The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land is an organization founded in 1994 under the auspices of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. The Foundation was created to strengthen and support Christianity in the Holy Land through the preservation of holy Christian sites and the support of the basic human rights and continued presence of the Christian minority living in the Holy Land.
Today, there are approximately 150,000 Christians living in the Holy Land. Due to severe political and economic hardships, an estimated 500 Christian families leave the Holy Land each year. This steady emigration suggests that one day the Christian community and the Christian church may cease to exist in this part of the world. As the Christian population struggles to survive in a volatile political environment of ethnic distrust, the FFHL uses every available resource to help the poor and unemployed meet their human needs.
Church leaders predict that if the current exodus continues, Christianity could easily cease to exist in the Holy Land within 50 years. One of the solutions to this problem is providing higher education and opportunities for economic advancement. We believe that our University Scholarship Program is the cornerstone of the solution.
The FFHL Board of Trustees includes a group of committed Catholics from across the United States who vow to help the Christians living and working in the land where Jesus Christ lived, died and rose from the dead. Notably, Fr. Peter F. Vasko, OFM, serves as President of the FFHL Board of Trustees, along side Rev. Fr. Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land and Chairman of the FFHL Board of Trustees, and Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Special Advisor to FFHL.
