[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/147724792[/vimeo]Father David Halaiko says he believes the innkeeper referred to in the Christmas story got a bad rap.
?In those days, the inns were crowded places open to the elements with perhaps something like a tarp to protect people from the weather. There was no privacy, so it would not have been a good place for a woman to give birth,? he said, which most likely is why the innkeeper steered Mary and Joseph to a nearby stable, created from one of the many caves in the mountainous region around Bethlehem.
Father Halaiko, pastor of Nativity of the Lord Jesus Parish in Akron, is well-versed in Scriptures and the story of the Lord?s birth. A scholar of history and the Holy Land, he has visited the area more than a dozen times and is a certified Holy Land guide, as well as the author of a book, ?The Holy Land, a Handbook for Christian Pilgrims.?
His passion for the Holy Land is evident throughout his parish, which incorporates many features from the region and the nativity. The Bethlehem Cave and Nativity Museum
