A Bomb Threat & Unlikely Allies on First Pilgrimage to The Holy Land

Well, I can think of a lot of things that were remarkable and stay in my memory. One was up on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which is a hard place to get permission to film (in June 2008).  Our first attempt was blocked by a bomb threat. The second one, we got up there, but we had to go through all types of security. Then at one point, I almost got up to the main area, but I’m being blocked by these guards at a checkpoint. They were Israeli soldiers, and they were pretty mean looking. They had the sunglasses and three day-old beards -- big guys with guns. So it was a little frightening, tense moment. 

   And then one of them said to me, "I am Catholic like you."  I said, "You are?"  And the other one said, "I am Catholic, and my sister is a nun in Haifa." So with that, I realized these two Israeli soldiers were Christians and Catholics. That broke the ice, and then we got along famously. So you never know what you’re going to find in the Catholic world.