LIVERPOOL - 10 January 2007 - 520 words
Bishops
from Europe and North America to visit Holy Land
The Most Reverend Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool and Vice
President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales,
will be leading a group of European and North American bishops
to the Holy Land from 13 to 18 January this year.
The Co-ordination of Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church
in the Holy Land was set up in Jerusalem in October 1998 at the
request of the Holy See. The Holy Land visit has been organised
for the last three years by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of
England and Wales. Joining Archbishop Kelly from England and Wales
will be Bishop Christopher Budd, from Plymouth diocese, and Bishop
William Kenney, Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham.
The purpose of the visit is to support the Churches and Christian
community in the Holy Land: firstly, as they seek never to be
silent in the face of injustice and violence, secondly to do this
in such a way that they are always faithful to the reconciliation
accomplished by Jesus of Nazareth on that hill in Jerusalem called
Calvary.
Archbishop Patrick Kelly said: "This visit is the third stage
over the past month in the commitment by the Catholic Community
in England and Wales to the Church in the Holy Land. The first
stage was the ecumenical pilgrimage just before Christmas in which
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor took part.
"The second was the broadcast by BBC television of Midnight Mass from Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King; at that Mass Bethlehem, not only as it was 2000 years ago but as it is today, was the focus of reflection and prayer. This communion with Bethlehem was deepened by the participation of Johnny Bassous, graduate of Bethlehem's University.
"The third stage is this visit by
bishops from several countries, to listen, to observe, and to
learn and as always, to accompany, in days of great uncertainty
and fear, our sisters and brothers in the Holy Land, in their
commitment to the deed of Jesus Christ on Calvary by which he
made possible for us all reconciliation with God and with each
other."
This year, there will be bishops from Canada, England and Wales,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the United
States of America. The Council of European Bishops' Conferences
(CCEE) and the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Union
(ComECE). Caritas Internationalis, Catholic Relief Services, Pax
Christi International, the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, the
Pontifical Mission Society, Vatican Radio and the Holy Land Christian
Ecumenical Foundation will also be represented.
All the participants join in prayer with local Christians and
this year communities in Nazareth and around Galilee will also
take part. Many become personally involved in particular projects
to offer practical help this is something bishops can then
take back to their own dioceses and conferences. Several of the
bishops who take part in these meetings have themselves led pilgrimages
to the Holy Land. One of the key focuses of the Holy Land Co-ordination
is to encourage more Christians to go on pilgrimage to the Holy
Land.
Source: Archdiocese of Liverpool
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