Israeli forest fire spares Christian shrine

Monday, July 29th, 2019

A forest fire in northern Israel that threatened a church where Christians believe the transfiguration of Jesus took place was extinguished without the shrine being damaged, firefighters said Sunday.

The fire on Mount Tabor, where the Basilica of the Transfiguration is located, broke out Thursday and had been put out late Friday, but “small fires are rekindled every so often and teams at the site are dealing with them”, fire service spokesman Dudi Peretz told AFP.

“The church was not damaged,” he said, noting the fire had burnt nearly 500 acres of shrubs, thorns and some trees. Read more

Additional reading

News category: News Shorts, World.

Tags: Christian shrine, Israeli forst fire, Transfiguration of Jesus

The optimism of Timothy Radcliffe

Fr Timothy Radcliffe, the Dominican friar, was chosen by Pope Francis to lead the three-day retreat for all participants prior to the first assembly last October of the Synod on Synodality. This was a position of great trust given the Read more

Theologian: The future of the church is local

In Europe, the number of church members is declining – but Christianity remains strong worldwide. However, the structures do not remain stable, but are constantly changing. Thomas Schlag is Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Zurich, where he Read more

The perils and necessities of saying ‘I don’t know’

When I was studying political science in graduate school, I was surrounded by students who were much smarter than me. Most of my fellow students at the University of California Berkeley went to Ivy League schools as undergraduates. They were Read more

Survey: New priests are young and involved in their community

The incoming class of seminarians who will be ordained in 2024 is young and involved in their community, an annual survey released April 15 found. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned the Center for Applied Research (CARA) at Georgetown Read more

CathNews New Zealand