The annual collection to support the work of Franciscans in the Holy Land will again be taken up in all parishes worldwide on Good Friday, which this year is April 3.
For more than 50 years, the collection has supported Franciscans who staff and maintain holy sites in the Holy Land, minister to pilgrims and provide other services to Christians living there.
A letter promoting the collection – jointly signed by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Eastern Churches and Archbishop Michel Jalakh, a Maronite Rite Catholic who serves as secretary of the dicastery – notes that the collection is taken up on “the day on which we commemorate the One who did not give alms, but gave His own life, His final breath, the Holy Spirit, so that the world might be healed and learn again to hope and to trust in the unexpected.”
Since 1974, the Church has taken up this collection to aid the Church and Christian people in the Holy Land. It is jointly administered by the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.
The monies collected in the annual appeal support seminarians and priests in the Holy Land; offer pastoral, charitable, educational, and social assistance to Christians there; and maintain the sacred sites in the region.
The collection benefits Catholic Church activities in Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Greece, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq.
The Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America located in Northeast Washington, D.C., notes on its website that it coordinates “vital support for the work of the Franciscans who work in the Holy Land.” The website stresses that the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land have the unique responsibility to care for the holy places as well for the “Living Stones,” the Christians living there.
Franciscans can trace their presence in the Holy Land to 1217; however, it was not until 1342 that Pope Clement VI in a papal bull declared the Franciscans to be the official custodians of sacred places in the Holy Land.
Franciscan Father Francesco Ielpo, custos of the Holy Land since last June, in an online letter promoting the collection lamented that “the war, the violence and the insecurity have hit Gaza, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Syria hard. To all this was added the long absence of pilgrims, which has aggravated a situation already complicated for many families who no longer have the means to support themselves.”
Father Ielpo called the collection “not just a gesture of solidarity … (but) a concrete sign of communion with the Church of Jerusalem.”
To support the Good Friday Holy Land collection, donate at your local parish. To donate on line, visit https://myfranciscan.org
