{"id":72006,"date":"2025-12-28T14:11:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T14:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72006\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T14:11:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T14:11:09","slug":"in-bethlehem-a-religious-orphanage-gives-love-to-children-without-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/72006\/","title":{"rendered":"In Bethlehem, a religious orphanage gives love to children without families"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul run the Orphanage of the Holy Family in Bethlehem, where children up to the age of 6 who have been orphaned or abandoned are welcomed. \u201cHere we celebrate the living Jesus every day. We welcome Christ into our arms, because these children have been rejected by society,\u201d says one of the sisters <\/p>\n

By Giordano Contu in Bethlehem<\/p>\n

An earthquake runs through the rooms of the \u201cCr\u00e8che\u201d, caused by the gentle yet powerful energy of the children. Like Yousef, who laughs as a religious sister lifts him from his crib; or Mariam, who runs around never letting go of her yellow ball; or Omar, who stays still, waiting to receive a gentle touch.<\/p>\n

It is the children\u2019s need for love that fills the rooms of the Orphanage of the \u201cHoly Family\u201d in Bethlehem, run by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.<\/p>\n

Amid glances and embraces that make it impossible to hold back tears of emotion, life unfolds among colorful markers and toys, surrounded by the care of the religious sisters who look after these children up to the age of six, guaranteeing them food, education, and medical care.<\/p>\n

Children like Jesus <\/p>\n

\u201cThese children are orphans, abandoned, or found on the streets. It is a dramatic reality from every point of view: many of them are born in extreme family situations, often to young single mothers forced to give up their children out of fear of being killed by their own families. The sisters welcome the newborns, raise them, and love them,\u201d explains Father Karim Maroun, provincial superior of the Vincentians, to Vatican News.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese children are a bit like Jesus: born into fragility, abandonment, and a wounded society. They need a great deal of love and tenderness. And there is a great mystery: they have a home, food, care, and affection, but there always remains the longing for a mother and a father.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n The orphanage of the Holy Family in Bethlehem\n <\/p>\n

The organization of the orphanage <\/p>\n

Forty-five children permanently reside in the Bethlehem orphanage. The establishment also offers a day-care service for another 35 children, sons and daughters of poor families who work during the day. In total around 80 children, up to 6 years of age, are hosted.<\/p>\n

The structure is carefully organized: a kitchen, a dining hall, a church with a chapel, dormitories, classrooms, and play areas. The dormitories are divided by age: the nursery for newborns up to 9 months; the crib room for children ranging from a year old to a year and a half; the room with beds for toddles up to 3 years of age; and lastly another room with bigger beds for the oldest children.<\/p>\n

Education is also age-based, with specific classrooms: the nursery room, intermediate classrooms, and those for the older children. There is a team of about 70 people – including sisters, educators, doctors, and volunteers – that keeps the structure running.<\/p>\n

Welcoming them when they are rejected <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Bethlehem, Christmas comes once a year, but here we celebrate the living Jesus every day,\u201d says Sister Laudy Fares, who has cared for the children of the orphanage for the last 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not do catechesis with words; our identity is expressed through who we are and what we do. We welcome Christ into our arms, because these children have been rejected by society. Here they find affection, open arms, and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

This support, however, is limited in time. \u201cWe can accompany them only until they are six years old,\u201d the sister continues, \u201cand when they have to leave, it is always painful. Afterwards, we do not know what their path will be, what future awaits them. That is why our presence here, in Bethlehem, is so important: to take care of them every day, for as long as we can.\u201d They are then handed over to the Palestinian state system.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n The orphanage of the Holy Family in Bethlehem\n <\/p>\n

The intervention of Providence <\/p>\n

Father Maroun describes this reality on one hand as an \u201copen wound\u201d and on the other as a \u201cdaily miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dramatic side is that \u201cthere are mothers who are completely alone, without family support, and through word of mouth and the internet they ask for help in hospitals. After giving birth, they renounce all rights to the child and then return to their families, while the child remains with the Daughters of Charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The positive side is that \u201cfrom an economic point of view, the Cr\u00e8che is supported almost exclusively by private donations: Christian pilgrims who stay in the guest house, Israelis, and Palestinian families who raise money to help the sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of this is possible \u201conly thanks to Providence and donations, thanks to what we call our \u2018white hands,\u2019\u201d adds Sister Fares. \u201cEvery person who enters brings what they can; even a single coin is a fortune for us. The Lord never abandons us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Affection and love <\/p>\n

The goal is to give dignity, love, and a future to these children. Pilgrims who visit the Cr\u00e8che become very attached to them, and the affection is mutual. There is one story that has remained especially close to Sister Fares\u2019s heart:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a group from France came. Among them was a woman who, as a child, had been abandoned but had the good fortune of being welcomed into a family. When she saw the children, she was deeply moved. She said: \u2018I had a family and I got married, but these children have no future, because adoption here is prohibited. I could have been one of them, but instead I was given a chance.\u2019 Those words struck me deeply. We take care of them, we love them, but there is always something missing: a family. This is the greatest pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around these little ones there is a chain of solidarity made up of volunteers, doctors, donors, pilgrims, and neighbors from the area who bring food, milk, clothes, toys, diapers, and blankets. And in this way, affection, life, and above all love reach the children of the Cr\u00e8che.<\/p>\n

\"Father<\/p>\n

\n Father Karim Maroun, Provincial Superior of the Vincentians\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul run the Orphanage of the Holy Family in Bethlehem,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,5705,734,3955,3766,37712],"class_list":{"0":"post-72006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-charity","12":"tag-children","13":"tag-hope","14":"tag-palestine","15":"tag-religious-orders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}