Sometimes it can happen to forget that church collections are not only charity, but are also, as Christians, an “expression of our love” for one another. Promoting and supporting the Good Friday Collection for the churches of Jerusalem and the Holy Land is equally an expression of love for the Holy Land and its “living stones” that are the Christians living there.
The Good Friday Collection is important to carry out programmes to support the Christians of the Holy Land, which depends on the financial contribution received from brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. The Good Friday Collection also offers us, as Christians around the world, the opportunity to support the mission of the Church, especially in places where every Christian is at home.
Codruta Fernea – Responsible for Youth Coordination 2012-2017 (Rome – Cluj 3 April 2014)
The Good Friday universal collection is promoted at diocesan level, and concretely takes place mainly in parishes.
IN THE DIOCESE
The bishop receives the letter of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches at the beginning of each year. The diocesan AC informs the bishop of its availability to animate the collection in the parishes, with the commitment of the whole association to support this initiative animated by young people.
Each local reality has its own tradition and organisation: the Nobis in Animo provides for the offerings to be remitted by the parish priests and rectors of churches and oratories to their bishop, who will deliver them to the nearest commissioner of the Holy Land. It is therefore necessary to contact the nearest commissioner of the Holy Land and/or the director of the diocesan office in charge in order to have precise instructions on how to collect and deliver the offerings.
Above all, it is young people who are called upon to animate the collection: it is important to share this commitment with the whole of the AC and to involve the diocesan youth ministry and the council, the associations and movements with which one works at a diocesan and parish level (scouts, oratories, etc.).
IN THE PARISH
The parish president, taking a cue from the booklet, which is also available online, can take time for personal and associative preparation.
It is important that the attention to the Holy Land and this concrete commitment be the fruit of an educational journey: in the youth and very young groups, a meeting or part of a meeting can be dedicated – before or after Good Friday – to getting to know the Holy Land, the reality of the Christians who live there and the commitment of the CA with and for the Holy Land.
For Good Friday, everything is agreed with the parish priest:
- the announcement can be given either on the sheets prepared for Holy Week, or on Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday, as well as in the other moments that the parish community lives during Holy Week (confessions, retreats, etc.);
- On Good Friday, the Collect Pro Terra Santa is presented before the celebration; a card can also be prepared to be distributed at the entrance or exit of the Mass, telling the meaning and objectives of this commitment. If there is an AC parish newspaper, this commitment can also be presented there in the issue preceding Holy Week;
- the collection envelope is prepared to be handed in at diocesan level.
