CV NEWSFEED // The Franciscan Commissary of the Holy Land has been joined by the Vatican and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in issuing a plea to Catholics across the globe to make a generous contribution to this year’s Good Friday Collection in light of the ongoing war in Gaza.
In a letter sent via email, Fr David Grenier, OFM reminded Catholics of the yearly Pontifical Good Friday Collection for the benefit of Christians living in the Holy Land which is taken up by Catholic parishes across the world.
This collection, he wrote, “supports the work of the Fransiscans as we maintain sacred shrines, minister in parishes, provide formation and education in communities and schools, and care for the basic needs of people in the Holy Land.”
However, the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza has resulted in increasingly dire circumstances for Christians still living in the Holy Land, making this year’s collection a critical necessity.
“This year, help and hope are needed more than ever,” Fr Grenier wrote. “The tragic events that started on October 7, 2023, have brought disastrous consequences. Most Christians in the Holy Land rely on the pilgrimage industry to make a living and now find themselves without a source of income.”
Earlier this month, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti issued a similar call on behalf of the Vatican, entreating the faithful to stand in solidarity for Holy Land Christians.
“Fear and despair are very strong,” among Christians living in the midst of the conflict, Fr Grenier continued, noting that many Chrisians have since left the country or begun to consider it.
“Can we let the Holy Land, where the Church was founded, our Mother Church, become a place without a local Church?” he asked.
The Good Friday Collection this year will seek to counteract this phenomenon, Fr Grenier wrote, to “ensure that a Christiran presence remains in the places where Jesus walked.”
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