The Vatican has announced that the Catholic annual Good Friday Collection will this year benefit the beleaguered Christian communities of the Holy Land.
'Once again, from every part of the Church, expressions of solidarity come together effectively in the Good Friday Collection,' said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
'Our sense of communion in the suffering and risen Christ moves us again this year to undertake the important initiative that is the Collection for the Holy Land,' the Cardinal added.
This announcement means that in most Catholic parishes around the world, a Good Friday Collection will be taken to go to Christian communities in the Holy Land. This initiative has been an annual tradition in the Church since its institution by Blessed Pope Paul VI.
The Catholic News Agency reported that according to Blessed Pope Paul VI, the collection was crated 'not only for the Holy Places but above all for those pastoral, charitable, educational, and social works which the Church supports in the Holy Land for the welfare of their Christian brethren and of the local communities'.
Communities that will benefit from the donations include the Latin Patriarchal Diocese of Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody and other jurisdictions, such as the Greek-Melkite, Coptic, Maronite, Syrian, Chaldean, and Armenian churches.
The funds will be used to help the parochial schools, hospitals, and community centres in these areas to protect their communities, which often include refugees, children, and victims of war.
'Living the Christian faith in the Middle East is not at all easy. Especially in Iraq, Syria and Egypt, where Christian communities have experienced an "ecumenism of blood," individuals are daily pressured to abandon their land or even their faith,' Cardinal Sandri added.
'The unforgettable faces of thousands of children and teens, fleeing violence and persecution in Syria and Iraq, continue to challenge us, even as these young people, thanks to our Collection, are being welcomed by Christian schools and neighboring counties.'
The Cardinal pointed out that there are additional ways of aiding Christians in the Middle East outside of the Lenten and Easter seasons.
'The small Christian presence in the Middle East has great need of the support and attention of the entire Church. Constant prayer is the first and greatest assistance they seek.'
Cardinal Sandri also said that pilgrimages to the Holy Land are a way to grow the 'vitality of the Church in the Holy Land,' and boost the local economy.
'At least 30% of the local community in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem live and work thanks to the presence of pilgrims,' Cardinal Sandri said.
The cardinal encouraged individuals to give generously, pointing to the words of St. Paul: 'for God loves a cheerful giver'.
He added: 'As we prepare for Easter, let us renew our commitment to becoming artisans of peace, praying and working that peace may dwell in the heart of every person, especially our brothers and sisters of the Holy Land and the Middle East.'
