Cardinal shocked at Israel attack on Catholic church, convent

Cardinal Stephen Brislin of Cape Town has expressed shock at an attack by Israeli forces on the Holy Family Catholic church in Gaza and on the Centre for Disabled Children that is run by the Missionaries of Charity in Gaza, which included the killing of two women by Israeli snipers.

According to Vatican News, Israeli military reportedly entered the compound of Holy Family parish on December 16, shooting at anyone leaving the church. The victims are said to be an elderly woman and her daughter who had rushed out of the building to rescue her mother.

Israel has justified the attack, claiming the supposed presence of a missile launcher in the parish.

The shooting followed heavy bombardment overnight of the area around Holy Family parish which left dozens dead, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, patriarch of Jerusalem, called the shooting of the two women “murder”.

Holy Family parish is where the majority of Christian families has taken refuge since the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which has displaced more than 80% of the territories population.

“Nahida and her daughter Samar were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister’s convent. One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety. Seven more people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others inside the church compound. No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents, “Cardinal Pizzaballa said.

“Earlier in the morning, a rocket fired from an Israeli Defence Force tank targeted the convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa (Missionaries of Charity). The convent is home to over 54 disabled persons and is part of the church compound, which was signalled as a place of worship since the beginning of the war. The building’s generator (the only source of electricity) and the fuel resources were destroyed. The house was damaged by the resulting explosion and massive fire. Two more rockets, fired by an IDF tank, targeted the same Convent and rendered the home uninhabitable. The 54 disabled persons are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said.

Solar panels and water tanks, which are indispensable for the survival of the community, were destroyed.

Cardinal Brislin, in a message to the clergy of his archdiocese, recalled his visits to Gaza, as part of international groups of Catholic bishops who have visited Israel and Palestine regularly.

“I have celebrated and concelebrated Mass in the Holy Family church on my visits to Gaza, and have had tea with the parish priest in the adjoining presbytery as well as with parishioners after Mass. On every visit I made to Gaza we visited the Missionaries of Charity and witnessed the good work they are doing there,” he said.

He asked the priests of Cape Town to “make your parishioners aware of these attacks and please ask them to keep in prayer the minuscule Christian community in Gaza together with all those who have been so badly affected by the war — those killed, who have lost loved ones, those maimed, those displaced, those without food and water…”

“Let us pray for peace and an end to this horrifying violence that seems to have as its aim the annihilation of Gaza,” Cardinal Brislin said.