Presiding bishop urges support for Good Friday Offering
Episcopal News Service. February 15, 2011 [021511-02]
ENS staff
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written to all congregations in the Episcopal Church asking for their continued support for the Good Friday Offering, an annual churchwide collection that assists mission priorities in the dioceses of Jerusalem and Cyprus and the Gulf.
The funds come from pledges made during Good Friday services at Episcopal Church parishes, congregations, cathedrals and missions. In 2011, Good Friday will be observed on April 22.
Now in its 89th year, the Good Friday Offering "offers us the opportunity to join in deepening the bond we have with the churches and people in the land of the Holy One," Jefferts Schori said in her letter.
"For almost a century, the Good Friday Offering has been a source of support, love, and hope for our brothers and sisters in the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East," said Jefferts Schori, noting that she has been "deeply moved by the stories of pain that conflict and division bring to the lives of every person in that province of the Anglican Communion."
According to a release from the Episcopal Church's Office of Public Affairs, past Good Friday offerings have supported projects such as the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem's St. Peter's Elderly Home for Christian seniors, St. Andrew's Clinic for diabetes, educational scholarships, and St. Andrew's Housing Projects for young Christian couples; and in the diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, the many medical ministries of Ras Morbat Clinic based at Christ Church in Aden, Yemen, such as a clinic for mothers and babies, eye care, a vocational school, and ministry to seafarers.
"Through the work of the Episcopal dioceses in the Middle East, Christians maintain a peacemaking and stabilizing presence in the region, serving their neighbors regardless of faith background," according to a note on the Good Friday Offering website.
Further information and resources, including a bulletin insert for the Good Friday Offering, are available here.
"This offering expresses our own commitment to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to walk with the church of the Middle East as they continue to work toward justice, reconciliation, and peace," Jefferts Schori said. "Through our prayers for and support of these churches we are helping to realize God's vision of shalom."