By Victoria Cardiel / EWTN News
The faithful worldwide are being called to participate in the Good Friday collection to assist Christian communities in the Holy Land.
The Good Friday collection is one of the primary sources of support for the Custody of the Holy Land – the Franciscan institution that for centuries has safeguarded the sites connected to the life of Jesus Christ and accompanied the Christian communities living in the region.
Last year, faithful in the pews in the Diocese of Camden gave $116,156 for this collection.
“I wish to propose a small gesture to you: to offer a little … money to help our brothers and sisters who find themselves in extreme peril to live one more day, to find hope, and to find the possibility of starting anew,” said Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.
“How many times have I personally visited those Christian minorities who wake up every morning facing the danger of no longer having a place to exist!” he said. “Help us to offer them concrete hope, not merely words of consolation – for we who visit them will leave, while they remain with their fears, even with the terror that, precisely because they are Christians, they may be eliminated.”
The cardinal explained that the Good Friday donations hold a twofold significance: providing material aid to those living amid war and poverty, and challenging the conscience of the faithful.
“It is also vital for us, because without sacrifice, without a real change in our way of living, we risk remaining inert before a world in flames – and thus complicit in its destruction,” he said.
Gugerotti noted that many Christians in the Holy Land have lost their means of livelihood, especially those who depended on religious tourism, which historically sustained a large portion of the local economy.
Staff reports contributed to this article.
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