A special collection

The Evangelist reports here on the collection to be taken up during services on Good Friday, which will be sent to the Holy Land to maintain Christian ministries to people living in the area, and to preserve shrines, churches and holy sites in Israe:

"The annual Good Friday collection aims to promote among the Christian faithful a love of the land of the Lord," Bishop Howard J. Hubbard says in a letter to be read in parishes this weekend. "For the Church to survive there, it must rely on a loving and nurturing solidarity on the part of each Christian, a solidarity which bears witness to faith in Him. From the daily news, we all know of the challenges in the Middle East. Christians in the Holy Land urgently need your help."

Reuters reports on those Christians here:

The population of Christians in the Holy Land, particularly in the Palestinian territories, is dwindling as more and more leave for a better life abroad, turning the community into a tiny minority squeezed between Muslims and Jews.
. . .
"If the situation continues, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity will become cold, empty museums," said Samir Qumsieh, a Palestinian-Christian businessman, referring to two of the holiest Christian shrines.