Life for Christians in the Holy Land is getting worse every day, according to the Cardinal Grand Master of an order sworn to support our brothers and sisters in the faith in the Holy Land.
Cardinal Edwin O’Brien added two more knights to the cause of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in the presence of Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB when he visited Perth two weeks ago.
The Cardinal invested Clifford Mitchell and Giovanni Pintabona as knights on November 16 at St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco.
The Cardinal also awarded special anniversary plaques to 11 knights of long standing, including H E Clifford Henry Holloway, who helped establish the first Australian lieutenancy in Perth 25 years ago.
Cardinal O’Brien celebrated Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral the following day, describing the mission and purpose of the order as living and proclaiming the Resurrected Lord and providing prayerful and material support to Christians in the Holy Land.
Speaking exclusively with The Record after the November 17 Mass, Cardinal O’Brien described the situation for Christians in the Holy Land as “unjust”, lamenting oppressive movement controls and a general culture of fear.
“They’re fleeing it as much as they can. They’re really imprisoned, literally so, with walls built around the neighbourhoods,” Cardinal O’Brien said.
“They can’t get from home to their farms; can’t get from home to see their relatives without permits. It’s unjust. It’s totally unjust.
“The Israeli government knocked down a house belonging to the Church a couple of weeks ago, no mention of it in the press. The press is intimidated, leaders are intimidated. Why, I don’t know.
“These poor people deserve a hearing, to be treated with some sense of dignity and some sense of justice, and it’s not happening and it’s getting worse and worse every day.”
In comments reported in The Record last week, the Cardinal said Catholic communities needed to feel the urgency of the New Evangelisation and to be formed accordingly.
A former rector of the North American College for seminarians in Rome, Cardinal O’Brien complimented the Archdiocese of Perth on its seminarians Deacon Mark Baumgarten, Deacon Christian Irdi and Connor: “They add a great deal to the college but every one of them would say their experience in Rome for the Universal Church gives them a much greater sense of the need to bring the Gospel to wherever they find themselves.”
Cardinal O’Brien said NAC seminarians went “to the outskirts” during the summer break, making reference to a recent working visit to China.
“[They often] form groups when they get back home to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to help those countries where they spent their summers where there is great poverty.
“It’s an expanding circle of concern that we have to fight for but people who study in the Vatican and see St Peter’s and listen to the Pope, they’re challenged much more directly and they meet that challenge.”
The origins of the order date back to the early twelfth century when some lay people decided to place themselves at the service of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and stand up in its defence. The first documents proving the existence of knights known as Knights of the Holy Sepulchre date back to 1366.
The investitures of new Knights in Jerusalem continued to be awarded by the Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land until 1847 when Pope Pius IX reconstituted the Latin Patriarchate and entrusted the Order with the task of supporting it.