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[ENS] Annual Good Friday offering set for Jerusalem and the Middle


From "Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>
Date Tue, 15 Mar 2005 14:21:45 -0500

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

March 11, 2005 - Friday Forum

Annual Good Friday offering set for Jerusalem and the Middle East

[Episcopal News Service] This year marks the 83rd anniversary of the
Episcopal Church's Good Friday Offering, its major grassroots effort to
respond to the numerous needs of the church in the Holy Land.

In an annual letter to all congregations, Presiding Bishop Frank
Griswold
has asked that Episcopalians join him again this year "as we work and
pray
for a lasting peace" and to continue to support the Episcopal Church's
Good
Friday Offering "as we share generously from all the gifts we have been
given with our sisters and brothers in the Middle East."

The Province of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East
covers
the southern Mediterranean coast from Algeria to Lebanon and Syria, and
down
to the Persian Gulf and the Horn of Africa. Yet it is one of 38
autonomous
Provinces of the the Anglican Communion. Its bishop, the Rt. Reverend
Riah
Abu el-Assal, was born in Nazareth, where he was a priest for more than
30
years.

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.

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 2005 offering materials, which include a poster, a
bulletin shell, and offering envelopes, accompanied the Presiding
Bishop's
letter, released during the season of Epiphany.

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, at http://www.episcopalparishservices.org/ or
by
calling toll-free 800-903-5544.

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