DUSHANBE (UCAN) -- The Catholic community in Tajikistan is small, as are the financial contributions parishioners can make, but the local Church is preparing to send a contribution to help Christians in the Holy Land.

St. Joseph Parish plans to send the 432 somoni (US$125) they have raised to the Vatican at the beginning of May. The 100 or so Catholics who regularly attend church at the Dushanbe parish donated the money through a special Good Friday collection.

"It's obvious it is a very small amount of money, but our parishioners are not so rich," said Father Ezequiel Ayala, in charge of the parish.

Parish accountant Larisa Kviatkowskaya, who counted out the money, agrees that the gesture is meaningful for local Catholics.

"It is not such a big sum, but I think our people tried their best to help Holy Land Christians as much as they could," she told UCA News on March 29. "I hope our small help will be useful for them and they will be able to solve some of their problems."

Father Ayala, an Argentine Incarnate Word priest, told UCA News, "As far as I know these funds will be given to bishops in the Holy Land or directed to Holy Land parishes and holy places."

This annual collection for the Holy Land, which has pontifical approval, has roots that go back centuries. It is traditionally taken up on Good Friday, but earlier during Holy Week, the week leading to Easter, in some places. The money supports Church buildings and institutions, scholarships and other initiatives for the general good, Religious orders and the local Christian communities in Israel and Palestine as well as in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, according to information from the Congregation for Oriental Churches.

"It isn't only our tradition but the universal Church tradition," Father Ayala pointed out. "So if such small communities as ours try to do their best and provide even small help, it will be a big help to the Holy Land Christians."

Catholic student Catherina Gavrilova told UCA News, "It is our Christian responsibility to help those who are in a difficult situation, especially if they are our brothers in faith."

Although she relies solely on a student scholarship for support, she donated some of this money to the special cause.

"I've heard Christians suffer there a lot from the horrible war that is going on in the Holy Land," Gavrilova, 19, said, adding that almost every day she can see fighting in Israel and the Palestinian territories on the TV news.

Father Juan Carlos Sack, regional superior of the Incarnate Word priests entrusted with pastoral care of the Tajikistan mission, said the money collected amounted to four times a typical Sunday collection.

The troubles of Christians in the Holy Land resonate with their brothers and sisters in faith here, he explained. "The Tajikistan community also went through all the troubles of civil war in the mid-1990s, so our people really know about the troubles and difficulties of civil war."

Tajikistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. One year later civil war erupted between the government and Muslim militants who wanted to make the country an Islamic state. The conflict died down in 1994 and officially ended in 1997 after the loss of 100,000 lives and much damage to the country's infrastructure and economy. The thousands of ethnic German Catholics who essentially formed the local Church fled. The Catholic Church was re-established in 1997 after hostilities ended. Today Catholics number about 250.

Father Sack noted that this was the second year the local Church joined in the special collection for the Holy Land.

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