. “Only if pilgrims stop coming
will he stop with the issues of taxes.
There will be more problems until this
is solved with the municipality. I get my
orders from the Greek Orthodox, the
Armenian and the Catholic. Not from
the government.”
Since the time of the Turkish rule in
Jerusalem, another Muslim family, the
Joudehs, has been responsible for hold-
ing the key. The Joudeh and Nuseibeh
families employ another Muslim man
to open the doors early most mornings.
Nuseibeh arrives to take his post at
9 a.m. and spends most of his day near
the entrance of the church.
As a child, Nuseibeh used to visit the
church with his father, Jacob. Wajeeh
Nuseibeh took over his father’s position
when he died in 1986. His father had
held the position since 1967, when he
replaced his cousin.
In a place like the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher, where the 1885 Status
Quo agreement is guarded by all the
Confessional is a Place of Forgiveness,
Not Threats, Pope says
By Junno Arocho Esteves
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Priests must
be mindful that the confessional is a
place where people can find forgiveness
and mercy, not threats and condemna-
tion, Pope Francis said.
God “does not want to beat us and
condemn us,” but rather “he always
looks for a way to enter the hearts” of
those who are repentant, the pope said
in his homily Feb. 27 at morning Mass
in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
“When we priests – in the Lord’s
place – hear confessions, we also must
have this attitude of goodness like the
Lord, who says, ‘Come, let us talk, there
is no problem, there is forgiveness,’ and
not with a threat from the beginning,”
he said.
Reflecting on the day’s first reading
from the prophet Isaiah, the pope noted
God’s merciful call to conversion and
his willingness to forgive even “though
your sins be like scarlet.”
The relationship between God and
his people, the pope said, is like that
of the father of a teenager who has
done something foolish and must be
reproached.
The father “knows that if he goes
with a stick, things won’t go well; he
must enter with confidence. The Lord
in this passage calls us like this: ‘Come
now. Let’s grab a coffee. Let’s talk. Don’t
be afraid, I don’t want to beat you,’ ”
Pope Francis said.
Through the sacrament of reconcilia-
tion, he added, Jesus “does not threaten
but rather calls us with kindness, having
confidence in us,” which allows people
seeking forgiveness to take “a step for-
ward on the path of conversion.”
Recalling the example of a cardinal
who, in the confessional, would not say
much when someone confessed a great
sin, Pope Francis said God also does
not dwell on sins and instead gives “a
receipt of forgiveness.”
The pope said he finds it helpful to
see the Lord’s attitude as that of “a father
with a son who thinks he’s big, who
believes he’s grown up, but instead is re-
ally just halfway there. The Lord knows
that we are all halfway there and many
times we need this, to hear this word:
‘Come, don’t be frightened, come. There
is forgiveness.’ And this encourages us
to go to the Lord with an open heart. It
is the Father who awaits us.”
Muslim doorkeeper Wajeeh Nuseibeh stands
outside the closed Church of the Holy Sep-
ulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City. Nuseibeh
closed and locked the doors Feb. 25 after
heads of Christian churches in the Holy Land
announced they were closing of the doors of
the church for an undisclosed period of time.
(CNS photo/courtesy Nuseibeh family)
Christian groups in the church, this
responsibility is no small matter, and
the centuries-old traditions are taken
very seriously.
“If he didn’t open the door, it would
stay shut,” the late Dominican Father
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, a profes-
sor of the New Testament at L’Ecole
Biblique, told Catholic News Service in
1999. “It is crucial to the maintenance
of the whole Status Quo. If things were
to change, then all the elements of the
agreement would be up for grabs, and I
don’t think any of the churches would
be interested in that.”
During most of the year, Nuseibeh’s
job consists of keeping track of when
and how to open the door, depending
on which group is having a religious
procession and what time it is. Every
afternoon at 4 p.m., he shuts the door
halfway to signal the beginning of
the Franciscan procession and to keep
people from entering or leaving to pre-
vent disruption of the event.
“My father showed me everything,
what to do and what is the right way
to do it. He wrote down notes and ex-
plained it to me,” said Nuseibeh.
The February protest closure was
only the second time the doors have
been shut off schedule, said Nuseibeh.
Twenty years ago, the church was closed
because of a disturbance caused by a
visitor to the church, he said.
Every inch of the church is so care-
fully watched over by the different
denominations that even the ladder
used to reach the window in front of
the door’s padlock is under contention.
Sometimes it is symbolically in the pos-
session of the Armenian Orthodox, or
the Greek Orthodox or the Catholics. It
is Nuseibeh’s responsibility to pound
the heavy door knocker on the ancient
doors, signifying the figurative chang-
ing of ownership of the ladder.
The busiest time of the year for
Nuseibeh is during Holy Week. During
that week, Nuseibeh gets the key from
the Joudeh family, a representative of
whom is also present during Holy Week,
and opens the door at 4 a.m.
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