On Good Friday each year, the Catholic Church throughout the world will take up a very special collection – the “Collection for the Holy Land.” This special collection originated from the Popes’ wishes to maintain a strong bond between the Holy Places of the Holy Land and all Christians of the world. It is the main source of sustenance for life around the Holy Places and is also the tool through which the Custody of the Holy Land is able to sustain and carry forward the important mission to which it is called: to preserve the holy places, the stones of memory, and to favour the Christian presence, the living stones of the Holy Land, through many activities of solidarity such as the maintenance of pastoral, educational, welfare, health and social structures. For further reading, please find HERE a letter from the new Commissary for the Holy Land Australia Fr Bernie Thomas.