The Holy Land
The
Holy Land is fascinating with its contrasting snowy mountain peaks,
hot tropical valleys, arid hills and clear sparkling lakes, all
forming the background to a world of personalities with distinctive
characteristics and religious customs. It is a place of fermentation
for ideas, ideals and aspirations. There, men and women have attempted,
and achieved, superhuman things: they have changed their own lives
and those of their neighbours, shaping the course of history far
beyond the country's borders and leaving a legacy of the spirit
that will last for all time. It is the place of Jesus' birth ministry
and death and the home of the world's three great Monotheistic
religions.
In the fourth century, St Jerome, Bishop of Bethlehem, wrote
: "The whole mystery of our Christian faith is native to
this country and city." Some 800 years after Jerome, St Francis
of Assisi was given leave to visit the Holy Places. His pilgrimage
resulted in a historical development, giving to the Order of Friars
Minor the responsibility of maintaining those shrines sacred to
Christianity and to serve the spiritual needs of the pilgrims,
a ministry they continue to fulfil to this day.
As Pope Paul VI wrote in 1974:
"This blessed land is a country in which a 'community
of believers in Christ' lives and works. It is a community that
in the course of history has undergone innumerable trials and
has suffered painful difficulties, leaving it no longer self-supporting,
and therefore in need of our understanding and of our moral and
material help. ... These brothers and sisters of ours in a unique
way share in the sufferings of Christ, and live up to their name
as Christians by the testimony of a lively faith, open-hearted
love and genuine poverty, in accordance with the spirit of the
Gospel. Were their presence to cease, the shrines would be without
the warmth of this living witness, and the Christian Holy Places
of Jerusalem and the Holy Land would become museums."
The Commissariat in Australia
The
Commissariat (Office) of the Holy Land in Australia is responsible
for raising the awareness of Australian Christians to the needs
of the people in the Holy Land. The Commissariat co-ordinates
the Good Friday Appeal which raises $900,000 annually for the
maintenance of Christian shrines, for the support of those who
care for the shrines and pilgrims, and for the needy Christian
residents of the Holy Land.
When we think of the Holy Land, we naturally think of the places
associated with the life of Jesus and of the churches and shrines
which mark the sites we hold as sacred. The Franciscan Custody
of the Holy Land does care for such places, but its main concern
is for the Christian people of this region: it is responsible
for 24 parishes, 22 schools, several nursing homes and medical
centres, four orphanages, as well as food and clothing centres
for the poor. Many of the people so assisted are Palestinian.
The Australian Commissariat provides information about Christian
accommodation in the Holy Land and distributes a quarterly 'Holy
Land' magazine produced in Jerusalem.
Contacts and Links
Commissary of the Holy Land
Franciscan Provincial Office
47 Victoria Street
Waverley NSW 2024
Tel (02) 9369 9300
Fax (02) 9369 9322
Email holyland@franciscans.org.au
http://www.custodia.org/
The Official Site of the Custody of the Holy Land
