CV NEWS FEED // The parish priest of Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City is continuously fighting to ensure the availability of the Sacraments and that children in the community receive schooling, even as the situation remains “very bad.”
Argentinian priest Fr Gabriel Romanelli was not in Gaza when the war broke out following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, according to a recent report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). He returned several months later. As the beginning of the school year approaches, he has prioritized education. He has also made sure that opportunities for prayer and the Sacraments continue to be available to the community.
“The situation is bad, very bad, in all of the Gaza strip, but especially in Gaza City,” Fr Romanelli told ACN, adding that nonetheless, “We never suspended adoration, the rosary, or Mass, and we continue to pray for peace.”
As Israel’s relentless military operations in Gaza have continued, Fr Romanelli has sought to continue the education for children in the community. He stated in the report:
We began to have classes for the children, with the help of teachers from kindergarten to the first year of secondary school, teaching them Arabic, English, Math, and Science. We had to suspend lessons because there were so many rockets landing nearby, but we began some of them again.
According to ACN, just 400 Catholics have remained in Gaza since Israel launched its brutal counteroffensive on Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. The Catholic compound houses 416 Catholic and Orthodox Christians, along with 63 children with disabilities under the care of the Missionaries of Charity.
Sami El-Yousef, CEO of Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said this year will be the second without appropriate education for children of the Holy Family community.
“There are some teachers, but others left,” he added: “We have lost contact with those remaining in the north. We are looking to rent the land across from the parish, and maybe locate containers to use as temporary classroom space.”
The Latin Patriarchate had built an additional school in Gaza beyond the school in the Catholic compound, but that school was recently hit by a missile strike and is unlikely to become operational again in the absence of a ceasefire, according to ACN.
