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Catholics urged to support faithful in Holy Land on Good Friday
By Ambria Hammel, The Catholic Sun
March 20, 2008
During Holy Week, Catholics can couple their prayerful meditations on Jesus’ passion with action that will bolster the safety of Christians living in the Middle East.
The Diocese of Phoenix will join other parishes throughout the world taking up a Holy Land collection on Good Friday. Funds maintain shrines in the region and support local Christians who are a minority in an area that faces continued conflict.
The collection — one of two mandated by canon law — is a joint effort between the Order of St. Francis and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepluchre of Jerusalem.
The Equestrian Order supports the Catholic faith and education in the Holy Land.
“In view of the suffering faced by many Christians there, it is particularly appropriate that this collection is taken up on Good Friday, when we commemorate the suffering and death of Jesus,” Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said.
“As Catholics, we have a responsibility to assist the Church in every land, especially where it faces hardship and persecution. This is true in the Holy Land and other sections of the Mideast,” the bishop added.
Last year, Catholics throughout the diocese contributed more than $140,000 to the Holy Land collection.
Funds “help preserve Christianity’s holiest sites and keep them accessible to all the faithful,” said Margo Gonzalez, who heads up special collections for the diocese.
Churchgoers may have already seen notices in parish bulletins promoting this year’s collection or seen the special envelope with their regular envelope packets. Other parishes will have the envelopes available during Mass.
Before the Good Friday collection, Catholics at a handful of parishes may hear a talk from a local member of the Equestrian Order explaining the need to support the effort.
Lady Irene Morton, who coordinates Holy Land collections in nine dioceses throughout several western states, said St. Bernard of Clairvaux Parish in Scottsdale, Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral, San Francisco de Asís Parish in Flagstaff and Sacred Heart Parish in Prescott have several members.
“They’ve really come up with brilliant ideas of things to do” to promote the collection, Morton said.
Some members wear their capes to church and some process in before the priest like they do for major functions.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, wrote in a letter to the world’s bishops that Christians in the Holy Land “are a priority of the entire Catholic Church,” making the collection one of solidarity.
Young, educated Christians often leave the Holy Land, which means the remaining faithful are deprived of “important human resources,” the cardinal said.
“The people who make up the Diocese of Phoenix have been very generous when it comes to providing financial assistance to their brothers and sisters who are so desperately in need of support and encouragement,” Gonzalez said.
Local Catholics have increased their contributions to the Holy Land collection by 75 percent since 2003.
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