Good Friday collection

Richard A. Sokerka

With Palm Sunday, March 29, Holy Week begins. It is a time that our focus turns to the Holy Land as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, to the Last Supper, to his crucifixion on Calvary ending with the glory of the Resurrection on Easter.

Today, the Franciscans administer all the holy sites where Jesus lived and spent the last week of his life. And we have an opportunity to help the friars and their ministries there in the Good Friday collection to be taken up in parishes across the diocese and worldwide.

The collection, which has been requested by Pope Francis and his predecessors, is the primary way that Catholics support the holy places that still commemorate the time that Jesus spent on earth.

Among others, the collection supports the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, originally built by the Emperor Constantine, in Jerusalem which encapsulates what tradition holds is the place of Calvary and the tomb where Jesus was laid before his Resurrection.

The Good Friday collection supports many of the sacred places in the life of Jesus and much more, including 29 active parishes, scholarly research and archaeological investigations from a Christian perspective.

On Good Friday, there is only one collection in our parishes and it is dedicated to the Holy Land. Please be as generous as your means allow.