9th October – The Third Holy Land Volunteer Day
The 3rd Holy Land Volunteer Day will take place in Rome on October 9th , organized by Edizioni di Terra Santa (the Publishing House of the Custody of the Holy Land) and with the participation also of ATS Pro Terra Sancta, the non-profit organization of the Custody of the Holy Land which has been availing itself for years of volunteers from all over the world to carry on its activities and the projects of the Custody of the Holy Land in the Middle East.
The Day will take place on October 9th 2010 at the Antonianum University – address: Via Merulana 124 (subway: line A, Manzoni stop) – right before the first day of the Synod. The volunteers will have the opportunity to understand directly from the words of Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custodian of the Holy Land and Chairman of ATS pro Terra Sancta, the value of the Synod and its importance for the future of Middle Eastern Churches and the peoples living in that area.
Next day, those who wish to will be able to attend the opening Mass of the Synod, celebrated by His Holiness the Pope in St. Peter’s Cathedral.
The Day is open to all the Volunteering Associations (and individual volunteers) working to support the projects in the Holy Land.
“A volunteer, if well directed, becomes a symbol of fraternity between his/her original community and his/her hosting community, his/her own ability to welcome positively whatever is different becomes a bridge of communication, giving value to the differences with the humility and the effort necessary to understand them” – Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custodian of the Holy Land and Chairman of ATS Pro Terra Sancta, on the occasion of the 2nd Holy Land Volunteer Day, Milan, 17th October 2009.