Eleven Black Catholics on a pilgrimage to Israel could hardly contain themselves as they stood on a precipice overlooking Jerusalem. Below them, stretching for miles on a seemingly endless panorama, were the landmarks and scenes they had read about in the Bible.

Glistening in the near distance was the golden Dome of the Rock, where the Prophet Muhammad, it is written, made his ascension to heaven. There was a collective gasp as they gazed beyond the Mount of Olives to the tombs of Old Testament prophets and to the places where Jesus was held before being led to Calvary.

“I never had any idea I would one day be standing here, absorbing all of this history,” said Avitus Kiguta, a priest from the suburbs of Chicago. “What a magnificent view. I can’t wait to get closer to the Garden of Gethsemane where Christ was betrayed.”

The later tour of Gethsemane was just one of several momentous stops for the pilgrims, as they prayed and held mass at numerous remarkable churches and cathedrals that rise in abundance throughout the Holy Land.

Rev. Father Levelt Germain said his reading of the Scriptures will never be the same. “I have an entirely new appreciation of them, having walked in the place where our Lord walked.”

Father Germain, of the Church of the Holy Rosary in the Bronx, was among eleven Black Catholics invited to the Holy Land by the America-Israel Friendship League (AIFL) and the Jewish Community Relations Council. None of them had been to Israel before and the tour from the Sea of Galilee to the borders of Bethlehem was as exhausting as it was fulfilling.

“I think we gained a deeper understanding of the struggle the people here face and the significance of our Christian heritage,” said Sister Loretta Theresa Richards, a member of the Francescan Handsmaids of Mary in Harlem. “It was a chance to see how people live on the other side of the world.”

Whether walking in the footsteps of Jesus, conducting mass in a number of splendid churches, or listening to several notable political and religious leaders, the group was daily amazed and uplifted by the experience. “One of the most humbling experiences for me was being baptized in the Jordan River,” said Father Kiguta. “And I will never forget our walk along the Via Dolorosa where Jesus walked on his way to Calvary.”

Along with their visitations to such holy places as the birthplace of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, the group heard lectures from various rabbis, including David Rosen, president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, and Michael Melchior, chairman of the Education, Culture & Sports Committee of the Knesset. Both addressed a common theme of national security for the state of Israel and its acceptance by the Palestinian Authority.

“The vast majority of people in Israel favor a two-state solution,” said Rosen, “and it is in our interest to find a solution, both politically and morally.”

Rabbi Melchior said Israel should give up all the territory seized after the war in 1967, “but only if the attacks against Israel cease.” He was disturbed that there were those enemies of Israel who say it should be destroyed.

Some evidence of the ongoing conflict in Israel could be seen in pockmarked buildings and the erection of walls dividing Jews from Palestinians, though the group sped through parts of the West Bank without really getting a chance to meet with the residents there. “It was a most enjoyable and informative pilgrimage and we accomplished quite a lot,” said Anita Baird, director of the Office for Racial Justice of the Archdiocese of Chicago, “but I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get a chance to go to Bethlehem where Christ was born and to meet with the Palestinians there.”

The group, however, did hear from Maher Turjman, regional director of the Pontifical Mission of Jerusalem who spoke proudly of their achievements in housing and education in Bethlehem. His message was given even greater resonance by Michel Sabbath, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in his call for peace. “We need peace from the Palestinians and from Israel, and when they become friends with the Palestinians, all others will become friends,” he said, referring to the majority of Arabs in the Middle East who surround the nation of six million Jews.

To some extent, the Old City of Jerusalem is a microcosm of the division that persists in Israel. Here, in relative harmony, the ancient city encircled by a massive wall, embraces Jews, Muslims, and Christians. The pilgrims were told that there were some 15,000 Christians residing in Jerusalem, a tiny minority when compared to the 420,000 Jews and 60,000 Muslims.

Much of the trip was tightly arranged, but there were occasional and incidental meetings with Black Hebrews and Ethiopians, which gave the visitors some indication of the nation’s ethnic diversity. Rabbi Sharon Shalom, a Black Hebrew with Ethiopian roots, provided them with at least a glimpse at the complexity of race in Israel, and his remarks complemented what they had heard from Ethiopian students at Ono Academic College, several of whom admitted that racism existed but felt it was more rewarding to focus on their careers than to waste time protesting.

One of the most unforgettable moments on the trip occurred toward the end when the group was taken to the Yad Vashem, a monument created to commemorate the holocaust in which six million Jews were systematically exterminated by the Nazis. “It was absolutely overwhelming,” said Sister Donna M. Banfield, principal of Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Catholic School in Memphis, Tenn. “The images I saw there will live with me forever.”

Unforgettable too, many of the travelers confessed, was visiting the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, one of the most sacred shrines in Israel. Here you can see hundreds of Jewish worshippers, standing before the ancient wall, rocking back and forth, reciting passages from their Holy Scriptures. As in the synagogue, the men and women worship separately. Several of the Black Catholics went to the Wall and wedged slips of paper with their comments into the cracks of the Wall. The spiritual uplift was evident in each face when they returned.

It was the same kind of expression of glee displayed after worshipping at a synagogue, where they joined hands with their Jewish hosts and danced in a circle, chanting in Hebrew as if in a ring shout. The exhilaration carried them through a chilly walk to a rabbi’s home where they feasted on a most delightful kosher meal.

From the very beginning of the mission, which the tour’s coordinator Brother Tyrone Davis had defined as a pilgrimage, the intention was to give a few prominent Black Catholics an opportunity to come to Israel and to experience the Holy Land, and to gather some notion of the differences separating the people. “I think we accomplished that and several other things,” he said. “It was an extremely rewarding trip and I think I speak for the others when I say that our hosts were most gracious and accommodating.”

The other members Davis, who is executive director of the Archdiocese of New York’s Office of the Black Ministry, was speaking for include Joseph Powell, Jr., president of Mojo Systems, Inc.; Father Freddy Washington, of Chicago; Sister Dorothy Hall, pastoral associate at St. Augustine Church in the Bronx; John Baynes, formerly the director of the Office of Black Ministry in the Bronx and Brooklyn; and Sister Paul Theresa Hennessee, S.A. of New York City.