Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has asked for prayers for all people in the the Holy Land on Tuesday, Aug. 13, a day on which the Jewish community worldwide observes a holy day of mourning called “Tisha B’Av.” Bishop Walkowiak joins with Archbishop Broglio in this call for prayer. Please pray for all victims of war but in a special way for our Jewish brothers and sisters on this day of mourning.
This year’s commemoration of the Jewish holy day takes place ten months after the horrific attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas in which over 1,500 Israelis and close to 40,000 Palestinians have died, with close to two million people in Gaza and tens of thousands of people in Israel remaining displaced from their homes.
In a letter to the Jewish community in Israel this past February, Pope Francis wrote, “My heart is torn at the sight of what is happening in the Holy Land, by the power of so much division and so much hatred. The whole world looks on at what is happening in that land with apprehension and pain.” Both the Jewish and Islamic traditions have a saying: “whoever takes a life, destroys a world; and whoever saves a life, saves a world.”
