‘We Exist’— The Catholics of Jerusalem
Ruby Aznaq-Abu Sada says life isn't easy for Catholics in Jerusalem. But she's staying there, even as others leave.
Ruby Aznaq-Abu Sada was born in a tiny apartment, steps from the place where Jesus died.
She grew up walking every day through the marketplace that lines the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, in Jerusalem.
When she had kids of her own, she raised them in the small Christian housing project in which she grew up.
But while the Christian population of Jerusalem has dwindled dramatically in recent decades — to about 16,000 today, in a city of almost one million — Aznar, 52, has not left.
For the past 15 years, she has led tour groups on pilgrimages through the Holy Land. But after the Hamas attacks in Israel Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war, tourism has all but ceased.
Since then, Aznaq has become an author, self-publishing a book on Holy Land sites from a Catholic perspective. She talked with The Pillar about Catholic life in Jerusalem.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is life like for a Catholic living in Jerusalem?
We are a minority and usually being a minority is hard. It doesn't matter who you are and where you live; it is already hard.
Being a Catholic is not like another Christian denomination. We wear our crosses, we have processions in the streets, and we do things [other] Christians do not do. [In Jerusalem], you don’t know an evangelical Christian unless you go to their church. But as Catholics, we have all these statues, processions, and priests going into the streets. For some, those things can be kind of provocative.
It is often difficult for us to find a job or a place to live. The Catholic Church provides for us some housing projects. Where I’m living today is a housing project of 36 Christian families, and we have our church there.
If that project did not exist, people like my father, who was a poor worker, couldn’t afford rent. It also provides a safe place for raising children as we wish.
They say you need a village to raise a child. We are a village there. I also got married to my neighbor — God says love your neighbor, and I got married to my neighbor, a fellow Catholic who lived by me growing up. I’ve raised my children where I was raised because it was easier than just being in another neighborhood.
Some of Jerusalem’s Christians say they’ve faced harassment or violence in recent years. Have you experienced that?
To be honest, it depends on the area, and sometimes, yes. In the Old City and on the Via Dolorosa, there is often a sense of threat. Some individuals have been known to spit on crosses and churches, and there have been instances where monks were attacked. Violence can also occur on the Via Dolorosa. It really depends on the situation, but as a Catholic, anyone can be targeted.
I don’t care, though. I wear my cross and we grow up defending ourselves. We are not shy; we are not afraid.
I got physical twice on the Via Dolorosa while leading groups. Once I hit somebody to the ground. He had started to shout and he was touching, pushing us and cursing Jesus Christ. He was in his late 50s; maybe he was, like, not all there mentally, but I don’t know. I saw a man, who began abusing us verbally; I said, “Go away.”
Then he grabbed at us. The moment he touched us, that’s it; here comes a Middle Eastern woman.
The Christian population of Jerusalem is significantly declining. Why have you remained here?
We didn’t have any options. Growing up, we didn’t think or know that we could leave. It never crossed my mind to emigrate.
When I started raising my children, I started putting this in their minds: that they should go and emigrate, have a normal life in a normal country.
I don’t want them to be discriminated against, parents — it doesn’t matter what happened to you — you want your kids to have the best life possible.
How have the events of October 7 and the preceding war changed your life as an Israeli citizen and your work as a tour guide?
It changed the lives of everybody in this country.
The whole country became upside down. Everybody is still in this aftershock from the war.
As a tour guide, October 7th has been a huge financial burden, as basically all tourism has stopped so I have struggled to make an income.
On a personal level, I can’t describe what it has been like.
First of all, the cruelty of October 7, and what happened, how human beings can be such animals. They can be so cruel; how they can kill somebody who has babies or young children is heart-shattering.
But also from the other side, watching Israel get revenge and the destruction in Gaza they have [caused] has been hard to see.
It just shows humans can get into the cycle of hatred and revenge. This whole circle that it’s impossible to get out of, this circle of hatred.
How have the October 7th attacks impacted the flow of pilgrims to the Holy Land?
Oh, it was huge.
Tourism is the number one industry that got hurt in Israel after the attacks. It went from robust to zero, especially the American market.
Americans are one of our largest demographics, but they are the first ones to leave, if anything happens and the last ones to come back. So it has really hurt a lot of people’s lives.
You have talked a lot about the persecution that Christians experience in the Holy Land and the effects of the Israel-Hamas war. Is it safe for Christians to travel to the Holy Land?
Yes, yes, it is totally safe.
Even for Americans, it is very safe. When President Trump had first been elected and he started saying things that the Palestinians did not like, I had some groups that were so afraid to go to the Old City of Jerusalem because it was a majority of Arabs and they were afraid that they would be attacked because of what Trump said. No, no.
They can hear people; they can separate between you as a pilgrim coming here and what your president said or whatever, or from which country you came from.
As long as you do not offend people and you do not get into a discussion about politics and you are not aggressive, all will be well.
You have lived your entire life in one of the holiest cities for Catholics, as this is where the Lord walked. How has living in Jerusalem influenced the development of your spiritual life?
Well, I took living here for granted. I knew Jesus. I was raised in a Catholic house and I went to a Catholic school run by nuns—which was scary—so I knew who Jesus was.
Now, I was like the naughty kid at school but I still knew Jesus. Growing up, we were taught to know Jesus from an early age and taught that we have to say these prayers or do this deed for Jesus' sake because He died for you.
My mother was born in Bethlehem, right by where Jesus was born. He was crucified next door to where I lived; I was born on the Via Dolorosa. So I just took it for granted. He was a part of my family. Catholicism was not just a religion; we took it very personally and took great pride in the fact that we lived right by these sites.
[On the other hand], there are Christians living in the Old City of Jerusalem who don't even go to church or who don't believe in God, but they say, “We are Christians, we are Catholics, and if you curse Jesus or so, I'll kill you.”
Christianity here is more than just religion; it's part of who we are. When I started as a tour guide and I started seeing my country and these holy places through the lens of first-time visitors, I realized that I took for granted growing up here and I began to appreciate it more.
What are some Catholic customs unique to Jerusalem?
We have Palm Sunday [in a way] that we can feel it really, because Easter and Holy Week are such a big deal and [Palm Sunday] kicks it off. Then on Holy Thursday we have a big procession with candles at night. We go from the Garden of Gethsemane all the way up to Caiphas’ house, which is very special.
Since we are a minority, we are only 1.9% of the population; you don't see many Christians on a day-to-day basis. So when we see these processions, we feel at home and see that our community is still alive and well.
My son is also an adult leader in the Catholic scouts, which is a very nice movement, by the way; it forms a community for Catholic young adults. You feel Catholicism by seeing these young men and women involved in these processions and stuff.
In Jerusalem, what's the relationship between the Catholic community and other Christian denominations?
We don’t have this division between denominations like you do in the United States. I was shocked when I learned that U.S. evangelicals call Catholics a different religion; they talk about it as if they are discussing pagan culture.
Here we don't do this.
Because Christians are minorities, we have to band together. Every year the churches have a week that we call the week of praying for the unity of the church, where every day, people from all different denominations go and pray in a certain church together.
Bishops, patriarchs, they all come together for this event and it is very beautiful.
What do Catholics around the world need to know about the Catholics of Jerusalem?
When an evangelical or Catholic tour group hears that I am Catholic, they almost always ask me when I converted.
I say, “What? I’ve always been a Christian.”
Foreign Christians are shocked that there are other Christians living in the Holy Land. They don't know that. We do exist but we are a minority.
We have our challenges; education and housing are the two main problems. Christians suffer from these every day. We don't have a place to live and we have to send our kids to private school, which is a challenge because it is very expensive.
Our kids cannot go to public school because they get bullied for being a minority. It doesn't matter where they go; they can't.
My granddaughter went to a Jewish kindergarten and she doesn't feel that she is different from the other kids. But when the war started, all of the little kids began saying that Arabs are savages and we should kill the Arabs.
She went back home and said, “Mom, I’m scared. I don’t want to go to school; they want to kill me.”
Is there a future for Christians in Jerusalem?
Look, as long as we have this conflict where religions fight, there is no hope.
But as a believer, I believe that everything is in God’s hands. Nobody thought that communism would end and everything would change. It ended.
Hope is always there and we pray for a better life. If we didn’t have hope, why would we pray for peace and love?
Pillar pilgrimage to Jerusalem? If so, I'll start saving up.
I like Ruby. I really enjoyed reading this, and how down-to-earth she seems to be. An interesting glimpse into a unique perspective!