Vatican City, 10 March 2015 (VIS) –
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the
Oriental Churches, has written a letter addressed to all bishops
worldwide in view of the “Collecta pro Terra Sancta”, the
collection for the communities of faithful and places in the Holy
Land, which traditionally takes place on Good Friday. The letter is
also signed by Archbishop Cyril Vasil, S.J., secretary of the same
dicastery.
The cardinal, noting that the region is
passing through a time of crisis, writes: “Presently, there are
millions of refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq, where the roar of arms
does not cease and the way of dialogue and concord seems to be
completely lost. Senseless hatred seems to prevail instead, along
with the helpless desperation of those who have lost everything and
have been expulsed from the land of their ancestors. If the
Christians of the Holy Land are encouraged to resist, to the degree
possible, the understandable temptation to flee, the faithful
throughout the world are asked to take their plight to heart. Also
involved are brothers in Christ who belonged to various confessions:
an ecumenism of blood which points toward the triumph of unity: 'ut
unum sint'! This year presents a still more precious opportunity to
become pilgrims in faith after the example of the Holy Father, who in
May of last year visited this patch of land, so dear to Christians,
Jews and Muslims alike. It is a chance to become promoters of
dialogue through peace, prayer and sharing of burdens”.
The territories that will benefit from
the Collection, in different ways and to differing extents, are:
Jerusalem, Palestine and Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon,
Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
A document prepared by the Custodian of
the Holy Land lists the works carried out as a result of the 2014
Collecta. The emergency funds were distributed mostly in Syria and
Iraq. Assistance was also provided for artisanal enterprises in
Jordan; funding was given for parish communities, the reconstruction
and restoration of places of interest and medical assistance in
Bethlehem; and apartments were built in Jerusalem for poor families
and young couples who wish to remain in the Holy Land. The remaining
funds were used for projects involving schools, universities and
cultural works, through the Custodian of the Holy Land, such as the
Faculty of Biblical Sciences and Archaeology of the Studium Biblicum
Francescanum of Jerusalem and the Franciscan Media Centre, and for
the maintenance and restoration of the Holy Places.
Posts
