‘2 hours to pack up’: How the Iranian conflict has upended Catholic pilgrimages in the region

“We’re going to Cairo.”That’s how husband and wife Father Albert and Abby Scharbach discovered that their pilgrimage in Israel had been cut short by the launch of the current Iranian conflict. The Scharbachs — Father Albert is a priest of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, having originally served as a priest in the Anglican church — spent the morning of Feb. 28 on the Jordan River and at the Mount of Beatitudes. They were enjoying a lunch…