North Carolina diocese contributes $167,000 to support Holy Land Christians

The Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed more than $167,000 to the Pontifical Good Friday Collection, which supports Christians and Franciscan ministries in the Holy Land.

Father John Puodziunas, OFM, commissary of the Holy Land, thanked Raleigh Bishop Luis Rafael Zarama for the diocese’s support in a recent letter, according to a July 28 diocesan press release. He said the contribution came “at the exact moment our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land are facing a time of great difficulty.”

Taken up annually on Good Friday, the collection supports the Franciscan Custody’s care for holy sites, along with Catholic ministries, schools, and social services throughout the Holy Land.

Father Puodziunas asked Catholics in the diocese to remember Christians in the Holy Land in prayer and offered the friars’ prayers in return.

“In the face of conflict,” he added, “there is a great need for hope and solidarity.”

The diocese said the annual collection offers Catholics an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the Church in the land of Christ’s Passion.

As Zeale News previously reported, attacks by Jewish extremists against Christians in the Holy Land have intensified, with perpetrators reportedly becoming increasingly emboldened amid a limited response from Israeli political leaders under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.