On a recent visit to the Basilica of the Annunciation, Father Vasko noted how empty the church was at midday. Ordinarily, three Masses, one on each level, would be going on, he said. That was before the most recent "Intifada" (shaking off) series of armed uprisings by the Palestinians against the Israelis starting in the fall of 2000 causing what had been a healthy number of pilgrims to drop to a trickle.

Pope John Paul II celebrated a private Mass at the altar on the lowest level during his visit in March 2000, then a few hours later celebrated a public one at the main altar one level above.

The beautiful church and its pleasant hilly surroundings hide some of the tensions that have especially affected the area. Those tensions, though, don't prevent the faithful from attending to their spiritual duties.

Father Halim Noujamin, OFM, associate pastor of the Basilica of the Annunciation, knows the problems and the joys firsthand. Reared in Lebanon, he was director of Franciscan schools in Jerusalem before beginning similar duties in Nazareth a little more than a year ago.

He said the parish has about 1,500 families, or about 6,000 resident members. He estimated that about 35 percent of Nazareth is Christian, making it much higher than the average for the rest of the country. A high percentage of them are professional people, he said.

The parish's school has 660 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Forty percent of them are Catholic, 30 percent Muslim, and the other 30 percent are made up of other Christian denominations.