Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News Australia

Brisbane Franciscan Friar calls for urgent aid as caretakers mark 600 years supporting Holy Land

byJoe Higgins
16 February 2021
Reading Time: 4 mins read
AA

Sacred way: Christians carry a cross during a procession along Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old City on Good Friday.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sacred way: Christians carry a cross during a procession along Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old City on Good Friday.

HOLY Land Commissary for Australia and Kedron parish administrator Franciscan Father Mario Debattista said 600 years of the Commissariats of the Holy Land was a significant milestone but warned the caretakers were in dire need of donations.

Fr Debattista said total donations from Australia to the Holy Land from last year were down below one third of what it was in previous years before COVID-19.

He said in the Holy Land “all the shrines are closed” and “obviously there are no tourists coming” either.

“That’s a big part of their income and also with the Good Friday collection being cancelled basically across the whole world… it’s been tough,” he said.

While the Good Friday collection was rescheduled to September, Australia only managed to collect $400,000 whereas in previous years the collection totalled more than $1.3 million.

This is primarily because churches were closed or had limited capacity, and major donors like Melbourne archdiocese were in total lockdown.

Fr Mario Debattista: “These Christians trace their faith right back to Pentecost (Acts 2:10), and they still walk in the footsteps of Jesus, often in a seemingly endless Way of the Cross.”

“This loss has been repeated around the world, often much worse, and as things appear, it will again be the case in many countries in 2021,” Fr Debattista said.

“All this makes this year’s Good Friday Collection extremely important.

“The hope is that as our life in Australia returns to more normal and our churches are open, Australian Catholics will be able to be as generous as they have been in past years.

“Please remember brothers and sisters that the Collection remains a vital contribution and act of solidarity that the whole Church can make to support, through the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, the Christian peoples of the Holy Land.

Related Stories

Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

Was the Sudarium of Oviedo really wrapped around Jesus’ head after his death?

Mask mandate to be lifted early due to lack of community transmission

Jerusalem
Sacred trip: The view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

“These Christians trace their faith right back to Pentecost (Acts 2:10), and they still walk in the footsteps of Jesus, often in a seemingly endless Way of the Cross.”

The Franciscans trace their presence in the Holy Land to 1217, when St Francis of Assisi founded the province there.

The 600-year milestone marked Pope Martin V’s bull “His quae pro ecclesiasticarum”, which became the birth certificate for the Commissariats of the Holy Land who are ambassadors who procure funds from around the world to help with the upkeep and financial security of the custodians.

The idea at the time and continued today was that the Holy Land “holds such a special significance for us Christians” that the responsibility should fall on the universal Church to care for it, Fr Debattista said.

Holy place: The church of the Visitation in Ein Karem.

In a letter to the Custos of the Holy Land, Pope Francis blessed the work of “this precious service” for their 600-year anniversary.

“After all these centuries, the mission of the Commissars is still topical – to support, promote and develop the mission of the Custody of the Holy Land, making possible a network of ecclesiastical, spiritual and charitable relations that have as their focal point the land where Jesus lived,” Pope Francis said.

To find out more or to donate to the Custody of the Holy Land, please visit www.custodia.org

ShareTweet
Previous Post

‘Be More’ – the theme for Project Compassion 2021

Next Post

Nuns protest Myanmar military coup

Joe Higgins

Related Posts

Health crisis: Referencing the Vatican document, the bishops said “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process”.
Coronavirus

Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

20 April 2021
Sudarium of Oviedo: Was it really used to cover the face of Jesus after his death?
Question Time

Was the Sudarium of Oviedo really wrapped around Jesus’ head after his death?

19 April 2021
QLD

Mask mandate to be lifted early due to lack of community transmission

14 April 2021
Next Post

Nuns protest Myanmar military coup

Archbishop Coleridge calls Catholics to a new kind of prayer, one of listening to the Father who sees all

Pope Francis updates Vatican criminal code aimed at rehabilitation and streamlining trials

Popular News

  • Health crisis: Referencing the Vatican document, the bishops said “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process”.

    Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • We head for Poland as pilgrims, not tourists

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘They deserve our help’ – Brisbane youth homelessness on the rise with 42 per cent of homeless under 25 years old

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • St Mark’s shows its ‘unity in diversity’ at 65th anniversary Mass

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Faith passage: Navicella (1628), by Giotto di Bondone, depicting the Barque of St Peter.
Faith

Faithful urged to stay the course

by Guest Contributor
22 April 2021
0

UNLESS we enter a church by one of the side-doors, we proceed to the main altar by...

Death penalty: Demonstrators are seen near the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., showing their opposition to the death penalty July 13, 2020. Photos: CNS

Global executions dropped in 2020 but fears China’s secret figures remain in the thousands

21 April 2021
Opportunity to help: “As a society we can’t leave them without a place to call home – not when there are urgent and economically sound solutions.”

‘They deserve our help’ – Brisbane youth homelessness on the rise with 42 per cent of homeless under 25 years old

21 April 2021

St Mark’s shows its ‘unity in diversity’ at 65th anniversary Mass

21 April 2021
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is seen near a picture of George Floyd in this courtroom sketch.

Bishops urge racial healing after former US police officer found guilty of killing George Floyd

21 April 2021
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    Continue Shopping