The war in Israel is being felt here at home. Concerned about the possibility of protest demonstrations on Friday, Oct. 13, and the possibility of erupting violence, the Diocese of Brooklyn allowed Catholic academies the chance to decide to conduct classes remotely that day.
After an attack on Israel by Hamas and subsequent retaliation by Israel that has left more than more than 1,300 people dead and thousands more injured, the U.S. bishops’ conference has called for a cessation of violence from all sides, and for Catholics in the U.S. to pray for peace.
Even before the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had been called on the evening of May 13 after five days of fighting, Father Gabriel Romanelli of Gaza Holy Family Parish was already tentatively going over travel details for a trip to Egypt with some of the Catholic Scouts youth leaders, which had been long in the making.
Faith leaders and activists for coexistence from across Israel gathered in prayer in front of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem May 10, in a week that once again saw yet another increase in violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
A British-Israeli mother and her two daughters were killed in a drive-by-shooting terrorist attack in the Jordan valley on April 7, during a week that, instead of seeing the holidays of Passover, Easter and Ramadan celebrated in parallel peacefully, spiraled the region into violence.
Just as early Christians were sustained by the words of St. Peter describing Jesus’ resurrection as offering a “new birth into a living hope,” so too should the Christians of the Holy Land today be encouraged and empowered by this knowledge as they face tumultuous times, when their own faith continues to be tested, said the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in their March 31 Easter message.
With rising tensions between Israelis and Palestinians reaching new heights over the past week amid a spate of fresh killings, Church leaders in the West Bank have condemned the violence and called for a lasting resolution that respects international law.
After 10 years of systematic work, the Old City of Jerusalem is more accessible to the disabled and the elderly.
For nine years, Randa Aweis battled kidney disease, urgently in need of a transplant. In mid-May, a donor was found for the 58-year-old mother of six, a Catholic Palestinian who lives in Jerusalem.
Pope Francis has called on the world’s Catholics to pray May 22 for dialogue, forgiveness and peaceful coexistence in the Holy Land.
