HOLY LAND- Attached is the letter of the AOCTS, Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, for all the Consecrated in the Holy Land on the occasion of the 2015 year of the Consecrated Life as dedicated by Pope Francis.
Dear Monks
and Nuns,
Dear
Religious,
Dear
Members of Apostolic Institutes,
His Holiness Pope Francis wants to dedicate the
year 2015, 29th November 2014 – 2nd February 2016, to the
Consecrated Life in all its forms, contemplative, apostolic and missionary.
1 –Thank you. We, the Catholic Ordinaries of the
Holy Land, would like to publicly express our
thanks and appreciation…
-
For the prayers of the 274 Contemplatives from 27 different houses, who pray
incessantly for the sanctification of the Church and the spiritual needs of our
priests, parishes and faithful.
-
For the enthusiasm, apostolic, educational, and charitable, that you, the 1594
consecrated persons, express in the building up of our churches and the
formation of the faithful.
-
For your fidelity to the Church in the Holy Land,
the fruit of the love you have for it. This ever faithful love, sustained
by the presence of the Holy Spirit, leads you ever forward seeking new
insertions so that the joy within you is shared with all your brothers and
sisters.
Yes, since the very beginnings of Christianity,
“our dioceses in the Holy Land are known for
the abundant presence of religious congregations, both male and female. Several
have been present for centuries…others have come…in request of the Bishops…”(Diocesan
Synod of the Catholic
Churches, General
Pastoral Plan, page 76)
Thank you for your prayers! Thank you for your
service! Thank you for your sense of belonging!
2 – Objectives. The Year of the Consecrated Life
will begin on 30th November 2014. This date is not chosen by chance but rather
it is a grace to say that the different liturgical calendars that we use in our
Churches, introduce us to the heart of the three objectives proposed by Pope
Francis. The Holy Father asks…
- Remember with gratitude the recent past.
Four Sundays before Christmas, the Maronite and Syro-Catholic churches
celebrate a Sunday of the joy and thankfulness that Mary sang when she visited
her cousin, Elizabeth. ‘My soul glorifies the Lord; my spirit rejoices in
God my Saviour’. (Luke.1, 46.49)
- Embrace the future with hope. On
the 30th November, the first Sunday of Advent, the Latin Church invites you to
be confidently ever on the alert as you spread the love of God thus
building together with Him a new world: Announce to all the people :
Here is your God; he comes to save us! On that day a great light will be seen. (Antiphons
of First Vespers).
- Live the present with passion
in the wake of your Founders and Foundresses, so as to awaken the world. The
30thNovember, the Byzantine
Melkite Church
will be celebrating the Sunday of the commandment to love and fraternity. ‘I
give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you, love one
another.(John 13, 34). May the witness of your true love and your sincere
fraternity open the doors of your heart and of your house, to reach out to your
ailing or deceived brother.
We would like to remind you that the
Consecrated Life, the life of each one of you, is at the heart of the Church in
the Holy Land as a decisive element of its mission, since she understands the
intimate nature of the Christian vocation (cf VC.3): to respond to God’s call
with joy.
3 – Being Consecrated. The year of Consecrated Life is a
fitting occasion to return to the General Pastoral Plan, the fruit of the
diocesan Synod of the Catholic Churches, approved by the assembly of Catholic
Ordinaries and published during the 2000 Jubilee .Many of you worked on this
document, ‘The place of Religious in the pastoral life in our dioceses’.
We are asking you once again to take up this
document and give it an attentive reading. Be led by the Spirit who will help
you recall the fundamental aspects of your presence in the heart of our
dioceses and groups:
- strengthen your consecration,
- let your whole life be a witness,
- let your life be a sign of your total consecration to God.
Together you form a great wealth and you
possess huge possibilities of witnessing to and serving both the Church and
Society. To carry out this role of serving witnesses, you should know that you
are the Church before being an Institute, that you form one body, one faith and
together share the same responsibilities.
A diocesan Synod for the Consecrated, men and
women, could without doubt, offer an occasion to review the motivations which
brought your Institute to the Holy Land, to question the current value of your
presence here so as to draw up together attractive missionary
insertions. Our diocesan Churches have no need of closed and empty
convents; the need is rather for alive and active communities.
4 –Action Plan. We, the Catholic Ordinaries,
during our plenary meeting of 16th-17th September 2014, listened with interest
to the wealth of ideas that the Union of Religious Superiors of the Holy land (USRTS) and the Committee of Religious (CRTS) proposed
for the year dedicated to the Consecrated Life. Whilst encouraging all
personal, community or inter-congregational initiatives, we have decided and
encourage and recommend the following….
Ø Decisions
29th-30thNovember 2014 –Opening of the Year of the Consecrated Life.
The USRTS and the CRT will organise an official
common celebration in Nazareth, Bethlehem,
Amman and Cyprus.
2nd February
2015 – An inter-ritual Eucharistic Celebration:
- in Jerusalem : Co-Cathedral of the Latin
Patriarch
- in Amman : Greek Melkite Catholic Cathedral
-in Nazareth :
The Salesians’ Basilica of the Boy Jesus
-
in
Nicosia :
The Maronite Cathedral
25th
March 2015 –Solemnity of the Annunciation
Celebration
of religious profession anniversaries and a consecration to Mary:
- in Nazareth
(Basilica of the Annunciation),
-
in Amman
(Church of the Annunciation at Jabal-Lweibdeh)
- in Larnaca (Church
of Our Lady of Graces)
7th-10th April 2015
–Permanent Formation courses for all Consecrated persons,
organised by the ‘Studium Biblicum Franciscanum’.
21st-23rd April 2015
(Jerusalem-Nazareth) – Corso di aggiornamento for Consecrated
men and women, presided by Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo, Secretary of the Congregation
for Institutes of consecrated life and
Societies for apostolic life.
21st November 2015 – Day
of Contemplative Life - Community celebration for all Contemplatives.
2nd February 2016 – Closing of the Year of
Consecrated Life
The
USRTS and the CRTS will organise a Symposium on the Consecrated life in the Holy Land.
Ø Encouragements
We encourage all the religious in the Holy Land
to participate in the Initiatives of the Universal Church:
-
22nd-24thJanuary 2015 in Rome,
an ecumenical Congress with the Consecrated
of other Churches.
-
8th-11thApril 2015in Rome,
a Congress for Formators on the Spirituality of Communion.
-
28th January – 1st February 2016 in Rome, a Theological Symposium based on
the Consecrated Life.
We would hope that all the Religious will be
available for the initiatives of the local Church, such as:
-
Being
available to animate spiritual parish Retreats in collaboration with the Parish
Priests.
-
Indicating
consecrated persons capable of talking to Seminarians about the Consecrated
Life.
-
Collaborating
with the Diocesan Team to animate days of Vocation Promotion and visits in
schools.
-
Organising
days for Youth where they can remember the Religious they have known, to give
their witness and to sing their praises.
Ø Recommendations:
- End each Sunday Mass with a prayer for
Vocations to the Consecrated Life, composed by the USRTS and the CRTS.
- At the end of the final Prayer at Vespers,
recite a prayer for all the consecrated and for the young people we are
involved with.
- Each Community to choose a day of the week
for an hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament following a distributed
schema. It would be good if this schema be also distributed in the parishes and
to groups who meet for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, on the First
Fridays, for example.
- Every consecrated person, every religious
community, every institute should profit from all
these occasions to work towards a culture of communion.
We must help one another in view of the future
of the Holy Land, a future with hope, charity
and grace. Together we must prepare a humane and spiritual future for this
land. Together, we bear this responsibility for the future generations
here. (General Pastoral Plan– page 81).
We have proposed amounts to a lot but without a
doubt, your creative spirit will find other initiatives as to how to live out
this year dedicated to the Consecrated Life in community, in the heart of your
institute, in communion with the local and universal Church. We would be
happy to hear of the initiatives you discover during the course of the year –
for example, formation sessions or joyful recreational times spent together.
Your sharing will be a spiritual and fraternal up lift for us priests and for
all the faithful. We encourage you to open a window into existing
Catholic sites which will provide information for all those who visit.
We, your Ordinaries, wish that this time be a
year of grace for you and for the Church of the Holy
Land. May our blessing be the gauge of our thanks and esteem
for who you are in the dioceses and sub-dioceses.
May the Blessed Mary of Jesus crucified o.c.d.,
Marie Alphonsine Ghattas s.r.j, and the Servant of God Simaan Srouji s.d.b.,
intercede pour each one of you.
Jerusalem, le 1stNovember 2014
Feast of
all Saints
+ Fouad
TWAL - President
Latin
Patriarch of Jerusalem
A.O.C.T.S.’ President
+ Georges BACAOUNI
Greek Catholic Melkite Arch. de Akka
A.O.C.T.S.’ Vice-president
+ Moussa El-HAGE
Maronite Archbishop of Haifa & TS
Maronite Exarch of Jerusalem & Jordan
President Committee for Consecrated Life
+ Michel SABBAH
Latin Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem
+
Yaser Al-AYYASH
Greek Melkite Cath.Archbishop in Amman
+ Joseph SOUEIF
Maronite Archbishop in Cyprus
+
Boutros MOUALLEM
Greek Melkite Cath. Archbishop Emeritus
+
Elias CHACOUR
Greek Melkite Cath. Archbishop Emeritus
+ Jean B. SLEIMAN
Admin.
Apost
‘sede plena’ Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishopric in Amman
+ Joseph
Jules ZEREY
Greek Melkite Cath. Patr. Vicar Jerusalem
+ Gregoire
Pierre MELKI
Syro
Catholic Exarch of Jérusalem
+ Maroun LAHHAM
Latin
Patriarchal Vicar / Jordan
+
Giacinto-Boulos MARCUZZO
Latin Patriarchal Vicar / Israël
+
William SHOMALI
Latin Patriarchal Vicar / Jerusalem &Palestine
+
Kamal-Hanna BATHISH
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus
+
Selim SAYEGH
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus
Mgr.
Georges DANKAYÉ
Admin. Armenian Catholic Exarchate
P. Pierbattista
PIZZABALLA, O.F.M.,
Custos of the Holy Land
P. David
NEUHAUS, S.J.
Patriarchal
Vicar of St James Vicariate
P.Jerzey
KRAJ, O.F.M.
Latin Patriarchal Vicar for Cyprus
P. Pietro FELET, scj
General
Secretary
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