What’s on the table
after Mass — from the land of Christ
After Mass, this is the table: olive-wood religious art from Christian families in Bethlehem and Shepherds’ Field.
The wood is from pruning. No tree is cut down. We accept cash, card, and check.
These pieces are available at parish visits. There is no online shop.
Nativities
For Advent and the home. Catholic families in Bethlehem still carve the scene Saint Francis loved.
The cross and the saints
A crucifix for a new home. Relic pieces include an explanation card. St. Michael and other saints, small and large.
Rosaries
Olive-wood beads from the same workshops. Often a first rosary for baptism, first Communion, or confirmation.
Holy Family
The same families, the same wood. For the wall or the table.
Hand carving Jesus’s face
Olivewood hand crafting
How it is made
The wood is from pruning. No tree is cut down.
Handed down in the workshop.
The olive tree is pruned so it stays alive and keeps bearing fruit. Carvers use those trimmings. The work is slow. A face, a fold of cloth, a star over the cave.
Jeries, Sacred Tradition Workshop, Beit Sahour (Shepherds’ Field). Ward’s cousin. Tenth generation.
A carver in Beit Sahour, the biblical town of Shepherds’ Field, spent two years on this olive-wood and mother-of-pearl plate of Jerusalem.
For the sacraments and the home — baptism, first Communion, confirmation, Christmas.
You choose the weekend, or we suggest a few dates. Ward is on site for Saturday vigil and Sunday Mass. If allowed, he speaks briefly during announcements. After Mass, he is at the table.
Bible study with questions is optional and by request.
Parishes have asked us back. Where we have a current bishop endorsement, we can send a supporting letter to the pastor or the chancery.
Questions pastors ask, or write wardq@theholylands.org.