Holy Land Co-ordination 2020 (HLC20) to visit the Holy Land 11-16 January in support of the local Church. This year the Bishops will visit Christians in Gaza, Ramallah and East Jerusalem
Bishops from across Europe and North America will meet in the Holy Land over the coming days to promote dialogue and peace, with a pastoral focus on Christians in Gaza, East Jerusalem and Ramallah.
This annual visit was set up over 20 years ago at the invitation of the Holy See with the aim of visiting and supporting the Holy Land’s local Christian communities as they experience the political and socio-economic realities of living in Israel and Palestine.
The bishops will be based in Ramallah with an overnight visit to Gaza. This year the HLC20 will celebrate Sunday Mass on 12 January with the small Christian community in Gaza. This Christmas, the Israeli government prevented Gazan Christians from visiting Bethlehem or families and relatives in the West Bank so the bishops were determined to go to Gaza and remind the small Christian community that they are not forgotten as Christians from the bishops’ home countries continue to pray for all Gazans and for an end to the conflict. This visible act of solidarity will be followed by a visit to the House of Peace run by the Missionaries of Charity; meetings with young people, visits to Christian parishioners and a pastoral visit to the sick in the community.
The bishops will also meet with young people in both Jerusalem and Ramallah to listen to their hopes and experiences as they grow up in this divided society. Archbishop Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator to the Latin Patriarchate, and Nuncio Archbishop Girelli will meet with the bishops to discuss the current situation.
In addition to planned meetings with Palestinian and Israeli officials, there will also be visits to East Jerusalem and the Comboni sisters in Bethany, as well as the school and parish in Ramallah.
A communique will be released at the conclusion of this year’s Holy Land Coordination on 16 January.
The meeting is organised by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. The programme open to the media is reproduced below. To join the bishops, to interview the visiting bishops or for further information please contact
Alexander.desforges@cbcew.org.uk/ 0044 (0)7983 704 097
The following bishops will take part in the Holy Land Co-ordination:
Bishop Declan Lang (Clifton, England and Wales – Co-ordinator)
Archbishop Richard Gagnon (Winnipeg, Canada)
Bishop Udo Bentz (Mainz, Germany)
Bishop Rodolfo Cetoloni (Grosseto, Italy)
Bishop Alan McGuckian (Raphoe, Ireland)
Bishop Noel Treanor (Down and Connor, Ireland)
Bishop Pierre Bürcher (Emeritus – Reykjavik, Iceland)
Bishop Mgr José Ornela Carvalho (Setubal, Portugal)
Bishop William Kenney (Birmingham, England and Wales)
Bishop Nicholas Hudson (Westminster, England and Wales)
Bishop Christopher Chessun (Church of England, United Kingdom)
Bishop William Nolan (Galloway, Scotland)
Archbishop Joan-Enric Vives Sicilia (Urgell, Spain)
Archbishop Timothy Broglio Military, USA)
Bishop Marc Stenger (Troyes, France)
Source: Amman-en.abouna.org
