Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

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Keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith

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Please translate this title: Keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith

Christianity is struggling to survive in the land where it originated. Christians have been forgotten in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Catholic Church is fighting to keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith and not a relic.

Franciscan priests and brothers have been caring for the holy sites for more than seven hundred years dating back to the meeting of St. Francis of Assisi and the Sultan Malek-el-Kamel in the early 13th Century. In 1342, Pope Clement VI issued a pontifical mandate authorizing the Franciscans as custodians.

Today, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land is doing much more than looking after the holy places, although that is a significant part of their work. They operate schools with more than 10,000 students in grades pre-K through 12.

They have constructed more than one thousand residential units where Jesus walked and preached in Bethlehem, Bethpage and Nazareth and 80 homes have been rehabilitated for Christian families in the Old City of Jerusalem. Friars provide pastoral care in 29 parishes and maintain guest houses and pilgrimages for visitors from throughout the world.

Their pro-active efforts to maintain a dynamic Christian presence in the Holy Land has resulted in 120 young men preparing to become Franciscan priests and brothers. Franciscan archaeologists are seeking to discover new information about the beginnings of the Christian faith in places like Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalen.

On Good Friday a collection will be taken up in every Catholic Church to fund the works of the Franciscans in the Holy Land. We cannot allow the Faith to be snuffed out in the Holy Land. We cannot allow the holy places to fall into disrepair.

Please assist in this most important mission. I ask you to give generously to the Holy Land Collection on Good Friday or donate online at http://www.myfranciscan.org/our-mission/the-good-friday-collection/

Keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith and not a relic.

 

 

 

Pope and Patriarch

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 Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople
Media coverage of the recent visit of Pope Francis to the Holy Land tended to play up the political aspects of the Papal Pilgrimage over the religious significance. The visit was made not for political purposes, but at the invitation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of some 300 million Orthodox Christians. Patriarch Bartholomew attended the installation of Pope Francis last year, becoming the first Ecumenical Patriarch to attend a Papal Inaugural Mass since the Great Schism in 1054.

On that occasion, the patriarch invited the pope to meet with him in Jerusalem in 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first steps toward reconciliation between the two churches. The initial step occurred when Pope Paul VI met with Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem. During the recent Holy Land visit, Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew met four times. This was the fourth official meeting of popes and patriarchs¬ – the first being the 1964 meeting by Pope Paul VI, the second was by Pope John Paul II in 1979 and the third was Pope Benedict’s meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew during his trip to Turkey in 2006. What made the event significant was that it was the result of the Patriarch’s initiative.

Patriarch Bartholomew is no stranger to the Catholic Church or to the United States. The patriarch did postgraduate studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome and later became a lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 1973 until 1990 he served as Orthodox Metropolitan of Philadelphia.

When Pope Francis invited the presidents of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to meet with him in Rome to pray for peace, he also invited Patriarch Bartholomew. The patriarch has proposed an ecumenical synod in 2025 to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed. Such a synod is not, in the words of a Vatican spokesman, a “fait accompli.” Nevertheless, it is a further sign that there exists not only a mutual respect, but also a growing friendship between the pope and the patriarch.

Does this mean that reunification of the Catholic and Orthodox churches is close? Not likely. There are many wounds that need healing. There are theological, structural and historical issues that need to be addressed and resolved before that occurs. It does mean, however, that important new steps toward an ultimate reunion have been taken.

Image Credit: Catholic News Service