Ever wonder what happens to the money you place in the church collection basket on
Good Friday? Well, if you didn’t know already, you really should. The small donations
we give every Good Friday traditionally go to the Franciscan friars in the Holy Land.
Their work helps ensure the survival of Christians in the land where Christianity
was born.
Pope Benedict has recalled how it was St. Paul who some 2000 years
ago initiated the first collection for struggling Christians in Jerusalem.
"The
collection” he said, “expressed the community's debt to the mother church of Palestine,
from which they had received the ineffable gift of the Gospel."
In a land
sorely troubled by conflict and hatred, Christians can be instruments of peace and
offer solidarity with the poor – something the Franciscans have been doing since they
started caring for the local Christian flock and maintaining the holy sites in the
Holy Land in 1209.
With the Good Friday collection, they have been able to
restore and build shrines, construct homes for underprivileged families and young
couples, assist pilgrims and care for the elderly. They run summer camps and offer
skills training to help young people find jobs.
Though the collection provides
much needed financial support for these projects, the Custos of the Franciscan Custody,
Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa says the task ahead can seem daunting. So, the Franciscans
place a lot of attention on helping local Christians to help themselves.
While
Fr. Pizzaballa says the Franciscans can’t be expected to respond to all the needs
all the time, the Franciscans have made a major, long-standing commitment to education,
offering some 300 scholarships alone. Thousands of Christian and Muslim children
and young people attend their schools in the Holy Land. Tracey McClure recently visited
one of them in Jerusalem and talked to the principle about how they are forming the
peace-builders of tomorrow... Llisten: