austraLasia #2325

A small flow of good news from Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM: 12th January 2009 -- Those who impose restrictions can always appear 'good' when they lift them! This may well be the case in the ongoing dispute of Bethlehem's 'Cremisan wine'. The one reason we are running this story is not to laud the authorities concerned but, having run the earlier stories on the restriction, it is only right to now run one on the lifting of that restriction. Cremisan's wine is flowing again!
    The Salesian winery, which produces not only altar wine but a range of wines including for home consumption, keeps many local Palestinian families solvent, so permission some weeks ago from Israel to bring truckloads of the wine across to Israel have far greater significance than cheering up a few parishes in the UK or elsewhere.That said, it appears that permission to export the wine from Bethlehem to Israel (meaning it could reach Haifa and be exported overseas) was wrought from Israeli authorities through the good services of Mrs Shenton, representing a group called 5th Gospel Retreats. She met with Israeli civil administration officials for the West Bank, in Jerusalem on 18th December. They expressed their 'wish to help the Salesians and ensure that the wines reach the Christian Church in Israel and worldwide', and apparently have followed through on that wish.
    Now, you should really go immediately to the Cremisan Winery website at http://www.cremisan.org and check out some of the story of this winery. As a website design it is most attractive. Prepare to smile a little, though, as you read the quaint descriptions therein, including something about the 'Silesian Order', and the 'headed Salesian Community wine producer', so one really wonders what kind of a hand - or foot - the real Salesians had in putting this web site together. But enjoy, just the same.

(And if you would like to see some news from the EAO Region, then you'd better get pen and paper.... I mean fingers to keyboard, moving! Things have gone decidedly quiet this past week or so.)

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 AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.  It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome.  For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2008 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there.  Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org

Title: australasia 2325
Subject and key words: SDB General. Cremisan wine
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2325