"On my recent trip to Bethlehem, I had my fourth opportunity to visit Holy Family Hospital. The situation in Bethlehem, as well as that whole area of the West Bank, is a true eye-opener. The economy is in ruins and the majority of the people are either jobless or under-employed and many are homeless in refugee camps.

For a poor woman, pre-natal and maternal care hasn't improved much since Jesus was born there. Modern medical advances aren't available to the average woman who is without money or insurance. There is one shining exception – Holy Family Hospital.

Located just 500 yards away from the birth site of Jesus, the
Hospital provides state of the art medical care to nearly 22,000 women and children every year. Most of the families can't pay, but the cost of the care has to come from somewhere.

Since the early 1990s that “somewhere” has been the Order of Malta, and friends of the Hospital such as you. This is a project that everyone with a caring heart can help in a very
concrete way.

One way you can help is to contact your pastor and ask that your parish adopt the Hospital either by a financial contribution or by a second collection each year. Pastors get many appeals, so people are sometimes reluctant to make the ask. The Hospital sells itself – under the patronage
of the Holy Family how could it not? With minimal effort, pastors and their caring parishioners can become the saviors of so many impoverished infants, children and mothers.

We have brochures available so your pastor can have all the information he needs. And we can give you all the help and support you need to approach him. The first step is you making that phone call."