Des Moines, Iowa, Sep 24, 2013 / 01:03 am
Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver has said that modern Syrian Catholics killed for their faith offer a "model of courage that we need to emulate."
"The natural consequence of their belief in Jesus and his Church was for them to give public witness to it, even if it meant death," Archbishop Aquila said Sept. 21 in an address to the knights and ladies of the northern lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
A Catholic lay institution that assists the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and supports Christians in the Holy Land, the order was holding its annual meeting in Des Moines.
The Syrian civil war, which has been ongoing for more than two years, is a source of particular concern for Christians in the Holy Land.