According to this priest who maintains close ties between the Vatican and the Catholic Churches of the East, dying for the faith is not a thing of the past. Monsignor John Kozar President, CNEWA: “Martyrdom in general is either grossly undervalued or almost unknown with a lot of our Catholic public in the first world. They may think of martyrdom as something from 10 centuries ago, some bizarre circumstance of a burning at the stake or something like that. So, I think we need to remind people of the concept a little bit. Now, there are instances, Pope John Paul II in his relating to the world Catholic population in his choices for canonization and so forth, he would highlight some of these heroes of the Second World War or even afterwards who literally gave their lives, offered their lives so that another person could be free. I think we have to do a better job of that, so that these people today who literally are laying down their lives. Sometimes, it's totally unknown but we have to do our best to try to share these stories. You don't need something super dramatic to illustrate a point the people are literally giving their lives for Christ. Sometimes it's done in such a private and silent way but no less effective and no less total than someone whose life and death have been written about and maybe shown in the movies” Monsignor John Kozar leads the New York-based Catholic Near East Welfare Association, or CNEWA for short. They work to bring aid to the Middle East. They build convents, seminaries, diocesan offices, hospitals and schools and keep them going. They also work in favor of orphans, handicapped and disadvantaged and promote Christian unity. The position gives him a privileged view of the how the Church acts and exists in the Holy Land. Monsignor John Kozar President, CNEWA: “I was just there and I have to say, first of all, it's extremely complicated. I have to be honest, I knew a little bit about a lot of different things and I would say,