VATICAN CITY — Christians in the Middle East, particularly those
who have been forced from their homes by violence and persecution, need the
support of the Catholic Church, a Vatican official said.
"Let us show them concretely our closeness, through our
constant prayer and through our monetary aid," said Cardinal Leonardo
Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches.
Such support is especially key now that the Ninevah Plain in Iraq
has been liberated from Islamic State and "most Iraqi Christians and
Syrians want to return to their own land where their houses were destroyed,
with schools, hospitals and churches devastated. Let us not leave them
alone," he said in a letter sent to bishops around the world.
The Vatican released a copy of the letter March 12.
In the letter, the cardinal urged Catholics around the world,
including the Diocese of Arlington, to give to the annual collection for the
Holy Land on Good Friday. The collection was established in 1618 by Pope Paul V
to support Eastern-rite churches in communion with Rome and maintenance of holy
sites under Catholic care in the Holy Land.
He wrote that the traditional collection is a way for Catholics
worldwide "to be one with our brethren in the Holy Land and the Middle
East."
"Unfortunately, from those territories, the outcry of
thousands of persons who are deprived of everything, at times even of their own
human dignity, continues to reach us, breaking our hearts and inviting us to
embrace them through Christian charity, a sure source of hope," he wrote.
The majority of the funds go to the Franciscan Custody of the
Holy Land, an administratively autonomous province of the Franciscan order that
is responsible for most of the shrines connected with the life of Jesus as well
as for providing pastoral care to the region's Christians: running schools,
developing low-cost housing, operating charitable institutions and training
future priests and religious.
The congregation uses the remaining funds for the formation and
support of seminarians, priests and religious, and to help cover educational
costs for young students.
The letter said the congregation was boosting the amount it
provides for education given the thousands of school-aged youths from Syria and
Iraq settling in the Holy Land.
"We cannot forget the thousands of families who fled from
the violence of the war in Syria and Iraq, among whom children and youth, a
great number of them of schooling-age, who appeal to our generosity in order to
resume their scholastic life and may dream of a better future," it said.
"We hope against hope, that the schools serve as a place of
encounter for the Christians and the Muslims, where they prepare a future of
mutual respect and collaboration; the hospitals and clinics, the homes and
meeting centers continue to welcome the suffering and those in need, refugees
and displaced, persons of all ages and religions struck by the horror of
war," he said.
Along with Cardinal Sandri's letter, the Vatican press office
released some details of how the congregation disbursed the $7.2 million raised
in 2017. Nearly $900,000 was provided in emergency assistance to religious in
Syria and for extra support in Jerusalem; more than $8.3 million was used to
support Catholic education at every level; and about $1.6 million went to
support churches in Jerusalem, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt,
Ethiopia and Eritrea.
"As can be seen, expenses exceed the collection, therefore,
greater cooperation and a generous commitment is needed from Christians from
all over the world," the letter said.