DIOCESE—With Holy Week celebrations closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic in many countries including the U.S. and Italy, Pope Francis announced at the Vatican on April 2 that he was postponing the traditional Good Friday collection for the Holy Land to Sept. 13. 

 

The hope was that by postponing the worldwide collection, the pandemic would have subsided and churches would be fully open.

 

Following that directive from the Holy See, the Diocese of Rockford advised parishes in April to ask parishioners to hold their Good Friday offertory envelopes for Sept. 13. 

 

Parishes receiving envelopes or contributions for the Good Friday offering for the Holy Land were asked to forward them to the Diocese of Rockford where they have been retained to be sent to the Vatican all together and at the appropriate time, according to the Office of Finance and Administration.

 

Now that September is here, churches are indeed open, but are operating under the health and safety protocols of “Back in His Presence” to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. 

 

Under those guidelines, in accord with state and local health agencies, parishes are limited in their capacities and a dispensation for those most at risk is still in place.

 

Parishes have been reminded to take up the collection keeping in mind that “The Christian communities in the Holy Land, while exposed to the risk of contagion and often living in very trying circumstances, benefit every year from the generous solidarity of the faithful throughout the world, to be able to continue their evangelical presence, as well as to maintain schools and welfare structures open to all citizens for education, peaceful coexistence and care, especially for the smallest and poorest ones,” the Vatican said.

 

The Vatican said that the date of the collection, which takes place on the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, “will be a sign of rediscovered hope and of salvation after the Passion that many people now participate in, as well as solidarity with those who continue to live the Gospel of Jesus in the land where ‘it all began.’”

 

According to the Commissariats of the Holy Land, gifts from the Holy Land collection each year assist in funding the following programs: 

 

Faith, Memory and Culture — The Holy Places

 

Holy Land Franciscans staff and maintain the holy places and shrines. This enables those who live in the Holy Land and those who visit to deepen their faith and their spiritual and cultural connection to salvation history.