Good Friday Offering Destined for Jerusalem and the Middle East

Episcopal News Service. January 9, 2002 [2002-005-4]

[Episcopal News Service] In his annual Epiphany letter to all congregations, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has asked that Episcopalians continue to 'pray for their sisters and brothers in the Holy Land' and to support the Episcopal Church's Good Friday Offering as 'an opportunity to demonstrate solidarity with Anglicans and all Christians in that troubled region of the world.' For the past 80 years the Episcopal Church has taken up a Good Friday Offering to be sent to the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

The Province of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East covers the entire southern Mediterranean coast from Gibraltar to Lebanon and Syria, and down to the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa. Yet it is one of the smaller Provinces of the Anglican Communion in membership. Outside of Jerusalem, the countryside is overwhelmingly Islamic and Jewish, and even in Jerusalem the dominant Christian traditions are Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic.

Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal maintains a visible Anglican presence in the Diocese of Jerusalem, which includes Israel, the Palestine National Authority, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and the sister dioceses of Egypt and North Africa, Cyprus and the Gulf, and Iran are equally involved with numerous ministries throughout the region. Support received through the Good Friday Offering translates into operating hospitals, schools, orphanages and many other programs, accomplished for the benefit of all people in the province, Christian, Jewish and Muslim alike.

A form to order the 2002 offering materials, which include a poster, a bulletin shell, and offering envelopes, accompanied the Epiphany letter. The bulletin shell and the poster are also available online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/agr/friday.html. Good Friday Offering materials are also available through Episcopal Parish Services in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, by calling toll-free 800-903-5544.