Bishops support ‘dispirited’ people of Gaza

A delegation of Catholic bishops celebrated Mass with the Catholic community in Gaza last Sunday, expressing solidarity with local Christians and the wider people of the Palestinian strip of land ruled by Hamas.
The two-day Gaza visit was the focal point of the week-long Middle East trip by the ­bishops as part of the Church’s Holy Land Coordination, chaired by the Bishop of Clifton, Declan Lang.

The 14 bishops from across Europe, North America and South Africa concentrated on the plight of the Palestinian people and especially Palestinian Christians, staying for the rest of the trip this week in Bethlehem.
Speaking from Jerusalem, Bishop Lang told The Tablet that he came away from Gaza “with a feeling that the people there are very dispirited”. The bishop asked local people what they have to get up for in the morning and the answer he received was “not a lot – there is not a lot of hope”.

Bishop Lang added that Gazans feel like “an imprisoned people and a forgotten people”. Archbishop Stephen Brislin from Cape Town explained: “Gaza was a very moving and touching experience, especially as we celebrated Mass.

“Our aim was simply to express solidarity with people, so that they know they are not forgotten and also to pray with them and to learn a lot more about the situation. What struck me was the resilience of people. They are living in hardship but their spirit seems very strong and daily life continues. I hope we gave them some hope that they are not a forgotten people.”

There are around 2,500 Christians living in Gaza, of whom around 300 are Catholic. The population of Gaza is over 1.7 million.