Bernadette Cawley, a parishioner of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross in Shipley, and St Joseph’s Wetherby parishioner Dr Phil Hopkins are members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. They welcomed two more members of our Diocesan Family into the Order, who were invested as Knights at a Mass in London, at which the Homilist was none other than the Patriarch of the Holy Land, Cardinal Pizzaballa. Bernadette, who is Secretary of the Order’s Lieutenancy of England and Wales, and Phil (who is also Chair of Trustees at the Bethlehem Care and Hospice Trust) have sent us a report on this auspicious occasion and the Cardinal’s timely message…:
Ceasefire in Gaza, what next?
During the weekend of 29 November to 1 December 2024, some of us were fortunate to be in London to hear the Cardinal of the Holy Land, the Patriarch, tell us his thoughts about what has gone on there, what is going on and what he hopes the future will be.
Cardinal Pizzaballa, Patriarch of the Holy Land
The Cardinal predicted that there would be a ceasefire – he didn’t know precisely when but his message was all about Hope. He gave the Homily on Saturday 30 November at the Cathedral of St George in Southwark, at a Mass with Archbishop John Wilson, and on Sunday 1 December he gave the Homily at Westminster Cathedral at a Mass with Cardinal Nichols.
The Mass at Southwark was especially memorable for two people from this Diocese of Leeds: Michal Kurdybelski from the Parish of St John the Baptist in Normanton, and Deacon John Walsh from the Parish of St Mary in Halifax. Both were invested as Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an Order of the Catholic Church, which has at its heart an individual commitment to personal spiritual development, supporting the Church and the Christian people across the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem – which includes Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Gaza, Jordan and Cyprus. More information on the Order can be found at www.eohsj.org.uk
Michal Kurdybelski & Dcn John Walsh invested as Knights of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Cardinal Pizzaballa spoke to the people who were to be invested: ‘Becoming Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre, brings something special to your identity. It is not just love for the Holy Land and for the Church of Jerusalem, but also for what the Holy Land, the Church of Jerusalem, means for the life of the Church. Jesus Christ is not an idea or a narrative, He is an incarnated reality. We have a vocation to help the Holy Land, and to remember that the Church of the Holy Land has a special mission to keep the witness that Jesus gave alive – to give life out of love.’
‘Where there is life there is love. Hatred paralyses. To be afraid of the other does not leave people open to life, but closed to life. We are seeing the consequences of this in the Holy Land. So may your testimony, your support, your solidarity, your closeness, help us to open our eyes and help us to see and look for all those in the Holy Land that belong to the Kingdom of God – the little ones. There are many of them.’
At Westminster Cathedral again he spoke about his own diocese: ‘If we just look with human eyes, we see only destruction. Everything is destroyed, everything. From a material point of view in Gaza, there is not one house that hasn’t been affected, touched by the bombs, by the war. More than two million people displaced. Even in the West Bank, the situation is very problematic. Besides the material and physical effects of the war, there is hatred, mistrust, and fear. The war will finish. It’s a question of time. But hatred is not going to finish soon. When it does we’ll need to find people to help us to look beyond, to open our hearts to rebuild what this war has destroyed.’
‘My wish for all of us, is that we do not let the dramatic situations of the world determine our choices, our vision. We have to look to Jesus – who comes in the Sacraments, in the Word of God, in the occasions of life – so we are able, with our heart and our eyes, to see, to look. We have to look. If you don’t look, you don’t find.’
‘We count on your prayers because prayer is very powerful to help us see the coming of our Saviour, even in the Holy Land. We pray to be among those who want to build relationships, to help us not just to raise our heads, but to help all the people we meet to raise their heads to look together through the cloud, to the presence of God, and to develop relationships of friendship, fraternity, and humanity, especially in this moment where we try to dehumanise the other.’
He finished by stating this hope: ‘Although pilgrimages are totally cancelled, when the situation changes, I hope that we can see all of you in Jerusalem. We are waiting for you because your presence will bring joy, consolation, and happiness to many of our families.’
We were blessed that the Patriarch came, that he gave us his thoughts and that he invested Michal and Deacon John. His words were meant for all of us!
More information is on the Patriarchate website www.lpj.org
To find out more about the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, visit their website: The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem – Lieutenancy of England and Wales
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