Photo: Lisa Johnston More than €65,000 has been donated by Irish members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (OHS) to Christians in the Holy Land.
The livelihoods of Holy Land Christians have been devasted by Covid-19, leaving them heavily reliant on charitable aid, according to the OHS, an order dedicated to the Holy Land.
Following an appeal from the Latin Patriarchate, the Grandmaster of the OHS appealed to their 30,000 members worldwide to contribute to a special ‘Covid-19 Humanitarian Support Fund’.
Since May, €3 million has been raised by the order, of which €65,000 was donated by the Irish branch of the Order.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Peter Durnin, Lieutenant of the Irish branch of the OHS, said that “we felt we had a legal and moral obligation to totally support the grandmasters appeal”.
“We, the leadership body, in Ireland came together by Zoom within three days of the appeal being launched,” he said. “We approached our individual members and asked them to be as generous as they could.
“We have sent out as we speak €65,000 to the headquarters. We received cheques from €50 to well in excess of €5,000 – 5% of our members donated in excess of 5,000. I expect that we will send out an additional €50,000, in addition to normal donations, in the next two to three months.”
Donations
The donations are in addition to the €110,000 already contributed by the Irish branch of the Order in 2020.
While Mr Durnin hopes these donations will provide relief for the Holy Land Christians, he stressed that their position is still very vulnerable.
“Christians are the minority of the minority and they are in need of support and encouragement, in remaining there, in living there, in marrying there, in having their children there, in continuing to work there,” said Mr Durnin.
“This something we’d be encouraging people to recognise.”
Read more here: Pandemic leaves Christians in the Holy Land ‘teetering on the edge’