Holy Land cardinal celebrates Mass in Chicago Ridge

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Pope Francis’ representative in the Holy Land, celebrated Mass Saturday with parishioners of Our Lady of the Ridge Church in Chicago Ridge.

The church is home to a large congregation of Arab Catholics and is a relative newcomer to the area, and only had its first permanent priest in 2020.

Pizzaballa is the Latin patriarch for the region, meaning he is the highest ranking Catholic official in the Holy Land, and besides his hopeful message for Our Lady of the Ridge, Pizzaballa offered his thoughts on the Israel-Hamas war.

But mostly he focused on the growth of the Arab Catholic community, which met at the church for over a year without a permanent priest.

“I think it’s something very nice to see the desire and the will, to see the community want to have a priest,” Pizzaballa said.

The cardinal said he was heartened to see a growing, thriving community.

“As so many churches are closing, it’s very nice to have a problem of a new community and something new starting,” he said.

Hundreds of people attended, from across the Chicago region, many with ties to Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Jerusalem. Attendees said they appreciated the visit and the support of church leadership.

“I’m very impressed by the efforts to keep the church open,” said Carol Kazlauskas. “I heard the church was going to be sold and now it’s not. Now we have an Arabic Catholic priest supported by the Vatican.”

Kazlauskas said many Arabian congregants used to attend local Catholic services, but many of the older members appreciated a service in Arabic.

“It makes them feel closer to Jesus,” she said.

Amer Samauri agreed. Samauri traveled from Orland Park, where he attends St. Francis of Assisi Church, but he said he loves the Arab community in Chicago Ridge.

“For me, it’s not a choice to be here,” he said. “I want to be here.”

The Rev. Ryan Brady, a priest in the Chicago Archdiocese who attended the Mass, said the church is also a benefit to Catholics who cannot travel to the Holy Land.

“I think it’s important for us to have the part of the Holy Land among us,” he said. “So often we have to travel to the Holy Land, but now we have a bit of the Holy Land here.”

The Holy Land is a particularly precarious place to visit at present. Since October, the area has been riven by an ongoing war between Israeli and Palestinian factions. Pizzaballa addressed the need of peace briefly, though he said it would be hard to accomplish anything lasting soon.

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Rather, he said he hoped both sides could agree to at least a temporary cease fire to allow for humanitarian aid as well as negotiations toward peace to begin.

“We are living with a very problematic and complex situation,” he said. “It’s very difficult to summarize in a few sentences.”

Pizzaballa was named Latin patriarch of Jerusalem in 2020, but he’s served in the region for decades, starting in 2004. Since he’s been there, he said he’s never seen a conflict this bad.

“The violence we saw, we never saw such intense violence,” he said.

While the pope has called for peace, Pizzaballa said there’s little the Catholic Church can do to enact a cease fire, though he did say Catholic Relief Services, a charity organization, works to provide humanitarian relief. Still, he said he hoped governments worldwide would pressure both sides toward a cease fire.

“As far as a cease fire, the conditions between the two sides are still quite far but the pressure from the international community is very important for both sides to compromise more,” he said. “Both sides know they need to compromise but it’s not enough. They need more pressure to stop the violence.”

Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.